Happy Canada Day! The celebration of the day that Canada became a country! Because, apparently, the British were mostly tired of them? I can’t say I understand; we Americans have spent so much time lionizing the American Revolution that it’s kind of hard to conceive that, a few decades later, the British would just decide that it’d be better for everyone if they left Canada alone.

Also I think that most Americans think of Canada, in general, as part of the United States. Not technically part of the United States, of course, but basically just the same thing with small differences. Like how Wisconsin has sideways stoplights for some reason.

Anyway, you didn’t come here for talk about Canada. You came here for talk about the Twins, who won 8-1 in Baltimore, on the heels of their players-only meeting in Atlanta after they scored three runs in three days in Georgia.

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Stop me if you’ve heard this one before.

First of all, the Lynx scored a bunch of points, led by Napheesa Collier and backed up on the scoresheet by contributions from Diamond Miller and Kayla McBride, and Minnesota outran Seattle.

Throw in that the Minnesota Aurora won again, and that the Saints scored double-digit runs, and Thursday night in Minnesota sports had some real déjà vu going on.

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The Twins have had a number of low points in June. There was the series they got destroyed by Tampa Bay. There was the games they dropped at home to Cleveland. There was the series they lost three out of four to Detroit.

By the sounds of it, though, Wednesday was the lowest point yet. The Twins lost 3-0 at Atlanta, and they got four hits and struck out 14 times, including eight times against Kolby Allard, owner of a 6.07 career ERA.

Before Wednesday, Allard had made 65 appearances in the majors, and 35 starts, and had struck out eight or more hitters exactly twice. And Wednesday, he did it in 4.2 innings.

Postgame, the players held the dreaded players-only meeting - apparently ordered by the manager - where I assume the pitching staff lined up and pelted the hitters with rotten fruit. In another room, Rocco Baldelli unloaded to the media, by which I mean he gave off his angriest vibes of all: those of a soft-spoken fourth-grade teacher who’s unhappy with his class’s behavior.

At least Baldelli’s quotes indicate he’s been watching the games. “What we’re doing right now is frustrating,” he said, “because that’s madness going out there and doing the same stuff over and over and over again.” He feels just like the fans who turn on the game every day!

Cleveland’s in first place in the AL Central this morning. Avert your eyes, America!

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On May 30, Lynx rookie Diamond Miller rolled her ankle in an extremely painful-looking way, then left the game. It was a sad injury, but also the Lynx were in the process of running their season record to 0-5, so it kind of got lost in the shuffle a little bit; it was hard to keep track of all the things that were going wrong for Minnesota at that point of the year.

Tuesday night, she returned to the floor for Minnesota. She scored 18 points, played 31 minutes, was a plus-21 for the night, and in the process reminded everyone: oh yeah! The Lynx have the number-2 pick on their roster! There’s actual hope here!

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Baseball is unpredictable. In fact, all of sports are unpredictable. It’s part of the reason why they’re so much fun to watch. If they were predictable, there’d be no point in turning the game on.

So when the Twins matched up against Spencer Strider, the young fireballer from Atlanta that leads the league in strikeouts, that strikes out hitters like he’s a late-inning reliever, that throws 98 on the corners… well, you have to believe in that unpredictability. You have to believe that it’s baseball and anything can happen.

But that all said: you can’t exactly be surprised about Monday’s result, a 4-1 loss for the Twins.

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The Loons returned this weekend, and the Twins played twice more in Detroit, but surely there’s only one news item we can talk about first today: The Timberwolves are re-signing Naz Reid.

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There are a bunch of different things you can lead with, regarding the Twins’ 4-1 win in Detroit on Friday night. Sure, you could talk about Kenta Maeda’s triumphant return, as he struck out eight and held the Tigers scoreless over five innings. Sure, you could talk about Royce Lewis homering in the second inning, or Max Kepler homering two batters later.

The most fun, though, is to talk about home plate umpire Lance Barrett, who had a deadly combination going in this one: he was both doing a terrible job, and also he was grumpy about it.

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(Title Card: An Exasperated Dad Talks To The Minnesota Twins)

I mean, was that so hard?

Really. We’re asking you, the Minnesota Twins. Was that so hard?

After all, you don’t seem to have listened very well this year. This whole season, all we’ve been telling you is that if you just have your starting pitcher throw the game of his life, plus have your best players hit a bunch of home runs, you’re going to win some baseball games!

You want to think about listening to us, for once?

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Minneapolis City SC just hit a milestone: 100 matches as a club.

I was at the team’s original launch in 2016, so I went down to check in on the Crows, and find out what keeps this thing going, seven years later.

It’s not exactly long-form, but it’s long-ish, for Sota Soccer.

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Maybe the best thing about baseball is that it happens every day.

There’s plenty of emotion and plenty of anger and plenty of frustration in baseball, as Twins fans know well, but maybe the best thing is that no matter how poorly things are going, there’s always another game coming, usually the very next day.

Sometimes this feels like a curse and a drudgery, especially in August or September, for teams that are nowhere near the pennant race (or in the case of last year’s Twins, still technically in the pennant race, but only mathematically.)

I note this mostly to make my excuses, to say that even as things have turned sour with the Twins, I still tuned in on Wednesday night, because you never know, and today’s a new day, and all that. And anyone who tuned in along with me was rewarded, as the Twins finally won again, beating Boston 5-4 in ten innings.

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