It's Good to Have Friends

No Twins news lately. So, I wanted to give a little love to some friends of mine and of this blog. I really like what they're doing, and I want to give them a shout out.

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The Ladies:

Let me tell you, female sports fans and bloggers don't always enjoy the attention the guys do (boy, don't I know it). Well, Cubs blogger Julie DiCaro decided to do something about it, and formed, G9 Sports, a network of sports blogs written solely by female writers. I imagine this was an awesome undertaking -- organizing all those writers, obtaining web hosting, getting the site designed, and so on. Wow. And it looks great.

The Twins are delightfully represented by two blogs:

• From The Third Baseline by Erin Nagel and Katie Chaffins
• Balk About It by Sarah and Jen

I know these gals personally and I've read their other works. I know you'll love these efforts. Be sure to check them out, along with the other writers on the G9 Sports network.

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Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook by Seth Stohs

Seth is at it again. If you read this blog, chances are that you already read Seth's blog, so you already know that his 2011 Minnesota Twins Prospect Handbook is ready. This is a fun book to have around. I like to pick one or two prospects to keep an eye on and follow, and he gives me all the information I need. Seth does a great job, and it's clear that he likes writing about all the prospects.

If you're planning to go to Spring Training, I recommend you order it soon. It would be great to have handy as you're watching the prospects practice and play.

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Maple Street Press 2011 Twins Annual

It's time to pre-order the Twins Annual, written by the TwinsCentric guys (John Bonnes, a.k.a. Twins Geek; Seth Stohs; Parker Hageman, a.k.a. Over the Baggy; and Nick Nelson) and others. I bought last year's edition and I loved it; it's a beautiful publication with informative and interesting articles.

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DiamondCentric Clothing

You know you want a "Thome is My Homey" t-shirt just like mine. Or a "I Love Koobs" t-shirt. Make sure you check out all of DiamondCentric offerings. Parker Hageman has a hand in this.

I just love my "Thome" shirt. It fits, wears, and washes well. And it's so soft and comfy.

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And the Others

Generally speaking, make sure you check out the blogs I have listed in the sidebar. The Twins fan community is great, and we're quite lucky to have so many great writers contributing to a fun fan discussion. Many of these folks are my friends in real life, Twitter friends, and/or Facebook friends. I love being part of this great group.

Short Notes - Mar. 25

Target Field and the Curious Marketing Ploy
This past weekend, many folks got to tour Target Field. Unfortunately, I wasn't one of them, but I really enjoyed looking at everyone's pictures on Facebook and other places on the web. Everyone is raving about it. One of my co-workers went, and she showed me some fantastic pictures too. And she brought me a copy of the Target Field Fan Guide (she's so thoughtful). The guide is very informative, and I'm grateful she gave it to me. When I turned it to the back side, I wasn't surprised to see an ad for Target. They want you to go to Target to pick up all the things you need for a trip to ballpark: sunblock, sunglasses, cap, sunflower seeds, mitt.... But, wait a sec...what is that?

Do NOT tell me they're advocating you bring a beach ball to the baseball game. I mean don't get me wrong, I love Target. I'd totally go there to pick up sunblock, a cap, or flip flops on my way to the game. But, I'm morally opposed to beach balls at baseball games. I hate, hate, hate beach balls at baseball games. In fact, I even started a Facebook group about it. But, the funny thing is, it's not just me who wants to ban beach balls from baseball games; Target Field itself wants to ban beach balls from baseball games. It says so right on page 10 of the very same Fan Guide.

A classic case of the Marketing Department refusing to communicate with other departments. Trust me, I know what that's all about.

Really, Glen Perkins?
So Glen Perkins will miss a few days because he hurt his back...by lifting weights. Seriously? That just sounds like an out-of-shape-fat-guy thing to do. What's next? Miss five games because he stubbed his toe? Does he even want to pitch?

Bubble Guy
Every spring, I like to select one guy who I hope makes the roster, but who probably won't, so I root for him along the way. Because he's on the bubble between the majors and AAA, I call him my bubble guy. And this year's bubble guy is ... pitcher Anthony Slama. He's pitched well, raising some eyebrows, making waves in the "who's the closer" conversation. But the selling point is ... check out this picture from the Knuckleballs blog (a blog that, if you haven't checked out yet, you should):

Photo from JimCrikket of Knuckleballs

Look at that! Old-school stirrups! How sweet is that?
Now go visit that blog and check out the rest of the Spring Training pictures and other good stuff.

