Quick Notes: Dec. 19

They Say Goodbye...
We can officially say goodbye to a few former Twins this week. Matt Guerrier signed with the Dodgers, Jesse Crain signed with the White Sox, Orlando Hudson is going to the Padres, and Jose Morales was traded to the Rockies for prospects.

I was hoping the Twins would be able to keep one of Guerrier or Crain to keep the bullpen strong -- preferably Matty. When Guerrier's signing was announced, I still held a little hope that the Twins could still snag Crain. But, alas, it was not meant to be. Those two have been pillars in the Twins bullpen for a lot of years, and it's going to be weird to not have either one of them around. I may have been critical of both their up-and-down tendencies, but by and large, they've been very, very reliable. Unfortunately, many fans seem to remember only certain bad days, especially against the Yankees (why, yes, I do remember when Guerrier gave up that grand slam to A-Rod, thanks for asking), but if folks would consider their entire bodies of work, they'd realize they were both very solid pitchers. The Twins will miss having them around.

Orlando Hudson announced on an XM Radio interview his agreement with the Padres, thereby scooping everybody (well, everybody in my Twitter feed) on any rumors about it. He will join former-Twin Jason Bartlett to staff the Padres' middle-infield.

I was quite surprised when I saw that Jose Morales was traded. At first, I was kind of bummed: I like his smile I figured that he's too good for what the Twins got in return. But then I realized that I was kind of doing that remembering only a certain good day (his MLB debut) thing and not considering his entire player profile (shame on me), and I changed my mind. He was out of minor-league options (which meant that if the Twins wanted to send him down, he'd have to clear waivers first, which wouldn't be likely) and they needed the space on the 40-man roster, so it wasn't such a bad trade after all.

I wish all them the best of luck. Well, maybe slightly less luck to Jesse Crain because he's a White Sox now and he's fair game for my rival ire.

~~~

And We Say Hello...

The Twins officially signed and introduced Tsuyoshi Nishioka (he says we can call him "Nishi"). I didn't see any of the press conference, but from everything I read, he seems like a good guy. I'm getting more and more excited to see him play, even if I'm cautiously optimistic. He said all the right things, and he seems to have some personality. Here's he and Gardy modeling the Justin Morneau "sluggies"...if this ain't personality, I don't know what is.

Photo courtesy of the Minnesota Twins

Welcome, Nishi.

~~~

Here's hoping you have a fabulous Christmas. Enjoy.

Jesse Crain Day!

Wow. I almost forgot that Andrew appointed today as Jesse Crain day.

Good thing I have this picture of him that my son drew:

I added the quote, because 1) that song was in my head, and 2) I thought it fit.

Isn't that a nicer image of him than what a lot of Twins fans have in their minds? Something like this:

"The Crainwreck"

(Oh, and by the way, when I was googling images if trainwrecks, I learned that there's a kind of pot called "trainwreck." Yeah, I probably shouldn't have clicked the link for it -- I'm at work. I expect a visit from the IT guy very shortly.)

Twins at Tigers -- Expecting Excellence (and Not Always Getting It)

Recap:
Tuesday -- Twins 2 - Tigers 0
Wednesday -- Twins 6 - Tigers 11 (!)
Thursday -- Twins 0 - Tigers 3

Twins drop series 1-2 (first dropped series and first two-game losing streak all season)

Record: 14 - 8

~~~

Generally speaking, sports fans expect excellence from their teams. If not, then what's the point? Passion is part of the bargain. The word "fan" itself proves it; it's short for "fanatic." Therefore, dispassionate people can't really be called "fans"; if they like sports at all, they're merely admirers or connoisseurs, right?

So, what's my point? Well, part of the passion-pact is that we fans expect excellence from our team. Yeah, pretty much all the time. It's the deal -- you play well, I'll be happy; you suck, I'll be unhappy. Simple. All I ask is that everyone does his job -- excellently.

~~~

Fransisco Liriano
So, how excellent was he on Tuesday? Wow. And the best part? It's still kind of unexpected -- we're still waiting for last year's version of Frankie to show himself. But, for the third start in a row, he sparkled. It was a work of art.

