hole new year. A whole new season. A whole new time for fresh hope. An exciting time to watch Billy Eppler crank his machine and turn the 2018 edition into 2019 relevancy.But I wonder. Is this the year that the Facebook crowd Babe Ruth Jersey , the Booster crowd, and even the Newport Beach per-caps crowd finally figure out that time is a wastin’ and some albatross contract has Arte too shy to fix things? The happy glow and pretense cannot go on forever.Nah. It’s OC. We have Disneyland for a reason.Have some Keep-On-Smiling-HaloLinks:A Little Bit Of Angels NewsIn reviewing the Best Defensive Plays for every team in 2018...Andrelton Simmons owns the LAA highlight. Yeah, surprising............Sure. Ok. GM Billy Eppler is “interested” in Josh Harrison. I’m “interested” in a lot of things. Eppler has been “interested” in everything that has gone everyplace but Anaheim. As Halo fans, we have to settle for all news meaning nothing, until it means something...........Kole Calhoun going anywhere means very, very little anymore...........Thank you, reddit...........Jo Adell shows why it’s good to be young, fit and in the prime of human health..........Here is a new conspiracy theory for the Phillies stealing away with Mike Trout (whose WAR still refuses to increase, dammit.)..........Yep. Shohei Ohtani really did force the hands of those who try to measure outcomes and weigh comparable productivity. As we predicted, he threatens to break the current machines.............Everywhere In BaseballTrader Jerry got himself his own Japanese superstar. Yusei Kikuchi signed a pretty long deal with the Mariners. Potentially, they can hang onto him for 8 years, for $109 million. It’s broken out into 4 guaranteed and 4 option years, but that would be an average of $13.6 million. Just a shade above Matt Harvey money............Hall of Fame ballot tracking needs to be tracked, since the announcement is coming up on January 22...........The Mariners are gearing up the “he said” side of the racial accusation mess raised by a former employee...........In calculating TV viewership by sport, I sure wish that the numbers would be published for ALL viewers of ALL broadcasts of ALL events. MLB, in a 162 game season for 30 teams http://www.yankeesfanproshop.com/authentic-giancarlo-stanton-jersey , plays 2,430 total games, PLUS the playoffs, All-Star Week, etc. I wonder what, if any, difference that would make?...........Hot StoveInstead of playing for the Angels for 500 peanuts, Troy Tulowitzki will play for the Yankees for those 500 peanuts. This kind of makes sense, since the Yanks are down one Didi Gregorious to rehab from TJ surgery. But Tulo is merely going to be enjoying super-premium stadium seating once the Yankees sign Manny Machado...........The Padres are still dealing. Clayton Richard to the Blue Jays..........Yasmani Grandal is still living the economics of baseball free agency, circa 1995, appropriately adjusted for inflation, of course..........Yasiel Puig makes the Reds a contender??? The Reds lost out on the NL Central by almost 30 games last year. Woof...........Hell yeah. I had always thought that the Cubs would be the leader in the Bryce Harper sweepstakes, and at least a player for Machado. Why so quiet??..........There are still guys out there to be had...........The Duffle BagDecator, Indiana residents selling T-shirts to raise money in order to rehab a youth baseball field? Let me be the one who breaks the news that Decator has less than 10,000 residents. They need to raise $1 million. If they charged $20 per shirt, every living soul in town has to purchase 5 shirts...........Hey Joe DiMaggio Jersey , at least we were not one of the crummiest sports teams in the nation for 2018..........But Mike Trout was merely the 3rd best American athlete of the year...........ST merch collectors alert: the cheap-assed rubber logos of 2018 are being abandoned already.......... Kubel hits one of his patented big-moment salamis to complete the cycle"Jason Kubel was always one of my favorite Twins players. I mean, one can’t help but be impressed by his “origin story”: he came through the Twins’ system as a blue-chip prospect and earned a call-up at the end of the 2004 season (in which he hit .300). He then went to play in the Arizona Fall League and completely blew out his knee and missed an entire campaign. He re-emerged as a slugger in 2006 (providing this dramatic grand slam in one of the most memorable games of that year) and cemented himself as an RBI machine in the middle of the lineup.I also identified with Kubel because he seemed so shy, socially-awkward, and completely wanting to shun any semblance of spotlight. As a very shy, reserved, oft-socially-bereft person myself, I can appreciate that lifestyle. One has to be a bit quirky to use this as his walkup music for a time...Anyway, 2009 was perhaps Kubel’s best single campaign in a Twins uniform. He tied Justin Morneau for third place on the team in WAR (both lefty mashers clocked in at 3.5 behind Joe Mauer’s 7.8 and Denard Span’s 3.8) and put up some hefty counting numbers as well: 28 HR, 103 RBI, .300 BA, .907 OPS.On April 17 of ‘09—exactly ten years ago today—the Twins were hosting the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim at the Dome. Kubel doubled in the first inning, singled in the third, and tripled in the sixth when Angels RF-er Bobby Abreu let a ball pinball around in the right field corner. One would think this would bode well for the hometown bunch, but sadly Nick Blackburn (6.1 IP, 4 ER) was not sharp out of the gate and the “firemen” (Jesse Crain & Matt Guerrier) added fuel (5 more ER) instead of water. Heading into the home half of the eighth, the good guys were trailing 9-4.Even worse? I wasn’t watching any of it. You see Mickey Mantle Jersey , back in 2009 I was struggling a bit career-wise. Though I was employed, it was not gainfully—the local Walmart being where I was clocking in and out. As the retail schedule dictates, I was often working the 1-10 PM shift (an experience that to this day still causes me to wake up from nightmares in a cold sweat from time to time). Not ideal for a Central time zone baseball fan, to be sure.That night, upon (finally) completing my shift, I hopped in my 1992 Ford F-150 to head home...When I clicked the radio on, the Twins were coming up to bat in the 8th. In the 10-15 minute drive back to my domicile, I listened to Mike Redmond and Span produce run-scoring hits, and then Angels pitcher Jason Bulger intentionally walk Morneau to load the bases for Kubelwith the score 9-7 Halos. As I pulled into my driveway, I remember hearing John Gordon’s call of Jason’s final act of the night...Cycle obtained! Twins win obtained (or would be after an easy 1-2-3 Joe Nathan inning)! Complete and utter pandemonium! I burst into the house and probably woke up most of my family members with my state of euphoria. This moment was exactly what I needed to break out of my 1-10 funk.Somewhat remarkably, this wouldn’t be the last time Kubes would come up clutch with a granny. Just a season later, he would take Mariano Rivera deep to give the Twins a rare Yankee Stadium win.I no longer drive that F-150. I no longer work at Walmart. Heck, I no longer even live at that house (or anywhere close to it!). But I’ll never forget that moment of pure bliss listening to Kubel & the Twins stage a late-game comeback for the ages.