Speaking of Blogs You Should Read 
I've reorganized my blogroll on the sidebar again. I've added all 64 other Twins blogs that were included on the Newsbobber blog list. To keep it manageable, it only lists the 25 most-recently updated blogs. So check it out often.

Fantasy Baseball
This year, I joined a bunch of other Twins bloggers in a fantasy baseball league. I had the third overall pick, and selected Marlins' shortstop Hanley Ramirez. Then I picked CC Sabathia, Ichiro, and Johan Santana. Then I kind of started drafting poorly. I was distracted by making that ridiculous Joe's World photoshop and helping my kids with their homework during the draft (which kind of explains why that photoshop turned out so crappy, but let me tell you, it's not easy fitting Bill Smith's, um..., large-ish head onto Dana Carvey's slim face). In fact, I was darned lucky to even get a regular catcher, because I kind of forgot about filling that position until late. Luckily, Cardinals' Yadier Molina was still available. Coincidentally, my back up catcher is his brother, Giants' Bengie Molina. I've also got the all-important DL slot filled by drafting the Mets' outfielder Carlos Beltran -- everyone's hoping he'll be good to go by late April.

I don't really expect much. I'm not really a great fantasy baseball mind. My aversion to stats and research kind of handicaps me at such things. But, I'll do my best and have fun. Besides, it's no wonder I don't expect to do well; just look at these great baseball minds I'm playing against:

Andrew Kneeland: Twins Target

Brian Pietrzak: BP's Baseball Blog

Emily Jipp: Chatter From the Cheap Seats

Eric Johnson: Undomed

Eric Olson: Call to the 'Pen

Erin M: Picked Off At First

Josh Johnson: Josh's Thoughts

Louie Schuth: Hitting the Eephus

Shawn Berg: On the Road With...

Topper Anton: Curve for a Strike

Thrylos98: The Tenth Inning Stretch

Oh, the name of my team is the "Three Finger Mordecai Browns," named after Mordecai "Three Finger" Brown, a Cubs pitcher from the early 1900s. He lost a significant portion of his index finger in a childhood accident, and many of his opponents claimed that his curveball was aided by that. To this day, the Cubs have not won a World Series in which he didn't appear.

More Recommended Reading

In addition to the Twins blogs, I've run across some gems:

An Indian's fan tells us how he really feels about the Joe Mauer signing. Actually, it's very nicely done -- so much so, that it almost makes me want to be an Indians fan. Ok, not really, but it's still good.

Some Yankee fans are worried about Joe Mauer's signing. Great satire.

Sarah explains how adorableness counts as a legit baseball stat. This is the same Sarah from Oh, It's THOSE Girls, and I swear, she knows exactly how I think and feel about baseball, but she's much more articulate and entertaining about it.

Short Notes - Mar. 11

Catching up on some of the Twins news from the last week. I know some of this is kind of late, and I was going to write about this sooner, but then Joe Nathan ... well, you know. Moving on ....

Blackie Locked Up For 4 Years
This not only made me happy, but it also kind of amused me. The contract extension that he signed on Sunday covers his arbitration years with an option for his first year of potential free agency. I like this deal because it ensures that a decent pitcher will be around for awhile; he's better than league average in ERA, strikeouts, WHIP (walks and hits per innings pitched), and wins. And with the inordinately large number of other guys in their arbitration years, it's a bit comforting that the Twins have one less of those processes to worry about.

The amusing part (yeah, I might be the only who thinks this is funny ... well not funny per se, but kind of humorous, but I digress) was that some radio personality announced with certainty that one hometown boy who's a pretty good catcher would be signing his contract on Sunday. And since Blackie and Joey kind of look alike, the joke with all my Twitter friends was that someone confused the two. Ok ... I guess you had to be there. Or not.

I Have To Catch Up on My Reading
I'm now in the middle of two great books.

