Twins at Tigers: Rule of Firsts

Recap:
Friday -- Twins lost
Saturday -- Twins lost
Sunday -- Twins lost

Record: Well, it ain't the best in baseball anymore. I mean, I know the division race is done and all, but, sheesh, winning is way more fun than losing.

*sigh* Ok. I'm sorry. I'm a little snippy. [cleansing breath]

I understand that getting the guys healthy for the playoffs might be a smidge more important that securing home-field advantage, so I get that many of the regular position players are sitting and resting and healing. Good. I hope all the kinks are worked out this next week.

However, the starting pitchers for those three games were our playoff game one-two-three starters. So, yeah, I kind of expected a little bit better pitching than that. In fact, I expected better pitching from all the pitchers. So I think it's time to remind them of the basics of pitching. Better nip this thing in the bud right now.

A few years ago, I bought my son a new glove. A little pamphlet on the basics of baseball, aimed at youth players, was attached to it. And the section about pitching left an impression on me. So, here goes...

Ahem? Are you reading this, Twins pitchers?

The Rule of Firsts

Good pitching is as simple as the rule of firsts. The first pitch to each batter should be a strike; the first batter of each inning should be an out; the first inning of your appearance should be scoreless. If you can do that, you'll usually have a successful outing.

See? It's just that simple -- not difficult at all.

Now if I could only remember the section on defense...

"Border Battle" and Other Interleague Silliness

Or..."A Rant Against Interleague Play From Someone Who Likes It"

As a fan, I like interleague play. I really do. I admit that I'm one of those fans who doesn't really pay much attention to the National League, other than to keep a scanning eye on certain teams that friends of mine support. So, really, the only time I get to watch some NL teams is when the Twins play them during interleague play.

What's all the hype over this Jason Heyward fellow about? Is this Ubaldo Jimenez guy really all that? How's Chutley's hair doing these days? Is Johan still beautiful? These are questions I only learn during interleague games. Plus,I am amused when our pitchers have to hit. Admit it, you are too.

So, interleague play must be good, right? As one of Bud Selig's brainchildren (is that a word?), it must be awesome, right? Well, maybe it's awesome for generating revenue, but it's not awesome for baseball.

These games count, and thereby, they'll potentially have an impact on the standings at the end of the season. So while the Twins were struggling and dropping two games against the division-leading Braves (and their 37-27 record), the Tigers were sweeping the Pirates (23-40). Ok, so that kind of stuff happens - it's a long season, and things tend to even out. Even though the Tigers will face the Braves later, sadly, the Twins won't face the Pirates. My point, however, is that the Twins and Tigers, while locked in a division race, do not face the same teams. During their entire interleague schedule, the Twins face above-.500 teams for four series (ATL, COL, PHI, NYM) and the same sub-.500 team for two series (MIL). The Tigers, on the other hand, split above- and sub-.500 teams at three series each (LAD, NYM, PHI and PIT, WSH, ARI respectively). And two of the Tigers' "easy" series feature much worse teams than the ones the Twins play. Of course, this unfairness is present within all the divisions in both leagues. This unbalance could have implications within divisions for the championships and within the leagues for the wildcards.

k-bro's note: Honest, I wrote the previous paragraph before I read this post from Bill over at The Daily Something. Great minds...blah, blah, blah. You should read what he wrote too, because he explains this whole mess with much more detail -- he has charts and everything. Ok, back to my own drivel...

And why don't the Twins get to face the Pirates or the Nationals like the Tigers do? Because they've got a "natural rival." Which is the biggest line of bull ever -- at least for Minnesota.

When this whole interleague thing started, MLB decided that certain teams should have natural rivals to make things interesting for fans of teams that are close to one another. So they decided to group a couple teams and make them play each other for two series at home for each. I can kind of see how it would be fun for the Yankees v Mets, White Sox v Cubs, A's v Giants, and Dodgers v Angels because those teams are within the same market, and fans for both teams live near each other. But, really, do the Mariners and Padres have a rivalry? Boston and Philly? Whatever. It's really odd that not all teams have one. And what even more crazy is that Kansas City and St. Louis usually are natural rivals, but not this year.

