All posts by Philosofer

2023 Twins Game Logs

2023 Game 135: Friday Night Lights – Twins at Texas

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In a rematch of the one game Texas took last week, Max Scherzer pitches against Joe Ryan. I think this was the game Texas won. I can't be bothered to double check.

With the moves Cleveland made to bolster their pitching, the season seems to have taken on a bit of a desperate tone. Starting a big series against the 1st 2nd 3rd place Rangers, with Scherzer on the mound, makes it all feel even more dire. This is the fun baseball - the games that seem to really count. A win tonight would feel huge.

And maybe that's what this year's team has really been about - the feelings. They go through stretches that feel way more brutal than they actual are. They go through stretches that feel way more amazing then they actual are. The feelings on this team are ratched up to 11, somehow. It strikes me as way different than a lot of the past iterations.

And I'm kind of good with it. At least, that's how I feel right now.

2023 Twins Game Logs

2023 Game 111: AZ at MN; Celebrate Good Times

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Come on!

This weekend the Minnesota Twins will be inducting Joe Mauer into the Twins Hall of Fame, and the celebration starts tonight with some stuff, I assume. The induction happens on Saturday (and I'll be at the game!). So this weekend isn't so much about the 1st place* Twins, as it is about one of the best catchers to ever play the game. And we get to claim him. So that's fun.

Tonight Merrill Kelly pitches against Bailey Ober. Who wishes Joe Mauer was catching him.

2023 Twins Game Logs

2023 Game 92: Twins at Las Vegas Oakland

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The second half starts now. Except for the part of it that started earlier. It's worth pointing out that the Twins have the easiest schedule in baseball in the 2nd half, so hopefully they can make the most of that.

Just a game under .500, it feels like this team has so much more potential. Will their fire their hitting coach? Will they make a big trade? Will they find out that the power of friendship was inside them all along? Tune in and find out!

At The Movies

June 2023 Movie Post

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As I mentioned in the Cup the other day, I managed to get caught up with and watch the Ted Lasso series finale the day it was released. That's just big for me, since I haven't seen a finale on the day of release in a long time. I was a little ways behind on Game of Thrones and The Good Place, and other than that, we probably have to go back a decade. For some reason, I really wanted to do that with Ted - I think because, at least in my little middle-aged white male bubble, this show really seems to have been so much of an antidote to the current zeitgeist.

It was a show about connection in a time when we were all distanced from each other. A show about people from all over the world coming together when so many are caught up in nationalism. A show about forgiveness when so many are quick to judge and condemn.

I saw a number of headlines/first paragraphs of articles as this season was going that made it clear the trendy thing to do was to be upset with this season. And, admittedly, there were a few problems (namely the bloated episode length - a little bit of editing would have gone a long way). But those problems weren't the main thrust of these articles - they were hating on Ted Lasso because they were Nathan Shelley at the end of Season 2. This show made them feel everything warm and happy, even when bad things were happening, they just felt so spoken to. But Season 3? It didn't start that way. It was messy and followed lots of other people and things weren't so great, and then Zava shows up, and we don't care about that guy at all, and wasn't Ted going to work his magic on Zava, but no, that's not the way it really works. It wasn't what we wanted it to be.

At least, not yet. And maybe it was just hearing that this was the end of the series, but for some reason - even with my little complaints - I trusted the writers. And the criticism really bothered me. Ultimately, I feel like the writers knew what they were doing. Wandering around for a little while really helped those last 3 or 4 episodes nail what Ted had been and could be. I left feeling very satisfied. And I appreciated that they left most characters at a beginning, not an end. Yes, a few things got left on the table (couldn't you just see Ted wishing he had been able to help Rupert? Man, that would be some juicy conflict!). But in the end, I think the writers brought it home.

Trust the writers. Or, rather... believe.