Seth Stohs asked on his Facebook page something like (I'm paraphrasing because I'm too lazy to go back and look it up) "can we finally say the 2006 version of Liriano is back?" To which I replied something like (paraphrasing again; lazy again, er, still) "Who's to say we even want the 2006 version of Liriano? That guy wasn't a smart pitcher and because he always wanted to overpower batters, he hurt himself. The 2010 version is a much better, and much smarter pitcher. It looks like he trusts his stuff, and his catcher, much more. He seems calmer and more confident. Leave the 2006 version in the past. I like the 2010 version better. I hope he can keep it up."

In fact, Eric Karabell on ESPN's Baseball Today podcast predicted Liriano will be the AL Cy Young Award winner. Now, I'm not quite ready to go that far, but I'm sure having fun watching him.

~~~

Denard Span
Sometimes a man displays excellence off the field. And sometimes a man displays his excellence in how he responds to a less-than-excellent moment. On Tuesday, Denard lost his cool because the umpire, Paul Emmel, was not doing his job excellently. Denard argued balls and strikes and then threw his bat in frustration. And because of it, he was ejected from the game, which lead to some interesting defensive replacements.

Now, many passionate Twins fans were quick to forgive Span; Emmel's strike zone was ridiculous. But it was still a bad moment for Denard, and he wasn't proud of it. But the excellent part came after the game: he apologized to the umpiring crew, issued an apology to the press, and apologized on Twitter. He was perfectly contrite and he promised to try to avoid doing that again.

~~~

Luke Hughes
It didn't take long for him to display a nice little outburst of excellence. In his first Major League at bat, he deposited a fastball into the right-field seats. The last time a Twin homered in his first Major League at bat was Andre David in 1984. Excellent!

~~~

Jesse Crain
So, there's a reason a lot of people call Jesse "Crain-wreck." I know he can be excellent. I've seen him be excellent. But when he's not excellent, he's a looooong way away from excellent. And Wednesday, he and excellent were miles apart.

I know he was trotted out in a difficult situation. I know that Scott Baker and Pat Neshek weren't exactly excellent themselves. But, damn, watching Crain was just plain painful.

~~~

Carl Pavano
He was excellent on Thursday. Too bad he wasn't excellent enough, and Dontrelle Willis (of all people) was excellenter. And too bad the Twins bats weren't excellent at all.

~~~

Umpires
For the second series in a row, and third time in a week, the umpires kind of took the concept of excellence and sent it to the showers.

• On Saturday (at Kansas City), umpire Greg Gibson called Scott Podsednik out at 2nd to end the game when JJ Hardy bobbled the ball and threw to Orlando Hudson clearly after Podsednik reached. A game should never be decided on such a horrible call.
• On Tuesday, umpire Paul Emmel, who early in the game enforced a reasonable strike zone, suddenly started calling very obvious outside balls as strikes. He was awfully quick to eject Span for arguing. Now there will always be bad balls/strikes calls, but actually changing the entire strike zone in the middle of the game is not cool.
• On Wednesday, umpire Paul Emmel (again!) called an awesome running catch and subsequent drop by Denard Span a no-catch. Span clearly took about three steps with the ball in his glove before he dropped it as he exchanged it to his throwing hand. Emmel defended his call by quoting the part of the rule that says the player should "hold the ball long enough to prove that he has complete control." Umm. Three steps is a pretty long time. But ultimately, the umpires admitted that they lost sight of the play. Again, not cool. And I'm absolutely convinced that it changed the game against the Twins.

I know umpiring is a human job, and humans make mistakes. But this recent lack of excellence from umpires it getting almost strange. It's also generating a lot of buzz regarding expanding instant replay in baseball. I tweeted my response to that idea:

Unfortunately, the umpires may leave us no choice. It may come to be that instant replay is the lesser of two evils. Sad, really. It's time that Major League Baseball demands more excellence from all umpires.

Royals at Twins - Bits and Pieces

Recap:
Friday -- Royals 3 - Twins 10
Saturday -- Royals 5 - Twins 6
Sunday -- Royals 10 - Twins 5

Twins take series 2-1

~~~

So, it's been a crazy, but good, weekend. Between helping one kid get ready for prom, helping the other get ready for baseball try-outs, and preparing for dinner guests, plus all the regular weekend stuff like tidying up, laundry, groceries, etc., I've hardly had time to think, let alone watch baseball.

