TPT

Harmon Killebrew plans to spend his final days under hospice care.

​Baseball legend Harmon Killebrew believes he is nearing his final days. The former power hitter, Hall of Famer and Twin Cities icon has announced that his esophageal cancer has taken a turn for the worse, and he is checking into a hospice.

"It is with profound sadness that I share with you that my continued battle with esophageal cancer is coming to an end," he says.

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Wally the Beer Man is free!

​Minnesota's most famous beer man has been found not guilty.

Just this morning, a jury found Wally the Beer Man--aka Walter McNeil, who has sold beer for the Twins for 40 years--not guilty of serving underage fans during a Twins game. Wally was one of seven beer operators caught up in a sting operation and suspended from Target Field last fall.

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                                                           Image courtesy of the University of Minnesota

5. Lauren Gibbemeyer

As you might imagine -- Gibbemeyer isn't the only Cretin-Derham alum on this list.  After being named a Division I All-American third teamer in 2008, the ebullient Gophers volleyball mid blocker was named a first team All-American selection in this, her junior season.  Gibbemeyer concluded the campaign ranked in the nation's top-15 in both blocks and hitting percentage, and led the Gophers to their third National Semifinal appearance since 2003.  In doing so, she set the Minnesota single-season record for blocks.

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                                                                               Images courtesy of Keith Allison

If Joe Mauer ever trended toward any illicit behavior, he's likely never had a problem getting out of a parking ticket or two.  Now -- the Twins' catcher can do whatever the hell he wants!

The St. Paul-native captured the American League Most Valuable Player award today, receiving 27 of 28 first-place votes from the Baseball Writers Association of America.  Claiming the award that forever eluded St. Paul luminaries & hardball Hall of Famers Paul Molitor and Dave Winfield will no doubt prove a leviathan bargaining chip in the catcher's contract negotiations.  His present contract, which will pay him $12.5 million this season, expires after the year.

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​There are some fans that simply cannot wait to get a first glimpse of Target Field. Construction fencing and plenty of warnings don't seem to stop some of them. But maybe the risk of being banned from the first season would be enough to stop a die-hard fan.

Officials at the Twins future stadium say they have had a handful of attempts to get into the construction zone, including some visiting Canadians sneaking in after bar close.

If construction workers are on site, they usually chase the trespassers away, but often the police are called to the scene. The Twins can then ban you from attending the first season.

We understand the risk is half the fun, but just hold your horses for the first game and it will make the first game that much more exciting.

Check out the KSTP report below.

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                                                                                                                   Images courtesy of SOM​

"So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past."

                   -F. Scott Fitzgerald, "The Great Gatsby"

 

As the proverb goes: the dog barks, the caravan moves on.  As the ALCS moves on without us, gentle reader, I hope you can suffer me one more baseball bark.

Throughout this season, the Twins last in the Dome, we've taken four prior strolls to recognize the club's now-previous environs.  To revisit these pieces, please click upon the number for each respective column: 1  2  3  4.

Before engendering coverage of Vikings and Gophers football in this space, please enjoy this fifth and final entry, whereupon myriad Twins fans were kind enough to share their video impressions of their own Metrodome Memories and the team's move to Target Field.  Many thanks to all who participated back on 9/15 when the Boys were 5.5 games out with little hope at the postseason.  In about a month from now, we'll hopefully have opportunity to celebrate Joe Mauer's deserved American League MVP, earned via his unprecedented third batting title for a catcher, the highest batting average ever attained by a player at his position(.365), and league-leading slugging (.587) and on-base (.444) percentages.  Until that late-November date, please enjoy the videos below:

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After the Yankees swept the Minnesota Twins in the first playoff series, the team had to come back home for moving day. Metrodome field workers made permanent changes, filling in clay pits with cement and sweeping away the mounds of dirt for the last time. Twins players had to pack up their locker gear and say goodbye to their old facility. The Metrodome will now be a football stadium. It was a good run, but now it's time to embrace the idea of playing baseball in the snow. How lovely.

KARE11 has a video report on the changes and team move:

 

​                                                       Images courtesy of Keith Allison, ConspiracyofHappiness

In the bottom of the 7th of last night's season-ending loss to the Yankees, Delmon Young managed to hit himself in the nuts (with batted ball) during an at-bat.  The moment felt symbolic of the Twins playoff experience as a whole.

Young would later double in the at-bat.  That the Twins' were unable to bring him around to notch the score at 2's would seem another microcosm of the club's ALDS sweepage at the hands of New York.  Few believed that the Twins could outlast what was baseball's most-winning club during the regular season, however after having led in all three contests -- the chill in our baseball hearts is mirrored only by the snow upon our autumnal ground.

This series hurt; underground media outlets reported this morning that local noose sales rose 20 percent.

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​                                                      Images courtesy of Keith Allison, Wigstruck

The term "Must Win" has become stale at best.  Really: "If we lose we're screwed" offers more candor and edge.  So says history.

After Wednesday's 7-2 loss to the Yanks in Game 1 of the ALDS, the Twins took the day off Thursday and, from our vantage 1,200 miles away, we can only hope & trust that they Boys got some much needed rest.

I don't like the Best-of-five format.  That's not said to bemoan our chances at this stage (really), it's truly a broader brush painting the frustrating fact that since baseball brought in the Wild Card and Divisional Series 5-game format in 1995, just four teams -- Seattle ('95), Red Sox (99'), Yankees ('01), Red Sox ('03) -- have ever come back from an 0-2 deficit to win a Divisional series.  These should be seven games, which afford teams the true opportunity to flesh out their personalities.  After grinding through 162 (or more) contests, why the hell not just play it all the way out?  The best-of-five can take a team (that's not to say us) from an emotional zenith to, well, vacation, in four damn days.

Really, the Twins are far from being out of this.  Keep faith, gentle readers.  And enjoy capsules for the next two playoffs ballgames -- Game 2 today at 5 Central in NYC and Game 3 back here at home on Sunday at 6 p.m. Central.  If necessary: times are now also listed for Game 4 (Metrodome, Monday 10/12 at 4 p.m. Central) and Game 5 (Yankee Stadium, Wednesday, 10/14 at 5 p.m. Central).

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​                                                                 Images courtesy of Keith Allison 

Have you ever tried a Whippet?  In brief, it's a little cartridge of nitrous oxide that, when inhaled, offers a brief aura of elation, followed by the sensation of feeling like your brain is kinda dead.  My apologies for beginning herein with an untoward recreational reference, but after the Twins intoxicating House of Cards win on Tuesday night, Wednesday's 7-2 ALDS loss to the Yankees proved achingly-sobering.

The Boys came out of the gates with impressive pluck, evidencing little malaise after capturing the Central crown just 20 hours prior and arriving at their New York hotel circa 4 a.m.  But the inspiring 2-0 lead the Twins took into the bottom of the third proved ultimately short-lived, as Yankee shortstop Derek Jeter pounded a Brain Duensing off-speed offering into the left field stands to notch the score.  An inning later, the Yankees took a 3-2 edge off Duensing compliments of a Nick Swisher double and the Pinstripes never looked back. 

​Span, Cabrera, Mauer and Punto had two hits apiece for the Twins.  C.C. Sabathia allowed just one earned run in 6.2 innings of work to get the win.  To see the box score, please click here.

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