I picked up my copy of Maple Street Press's Twin Annual from Cub a while ago, and I love it. It has a bunch of interesting articles by some familiar names: John Bonnes (TwinsGeek), Seth Stohs (SethSpeaks.net), Nick Nelson (Nick's Twins Blog), Parker Hageman (Over the Baggy), Andrew Kneeland (Twins Target), Howard Sinker (Star Tribune's A Fan's View), and a whole bunch of other great writers. Oh, and I love the player pages that have the stats all graphed out, in color and everything -- those are easy to understand for a person like me who has an aversion to stats.

And I received my copy of Seth Stohs' 2010 Prospect Handbook. I've glanced through some of it, but I really find it handy when listening to these Spring Training games. Thanks to it, I know who Juan Portes is. And if you get one, you will too.

And As If I Don't Already Have Enough To Read
This list of 63 Twins bloggers was published a few days ago. Wow. I had no idea there was that many. Way to represent Twins bloggers!

You'll see I'm rated #17. I think that's pretty high. I looked at their ranking system, and it seems that it's based solely on the number of visits the blogs get. My visit count is probably artificially high due to Nick Punto day. Clearly, it's not based on quality -- there are plenty of blogs better than this drivel and further down on the list. But it's great to have a comprehensive list. Be sure to check them all out ... you know, when you get time.

Linkity Links

Here are some items from the last few days that made me smile, think, pout, or rant.

Twins and Hormel part ways on hotdog sales
Ok, I assumed that there would be no more Dome Dogs, because, well, that would be silly at Target Field. But I just figured they'd rename it. However, that's not to be. Not only will there be no more Dome Dogs, there will be no more Hormel Row of Fame. Now that's very sad news as being in the Hormel Row of Fame was a bucket-list item of mine. But, alas, I shall never be a wiener winner. ::sniff::


Goodbye old friend.

I sincerely hope they select a local company to be their new hot dog provider.


Mauer and Thome Stuck at Complex
Read this. Just do it. It's good stuff. Bryz, you're a genius.

Vancouver 2010 Olympics.
Karleeee discusses which Olympic sports some Twins players should try. It's a fun idea.

The Show with Seth Stohs at SethSpeaks.net
In addition to his weekly podcast (which I've talked about before), he now has a weekly web-radio program. It sounds very spiffy with background music and everything. More info is on his website.

Sooze!
One of my favorite bloggers, Sooze from Babes Love Baseball, has hooked on with the StarTribune blog community. I admire her work, and it'll be great to read a female's perspective.

TwinsCentric
Speaking of the StarTrib blog community, Parker Hageman (Over the Baggy), Seth Stohs (SethSpeaks.net), Nick Nelson (Nick's Twins Blog), and John Bonnes (Twins Geek), who are collectively known as TwinsCentric, also hooked on. This is a return for John Bonnes, who back in 2004 was a fan-blogger for StarTrib. It was through him that I found out about blogs (I had to Google the word "blog" just to find out what he was doing) and became introduced to so many awesome blogs including the now-retired Bat-Girl. And the rest, they say, is history.

You Can Keep Your Stinkin' Filet-O-Fish
Ok, seriously, the person who came up with this horrible, horrible jingle needs to be stopped. I'm not a violent person in the least, but this makes me want to hunt him or her down and do some serious clawing. Too bad too; I don't mind McDonald's Filet-O-Fish. But I definitely need to find another establishment for my fast food fish needs.

Short Notes - Jan. 17

On Friday, Mike Redmond signed with the Indians. I don't have a problem with this; in fact, I think it's a great scenario. He's still in the division, so we'll get to see him a bunch, but he's still on a team I can tolerate. As far as division rivals go, the Indians are slightly less lovable than the Royals, but miles more lovable than the Evil Ugly White Sox.

I'll have to be sure to get tickets for a day game after a night game when Cleveland is in town. Oh, and I'd better not hear any boos for him. If I do, each and every person who does will get a personalized stink-eye from me. I mean it.

I already said my goodbyes. Twins Geek and A Voice From Twins Territory have nice tributes.

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On a related note, Friday was a bad day for the Twins backup catcher contingency. Apparently, Jose Morales needs wrist surgery and will likely miss a chunk of Spring Training and won't be ready for the start of the season. Bummer. I hope Buetera is up to the task.