But I was able to catch bits and pieces of the games. So here is my blog post, in bits and pieces:

• Friday's game was a ton of fun
• Sunday's game was a ton of bricks
• Saturday's game just seemed dragging and difficult
• Like I'd really know for sure; I probably watched all of 7 pitches of Saturday's game
• It's a good thing Joe Mauer got a nice contract; he needs to add another room to his house for all the trophies 
• He received the Kenesaw Mountain Landis Memorial Award (the real name of the MVP award) 
• He received the American League Batting Title Award
• He received the Louisville Slugger® Silver Slugger Award
• He received the Rawlings® Gold Glove Award
• It was weird to see Greinke struggle
• It was frustrating to see Pavano struggle
• Yeah, I didn't really like to see Crain struggle either
• Or Blackburn
• Off day tomorrow, so all the pitchers can relax and get back into the groove
• I like Greinke, so it's ok if he's in a groove as long as he isn't facing the Twins
• I've said it before, and I'll say it again: I'm not a fan of leaving a million men on base
• Like leaving men on base is like the constant like teenage girl like upspeak of baseball
• The Twins took their first four series of the season
• That's something they've never done before
• I like that
• I want them to keep it up
• So did you hear about Ubaldo Jimenez? 
• Jimenez pitched the first no-hitter in Rockies' history
• Very cool
• Did you hear about Saturday's Mets-Cardinals game? 
• Mets won
• It took 20 innings
• It was a pitchers' duel
• Scoreless for the first 19 innings
• The Cardinals had to get creative with their pitchers
• Infielder Felipe Lopez pitched the 18th
• Outfielder/thirdbaseman Joe Mather pitched the 19th and 20th
• Mather also took the loss
• Pitcher Kyle Lohse (remember him?) played left field for three innings
• Catcher Yadier Molina caught all 20 innings
• Catcher Yadier Molina is catching Sunday night
• The Mets and Cardinals are, at this moment, tied in the 7th

That's all I got.

Ok, So Now What Am I Supposed To Do?

k-bro note: Ok, if I had known that talking about Joe Nathan's elbow was going to turn into a three-part series, I would've warned you ahead of time. But if you allow me this one last indulgence, I promise I won't need to go on any more. Call it working through my grief, if you will.

Ok. He knew it. The Twins knew it. You knew it. I knew it. Joe Nathan's going to have Tommy John surgery. I wish him all the best, and I sincerely hope that he can return next season and pitch for many years after that. In fact, I hope he realizes that he has super healing powers and comes back in time for September call-ups and pitches better than ever. Yes, I realize there's no sense in being delusional.

Joe will be impossible to replace on the mound. Surprisingly, I'm not terribly worried about what the Twins are going to do. For one thing, even an average pitcher can successfully convert about 80% of the save opportunities*. Plus, whoever the Twins initially choose will have a pretty short leash -- blow two saves or labor through three times, and ... next. Really, my gut tells me it'll be ok. And who knows, someone may surprise all of us and just shine in the role.

But, I really want to talk about the most important thing. What am I going to do? Ok, this may not be the most important thing, but it's well documented that I'm all in favor of anything that's all about me. You see, this whole ordeal has taken a toll on me -- more so that I thought it would. Turns out he might be my baseball boyfriend. Who knew?

It's not just that he's one of the best closers in the game, although that's a big part of it. But, I always had a good time watching him pitch. I love that he's twitchy. I love that he always made me nervous. And I really love his curveball -- no, I mean REALLY love it; oh my.

Actually I have this "thing" with him -- I have ever since his first pitch in a Twins uniform. I talk to him when he's on the mound, right through the TV or radio. I always say "Joe, no interesting." Always. And I get my kids involved -- I make them say it too. I know he hears me, and he usually responds well (for the record, for that blown save against the Yankees in the playoffs, I was at my kid's football game and unavailable to talk to him -- don't think that didn't kill me). Between his nervousness and my encouragement, it's a great relationship, and it works.

So, who am I going to have this relationship with now? Who am I going to talk to while he's on the mound? What am I going to say? You don't understand how extremely important this is to me (yes, yes, I know I don't really have this much power over the players, at least the core of my brain knows it -- there's no reasoning with the core of my gut).

Neshek? Possibly; he's got potential, and he's fun to watch. But his elbow is kind of iffy, and I'd stress out too much worrying about both the game and his arm.

Crain? Nah. He annoys me. I have an automatic dim view set on him, so regardless of how he performs, I'll think he sucks. Can we even take him seriously?

