Baseball might be frustrating you at the moment if you are a Twins fan. But even with the struggles of the local nine, it's hard to ignore -- or resist -- some of the quirkier stories offered up by the national pastime. Here are five that emerged in recent days:

1. The Twins, as you might know, managed just nine hits over a four-game span (the last two against the Angels and the first two against the Mariners). According to the Elias Sports Bureau, that's the fewest hits for any team over a four-game span in modern Major League Baseball history, which dates to 1900. To put it in perspective, the 1991 Twins had a 15-game winning streak that helped vault them from worst to first on the way to the World Series. That team had more than nine hits in a single game nine times during that span.

2. Say what you want about the Twins, but at least their bullpen hasn't been terrible (they entered Sunday tied for 17th in baseball with a 4.08 ERA -- hardly great, but better than last season's dead-last 4.51 ERA). Fans howled when Matt Capps was brought back, but he's fared much better than a lot of other high-profile closers -- many of whom changed uniforms. Sergio Santos (traded from the White Sox to Blue Jays) is on the DL with a 9.00 ERA and two blown saves. Heath Bell (Marlins) and Carlos Marmol (Cubs) were demoted from their closer roles. And new closer Andrew Bailey has yet to throw a pitch because of a thumb injury, contributing to the MLB-worst 4.93 bullpen ERA for the Red Sox.

3. Classy gesture: Adam Yauch -- better known as MCA of the Beastie Boys -- died Friday. As a tribute, all nine hitters in the Mets starting lineup used a Beastie Boys song as their walk-up music Friday night. The lineup, according to ESPN New York: Ruben Tejeda -- "Intergalactic"; Daniel Murphy -- "No Sleep Till Brooklyn"; David Wright -- "Brass Monkey"; Lucas Duda -- "The New Style"; Scott Hairston -- "Root Down"; Ike Davis -- "Fight for Your Right"; Andres Torres -- "So Watch'cha Want"; Josh Thole -- "Make Some Noise"; Dillon Gee -- "Body Movin."

4. New Twins outfielder Erik Komatsu makes hip-hop music and offers up several of his work examples at the site www.soundclick.com/komo under the name "Komo Beatz."

5. The silence you hear is Hawk Harrelson: Let's end on a positive note (at least as it pertains to most Twins fans). The website awfulannouncing.com notes that Harrelson, the White Sox broadcaster with a well-known penchant for being a homer, fell silent for more than a minute after Jhonny Peralta's recent walk-off home run for the Tigers. As noted on the site: "Sound in the booth could have been cut off inexplicably. Microphones may have temporarily disintegrated. I'm sure there are any number of rational explanations for no sound whatsoever emanating from the White Sox broadcast booth."

MICHAEL RAND