As far as the Twins v Brewers goes, it's dumb. I ain't got no beef with the Brewers. In fact, if the Twins didn't have to play them twice a year every year, I wouldn't really think about them much at all. Milwaukee's nice and all, so why would I feel any kind of rivalry toward their team? (Keep in mind that I consider myself a Vikings fan, but I'm probably one of four who doesn't have a beef with the Packers either. So, yeah, take that for what you will.) I do admit that it makes for some fun road trips, but it's not really a rivalry.

Tigers at Twins -- Sweeping Up Around Here

Recap:

Monday: Tigers 4 - Twins 10
Tuesday: Tigers 3 - Twins 4
Wednesday: Tigers 4 - Twins 5

Twins sweep the 3-game series

Record: 19 - 9

~~~

Like my bedazzled, blinged-out, glitzy broom with the golden bristles and silver handle? Isn't it nice? Yes, you may have seen it before, but it's been a while. But, finally, I get to show it off. Those silly Tigers can leave such a dusty mess -- we don't want them to crud up the brand new stadium. It was nice that the Twins took care of the housecleaning and swept the Tigers right on out of there.

~~~

I gotta say that even though I like Wilson Ramos and all, I really can't wait to see Joey back in the lineup. His foot isn't too badly hurt, so it shouldn't be too much longer. And Wilson was great -- for his first three games. Then I think everyone figured out how to pitch to him. So now he's the one who has to adjust. But, fine, he probably will and be all great and everything because he really is a good player.

But, there will be a lot hand-wringing and Twitter-debating (Twibating?) about what to do with him once Pat-Pat is ready to come off the DL. Do they keep him up and let him ride the pine most of the time while getting to learn major league pitching? Do they send him down and give him lots of plate appearances so he can work on his hitting? Do they trade him for lots of wonderful talent? Does it even really matter?

Not in my opinion. For what that's worth.

~~~

I gotta say that even though JJ Hardy pretty much single-handedly won the game on Tuesday and all, but...wait a sec, there's not a "but" here. JJ is amazing. I love his defense. His bat's pretty good. He seems like a nice guy in the interviews. Oh, and he's pretty nice to look at. I'm glad he's here.

I never really bought the whole "change of scenery" theory before -- it always seemed like something the front office would say to the fans when it acquired a crappy player ... "he'll be a great player; he just needs a change of scenery." But, in JJ's case, it might be true. I think he's a better Twin than he was a Brewer. It probably also makes a difference that he was hurt a lot last year. But this year...wait...last week he had turf toe, and Tuesday he suffered a sore wrist from sliding (feet first by the way -- who knows how that happens)...hmm.

JJ, stay healthy please.

~~~

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.

Keep Playing Until Somebody Wins

One of the many things I love about baseball is that there are no tie games*. And, as the Twins are fully aware, there are no tie season records either. So, thanks to some Metrodome Magic that doesn't want to fade quietly and a little help from the White Sox, the Twins are set to play the second game 163 in as many years.

And if this is news to you, I want to know what type of rock it is that you're living under.

Recap:

Friday: Twins 10 - Royals 7
Saturday: Twins 5 - Royals 4
Sunday: Twins 13 - Royals 4

So, what was most certainly an impossible mountain at the beginning of September has become a beautiful jewel sitting on the table on the other side of one more game. It's there for the taking; it belongs to whomever wants it more.


*No tie games, as long as they aren't All Star Games that go into the eleventybillionth inning.
~~~

I went to the game on Sunday; I bought the tickets the day they went on sale last spring. I expected tear and happy nostalgia, and I wasn't disappointed.

The game was a blast. I'm usually a pitchers'-duel kinda gal, but I gotta admit that watching Kubel and Delmon both smacking two homers each, and Cuddy crushing another was a hoot.

And the post-game ceremony was touching and well-done -- even if it was a bit awkward because there'll be at least one more (technically) regular-season game. It was great to see all those former players again and recalling their contributions to the team. And it was especially touching whenever Kirby Puckett's name was mentioned.

I didn't take a lot of pictures because we were pretty high in the second level and I don't have the greatest camera, but here they are:




~~~

Update on the food drive:

I'm still planning to donate items for as long as the Twins are still winning. So remember guys, I want to donate food.

The Man in Black

Well, the Twins playoff hopes aren't quite dead. But they really need a Miracle Max.

