The Rake: Warning Track Power

Surprised? A Little Bit, I Guess

Brad Zellar — Tue, 03 Jun 2008 02:19:53 -0500

If you haven't been paying attention, you've been missing a strange, maddening, encouraging, teetering-on-the-brink-of-disaster one day, triumphing-over-adversity the next, almost wholly improbable stretch of baseball from the Minnesota Twins.

I Can't Believe I Watched the Whole Thing: That's Why They Play Nine, You Communists, Part Two

Brad Zellar — Thu, 29 May 2008 01:34:19 -0500

^{AP Photo/Orlin Wagner}

As I sat staring vacantly at the TV in the ninth inning of last night's Kansas City-Minnesota game, I had another of my brief, increasingly pathetic revelations. My God, I said to my dog, This really is my life.

Which is something I find myself saying to my dog with alarming frequency of late.

What Fresh Hell Is This?

Brad Zellar — Thu, 22 May 2008 02:20:48 -0500

Sidney Ponson?

Come on, seriously: Sidney Ponson?

You have to be kidding me.

Truly, there is very, very little that could give me more displeasure than seeing that fat Aruban hump toss a complete game gem in the Metrodome.

My displeasure wouldn't be much diminished even if he had been wearing a Minnesota uniform.

Guts and Small Ball

Brad Zellar — Tue, 13 May 2008 01:38:41 -0500

^{AP Photo by Jim Mone}

Francisco Liriano was almost as disappointing as Nelson Liriano. There has been a disquieting wave of injuries—to Michael Cuddyer, Kevin Slowey, Adam Everett, Scott Baker, Nick Punto, and, most depressingly, to Pat Neshek.

That's Why They Play Nine, You Communists: Meet Your First Place Minnesota Twins

Brad Zellar — Mon, 05 May 2008 01:28:29 -0500

^{AP Photo/Hannah Foslien}

I'm not a fair weather fan. Honest to God, I'm not.

Seriously.

I'm not.

Three Weeks, from Which We Can Conclude Virtually Nothing, So I Will Talk Instead about Vivisection

Brad Zellar — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 23:42:49 -0500

^{AP Photo/Jim Mone}

I love baseball stats, love them as least as much or more than the next woman. And like so many others, the explosion of the statistical analysis of baseball was what drew me deeper into the grip of the game at a moment in my life when I was just starting to pull away.

Confidence Game: A Case of the Yips in the Motor City

Brad Zellar — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 23:27:14 -0500

^{AP Photo by Duane Burleson}

The Postponement Blues

Brad Zellar — Fri, 11 Apr 2008 02:06:48 -0500

Early April baseball in the Midwest can be a flat-out teeth-kicker. Baseball, of course, can kick your teeth in on a regular basis no matter the month, but shit like last night is brutal, even if it (literally) comes with the territory. Couldn't they at least have given us a rain delay, so we could have stretched out the night a little bit?

Paper Tigers, etc: Seriously, People, It's Still Too Damn Early to Even Have This Conversation

Brad Zellar — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 01:59:10 -0500

^{AP Photo, by Paul Battaglia}

Opening Night: And So It Begins. Again.

Brad Zellar — Mon, 31 Mar 2008 23:51:35 -0500

^{AP photo by Tom Olmscheid}

Stop The Presses!

Brad Zellar — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 14:42:06 -0600

What the hell? This is what we've been waiting twenty months for?

Here's the lead from CNN: "Illegal steroids have been in widespread use in Major League Baseball for more than a decade and used by some of the game's top stars, former Sen. George Mitchell said in releasing a report Thursday."

Excuse me while I pick my jaw up off the floor.

[rakead:Middle1]

What Do I Know?

Brad Zellar — Mon, 03 Dec 2007 11:30:40 -0600

Here's what I'd like to know: Since when are the New York Yankees in any position to play hardball with the Twins? Given the pitching situation in New York, and given the fact that this is a team that is now in the (for them) desperate position of playing second-fiddle to the Red Sox, would you not think that the Twins should have all the leverage in a deal for Johan Santana?

You have to imagine that the new Yankee regime would be willing to pull out all the stops to get Santana, and if they're not, they for damn sure should be, or fuck 'em.

The Finish Line: The Black Bus With The Tinted Windows Is Waiting

Brad Zellar — Thu, 01 Nov 2007 14:12:34 -0500

Trust me, even when I go away, I've got nowhere else to go. I'm always around, a lurker in my own life.

The end of the baseball season is always a painful thing for an obsessive/compulsive man who is a complete slave to routine yet has very few habits --with the exception of bad habits-- that would qualify as routines.

It's All Good

Brad Zellar — Thu, 11 Oct 2007 14:14:09 -0500

Is Anybody Alive Out There?

Brad Zellar — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 23:31:27 -0500

Another Summer, Gone Into The Gloaming

Brad Zellar — Mon, 03 Sep 2007 22:44:58 -0500

When You Have So Few Big Things To Offer, It's The Little Things That'll Kill You Every Time: Swept In Cleveland, And Done

Brad Zellar — Wed, 29 Aug 2007 22:07:40 -0500

It's Not Dark Yet, But It's Getting There: 8-3 Drubbing In Cleveland

Brad Zellar — Mon, 27 Aug 2007 22:01:07 -0500

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

Brad Zellar — Sun, 19 Aug 2007 21:41:21 -0500

Dog Days

Brad Zellar — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 12:39:23 -0500

Back To Zero: Ptolemy's Heroes

Brad Zellar — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 17:24:03 -0500

Put That In Your Pipe And Smoke It

Brad Zellar — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 17:36:05 -0500

Hogwash: Divert Yourself With This Business, Why Don't You?

Brad Zellar — Mon, 06 Aug 2007 23:26:02 -0500

Resurrected, Without Really Trying: Kings Of The Deadball Era

Brad Zellar — Sun, 05 Aug 2007 18:41:43 -0500

The Latest Installment Of The Good News-Bad News Bears

Brad Zellar — Mon, 30 Jul 2007 13:39:50 -0500

A Strange Team, No?

Brad Zellar — Sat, 21 Jul 2007 22:15:08 -0500

Disgusted: Toast On A Rollercoaster

Brad Zellar — Thu, 19 Jul 2007 17:25:11 -0500

Game One: Detroit At The Dome

Brad Zellar — Wed, 18 Jul 2007 07:56:55 -0500

A Damn Fine Product, Come What May: The Golden Years

Brad Zellar — Mon, 16 Jul 2007 05:13:11 -0500

Maybe? No, Not Maybe: The Best Pitcher In The Game

Brad Zellar — Fri, 13 Jul 2007 23:13:46 -0500