The Skolney Blog

The first ever July 31st or bust trade deadline was weird. Teams you wouldn't think would be buyers were. Teams you assumed would be the big buyers in some cases did nothing at all. Most of the players who had been talked about the most as trade targets stayed put. The Twins did not make that big splashy move for either a starter or a closer. But they did make 2 bullpen trades in the last few days. They got Sergio Romo from Miami and today Sam Dyson from the Giants. Both definite upgrades over the Trevor Mays and Tyler Duffeys. Suddenly the bullpen looks a whole lot more credible. We shouldn't have to see May in there trying to protect a tight lead in any more 8th innings. But a lot of the fans have gone into meltdown mode. They are mad there was no big trade. They are mad that the Indians and Astros made bigger deals. I wanted a starter, but nobody made those trades. The Yankees needed a starter badly, and the Yankees always get whatever the hell they want, but even they cou...

Quentin Tarantino's 10th film(sorry QT, Kill Bill was released as two films...I call em 2 films), OUATIH often feels like someone else directed it. This is a very laid back movie. It's probably his only film that could be categorized as strictly a comedy. It's also easily his most loosely structured film. This is a 2:30+ film that never really connects into a single storyline. Mostly it follows Leonardo DiCaprio's fading star actor and Brad Pitt as his longtime stuntman/best friend. But it also sort of follows Margot Robbie as Sharon Tate, the actress who was killed by Charles Manson's cult. But maybe not in this film, as Quentin may or may not be doing some of his Inglourious Basterds revisionist history here. The film's promotion made a lot of the Manson connection, but Robbie's casting here is basically a big misdirect. The Manson stuff is very much on the periphery. We see him I think just once. There is one incredibly unnerving sequence set at the ran...

Must be, cause the Twins just found every way imaginable to blow another game against the Yankees. That could have gone down as one of the greatest regular season wins in Twins history(and given the overall scarcity of playoff success, wins overall). I don't think I've been excited during a Twins game since at least 2010 as I was when Sano hit that moonshot to go up 11-10. But they blew it. Then my heart is pounding in the 9th as they load the bases against Chapman. They tied it up. But they blew it. Then they load em in the 10th. Only to have, naturally, the former Twin make one of the plays of the fucking year to save the game. This game could have been the reversal of so many awful trends. Yeah they beat the Yankees last night, but they've always won the stray game against these assholes. This would have clinched a series win, and would have clinched no worse than a split of the season series, which they haven't managed since 2006, and would have given them a s...

Movies: Black Widow. Obviously we knew this was coming next May. I'm hoping that Florence Pugh takes over the Black Widow mantle. The Eternals. Of all the new projects this is the one I'm probably the least excited for. It has an interesting, eclectic cast though. Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings. I like that they're bringing in the Mandarin. Honestly I just hope they get the kung fu right. Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness. A straight horror movie that goes full multiverse craziness. This could frankly be amazing. Love that Scarlet Witch will be in it. Thor: Love and Thunder. I am literally living for this for the next 2 years. I would already be super hyped for another Taika Waititi Thor movie, with a lot of Valkyrie. But bringing back Natalie, and having her become Lady Thor? That's so fucking incredible that I can't even describe my excitement. And as a bonus it is already pissing off the incels. Blade. Mahershala Ali is great casting. ...

Fuck their choke artist starters, who can never even get past 6 innings, and who almost always give runs back immediately. Fuck their choke artist bullpen, who throw stupid pitches in every situation, blow every big chance they get. Fuck their choke artist fielding. It's like a game can't officially start until they've committed their first amateurish throwing error. Fuck their embarrassing choke artist filled lineup. Oh wow you hit some solo homeruns great! Try getting a clutch 2 out hit with risp. Try hitting a sac fly when the tying run in on 3rd. Try not shitting your pants everytime you load the bases. I swear teams are intentionally letting them load the bases cause of how god damn incompetent these choke artists are in those situations. Try not going scoreless for inning after inning every fucking game. Fuck Rocco Baldelli. He is so overmatched it's unreal. He sits back and watches this team give up a 12 game division lead but keeps sending out the same shitt...

As if the arrest of Trump's fellow pedo pal Jeffrey Epstein, or the Mike Pence concentration camp tour were not bad enough, disgraceful enough moments from the most disastrous presidency any of us have ever seen, now Trump and his state run media and his deranged cult have just completely abandoned even the charade of actually governing, of actually praising the things he has supposedly done(he's done NOTHING btw). Now it's all about ginning up intense, violent hatred of.. .surprise surprise....prominent congresswomen of color. When in doubt, get the cult to point their fingers at the brown people. The Squad, most notably AOC and Ilhan Omar, have been the most vocal about these disgusting torture camps at the border, where this fascist administration is literally just starving people, forcing them to exist indefinitely in the worst conditions, ripping parents from children, and yes, literally killing some. When people die in these conditions it's the same as murder. A...

When Ehire Adrianza is pitching mop up duty in the 9th inning of a 2nd straight home loss to the Mets, and fwiw getting shelled,  to top off a 14-4 loss to the 2nd worst team in the National League, that's when you know that a month and a half long slump has reached rock bottom. I'm done. I'm done giving this team any benefit of the doubt. This collapse is happening, and it's not stopping. That series win in Cleveland last weekend has already been obliterated. The Indians went right back to demolishing the Tigers, while the Twins opened a tough 9 game homestand by frankly embarrassing themselves in the 2 "easy" games. The lead was 5.5 at the break, was bumped up to 6.5, and now will likely be 4 at night's end. The Twins of 2019 are having a historic collapse. It is HARD to blow a 12 game lead in less than 2 months(I'm very much assuming the Indians pass us before August 1st). When that happens it's legendary. It's the 78 Red Sox(the Bucky Den...