Recap:
Tuesday#1: Twins 3 - Tigers 2
Tuesday#2: Twins 5 - Tigers 6
Wednesday: Twins 2 - Tigers 7
Thursday: Twins 8 - Tigers 3

Miracle Max: Whoo-hoo-hoo, look who knows so much. It just so happens that your friend here is only MOSTLY dead. There's a big difference between mostly dead and all dead. Mostly dead is slightly alive. With all dead, well, with all dead there's usually only one thing you can do.
Inigo Montoya: What's that?
Miracle Max: Go through his clothes and look for loose change.

~~The Princess Bride, 1987

Let's say that the Twins are the Man in Black, the playoffs are the True Love, and the White Sox are Miracle Max. The Man in Black and Miracle Max need to work together so that the Man in Black can storm the Castle (the Tigers) and get to the True Love. There was a lot of effort, but the plan worked in the movie. Let's hope it works in baseball too.

So, let me 'splain...No, it's too much. Let me sum up. Season to end in a little less than four days, and all we have to do is break in, beat the Royals, steal the title, make our escape...after the White Sox beat the Tigers.

(Hat tip to my Twitter friend @ShawninBing for reminding me of this quote. Read his blog here.)

Henry Ford Advice

So, it was a pretty good weekend for the Twins. Of course, it could've been better if they hadn't psyched themselves into losing to Zack Greinke. But, thanks to Ozzie and his Sox winning two in their series with Detroit, the Twins were still able to gain a little ground on the Tigers.

Recap:
Friday: Twins 9 - Royals 4
Saturday: Twins 11 - Royals 6
Sunday: Twins 1 - Royals 4

But now it's time to get really serious. This series will make or break the entire season.

So guys, please take some great advice from your friend Henry Ford.

Whether you think you can or whether you think you can't, you're right.

Go get 'em!

There is a Time

I was going to write this last night, but the season premier of Grey's Anatomy was on, and after six months of waiting, I finally got to find out if there was going to be a funeral and whose it was. (If you think I'm going to tell you, you're wrong. If you need to know and you didn't record it, I suggest you find it online. I am not going to be responsible for spoiling it for someone who did record it and hasn't watched it yet. So there.) I didn't know that it was a two-hour special, and by the time it was done, it was late and I had a headache from the crying, I was in no shape to write about baseball. (Yes. I cry at Grey's all the time. That's the measure I use for determining whether it was a good episode. Last night's had a lot of real tears.) So...anywhooo...

Recap:

Monday: Twins 7 - White Sox 0

Tuesday: Twins 8 - White Sox 6

Wednesday: Twins 8 - White Sox 6

See all that bold lettering? That means the Twins swept the White Sox. Whoo!

Although, to be honest, it really looked like many of the Sox players -- not all of them, but many -- were just going through the motions and not really trying. That's too bad, especially since they were at home in front of their fans. I don't like the White Sox, I like seeing them lose as much as the next Twins fan, but it really isn't right for them to stop trying.

And that concerns me. They're facing Detroit, and the Twins could really use the help of handing the Tigers a few losses. I know that the White Sox don't really care about what the Twins need them to do. But I certainly think they should care about winning for their fans. C'mon guys! Give those Tigers a lesson in not quitting! Win for your fans! Win for Kenny! Win for Ozzie! Win for yourselves!

(Was that too over-the-top?)

What concerns me more about a team that's technically still in the race, but quit, is the team that's not in it, but won't quit. Why are the Royals always so stinking good in September? And this isn't a new development either. Remember earlier in the month when they sent the Tigers into a nice losing streak to get the Twins into striking distance? Remember last year, when they single-handedly messed up the whole division play-off scheme by beating the White Sox when we needed them to and them by beating the Twins when we didn't need them to? Remember in 2006, when they swept the Tigers to help give the Twins the Division Championship? It seems that the Royal were created just to be spoilers.

And now the Twins have to play them for six out the last ten games. Greeeaaaat. Oh, and add to that the fact that the Twins get to see Zack "No-Longer-Afraid-To-Be-Awesome" Greinke not once, but twice, over those six games. So the Twins have a tough row to hoe ahead of them; it would be extremely foolish to underestimate them. C'mon Twins! Win for your fans! Win for Billy! Win for Gardy! Win for yourselves!

