Beltre Number 3000

I honestly didn't think I'd see another guy get 3,000 hits in my lifetime, but Adrain Beltre proved me wrong.

That's 200 hits a year for 15 years. With today's contracts, and athletes getting so may games off a season, AND the emphasis on good hitters working the count to draw more walks, I thought players with their big-money contracts, would retire before getting that brass ring.

Way to go Adrian! Baseball needs more players like you.

Another Walk-Off Homer, Another Loss

heavy sigh

12 innings

sigh

Brock Lesnar

Brock Lesnar is considering coming out of retirement.

Yes, he is the current WWE Universal Champion, but that's just wrasslin' (you know the fake stuff, wink, wink).

No, he's considering getting back into the octagon to go against a man 40 pounds lighter than himself, light heavyweight UFC Champion Jon Jones, who challenged him to a fight after regaining his title last night.

Why?

Big money. BIG, BIG Money.

Brock's contract with WWE runs out soon and it's already rumored that he's taking the regular drug checks to make sure he's not using any illegal substances.

Brock's already said he wants the fight.

Mayweather/McGregor may be the fight everyone is anticipating right now.

But there are an awful lot of WWE and UFC fans that are looking forward to Brock Lesnar's return to the cage.

Count me as one of them.

Both fights should be absolute spectacles.

Twins Beat By Two-Run Blast, Walk-Off

sigh

New Guy Stops Losing Streak!

Jaimie Garcia pitched six good innings last night. The Twins scored. The bullpen was better.

Any win  is a good win. I'm still hoping for a .500 season.

Twins Considering Trades

The Twins know the season is pretty much over. Look for them to start trading big names with big contracts soon.

This season was a better ride than expected. But, when all is said and done, we will still reach the same, old destination.

Twins Lose, Cleveland Wins

Yep, this is pretty much it.

Brother Watches Twins Sink Lower

My brother and his family got to see the Twins lose last night in L.A.

Cleveland won.

It was a better season than I expected.

The Vikings are just around the corner.

Go Vikes!

Twins Lose Late, Cleveland Wins Again

Bartolo? 3 earned runs in 5 innings. Better than last time, but he is considering retirement.

I do believe this is where the season begins to unravel.

Twins Lose LONG Game

It might have only been nine innings long BUT it sure slogged on longer than your average game.

Total running time? 4 hours and 19 minutes. And when you're getting beat for most of those nine innings, it drags on even longer.

I gave up.

It's a good thing baseball has those automatic intentional walks now. There's no telling how much longer the game would have lasted if those weren't in play.

Oh, and Cleveland has now won three straight and has a 2 1/2 game lead in the division.

The Twins are headin' out to L.A. next to see the Dodgers. My younger brother's hoping to catch one of those games.

I need a break, myself. I'm glad they'll be playing when I'm sleeping.

Gibson Great Through Seven!

Granite THREE hits!!

Hang on!

Whew!

Twins Lose, Cleveland Wins

No exclamations today.

Still Good

Exclamation Points!!!

Berrios! (best outing in a month)

Series Wins Over the Yankees! (that's only happened THREE times in the last NINE years)

Home Series Win! (their home record stinks this year)

Go Twins!!!!

Colon: FOUR Earned Runs In FOUR Innings

He looked pretty good in the first three, but then...BOOM...

sigh...

Mejia! Rosario! Bullpen!

Mejia has been our most consistent starter for the last month.

And the Cyborg that won the home run hitting contest is currently slumping for the Yankees.

That, plus some timely hitting by Rosario, and some good pitching out of the bullpen, gave the Twins a well-deserved win last night.

Whooo!!!

Go Twins!

Astros Are Better Than Twins

Even winning the division this year wouldn't be THAT big a deal for the Twins.

It would be NICE, and WAY BETTER than last year, but let's face it, there are far better teams in baseball than the Twins, and the Astros are clearly one of them.

And the Yankees are, too.

sigh

Santana! Bullpen!

A nice Twins win.

They have to beat teams like the Astros and Yankees to stay in contention. Can they do the same thing without Santana on the mound?

Stay tuned...

Twins Lose, More Astros and Yankees In Future

sigh

Bartolo Colon

The Twins signed the 44-year old 280 pound starter a few days ago. He got shelled in his minor league start last night. He'll probably get shelled by the Yankees on Tuesday when he gets called up, too.

Colon used to have control and he used to be good.

This season? Not so much.

sigh

NBA Gets Smarter

The NBA will have 4 less timeouts in the last three minutes of every close game now.

One of the reasons most viewers despise the NBA is that the last five minutes of actual game clock could last as much as a half an hour or more in real time. The NBA FINALLY acknowledged this.

I might even watch more if the WOLVES start having playoff caliber years...

All-Star Game

It seemed like a typical Twins game. Sano gets the go ahead single late. Santana quickly gives up the game-tying home run. We won in extra-innings after I went to bed.

Sano!

So he didn't win.

He was in the right bracket  to make it all the way to the finals. AND he looked good. Yeah, the guy that beat him is the prototypical cyborg of the future, but who cares?

A fun night of smashing the ball out of the park.

SOG

Same.

Old.

Gibson.

SEVEN earned runs in 4 innings.

At least Cleveland lost.

No Comeback

Cleveland has a 2 1/2 game lead.

One more game before the All-Star break.

Comeback!!!

I ALMOST gave up on the Twins last night after they were down 6-0.

I decided to switch the game back on in the fifth and discovered the score was 6-3, with two on and nobody out yet.

When the inning ended, the Twins had the lead 7-6.

I went to bed shortly after that. What I saw was great. I wasn't going to let a possible Oriole's comeback wreck my night.

Mauer is back on the disabled list with a bad back. Kennys Vargas was brought back up to take his place on the roster, and he delivered big time.

Bottom line? Twins win!!

Go Twins!!

Berrios! Escobar!

We needed that win by Berrios.

Santana Good, Bridwell Better

sigh

Gibson! Buxton!

These two names don't normally get the "exclamation mark" treatment from me, but in this case, I'll make an exception. Gibson has had some good outings as of late, and Buxton, though still  hovering around a .200 average, has been great on defense all year long. The homer last night certainly didn't hurt.

The Twins NEED wins from their third and fourth starters when the first two men in the rotation struggle. They're getting that now.

The race is tighter, but half way through the season being 1 1/2 games out isn't bad.

It's way, way better than most anticipated.

Mejia! Kepler!

Adalberto right now is the Twins best starter.

Kepler had 4 hits including another home run.

It sure beats losing...

Heavy Sigh

Sano!

The Twins managed a split in yesterday's doubleheader. They're clinging to second place.

It's early July and they are still very much in the chase.

I'm still trying to enjoy the ride.

Santana Does His Best Gibson Impression

Twins are now two games back AND KC is just one game behind us.

sigh