Season-Ender 2011
I The World Series seventh game was a disappointing anticlimax, perhaps because I found myself rooting for the Texas Rangers. 1. They were an American League team, thus one I was familiar with from following the Twins. 2. They seemed more deserving, having won a division, as opposed to wild-carding the party. 3. Tony LaRussa, […]
Dog Days of August
The trading deadline has passed, the season is two-thirds over, and the Twins remain in fourth place, eight games below .500. Their chances of making the playoffs, even if the Tigers weren’t a far superior team, are nil; and even if they had that chance, the Red Sox or Yankees would blow them out of […]
Twins at the Quarter Pole
How could I have been so wrong in my predictions for the Twins’ 2011 season? 45 games into the year, they have the worst record in the majors and show no sign of getting much better. In hindsight, the thinness of the Twins’ roster should have been obvious, but who takes future injuries into account […]
Pelagic Birding
Took my first, and perhaps only, pelagic birding trip with the LA Audubon Society out of Santa Barbara Harbor on April 30. I found out later that this is the notorious rough-water trip. I also discovered as we returned to harbor that half the birders were on scopalamine, scopase or dramamine. The other half, I […]
Timid Baserunning
While Gardy’s conservative managing style seems to pay off, year after year, I admit I get frustrated at his unwillingness to let his faster players try to steal second more often. Lots of good things can happen on stolen base attempts: the pitcher can be slow to the plate, the pitch can be hard to […]