The Byron Buxton Game

Twins 12
Pirates 4

The Twins have just about reached the all-star break, in what has been an extremely middling, mediocre season. Aside from a 13-game win streak in May, it has been a season of underperforming players, injuries, and little hope for the season becoming much of anything. 

Too bad, because we are finally getting to see the absolute best of Byron Buxton. And on Saturday, he had the absolute best game of his absolute best season, going 5 for 5 and hitting the 1st cycle in Target Field history. And on his bobblehead day, no less. 

The mystery of who would actually win the game was dispensed with pretty quickly. A Kody Clemens 3 run bomb started the scoring in a 6 run 2nd. 3 more were added in the 3rd. By this point, Buxton was 3 for 3 and had everything but the homerun.

The Twins did the old bullpen game thing, starting with Cole Sands and then moving to Travis Adams, who wound up getting his 1st career with. The last place Pirates never made it a game.

Buxton added a single in the 5th, to make him 4 for 4. Matt Wallner's solo shot got the Twins into double digits.

Buxton's last at bat would be in the 7th. Hitting a cycle is extra tough when the one you need last is the homerun, but sure enough, he cracked one out over the centerfield wall. The ovation he got lasted so long that it was still going when Willi Castro hit the next pitch out himself.

Buxton's career has been one of the most up and down we've ever seen. Injuries have never really let him go. He even spent a whole season doing nothing but DH-ing a few years back. At times, he has looked every bit the star he was expected to be. At other times, he looked like he was barely even an MLB player anymore. 

The injuries could happen again anytime. Hell, he was just hit on the hand by a pitch the other day. But we rarely get to see a player of his level playing at this level. Better to enjoy it for however long it lasts, than worry about when it might stop. 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Message Board Classics: 2007 NFL Season

8/11/07--preseason post: Now, onto some football, since I went to the Vikings preseason opener last night. I only went cause I had the ticket, and I only had that cause I had to buy one with a ticket to the Packer game. Anyway, it was a colossal bore, but I found the play of T Jack somewhat encouraging. I'm pulling for the guy, and hope for the best. Bobby Wade looked pretty good too. As usual I will save my predictions for just before the season, but I will reveal that I think the Patriots will win it all. I am only able to deal with this because I got to see the Steelers and Colts get theirs the last 2 seasons. And there's always that hope that the playboy wannabe Brady will get his knee ligaments shredded at some point. Season Predictions: AFC EAST 1. Patriots (14-2) Yes, sadly I see the dark times returning. Not cause of Moss. He's actually the lone hope. Maybe he'll destroy the team from within. But the Adalius Thomas signing and the other professional receivers ha...
Read more

The Patriots are the luckiest dynasty ever

We are days away from the Patriots likely winning their sixth title in 18 seasons of Brady and Belichick. It has been horrible. It has been lucky as hell. Lucky. As. Hell. There is not a single Patriots fan who accepts the slightest argument that the last 18 years have been what they are for any other reason than "Brady's the GOAT. Belichick is the GOAT. Best franchise ever! If you disagree you're just a jealous hater." Reasoning with these people is impossible. Sure, not everything has been luck. I grudgingly admit they're very good. But my god, no franchise has EVER had such a long, lengthy run of stupendous good fortune, or luck. It begins in the very game that kicked this whole thing off...the tuck rule game in January 2002. Oakland outplays the Pats in the snow, and late in the game they get a strip sack of Brady and a game-clinching fumble recovery. Game over. Except a replay somehow overturns the call due to an unknown rule that was also interpreted w...
Read more

2025 NFL predictions

We shall start in the AFC. Buffalo remains the clear class in the east, and will contend again for the Super Bowl.  The Patriots, with a little more stable coaching and an improving Drake Maye, are one of my wild card picks. The Jets will be competitive with the douchebag Rodgers gone, but don't have the juice to really contend. And Miami is just adrift, basically, playing out the string of the Tua era. Dangerous on a game by game basis, but not contenders. Baltimore again takes the north, and once again, the story will be can they win in the playoffs. The Bengals have all the offense they need to be a threat, and even just a slight improvement in the defense gets them back to the playoffs. Sorry, Pittsburgh. I usually root for them, but not this year with the douchebag Aaron Rodgers there. He's washed up. But the Tomlin rules all but guarantee 9 wins and at least fringe contention. Cleveland will stink, unless Joe Flacco pulls off another miracle. The south is easily the worst...
Read more