I hadn’t realized the Twins were so hot, winning eight straight and 10 of their last 11 games while posting a team OPS of over .800. Jesse at Twinkie Town breaks down the team’s offense during the run.

Saber Scouting has the scoop on the international signing period, which starts in a week.

Joe Posnanski talks about Joe Morgan and the latest sabermetric outrage against him (not to mention Jon Miller’s weird pronunciation of OPS). Joe Morgan has never annoyed me the way he annoys a lot of other baseball analytic types, and Joe P. seems to agree with me. What’s more, he explains why in a way […]

Dave Cameron details something most Tiger fans probably already know: Justin Verlander’s fastball is zinging again.

Fifth outfielder has pulled together some interesting information about the most-used relievers of the past three years, and wonders: Scott Proctor???

Our win share stats have been updated through yesterday’s games. Over the past week, the biggest gain in total win shares was made by Kansas City’s David DeJesus, who batted .333/.429/.567 during the Royals’ hot streak. Since June 15, DeJesus has a WPA of almost 1.0. Not bad for little more than a week’s worth.

Mike Carminati dissects the strange goings-on in the minors last week when an ambidextrous pitcher faced a switch-hitting batter.

The Griddle spotlights an interview with Hal Smith, the Pirate catcher who hit a three-run homer to give Pittsburgh a two-run lead in the 8th inning of Game 7 of the 1960 World Series. You know, the series that the Pirates lost.

Joe Morgan thinks that Ernie Banks took advantage of the bleacher baskets at Wrigley—you know, the baskets that weren’t installed until about a year before Banks retired. In a game, Morgan used “Banks Boulevard” as a synonym for the basket. You can take the title of this post as a synonym for “the gutter.”

Members from MLB and the Players Association conferred yesterday on the safety of maple bats. At the end, Lance Berkman channels Dylan Thomas.