(You know, just to be consistent.)

And Royals -- maybe you can give some lessons about spoiling to the Indians.

Well, At Least I Have Pictures

Yup. So this weekend went better for the Twins than I expected. Taking two from the Tigers and trimming their lead in the division to 3 games is pretty darn cool.

Recap:
Friday: Twins 3 - Tigers 0
Saturday: Twins 6 - Tigers 3
Sunday: Twins 2 - Tigers 6

In fact, those two wins were pretty much the only sports highlights of my weekend.

But as the Twins' luck would have it, I went to the game on Sunday. I scored (actually hubby scored on my behalf) some really sweet seats and I went with my mom (hi Mom!). We had a great time.

We got there really early. When we arrived, we saw Ron Mahay play catch with his kids. Joe Nathan was also playing catch with some of the Pohlad grandkids. We thought it was the cutest thing ever.

The game itself was pretty good. But Scotty didn't pitch all that well, and Nate Robertson did. And that's that. Oh, and D-Span earned himself a Golden Sombrero. Really, I saw it for myself, up-close and personal.

I did take some pictures. I don't have the greatest camera in the world, but they're not bad.

Doing Something Good

I have made a decision. I've decided that I like Twins' wins better than Twins' losses. Ok, that's not a recent decision, but I was reminded of this while unclinching my teeth as the Twins let yet another game slip away.

Now, I've heard that baseball players are charitable guys, and I'm aware that our boys are no different. So, with that in mind, I've decided to implement a plan to give the guys a little more incentive.

Drum roll please....

For every Twins win during the month of September, I will donate two items to a local food shelf. And not lame generic mac & cheese or cheap-o ramen noodles either -- good, nutritious food that I would eat. (Actually, for the record, I love mac & cheese and ramen noodles, but I wouldn't want to depend on them for survival. I did that in college -- which was a very long time ago.)

And since the Detroit Tigers are leading the division standings, it's kind of fun to see them lose. I want to encourage the teams playing them to keep them from clinching the division as long as possible. So, for every Tigers' loss, I will donate one food item. This part of the offer is good until if and when the Twins are eliminated from the division race.

Won't this be fun? Twins' wins = 2 donated items; Tigers' losses = 1 donated item. I invite you to join me in this plan.

So far this month:
Twins' wins: 2
Tigers' losses: 0
Total: 4 items

Ahem. We can do better than that, right? Let's go, Twins!

[Edit: A big thank you to Howard at Strib's A Fan's View Blog for the nice shout-out. Also, thanks to Betsy from For the Love of the Game for her shout-out. And thanks to everyone who is planning on participating on some level. Hey, if you want, keep track of how much food, money, or whatever you collect, and let me know (or even take a picture and send it to me if you want), I'll mention your efforts in a blog post after month end.]

~~~

Weekend Recap:
Friday: Twins 2 - Indians 5
Saturday: Twins 4 - Indians 1
Sunday: Twins 1 - Indians 3

When They Are Good, They Are Very, Very Good...

...and when they are bad, they are horrid.

The Twins pitching that is.

Recap:
Friday: Twins 8 - Tigers 10
Saturday: Twins 11 - Tigers 0
Sunday: Twins 7 - Tigers 8
(3rd place; 5.5 games back; .486 winning %)

The Twins averaged 8.67 runs per game during this series, yet they only won one game. So the offense is doing its job. But when scoring 7 or 8 runs isn't enough to win, it's tough to gain ground in the division.

Pavano on Saturday was very, very good -- impressive even. I hope he keeps it up. Much has been said about his success against the Tigers and White Sox. So if he can pitch that well against them, I'll take it. But I'd really love it if he pitched that well all the time.

Swarzy on Friday was horrid. It happens; I'm not going to get too upset about it. I just hope he can shake it off and do well next time.

Scotty on Sunday was very, very good, and then horrid. Bobby Keppel was, well he was kind of good...I'll call it pitching for his big-league life. And then Matty, who's been very very good lately, was -- well, not exactly horrid, but kind of sucky.

So, here's my wish: I want the pitchers to give up fewer than three runs per game (and that means for the whole game -- not each pitcher who comes into the game) AND I want the offense to score more than four runs per game. For the whole season.

Got it Liriano? FEWER than three runs!

Scratching and Clawing

It was great weekend overall, but it was made better by the Twins taking the series from the Tigers. And by doing so, they gained a little ground on Detroit, and re-took second place in the division. (Did you notice that the Evil Ugly White Sox snuck up and held second place for a couple days there?)

Recap:
Friday: Twins 9 - Tigers 11 (16 innings!)
Saturday: Twins 4 - Tigers 2
Sunday: Twins 6 - Tigers 2

I spent the weekend with the whole family at the lake. It was a fantastic weekend -- we went out on the boat waterskiing and tubing; we got sunburned; we ate and ate and ate; we made red, white, and blue slushies for the kids; we made some slushies for the grown-ups too; and when we wanted to relax a little, we watched baseball.

On Friday evening, it was raining a little, so we gathered around the TV to watch a recording of a play my niece was in. We started it after the first inning of the Twins game, the play lasted about two hours, afterward I went back to watching the Twins game, and still saw about nine innings of baseball. I was happy when I first turned it on because I thought the Twins were down by six runs but they were tied (my nephew gets text messages, and the last time he showed it to me, the score was 1-7). However, when it finally did end, I was a bit bummed that we lost, but I was grateful it was finally over -- I was tired.

The Saturday game was a good win. It was fun to watch it with my brother-in-law and nephew. It was fun to see Cuddy and Morneu hit homeruns. It was fun to see Nathan save the game.

Blackburn started Sunday's game, and true to form, I missed the first four innings of it. I didn't mind too much; I was out on the boat. I still am trying to watch one his games from first pitch. But it was a great performance. I love it that he has another complete game. Too bad he just can't seem to get that complete-game-shut-out. I'm sure he wants it more than anybody. Keep trying, Nick!

