A Confounding, Improbable Team Once Again Achieves The Confounding And The Improbable

That logo’s just fine if you’re talking about Johan Santana. You’ll need to insert your own mental s, however, if you’re referring to the Twins’ offense. Down at the Dome this weekend they celebrated the 20th anniversary of the 1987 World Series championship season. Somehow, despite scoring three runs over three games, the Twins managed … Read more

Dog Days

It’s been a mighty strange season, and I’m frankly exhausted. It obviously doesn’t take a whole lot of psychic energy to follow a genuinely good team. That’s probably not true, though, at least strictly speaking; to really follow any baseball team, day in and day out, takes a tremendous amount of psychic energy. It’s a … Read more

The Knife Of God

Yes, boy, I could sure go for some beef stew and a chicken bone. That’s it. –Last words of Christopher Newton, whose execution by lethal injection in Lucasville, Ohio took nearly two hours (May 24, 2007) I summon you now Not to think of The ceaseless battle With pain and ill health, The frailty and … Read more

The Grindstone And The Garden

…if people who expect nothing come away empty-handed, then there really is no hope. —William Maxwell, Time Will Darken It The dead flicker like candles around you. They are burning their memories for warmth. —Kelly Link, “Flying Lessons” This world is full of war criminals, many of whom have never fired a weapon in their … Read more

Put That In Your Pipe And Smoke It

The Twins have scored ten runs in their last six games, and 34 in their last fourteen, dating back to July 23 in Toronto –I’ll do the math for you: that’s an average of 2.4 runs a game. This nonsense, this incomprehensible futility, after scoring 34 runs in two games versus Chicago on July 6. … Read more