Beers All Around!

I have piece about Fransico Liriano half written. It talks about his struggles, and how he walks everybody, and how he and the coaches can't line up, blah, blah, blah. Well, all that may still be true, but I don't care -- not tonight. I'm shelving it because Liriano just no-hit the White Sox. It's Francisco's day, but for all the right reasons!

I've always been a huge fan of wonderful pitching, but when it's my guy, it's an amazing event. I can't even tell you how nervous I was for those last two innings; I'm not sure if I'll be able to sleep tonight. Add to it the pressure that was a 1-0 game. Plus, that was some great defense behind him to save the game. Impressive!

Sure, he had six walks. Sure, it took 123 pitches. Sure, the White Sox are pretty sucky right now. None of that matters. Fransico threw a freaking no-hitter, and he and fans should celebrate! And this comes at a time when the team and its fans were at their lowest. Call it a bit of a stimulus package. Hopefully all these good vibes carry forward.

As fine as Frankie did, it takes a whole-team effort to pull off something this special: Butera for calling a good game and helping Frankie keep his wits, Denard Span for making a nice play in the outfield, Danny Valencia for making an incredible play, Justin Morneau for making a couple nice outs, Jason Kubel for hitting that homer for the only run Frankie needed...and so on.

So, Minnesota Twins, I'd like to buy you all a beer.

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Unfortunately, there's some DL news too. Jim Thome is on the DL with an oblique strain. Sounds like Jason Repko will be placed on it too with a strained quad (I think). I saw on Twitter that Trevor Plouffe and Ben Revere are being recalled from AAA. Paper dolls and more info tomorrow.

Get Away Day Blues

Saturday (1) Twins 12 - O's 2
Saturday (2) Twins 12 - O's 6
Sunday Twins 3 - O's 7

Twins take series 2-1

Another opportunity to sweep a team we should sweep, and another loss. As I was marching around the house and grumbling about the game, Dick-n-Bert were talking about the upcoming Cleveland series. Which got me thinking that it seems like they lose a lot of games where they have to head out to another city after they're done (known as "Get Away" days).

So I decided I'd figure it out to see if I was right. I've got nothing else to do between loads of laundry on a rainy, crappy Sunday afternoon.

First of all, I define Get Aways as games when the team travels right after them. And, I've read/heard from the newspaper and radio/TV guys that they travel right after the game even if the following day is an off-day, so I counted those too.

Here's what I came up with:



Ouch. It's worse than I thought.

So what's up with that? Are they too busy thinking of their next series to concentrate on their current game? Are they worrying if they forgot to pack their iPods? Are they suffering a collective bout of agoraphobia? Who knows?

The good news is that there are only two Get Away days left in the regular season (well, three if you count the last day of the season, which we may have to do if they need to play a tie-breaker). The bad news is that if they should happen to make the playoffs, Get Away days happen like every other game. They really, really, really need to reverse this trend if they make the playoffs.

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And, adding to the feeling of someone sneezing in our face, it looks like the Bad Guys are going to win both their games today, putting the Good Guys 1 1/2 games back. Ick.

[Edit] I, currently, at this moment, ♥ Marcus Thames for tying the White Sox - Tigers game with a fat grand slam. It's a whole new ball game. Go Tigers!

[Edit 2] Scratch that. Dewayne Wise just hit a fat grand slam to go ahead again.

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High-Five Goes To... Carlos Zambrano for tossing a no-hitter against the Houston Astros. Oddly, he did it in Milwaukee (thanks to Ike), so it must have felt more like a home game even though the Cubs were the visiting team.

Crazy Is as Crazy Does

Twins 7 - Texas 6 (12)

Well, wasn't that the most hair-twisting, nail-biting, ulcer-inducing game so far this year? Blowing leads, leaving men on base, losing our DH and making the pitchers hit. A little something for everyone. And a little something for everyone to scream at the TV for.
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Who needs everyday players? Let's just have the back-ups, fill-ins, and recent call-ups go ahead and win this one.
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Big love to Alexi Casilla for his first major league homer, to Howie Clark for the game winning RBI, and to Joey for keeping us in the game with some timely hitting. But mostly to Bobby Korecky for having the intestinal fortitude to wiggle out of the 11th with the bases loaded and only one out, for getting his first major league hit, and for pitching the 12th like he's been here before. Bobby honey, you get the gold star.


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And mad props to Jon Lester of the Red Sox for tossing a no-hitter, because that's just a really, really cool thing to do.