~~~

Congratulations to our All Stars -- Joey, Justin, and Nathanator! All of Twins Territory is very proud of you guys!

So, Like, Wow

So what's up with the Twins' bats? No, I mean I love it; I'm just a bit amazed.

Recap:
Tuesday: Twins 6 - Tigers 2
Wednesday: Twins 14 - Tigers 10 (13)
Thursday: Twins 6 - Tigers 5

Twins earn sweep

I barely recognize this team. Haven't we always been told that this team is built on pitching and "small ball"? So what's with all this hitting and big innings and homers and such? Let me just say that I love it and I want them to keep it up.

I would, however, like to recommend that the pitchers, particularly the bullpen pitchers, pull there heads out of their as...er, the sand. How awesome would that be?

And our hero again today was Joe Crede (who, by the way, must have been running on nothing but intestinal fortitude and Java Monster Mean Bean). No dramatic walk-off grannies today, only a nice, timely two-run single, but he sure seems to like to show off when the bases are loaded. So, I think it would be great if Gardy dared the batters in front of Joe to always get on base for him just to see him show off some more. Do you think that's a good idea?

Split Series Equals Split Personality

Wow. I don't remember the last time I had such a dramatic mood swing in a 24-hour period.

Recap:
Monday: Twins 7 - Tigers 2
Tuesday: Twins 0 - Tigers 9 (Ouch! That hurt to write. In fact, it still hurts to think about. Someone grab some Advil for me. And maybe some ice. And rum.)

Twins split the stupid two-game series 1 each.

To compare and contrast the two games, I thought I'd make a spreadsheet showing my findings. This is a significant step for me; I'm afraid of spreadsheets.

Item	Monday’s Game	Tuesday’s Game
Starting pitching	Excellent!	Not so much
Defense	Solid	Not so much
Timely hitting	Present	Not so much
Patience at the plate	Yes	Not so much
Doing the little things right	Definitely	Not so much
Playing like major leaguers	Affirmative	Not so much

Yup. The data shows the team can certainly afford to concentrate on a little consistency. Just remember guys: more like Monday, less like Tuesday.

Get them next time!

Let's Go Tigers!

Twins 6 - Royals 0

Royals win series 2 -1

Indians 1 - White Sox 5

Indians wins series 2-1

Twins hold .5 game lead.

So now we wait. And watch. And cheer for another team to help out.

In that spirit:

Let's Go Tigers! [clap, clap, clap, clap, clap] Let's Go Tigers! [clap, clap, clap, clap, clap]...