All posts by nibbish

Father Knows….nothing at all.

I’ve never really cared for very small children.

I never had to deal with babies while growing up (my younger brother was born when I was four, so I didn’t have to help with any of the baby stuff), and have always regarded them as sort of extremely loud, legally binding tamagotchis.

When Linds and I got married, we agreed that we weren’t going to have kids for at least five years. We made sure that some of our bills were paid, we made sure we went on a tropical vacation, we got the stuff out of the way that we wanted to do. The five years stretched to seven. I was okay with that, because I’ve always been worried that my dismissive attitude would persist. Sometimes, that paternal instinct just never kicks in for some people – I was honestly worried that could be the case for me.

When we found out we were going to have a baby, that fear didn’t decrease, because even though I was excited about impending fatherhood, I didn’t feel nearly as excited as I thought I should feel. This was going to be life changing, and most days, all I could conjure up was “yeah, that’ll be pretty cool”.

As I found when I held Caleb for the first time, I really needn’t have worried.

It certainly doesn’t hurt that this kid is pretty much parenting on training wheels so far (sleeps through the night, is constantly happy (like, ridiculously so… the day care lady wants to adopt him), he’s had no health issues other than the sniffles and a light fever so far). Still, I could not have possibly anticipated the reprogramming my worldview would get. I spend my evenings lying on the floor, laughing til my stomach hurts over a baby giggling. I know the characters to Wallykazam.I have a phone full of baby pictures. If you had told me two years ago that would be the case, I would’ve laughed.

So, sorry this one doesn’t end up being an advice column. I don’t really have any to give. I still know practically nothing about parenting. Caleb changes every day. Everything is new and scary (he rolls over now! Both exciting and terrifying). Even so, all rational thought is overridden by a single thought that I would’ve scoffed at five years ago.

It’s worth it.

Game 154: twins @ MUST WIN GAME

We can say that, right? They don't exactly have to win out in order to keep in the race, but damn near. They've committed the cardinal sin of allowing two teams to separate them from that second wild card spot. The Astros might fall apart, but they might not, and the idea of the Scoscias sneaking in there appalls me (okay, the idea of watching a lot of games with Mike Trout where I'm not rooting for him to fail does make me a little happy).

Luckily, that margin is still pretty small. The Twins could do themselves a huge favor by winning tonight. The Astros already won today, so at best, they'll be merely keeping pace, but they could theoretically retake the Scoscias, and that's roughly 1/3 of what matters.

Attempting to defend the Twins' honor tonight will be Tyler Duffey, who's been a very pleasant surprise since joining the major league rotation. There's been debate over whether or not he'll be able keep it up, but hopefully, even if his carriage is a pumpkin, he'll be able to freeze the clock's hands at 11:55 for a little while longer.

Possibly/Probably the Last Twins on Leaderboards of the Season

Games Played - Mauer - 150 (t-10th)
At Bats - Dozier - 595 (5th)
Plate Appearances - Dozier - 668 (3rd)
Runs Scored - Dozier - 99 (3rd)
Doubles - Dozier - 37 (t-5th)
Triples - Rosario - 15 (1st)
Strikeouts - Dozier - 143 (8th)
Extra Base Hits - Dozier - 69 (t-5th)
Sacrifices - Santana - 7 (t-7th)
Intentional Walks - Mauer - 12 (5th)
Double Plays - Plouffe - 27 (1st)
Double Plays - Mauer - 20 (t-8th)
Stolen Base % -Hicks - 80% (6th)
Outs Made - Dozier - 470 (1st)
Power/Speed - Dozier - 15.8 (8th)

BB/9 - Hughes - 0.93 (1st)
Saves - Perkins - 32 (t-6th)
Games Started - Gibson - 31 (t-5th)
Home Runs Allowed - Hughes - 29 (t-1st)
Walks - Gibson - 63 - (9th)
Hits Allowed - Pelfrey - 192 (t-7th)
Strikeouts per Walk - Hughes - 5.875 (2nd)
HR/9 - Pelfrey - 0.607 (2nd)
Losses - GIbson - 11 (t-9th)
Hit By Pitch - Pelfrey - 12 (t-2nd)
Games Finished - Perkins - 45 (9th)