Friday Links-N-Thinks

The MLB Playoffs are in full swing and there have been some great games so far. The story lines have been fun to watch as the there have been some surprising series that have gone the distance. It will be great to see how the rest of October plays out across Major League Baseball.

Here are some of the the top stories from the last week:

• Greg Gagne celebrated the 25th anniversary of an interesting milestone earlier this week. 
• White Sox blogger JJ Stankevitz gives his thoughts on his team's new manager Robin Ventura. 
• Word is the Twins might want to cut their payroll for next season. John Bonnes looks at why that is a bad decision. 
• The view of downtown will improve from the seats at Target Field with an eyesore advertisement being removed. 
• Bill Smith and Dave St. Peter held a season ticket holder fan forum earlier this week and shared some insights on the offseason ahead. 
• Nick Nelson tried to prioritize the offseason needs that lay ahead for Smith.
• There were some defensive issues for the Twins this year and Seth Stohs took an in-depth look at the topic.
• ESPN's Baseball Today podcast touched on Aaron Hicks and what he has looked like in the AFL.
• There has been a squirrel problem in St. Louis and it even has it's own Twitter account.

• Joe Nelson ranked all of the major coaches in the Twin Cities. How did Gardy rank?
• Todd Van Steensel, a Twins minor leaguer, has been telling many tales of his adventures with Australia at the World Cup.
• The folks at Twinkie Town asked the question, "Should the Twins target CJ Wilson?"
• FOX is going to let AJ Pierzynzki analyze baseball in October. Oh brother...
• MLB Bonus Baby did a 2012 draft prediction. They have the Twins looking at an interesting position with the #2 pick.
• Gleeman and the Geek continue to produce some excellent listening material with their podcast.
• The Lynx are one win away from the WNBA title and Augustus stole the show in Game 2.  

My posts from throughout the week:

• Sunday: Twins' message to fans, "We will rally"
• Monday: 50 years later, Maris still outside the Hall
• Tuesday: Maddon, Gibson were top managers in '11
• Wednesday: Span ready for leadership role
• Thursday: Hellickson, Kimbreal top list of rookie players

• The world lost an amazing man this week and I will leave you with this video looking at his legacy.

CONSIDER MAKING A DONATION TO STAND UP TO CANCER 

-Harmon Killebrew, Steve Jobs, and countless others were taken this year after battling this terrible disease