Category: Baseball
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Baseball – The Season So Far…
At the start of every baseball season for God knows how many years, Ernie Harwell, a former announcer for the Detroit Tigers, would read a poem and tell the listeners that hope springs eternal for every team at the start of a new baseball season. Sure, most true baseball fans know that, because we’ve all…
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Mid-Season Checkup
Who’da thunk that at the All Star break, our beloved hometown nine would be within shouting distance of first place in the division? And who would have even dreamt that the Twins would be in the top tier of teams in the entire league this year? And who would dare to even say out loud…
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What In The Wide Wide World of Sports?
Count me among the pleasantly surprised and shocked Minnesota Twins fans in the world. Not since 1991 have I been so surprised by one of our teams. Granted, we’re only one-quarter of the way through the grueling baseball season, but I think everyone would agree that being in second place and 8 games over .500…
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The Nick Punto Effect
This may seem strange, but if you stick with me, I think I’ve got a compelling point: Having Nick Punto on your baseball team helps make you a winner. For those who are not baseball fans, you probably don’t know Nick Punto. You probably don’t know who he has played for during his now fifteen-year…
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Woe Unto We Twins Fans
The baseball season ended yesterday, at least for the Minnesota Twins. And sadly, I hardly noticed or paid attention, which is saying something. I tuned into some of the last game of the season for my hometown nine, flipping over from the Vikings game to see if the Twins could pull out a win, but…
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The Minnesota Sporting News
Patrick and I had a manly weekend of lots of sporting events: we were at the Gopher football game on Saturday, versus that perennial powerhouse, Western Illinois University; and then on Sunday, we went to the Twins game to watch a team that was equally adept at their sport. Both won. Oddly enough. But the…
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The All-Star Game
I’ve always loved baseball’s All-Star Game. It’s one of the many things the game has done almost perfectly, and no other sport has been able to successfully copy it. Last night’s game was great–entertaining, poignant, exciting, and really well-played, which is what you expect when you get 68 of the game’s best together in one…
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Baseball’s Here!
It’s April, and theoretically, it’s spring, though to look at my lawn, you wouldn’t know it. But April means spring and, even better, baseball. And on this, Easter night, and also April Fool’s night, the season opener is on right now on the TV. Perhaps that April Fool’s thing is fitting: the opener has Texas…
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Hall of None
I was planning on writing about something pithy and funny today. Something like random links found on the internet. Or cute cat pictures. Or internet memes. Then the baseball Hall of Fame ballot results were announced. It’s an embarrassment. A huge embarrassment on many levels. It makes me angry and sad and makes me…
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Weighty Topics
After two days of chomping on some heavy-duty political discourse, I thought it was time to bring in the big guns and really get serious. So without further ado, we shall discuss: your Minnesota Twins. The local boys of summer are deep in the second straight year of a horrible funk. There are…
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Last Minute Save
I’ve been dreading writing for a couple of hours now. See, it’s All-Star Game night, which ought to be a national holiday, as far as I’m concerned. Honestly, it’s the only TV event of the year that I actually anxiously wait for and sit down to watch almost without fail. So, at 7 this…
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To Cling or not to Cling
I came across an article today that was talking about an interesting situation: the Boston Red Sox this past week celebrated the 100th anniversary of their ballpark–a still operating, viable ballpark. Meanwhile, the article pointed out, a ballpark that opened that very day 100 years ago, Detroit’s Tiger Stadium, is gone, torn down a year…
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Fire Sale
Summer is grinding to an end. At least the summer that is represented by a break in school, the hot, lazy days of baseball and TV reruns and the like. The State Fair is right around the corner, my kids are almost completely ready for school to start, and the Twins find themselves in a…
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…And all is right with the world.
Tomorrow night (Tuesday) is the All-Star Game. And if you need to ask which sport, I may just have to forget that I know you. I don’t know what it is. It’s a meaningless game (or at least it should be–thanks for screwing that up, Bud Selig), and this year the Twins only have one…
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The tower
Like I said, Patrick and I were at the Twins game Monday night. It was his first game of the season, so we were really looking forward to it. And after the cool and rainy night that John and I had, last night was an absolutely gorgeous night for baseball. So for those who aren’t…