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Did you notice that I did a little redecorating? Winter is beginning to bum me out (oh, you too? yeah, it sucks doesn't it?), so I added a handy countdown to Pitchers and Catchers Report.

I really, really wish I could go to Spring Training, but it's not possible this year. I am looking forward to reading reports and hearing about other fans' trips, so if you're going, please share.

Also, as if I don't have enough going on in the sidebar, I've added more. There are a few more blogs in the blogroll, and there's a new podcast section (scroll down a bit to see it). And please consider helping the Red Cross help Haiti.

If you're viewing this in a reader, be sure to click through and check out the new digs.

My Podcast Debut!

Hey, remember a couple of days ago when I was tell you about all the great podcasts I listen to? Well, I was lucky to be invited to participate in Fanatic Jack's podcast on Wednesday evening. We talked about Hall of Fame voting, blogging, guy fans and gal fans, photoshop, food drives, Joe Mauer, and hoping for the best. I had a great time doing it.

Oh, and I'm the opening act for the estimable Seth Stohs, so at least it ends well.

Be sure to check it out here: http://www.blogtalkradio.com/jack-steal/2010/01/07/is-this-the-year

Thanks so much to Jack Steal of Fanatic Jack Talks Twins and Topper Anton of Curve For a Strike for inviting me to participate and being so kind to me.

Please forgive my nervous aahs, ums, and other such poor public speaking habits. I was a bit nervous. And, honestly, I don't think I do that annoying teenage-girl-style upspeak thing as much as it sounded like I did (sheesh). Although, I don't pay much attention to myself when I talk, so maybe I do.

Get to Know Me!

It's well documented that I enjoy anything that's all about me. So, in that spirit, I recommend you stop by Curve for a Strike. Topper is running an interesting series called "Twins Bloggers, 'Get to Know 'Em'," and I'm this week's victi ... er ... subject.

So, if you've ever wanted to know how I feel about inter-league play or who'd I'd like to hang out in a bar with, be sure to check it out.

Actually, I recommend that you read the whole series. It's really interesting to find out a little about the people behind the blogs. And he features a nice mix of "stats and analysis" and "just for fun" bloggers.

Unpredictable, Eh?

I figured that the Twins would split the series with the Blue Jays, because that's how it seems to go with the stupid 4-game series. But game-by-game, my predictions were all wrong.

Recap:
Monday: Twins 6 - Blue Jays 3
Tuesday: Twins 3 - Blue Jays 6
Wednesday: Twins 4 - Blue Jays 1
Thursday: Twins 3 - Blue Jays 3

After Sunday's flat, lifeless performance on Sunday, the Twins were destined to do the same on Monday -- or so I thought. They actually played well and seemed to have fun.

Tuesday, Duensing took the mound. I've been so impressed with him, so I figured more of the same from him. And he didn't disappoint. Too bad the bullpen blew it.

Next up was Pavano vs. Halladay. Now, I'm totally willing to give Pavano every benefit of the doubt, but he's no Roy Halladay. However, Roy Halladay is Roy Halladay and he'd never lost to the Twins. But Pavano and the Twins' bats prevailed.

Thursday's day game featured Scott Baker, who's been great since the all-star break. Another W for sure -- or not. Scotty pitched ok, but the bats were lifeless again. Maybe everyone was looking forward to getting out of there as soon as possible because they knew it would take forever to get through customs.

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Let me share some recent blog posts, from a couple of Sarahs, that I enjoyed:

• Sarah of Oh, It's THOSE Girls lists a bunch of reasons why we should go to Friday's game against the A's. I love the idea of laughing at them for wearing white shoes after Labor Day.
  
• Sarah-bug of la Beisbolista (a Cardinals blog) tells us how no one team has the best fans, they all do.

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A great big thank you to all my blogging and Twitter friends who mentioned my food drive idea and encouraged their readers to pledge as well.

I really think it would be great if we all get to donate a bunch of food. Go Twins!

Oh, and I think it would be great if fans of other teams would pledge for wins by their teams too.

