It's been fun watching Eddie Rosario knock the ball all over and out of the yard this October, and I suppose some Twins fans think it's proof of another mistake by the suits. Not necessarily. For the season, Eddie batted .259 with an OPS of .740, which isn't very good, especially for a left fielder. Thus his WAR ("wins above replacement") of 1.1. Perhaps only the guy who wrote the article on WAR understands how it's calculated, but, to help you get your bearings, the Twins' Max Kepler batted .211 this past season, with an OPS of .719, and his WAR was 2.1. He's a better outfielder than Eddie and doesn't daydream while leading off base, not that either one of them regularly reaches base.
Is it my imagination, or in the postseason are guys suddenly willing to shorten their swing to hit grounders to the side of the field where no one's standing? Amazingly effective! Maybe it's that teams that make it to the postseason have guys who can do that. The aforementioned Max Kepler can't, or won't, I know that for a fact. Four million grounders to the "infielder" who's standing in shallow right field, and another three million to the guy standing where the second baseman stood back in the 1970s.
If another Gopher running back gets injured they're going to start scouting the intramural flag football teams at the U for talent. Nevertheless, no matter who they're down to in the back field on a given Saturday, the team rushes for 200 yards again. Don't know that much about football but am beginning to think our offensive line might be pretty good.
And the door is open in the Western Division of the Big "Ten." The Gophers and Iowa, both 3-1 in conference games, are tied for first. (In the Eastern Division, there are two teams, Michigan and Michigan State, that haven't lost all season, and a third, Ohio State, that hasn't lost a conference game.) Our schedule is favorable—we already lost to Ohio State and we don't play Michigan or Michigan State. If we could win our next two games, at Northwestern and home against Illinois, it would set up a Big Game in Iowa City against the Hawkeyes on Nov. 13.
I too would have accepted Lucy's 9000th invitation to kick the ball out of her hold.
Had this conversation recently with older daughter:
Her: Who's the greatest ballplayer of all time?
Me: That is a matter about which there is endless discussion and many different views.
Her: I see. But who is it?
I know that all kids say funny things, and people who don't have them must grow weary of the precious stories, but, hey, I'm not forcing anyone to read this, Surly Shirley.
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