Brian Dozier Keeps Mashing Taters, While the Minnesota Twins Crater

Minnesota Twins second baseman Brian Dozier entered Monday afternoon's game against the Kansas City Royals with 35 home runs, good for fifth place in all of baseball. Three hours and three homers later, he had moved into second, trailing only Baltimore's Mark Trumbo. In that same span of time, the Twins racked up a 11-5 loss.

As much as any one game can, Monday's summed up the past month in Minnesota. After a dismal start to 2016 and a .500-ish righting of the ship in the middle of the summer, the Twins cratered again in August, at one point losing 13 straight. They have the worst record in the majors by a healthy margin. One of their big-time prospects, Byron Buxton, can't hit, and the other, Miguel Sano, can't field. A rare bright spot in all this has been Dozier, who apparentlyhas decided to try to cheer up everyone by socking every fastball he sees into the upper deck of Target Field.

The Labor Day hat trick brought Dozier up to eight homers in his past seven games, and an astonishing 24 since the All-Star break. He has entered rare statistical air not only regarding this season but also historically. The record for home runs by a second baseman is 42, shared by Rogers Hornsby and Davey Johnson; Dozier is only six away (two of his homers came as a designated hitter).

Even if it hasn't translated into many Minnesota wins, Dozier's run has been quite the show. His approach lacks almost any nuance; he hunts fastballs and swings for the downs. He looks like an office worker, kind of shrimpy and doughy, and is hitting like Giancarlo Stanton. Monday was representative: all three bombs came off of heaters, turned on and pulled hard to left. Dozier's other two plate appearances ended in strikeouts. The recent surge may not augur some great career turn—his previous career high in homers was 28, and the list of middle infielders who found all-world power just before their 30th birthdays is a short one—but this is someone living the last-place life the right way, bringing beer-league softball strategy to the bigs.

Decorum had to be maintained, though. Dozier took a meek curtain call after his final homer in the eighth, with the Twins still trailing by six runs, and after the game said the right things about the relationship between team success and personal accomplishments. "I hate losing more than anything, no matter if you hit homers or not," he said. "It tastes a lot better at the end of the day when you go home, you have a cold one, you know you just beat the Royals. That didn't happen."

Still, there's worth in it. This is the time of year when baseball again starts to parse the word "valuable" as it pertains to the MVP awards. One point of view argues that a player's output means more if it helps a contender; the other argues that setting shouldn't matter, that a player can control only his own work. There's a value Dozier provides that even MVP candidates like Josh Donaldson and Mookie Betts can't. It's been a trying summer in Minnesota, one in dire need of a distraction. Dozier has provided it, and the fans who called him back out of the dugout will tell you just how much it's appreciated.