Call For Arms

I wouldn't be surprised to see this hanging up at the dome in time for Friday's game:

Help Wanted
Pitcher
Energetic and athletic people needed to perform pitching duties for a Major League Baseball club. The ideal candidate would have a pulse, have strong leadership skills, and be able to throw a baseball 60'6". Ability to throw accurately preferred, but not required. Perks include travel to exciting locations, appearances on television, and working with Joe Mauer. Both full-time and part-time positions available. Salary based on qualifications. Contact r.anderson@pleasehelpthetwinspitchingstaff.com. Deadline to apply is 8/31/09.

Do you think they'd get any qualified applicants? The key word here being qualified.

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Recap:
Monday: Twins 2 - Orioles 1
Tuesday: Twins 7 - Orioles 6
Wednesday: Twins 1 - Orioles 5

Yes, it's great that the Twins won the series. But the wins were so hard. And they're the Orioles.

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Who's getting excited about the new stadium. Be sure to visit Betsy's blog for some groovy pictures of it.

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I've mentioned before that I love the Cake Wrecks blog. This post is baseball related. And hilarious.

If You Haven't Seen This Yet, You Should

The awesome Katie over at Oh, It's THOSE Girls is flexing her amazingness-muscles once again. She wrote up a clever survey and sent it off to Nick Blackburn to fill out, and he did. Really. It's terrific! Terrific questions and terrific responses. And Nick's a great sport for doing it.

So, if you ever wanted to know the answers to important things like what Nick's coolest nicknames are, what superpowers he wishes he had, or his opinion on puppies, you'd better head on over there tout de suite!

Get To Know 'Em: Nick Blackburn




What are you still doing here? Click that link already! Scoot!

Weekend in Cleveland

When they were in Cleveland this weekend, some of the Twins players noticed that the visitors' clubhouse and dugout were very dusty. They graciously offered to sweep things up on Sunday, but the Indians declined. Oh well.

Recap:
Friday: Twins 5 - Cleveland 1
Saturday: Twins 7 - Cleveland 1
Sunday: Twins 2 - Cleveland 4
Twins take series 2 - 1

So we didn't sweep the Indians. It's ok, it was still a pretty fun series. Even the loss wasn't sooo bad -- at least it wasn't a blowout. Thanks to Blackie and K-Slo for pitching gems. It was so fun to watch you guys pitch, so please accept a little gem as a gift ◊ (<-- the closest thing to a gem I can come up with). And thanks to the hitters for, well, hitting...especially Jose Morales on Sunday. Now, our boys are back home for four three with the Rays. I hate even-numbered series, but whatever. [EDIT: Ok, I don't know what I was dreaming when I wrote this; it's only a THREE game series. It probably had to do with the fact that every other weekday series this month was even numbered. While it's true that I don't like even-numbered game series, I don't have to worry about it now. Sorry for the mess up.]

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File It Under "I" For Interesting (or Inane, whichever you like):
(Some random stuff from MLB that's been cluncking around in my head)

• I read in the book The Yankee Years that, according to Mike Mussina (I think it was Mike Mussina...could've been Jason Giambi...the book is way over in the other room and I don't feel like moving my laptop, taking off my groovy Twins blanket, and closing the recliner just to walk over there to get it and flip through all those pages to find it...but ANYHOO...), some Yankees players nicknamed the Disabled List "the Pavano." Yeah, the same Carl Pavano who started for the Indians on Saturday. And after watching that little hissy fit he threw in the dugout after he was taken out of the game on Saturday, I can see why.
• Did you know there was such a thing as a catcher's balk? I didn't until Monday when I heard about it on the radio. The talk-show hosts were saying that during an intentional walk, you see the catcher stand way out of the catcher's box to accept the pitch, but that's a balk. The catcher is supposed to remain in the catcher's box until the ball leaves the pitcher's hand. And they were complaining that it never gets called. It's under rule 4.03 (a). Here's a link.
• This blurb in the today's paper almost made me spew my morning coffee out of laughter:

Gardenhire read a blurb in USA Today that noted a difference of opinion about Scott Baker's struggles.

"I gave him an out," Gardenhire said, clearly amused. "I said it was a mechanical thing, and [Baker] says it's not mechanics. Then the only thing I can say is, 'You just stink.'"

