Twins record: 5-10
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MLB Game Wrap

After I read the news yesterday (oh, boy), I was pretty bummed. I went through most of the stages - I couldn't believe it at first. I felt a little angry - how could SBG take that place away, just like that? I felt a small piece of ownership; and really, I'm at best on the outer periphery of people who deserve to feel ownership of the place. I thought about doing some bargaining - trying to explain that it was all of ours, that it belonged to the community at this point. I then was depressed most of the rest of the day (the ballgame yesterday didn't help much there).

But, eventually, (and I'd like to say, deep down, all along) I understood. It seemed immediate, but it really wasn't. I recognized many signs for a while that I tried to ignore. I've seen them in myself here, too. In what feels like a past life, when I was a teenager, I was an internet message board moderator of a board whose subject matter was very, very far removed from baseball. I had no idea what I was doing, and I wasn't very good at it. But I learned some things about the internet, and about people. It's not easy to manage people on the internet, and it's often not fun at all. If I was the person who ultimately felt responsible for a whole operation, and I recognized in myself and in other people the way things were trending for a while, I'd feel the need to make some changes, for my own health. That's how I'd see it. So, I understood.

By the time I got to acceptance, of course, this site had sprung up. The community proved it is alive beyond the four corners of the old website. The work everyone put in yesterday, and continues to put in (I don't know exactly everyone who contributed, so I won't specify anyone) to ensure the speed and smoothness of the transfer is just amazing. On behalf of everyone here, thank you, guys.

I don't have anything else like this place. I have my parents and my sister, who don't live in the Cities, and I have a few college friends who live around here. Beyond them, my time the past few years has been swallowed up by school. I've been involved in a few organizations and functions that came out of that, but honestly, I've found myself trying not to spend any more social time in those arenas than is absolutely necessary. So, as far as real connections to a group that I just want to be a part of, this is it. Which is why I'm so happy I found this place, why I'm happy I started participating, and why I'm happy I still am.

I'm not always tactful in what I say. I can't just call it a product of the internet, because I can be too blunt and harsh in person when I'm not being careful enough. The truth is, I like to discuss things. I like to argue with people. I like to think I'm being contrarian. That's sometimes okay. But, I also like to be sarcastic. I like to think I'm being glib. Sometimes, I can be pretty caustic. Right now, I'm going to pledge to do my best to keep those aspects separated, because it's when I don't that I usually end up feeling the worst about something I've said, or posted. I don't want to feel like I need to quit posting. I want to be a positive contributor here and not just someone who is tolerated.

The Minnesota Twins played a baseball game against the Tampa Bay Rays today. They were driven mainly by a three-run fourth inning, produced by, of all people, STEVE HOLM!, Jason Repko, and Matt Tolbert. That was all we needed, today. Brian Duensing pitched a solid game, and Glen Allen Walken (thanks, CH) didn't blow it.

We've come to discover we've got lots of common interests, and this place grew from one man's baseball blog to a place where people gathered to discuss and share those interests with friends, old and new. The interest that brought us all together in the first place, however, was Twins baseball. I don't know what the rest of this season is going to bring, but for this day, Twins baseball was pretty enjoyable. I'm going to try to get as much enjoyment out of this season as I can, here, with you guys, in this place. Because we're still together.

Hitter of the Week: For the first couple weeks he was one of the "good hitters" mostly by default, even though he'd been as power-starved as everybody else, but Jason Kubel started to assert himself as one of the legitimately good hitters this weekend. Let's see the power keep coming. Honorable mention goes to Danny Valencia's walk rate so far.
Pitcher of the Week: I intend to award these based on who I think pitches the best during a given week, regardless of who gets the "win" and "loss" stats, so even though Duensing pitched very well today, I'll give this week's award to Scott Baker. And maybe I'm hoping I'll entice him to keep pitching like he did yesterday.