Guerrier? Maybe, but he's kind of boring -- he doesn't even twitch. But if he can get saves, I can overlook that.

Rauch? Nope. I refuse to talk to him. I mean, I want him to do well, for the good of the team and all. But I can't see myself having fun watching him pitch.

Mijares? Um, I don't think he'll even get a chance. Do you?

Somebody new? Wow. That'd be like a first date. I won't even know him, and it'll be all awkward.

So, what's a girl to do? I guess I'll figure it out along with everyone else. But, really, it'll be ok. Right?

*I think I read that somewhere, and I'm not sure where, so I can't verify this. But it sounds plausible. So, if I'm wrong, don't yell at me.

Hmm...

A few notes on a couple of things that kind of made me scratch my head.

The Twins signed all eight of their arbitration eligible players
This is good. I've heard that neither the teams nor the players want to go into the arbitration room. The team tells the player how awful he is so that they don't have to pay him as much money as he wants, and then when it's all done, they have to convince him how much the love him. Can't be good for anyone.

So it's great that everyone (JJ Hardy, Carl Pavano, Delmon Young, Pat Neshek, Jesse Crain, Matt Guerrier, Francisco Liriano all for one-year contracts and Brendan Harris for a two-year contract) signed so quickly -- all done on the very day when figures were exchanged. But it's curious that it was indeed that fast. The Twins and one other team (I forget which, Dodgers maybe?) were the only ones that had that many arbitration eligibles. So it would have been understandable if a few of them had taken a day or two.

Now, I haven't really followed Twins contract activities in the past, so I'm not sure about what to think of this. But I seem to remember when Cuddyer was arbitration-eligible, he and the Twins came to a "hand on the doorknob to the mediator's room" agreement.

So it seems odd to me that they'd knock off all eight in one swell foop. What does it mean? Are they opening the wallet freely? Are they just trying to get it over with and just saying "whatever" to whatever the players wanted? Were all the players extraordinarily reasonable with their demands? Huh?

The Twins are seriously interested in signing Jim Thome
Um, ok. The White Sox announced earlier this evening that they're not interested in him, so speculation is that he's deciding between the Twins and the Rays.

Now Thome's great. He's the kind of player you hate, only because he always beats you. I always like him a lot better when he's in the National League.

He's been described as the nicest guy in baseball. And that came from Mike Redmond -- after Thome cracked his skull when he forgot to hold on to his bat.

But, despite all that, the curious part is: why? We already have a left-handed, and much younger, DH in Jason Kubel. And it's not like we could put Thome out in the field to rest some guys.
I know the bench is a bit thin, but I seriously think they have other needs to address first. I don't know; bringing him in is like bringing beer to a wine tasting -- really good beer, but it still doesn't quite fit.


Ok, this is a no-brainer
The estimable Seth Stohs is planning a super-duper, action-packed, star-studded, pre-TwinsFest extravaganza podcast tomorrow (Tuesday) evening. Ok, I exaggerate, but it's still going to be great.

Follow this link to listen live: www.BlogTalkRadio.com/SethSpeaks

Here's his tentative schedule (Central Time):

8:00-8:05 – Introduction

8:05-8:20 – John Sickels

8:20-8:35 – Pat Neshek

8:35-8:50 – Joe Benson

8:50-9:05 – Carlos Gutierrez

9:05-9:10 – Catch Up

9:10-9:25 – Kyle Gibson

9:25-9:35 – Open

9:35-9:45 – Denard Span

9:45-9:55 – Jeff Manship

9:55-10:00 – Wrap-Up

Be sure to tune in; it sounds like an awesome show.

Breathing

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

This Royals series had me holding my breath a couple of times, but a Twins' sweep made it all worth it.

Recap:
Friday: Twins 5 - Royals 4
Saturday: Twins 8 - Royals 7
Sunday: Twins 10 - Royals 3

Friday's game was fine, until Joe Nathan came to the mound, and then I was a mess. To be fair, I'm always nervous when the Nathanator comes out. I think his hyper-anxiety rubs off on me. I wasn't necessarily worried that he would blow the save, I was just generally worried.

I was right to be worried.

But, after the blown save, he went out for the 10th after the Twins re-took the lead. And it took him for...ev...er to pin it down, all the while I'm sitting and hyperventilating. But he did it. Whew.