Gardenhire said that's something he learned from Lou Piniella. If a player disagrees with a manager's theory on why he's struggling, "then he stinks."

"You give them an out," Gardenhire said, "they change it up, then OK, he stinks right now. Not all the time. But right now he does. And he needs to un-stink."

Don't we all Gardy, don't we all.

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One More Thing to Share:

Remember a while ago when I was bummed about writer's block and I asked Ms. Muse to pay me a visit? Well she did!

Actually, Ms. Muse is a cool blog by Tina that features some great photography. She also has a personal style blog called The English Muse.

Thanks Tina for stumbling upon my blog. And the next time I need some inspiration, I'll stop by -- or even more often than that.

When [Bad] Grammar and Baseball Collide

As I've mentioned before, one thing I like almost as much as baseball is good grammar. And as a result, I like to make fun of poor grammar on professionally-made things. If someone pays good money on a sign or website, it really should be correct.

So, imagine my glee when two of my favorite grammar-centric humor blogs (or humor-centric grammar blogs) chose to publish baseball related entries on the same day!

First, from The "Blog" of "Unnecessary" Quotation Marks, we have this.

Not only is it unclear how many worlds the series applies to, but apparently SEPTA doesn't really think they're champs.

[For the record, you do not use quotation marks to emphasize words. You would, however, use them to indicate sarcasm or irony.]

Then, from RED PEN, INC. (the author of which also writes a baseball fangirl blog The BILF Report) we have this:


Because these biggest stars belong to the game, it should be game's, not games.

This isn't the first time that MLB has messed up on their e-publications. See here and here for proof. But they are also guilty of another apostrophe blunder. I saw this every time I logged into Game Day Audio to listen to day games last season, and it bugged me like crazy.

Again, because the games belong to the day, it should be TODAY'S GAMES.

Seems like MLB needs a good proofreader.

Oh, and check out the blogs I listed above. They're a ton a fun.

Mmmm...Cake

Today my favorite non-baseball blog, Cake Wrecks, and baseball converged to create this hilarious entry: Why We Need More Male Cake Decorators.

Besides the obvious, it is just soooooo wrong on so many levels. First of all, speaking as a frosting lover (more so than a cake lover), that much green frosting is just gross. It looks more like Easter basket grass than baseball field grass. Imagine what everyone's lips and teeth are going to look like after eating it. I also love how there's a baby-blue colored Yankees logo behind (presumably -- it's hard to tell) home plate (it's a little hard to see, but it's there). And, as the blog author points out, the red stripe around and the doily underneath are just wrong, I tell you, wrong.

Now there are plenty of sports that I don't like or know too much about (*ahem*-NBA-*ahem*), but if I were making a cake of one of those sports, I'd be sure to look at a picture or something to make sure I got it right. In fact, if I were making a baseball field cake, I'd still look at a picture just to be sure. But I'm willing to bet that a vast majority of people, fans and non-fans alike, would be able to draw a somewhat accurate diagram of a baseball field without looking at a picture.

It's truly sad that there are folks out there who are so completely clueless about the great game of baseball. Sad, indeed. They should start a support group or something.

Take That, Carlos Silva

Twins 9 - Seattle 2

Hey Carlos! We've got your homecoming right here! Whaddya think of that?

Actually, when Carlos Silva was a Twin, I didn't really mind him too much. I never really liked him, but I didn't mind him either. He just trotted out for his turn in the rotation, and I didn't really care. Well, I cared if he lost, but otherwise, meh.

Now, I really don't like him at all. It's not because he left and signed with Seattle for an outrageous amount of money. (Hey, if someone were to offer me twice what I'm worth to do something I only do only reasonably well, I'd take them up on it.) And it's not because he's losing, although I'd bet the Seattle fans aren't real happy about it. It's because he's losing AND sniping to his teammates about playing poorly. Not really classy there, pal. I'm guessing all your teammates want to take a look in the mirror before you shoot your mouth off again.

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I'm pleased with Liriano's improvement so far since his return. Keep up the good work, honey. Oh, and nice tater Kubes to get the Twins rolling again. I liked it.

