Called it.

We call it a feeling.  Or a hunch.  Or a gut instinct.  They're names we use when we just know what's going to happen, but we have no proof of it and we can't explain why we know what we  know.

it's different from a guess.  A true feeling, or hunch, or gut instinct, is not just predicting a result at random.  It's evidence, or a pattern of behavior, that we've seen, not in our conscious mind, but in our subconscious.  Somehow, we've subconsciously picked up on something, even though our conscious mind is unaware of that something.  We don't know how we know what we know, but we know.  There are reasons we know, we just can't explain what those reasons are.

As any gambler can tell you, you'll go broke relying on them.  The reason is that, being a matter of the subconscious, a feeling, or a hunch, or a gut instinct, is not something we can consciously control.  But when it works, even if it only works once, we start trying to control it.  We start consciously trying to have a subconscious feeling, which can't possibly work because it's a contradiction in terms.  We start inventing evidence, and we start seeing patterns of behavior that aren't there.  And when we do that, we've gone beyond the realm of feelings and hunches and gut instincts and into the field of pure guesswork.  We don't admit that we're just guessing, but we are.  And while we may guess right once in a while, no one can succeed just by guesswork.

At any rate, Liam Hendriks pitched really well.  As we pointed out yesterday, even though it seems like he's been around a long time, he's only twenty-five.  It's still quite possible that he'll turn into a good major league pitcher, even though he hasn't been one yet.  It's even possible that, someday, people will look back on this game and say this is the night he turned his career around.  Of course, it's also possible that he just pitched the best game of his career and next time out he'll go back to pitching the way he's pitched in his other big league games.  After all, nearly anything is possible.

The offense again did very little.  Staff Ace Phil Hughes pitched very well but got no luck in the eighth inning.  The bullpen took care of the rest, on both sides.  If the Twins were actually in the playoff chase, these last two games would have been terribly frustrating.  As it is, we just kind of do a Selig Shrug and move on.

It just goes to show that the line between winning and losing can be narrow.  On the other hand, so was the Berlin Wall, yet it was very hard to get from one side to the other.  The Twins try again to cross over to the other side tonight.  Tommy Milone goes for the Twins.  He's made three starts for the Twins, and no matter how many excuses we try to make for him, he's been terrible.  However, he has seventy-eight other starts that say he's a good pitcher, so for now I'm going to listen to those seventy-eight other starts.  The Royals counter with Jeremy Guthrie, who has made two hundred forty-two starts and has been incredibly average.  That's not a criticism, really--it's not that easy to find an average major league pitcher.  There are teams who've lost pennants because they couldn't do it.  So tonight, let's start that season-ending thirty-game winning streak!  We'll just have to settle for 88-74!