Saturday's game was fine, until the bullpen came in. Duensing did just fine by only allowing 2 runs, but "Tell-me-again-why-he's-here" Keppel and "The Crainwreck" Crain each gave up two runs to allow them within two. And since Nathan was unavailable because of Friday's herculean effort, it was Guerrier's game to save. And I thought I was hyperventilating the night before. He allowed a run, but eventually got the save. Whew -- again!

Sunday's game was not hyperventilation-inducing -- thank goodness. That awesome offensive outburst in the 7th, and Pavano's nice pitching performance, was just the relaxing game I needed. Cuddy's two homeruns in one inning was a little breathtaking, though. He's the first Twin to ever do that; I, for one, think that's damn cool.

~~~

And since I forgot to recap the Texas series:
Monday: Twins 5 - Rangers 8
Tuesday: Twins 9 - Rangers 6
Wednesday: Twins 5 - Rangers 4
Thursday: Twins 1 - Rangers 11

Splitting the series was better than I expected. So, yay for that...you know, if Thursday's game hadn't been so soul crushing.

That Was Deflating

After a nice sweep of the Evil Uglies earlier in the week, the Twins and their momentum deflated pretty quickly, and they became the dustbunnies. Oh, and they're below .500 again.

Recap:
Friday: Twins 5 - Angels 11
Saturday: Twins 6 - Angels 11
Sunday: Twins 4 - Angels 13

(52 - 53, 3rd place, 3 games back)

Ga! It's awful having to type all those double-digit numbers for the opponent. You'd think that scoring four or more runs in a game would at least keep the Twins close. Nope.

So, not only was the entire series a big pthpthpthtphptht, but every little thing was a slow leak. Every time a positive thing happened for the Twins, the good feeling immediately floated away because of a much larger negative thing.

On Friday:

• Joey hits a 3-run homer, Nicky hits an RBI triple, and D-Span hits an RBI double; Blackie and Matty combine to let them tie it up.
• Matty and Nathanator do a nice job keeping it a tie game through the 9th and 10th; Keppel, Crain, and Dickey combine to allow six (!) runs in the top of the 11th, with help from Brendan's tangled feet at the worst possible time.
  

On Saturday:

• Red-Dog and Go-Go hit RBI extra base hits to tie the game; Swarzy allows four singles and three runs in the next half-inning.
• R.A. pitches two nice innings to keep the Twins within two; then starts his third inning of work with a single, a throwing error, a walk, and a homer -- and then Keppel relieves him and quickly gives up two homers.
  

On Sunday:

• D-Span makes an awesome grab for the first out in the 4th; Perkins allows a base-hit to the next batter who eventually scores.
• O-Cab hits his first homer as a Twin; Perkins coughs up 5 runs in the next half-inning.
  

The whole thing felt like trying to blow up a balloon with a hole in it. It gave me a headache.
~~~

Up next:
An off day, then a road trip through Cleveland.

I don't recommend taking the Indians too lightly. Their team has been devastated by a bunch of trades, so the young guys starting are hungry and fearless -- they have nothing to lose. And, they just took 2 of 3 from the Tigers (and the one they lost was in extra innings).

Embarrassing Much?

Seriously? Did that really just happen? You mean this stinking awful rotten series wasn't a horrible nightmare? Yikes.

Recap:
Monday: Do you even want to know? Ugly ugly ugly.
Tuesday: Twins 3 - A's 2
Wednesday: Even uglier than Monday's

Ok, so it's over. Put it in the past.

Besides, I don't have anything to say that wouldn't be incredibly depressing or offensive (Hi Mom!). So I'll just leave it alone.

~~~

Well, wait. I do want to say something about the series. I have some thoughts about The Play. You know The Play -- the one at home plate with Cuddyer, and the bad call, and the resulting punch in the proverbial gut? Well, I don't actually want to talk about The Play; I want to talk about The Fallout From The Play.

Gardy wants baseball to adopt a "red flag" ruling like football has -- a way to announce to the officials that the manager begs to differ with the call and would like them to take a look at the film. I don't agree. Nope, not at all.

I'm against instant-replay, and I have been for a long time. I am willing to tolerate the current homerun-or-not-fair-or-foul replay baseball has -- there aren't umpires at the fair poles, and it might be hard to see that far away. However, I really can't stand the thought of any more possible instances.

I know the idea of IR is to "get the call right." However, there is every reason to believe that a play at home plate, where an umpire resides the whole game, will be called correctly 99.9% of the time. In this particular case, the umpire was out of position to make a good call. His bad. Yeah, I'm mad at him, and he should probably be disciplined for the gaffe, but in reality, he screwed up -- nothing more. And nothing more should be made of it. Who hasn't messed up the job? (No, please don't ask my boss if I have. He might enjoy relating those stories too much.)

It's understandable to react like Gardy did. But the true test would be to ask him if the tables were turned and we WON on a blown call, would he feel the same way. I can't speak for him, but I kind of doubt it.