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A big hat-tip to the Oakland A's for rallying and beating the White Sox. Please keep it up.

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Totally not baseball related, but definitely worth passing on...

I stumbled across this blog the other day, and it had me laughing my head off. I literally had a sore gut and tears running down my face when I was reading the archives.

http://cakewrecks.blogspot.com/

If you've ever ordered a cake that didn't quite come out as you expected, you can relate to this blog. And, not only are the photos hilarious, but the commentaries are deliciously snarky -- both by the blog author and her readers. If you need a giggle, I recommend this.

Amusing the Baseball Gods

Twins 1 - Texas 10

Yup. This is what happens when we tempt the baseball gods, for they do love a laugh, especially at the expense of over-confident fans.

Among my "daily reading", I check out Howard Sinker's blog. Read that last line there.

Nick Blackburn, you're 5-2 after tonight, pal.

Then read the first commenter's response.

Please, Howard... you're going to upset those fickle baseball gods with stuff like this. Have you learned nothing from JoeC this year? If Ponson shuts down the Twins tonight, it's all on you, pal!

Mmmm hmmm. My. Reaction. Exactly. But I don't want to put the blame solely on Howard. Just about every blog, article, and report I read about Sidney Ponson and tonight's game predicted Sir Sid would flounder. I even saw a scroll on ESPN that proclaimed that our old buddy had a 9.00 ERA in his last two starts (or something like that). So pretty much everyone expected the Twins to breeze through this one.

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Oh well, let's all shake it off. Hmm, shake... I know... Since the defense pretty much played like Little Leaguers (again - except for a couple of nice plays), the guys should go out to Dairy Queen in full uniform just like Little Leaguers and have some shakes and cones. That'll cheer them up in time for tomorrow's game.



Just make sure you don't get a brain freeze like that kid that Dick-n-Bert picked as the fan of the game. The game was painful enough.

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And finally, the "He May Not Be Ready For Prime Time, But He's Makin' ‘Em Laugh on Late Night" moment of the day: Heh. Heh. I'm watching David Letterman as I write this. He used Michael Cuddyer's hat-bill juggle-catch in one of his bits. It's a running gag about an anchorwoman who accidently dropped an f-bomb.

Cups, Veggies, and Puppets

Some thoughts about spring training so far...

• I guess the Twins and the Red Sox were serious about competing for the coveted Mayor's Cup. Both teams started what looked to be close approximations of their Opening Day lineups. They were tied 2-2 going into today's game. Unfortunately, the reigning World Champs will keep the Cup another year.


• Sounds like the Twins are thinking that their Opening Day starter shall be Livan, and a lot of folks beg to differ with the decision. Personally, I'm on the fence - kind of "meh". It's true he's not quite the Opening Day starter we had last year (what was his name? Jo...Joh...Johan something?). But he is a veteran, so he has the experience. And the best other option, Scott Baker, has an ouchie back. And besides, it's really only an honorary thing, and it's for only one game, after which the rest of the rotation will follow. If he can't handle facing other teams' aces, I'm sure Gardy will switch things around. I just wish we had a better veteran.


• All the media folks are running absolutely wild with the news that Pat Neshek decided to go vegan. I saw it on his website a few days ago, but coming from him, it didn't seem like that big of a deal. He made the change a couple months ago, and he says he feels healthier. He even admits that he'll probably eat meat again sometime. I think it's great that he's making changes; the important thing is that he's making thoughtful, conscious choices about his diet. However, it's no reason to get all crazy (startribune - seriously? Was it worth a note on the front page?) or cynical (Dan Barreiro - you think changing his diet is over-reacting?).

And now for something completely different...

Just for today, I'm stealing a page from Lipgloss & Baseball's M.O. and highlighting some cool music.

A very good friend of mine - one of the really good people in my life - is the lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter for The Julie Puppets. They have a new CD, Codes & Signals, and I really like their sound. Be sure to check them out at the Fine Line on Fri, March 21^st at 8 p.m.

You Gotta Read This!

I haven't smiled much since The Trade. This blog did it for me -- check it out and see if you agree.

Story Time: The One Where I Artfully Compare Johan Santana to a Moo Cow.

Good stuff.