"Same Old Sad Story" lived up its name, as the show's writers seem intent on punishing the faithful who continue to view this cliched nonsense week in and week out. For those of you who wisely tuned out, here's what you missed.

* Carl continued to try and fail to battle his demons (we did learn something about his father being murdered by a strikeout pitch, so I guess that was new)
* Some lame subplot about how it sucks to fail when it really counts
* The opposing team won

Sound familiar? It ought to. We've seen this same episode no fewer than seven times now. At this point, I'm not even sure why Carl is still a recurring character, as we've obviously seen everything he has to offer. I suppose there's something to be said for a familiar face, but there's no way that a fresh face could be worse (on the other hand, I've seen previews of some of the upcoming character "spotlight episodes" featuring characters like Frankie and P.J., so maybe the producers are just working with what they have - what can I say? Times are tough.) The point is, this episode wasn't any good the first seven times, it's not good now, and based on what we've seen, I think the writing staff is out of new ideas. I know this season was written to be a rebuilding of sorts - bring the plot back to "bunch of scrappy losers find a way to win three times" - and while that makes the occasional good episode a real pleasure, it's an awful slog to go through. Let's just say nobody's going to be streaming anything from this season on Netflix anytime soon.

Confession time. I'm beginning to think that this show is miscast. Joe Mauer tries admirably, but he simply doesn't have what it takes to pull off the villain character the show's producers and advertisements so clearly want him to be. He's much better suited to be one of the hero characters. Maybe they'll cast him that way later, but I don't have any faith that the producers know what they're doing.

It doesn't seem that long ago that this show was one of the best things on television. The plot was tight and unpredictable, the characters were all well played and likable (and those that weren't were pruned from the cast before they became the avatars of frustration that some of this season's characters have been). Who can forget the heartbreak of 2008's season finale? Or the joy of 2010's string of exceptionally strong episodes? This show has become rote, and as such, I cannot recommend further viewing until several things are remedied.

Jay Sherman pretty much sums up the state of the Twins starting pitching

httpv://youtu.be/RiMOKmp0uZc

Yes, they all stink. The Tigers had 16 (!) hits and were walked 3 times. Its a shame because ever since Jason Justin Morneau has returned to the lineup 9 games ago, the Twins have been scoring a lot of runs and hitting the ball with some authority. (6.4 runs per game, 10 HRs, and a slash line of .273/.340/.450/.790) But, are only 5-4 and have slipped to 11 games behind the Tigers in the AL Central.

Twins start a string of afternoon games starting today. Carl Pavano is on the mound. hopefully he can go 6 innings.

Twins 0, Sux 6
Wp: Sale (5-2) LP: A streetcar named Diamond (3-1)
Twins record 15-28. Man, that's fugly.

Fangraphs thinks Carroll, Dozier, and Mastroianni each sold have a third of the loss.

It's hard to win a ball game when your defense gives away free outs. It's even harder to win a ball game when those errors lead to three unearned runs. It's made even more difficult when the Clubbie accidentally put the ass bats in the dugout instead of throwing them into fireplace. On the bright side, it was bring your dog to the ballpark day so we got to see some puppies.

Streetcar finished the day with a mildly respectable line of 6 ip, 9 hits, 5 runs, 2 earned, 1 bb, 4 Ks, and one danger allowed. The offense was offensive at best. The boys managed 4 hits on the day, and three of them came from the bottom of the order. Some punch and judy, pussy singles hitting catcher had the other hit. That same nancy also had 2 free passes on the day. This wuss accounted for 3/8 of the twins base runners yesterday, but that's not good enough. I say gardy should bench the bum.

Culture club: Anchor Graphics has been a Chicago printmaking institution for the last twenty four years, and in 2006 they joined Columbia College. Their mission was to create an open space for the development of printmaking granting access to the equipment and trained professionals to every level of artist. They continue this mission through community outreach, workshops, publishing, artist residencies, and studio rental. I really admire the folks at anchor, and if you find yourself in Chicago I'd recommend a visit to this cultural landmark.