Twinkie Town Talk: The Inside-the-Park home run that wasn’t

This here is our semi-regular feature where we catch you up on recent posts on this site, on other Twins-related topics, and baseball in general. Its also an open thread of sorts, so discuss whatever you’d like in the comments.

But first, this:

If you missed last night’s game, Byron Buxton had an inside-the-park homer taken away because Eloy Jimenez is a lazy sack of moldy onions, and Angel Hernandez is the end result of a Monkey’s Paw curse. He can rot in heck, or Illinois. Whichever is worse.

Here at Twinkie Town:

• The surprising factor behind the Twins success (not Taylor Rogers though)
• Some fun with splits, based on the 2020 squad
• Slow and steady wins a playoff berth
• Back-up backstops? No problem

Elsewhere in Twins Territory:

• Puckett’s Pond takes a look at the development of Matt Wisler into a reliable bullpen option.
• Fangraphs profiles the fantastic season of ageless wonder Nelson Cruz (who really shouldn’t have left 11 men on base last night.)
• ESPN’s power ranking sandwiched the Twins between two rivals, firmly in the top ten. They also named the biggest surprise for each team.
• Travis Blankenhorn got a call-up, because half the team is day-to-day right now.

Around baseball:

• Rob Manfred thinks there’s a chance to get fans in stadiums for the playoffs.
• Cubs pitcher Alec Mills (yes, he is a real person) had a very good couple days, throwing a no hitter and then being named NL player of the week. His next start should be against the Twins.
• Speaking of starters against the Twins, Fangraphs looks at the odd stats behind Dylan Cease’s season. This is relevant because the Twins will face him [checks watch] soon.

A discussion starter:

Would you go to a baseball game right now, if you had the opportunity? The next time you do go to a game, what are you most looking forward to?