PDX Twin

Sano would not have (come close to) beating that one out!

Chicken is still in the egg!

Hey, the Twins have clinched a tie for third and can make the spot their own with a win tonight. Not what we hoped. but it's something...

IF (a big IF) history is any guide, these guys will all miss most of next season with injuries. This is the Twins, after all. ?

Nick, I appreciate both the content of the article and its presentation. Highly professional writing, which is not always the case on this (or any) blog.

Nine innings instead of seven???

I agree with this. They are putting in the time, collecting their paychecks, and waiting for October, when they can resume their non-baseball lives. Remember Eddie Rosario firing up Buxton and Kepler with their three-man jump balls to celebrate a catch or a win? Eddie is long gone, Buxton is in the hospital, and Kepler is just going through the motions. Most of the team is kids who are trying to learn how to behave as big-league players. They are being taught (by example) that a hand-shake and a smile is all they need to do to celebrate success and that failure is just "Oh well." There is no fire! They are being taught to suppress the emotions of the game, whether joy or anguish, that they felt in college and high school and probably still have inside of them. Eddie is long gone. Kirby is (sadly) long gone. Maybe the whiz-kids in the back room can re-program Rocco's laptop to tell him to "CHEER" when someone does well or "RANT" when someone makes an inexcusable mistake. But I doubt it. He is who he is, and he reflects the "scientific" rather than "human" approach to the game that seems to dominate our front office. That's why I don't really expect this to change. It's the "organizational culture." (And one that many on this site welcomed.) Boring-ball is, I fear, here to stay.

You mean after losing three must-win games in a row (after losing three must-win games to Cleveland last weekend), there are more must-win games. If they were literally must-win games, then nothing more would matter after losing them. And that's where we are. They are seven games out with 17 to play and two teams ahead of them. There is no chance that they win the division. On the other side, our magic number to clinch third is down to 3!

Neither was the starting lineup, right?

First pitch at 7:10; seventh-inning stretch at 8:55. My kind of game!

70 pitches. Has he done that many in rehab starts?

With a brilliant bullpen, you don't need to push your starters. Then there's the Twins.

Cave spelunked that one!

Double doubles by Miranda, but it's hard for the same hitter to make them back to back.

Still wearing his uniform top, but maybe he'll put on a sweater if it gets colder.

I'd like to think we shall Obercome, but I just don't really see it happening...

diet Coke, by the looks of him.

I remember the "viertal pfunders" in Austria back when I ate meat.

Where was this Correa when it mattered?

Kind of fitting that he at least hits right ...

With the double header, they can bring up Varland without using an option (again).

I'm not worried. We should have clinched third by then and not have to worry about the Royals getting hot.

Buxton would have caught that (and injured himself on the wall).

Would we miss him if someone stole him?

Pickles is cruising.