~~~

Keeping Up on the Bull Pen Revolving Door:

After Wednesday's game, Kevin Mulvey was sent down and Jesse Crain was called back up.

Oh, it sounds like Joe Crede and/or Glen Perkins might land on the DL. There seems to be a shoulder virus going around.

Buzzkill

Twins 2 - Mariners 4 (11)

Gag! I was so happy that the Twins got Eddie back. I was even happier that he pitched. I was thrilled that he pitched a tidy inning for a hold. Then...

Then Nathan gave up that double, but I was still ok. Then...

Then Punto booted that ball. Ugh! Nicky, keep you eye on the damn ball! The runner was going to third anyways, so you didn't need to be looking over at third base. You needed to field that ball and get the out!

Everyone's going to say that the bullpen blew the game. I don't buy it. The defense blew the game -- AGAIN! Their first two runs were the result of errors. If not for those, the Twins wouldn't have needed to go to Crain in the eleventh; the game would have been over with Nathan in the ninth.

And the offense didn't help much either. They were up there flailing at pitches like they were completely over matched.

Come on guys! You have to play like you actually want to win. Especially now. I didn't see any of that tonight.

And another thing: I'm getting really tired of hearing about how long this road trip is. (Well, to be fair, it's really the reporters complaining about the road trip.) If you think about it, it's only longer than a "normal" road trip by one series. So, as of today, it hasn't been a long road trip yet. Stop playing like you're exhausted; you're not.

Ok, sorry if this was a little harsh. But I'm more than a little crabby about the whole thing.

Thrown Away

Twins 4 - Tigers 5

Well, crappola.

It's waaaay more fun to come from behind and win than to go from ahead and lose. And I was planning on writing some cute and clever stuff, but now I just don't feel like it. I was going to say something about how adorable it was that after Go-Go stole third, he had to shake the dirt out of his hair. I was going to mention something about how bad Galarranga's control must be if he tries to hit Joe Mauer and misses -- twice (it's not like Joey's little or anything). I wanted to rip on the Tiger defense because they kinda looked like monkeys chucking the ball around. I planned on giving Denard a "welcome back" pat on the back for that nice defensive play and for hitting that double. Heck, I was even going to defend Gardy for arguing being warned because Glen didn't do anything wrong.

But alas, all my creativity and good will is gone. Jesse, Dennys, and Matty combined to throw it all away. I'm simply much too grumpy now. Is it possible for the bullpen to be too rested?

**Sigh**

Let's get 'em tomorrow, shall we? Please? I'd appreciate it.

Doesn't That Feel Better?

Twins 8 - Cleveland 5

See guys, isn't winning much more fun than losing? When you do things well, good things happen. Let's review:

Starting Pitching: Solid. Way to go Nick. You kept the batters from getting too comfortable at the plate (whatever that means). You got strikeouts and ground balls when you needed them.

Relief Pitching: Very nice, with one little exception. Jesse. you were brilliant getting those strikeouts. However, Dennys, you need to work on not giving up three-run homers (I'll cut you some slack, since it's the first homer you've given up this season).

Offense: Now THAT'S what I've been talking about. When there were men in scoring postion, you actually drove them in. Justin and Cuddy did a very nice job at the plate. Jason's homer was yummy. And Go-Go and Alexi are hot with their cute little hitting streaks -- keep it up.

Baserunning: Again, nicely done. Getting on, getting over, etc. Go-Go and Alexi stealing bases was also adorable.

Defense: Wow. Double-plays are hot. Cuddy making that catch was smokin' hot.

See how easy it is? Now keep it up.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
And finally the "I Almost Have That Sinking Feeling Again" moment of the game: So do you think that when Dennys gave up that homer and Cleveland got within one, Nick put his head in his hands and wept softly, thinking that his bad luck was going surface again and he wouldn't get the win?