I think I'm gonna do it

You can ask any of my friends and they'll all tell you I'm not a betting man. In the last year I've put money on exactly one sports bet that I'm currently winning, the under on the Wolves winning 30, but I think its time to make another, much riskier bet. I know I’m a twins fan and I’m probably being a homer, but I’m putting 20 bucks on them to win the world series now. On March 1st.

I look at it this way. This team made it to the playoffs last year. Yeah, just a one game series, but it was bonus baseball. Hear me out on this one. When I say this team I mean THIS team. Same rotation, same outfield plus a healthy Cuddy and same infield plus Joe Crede. You can say his back will give. I will argue that the contract gives the Twins incentive to drop him early. Something they didn’t do with previous veterans who didn’t belong. If his back gives we just go back to the platoon, if not we got a guy who was once an all-star, once a silver slugger and a good fielder.

And this rotation? Now they have an entire season under their belts. Now they won’t be intimidated or caught off guard and we get a full season of Liriano. If Liriano had gotten 2 more of Hernandez’ starts last season we would have beat the White Sox outright and gone up against a clone in the Devil Rays... It would have been interested. Now the whole team is back plus one and a specialty role or two.

The only thing that makes me weary is the bullpen. It could use a shot in the arm (rimshot). Somebody is going to have to step up with Neshek out once again. Mijares could be the guy to step up, but that could just as easily go south. My feeling is that if we can't get someone to step up in the bullpen we'll still be in a good despite the weakness and come trade time we'll find ourselves in the perfect position to pick up that big name reliever for once instead of stand idly by.

This team really could turn into a steam roller and it would be so poetic to do it in the final season at the dome with a hometown kid as the hero and a team made almost entirely out of the farm system just after their owner has died. It would be beautiful and I think it could happen.

Neubie's First Half Nuggets

As the second half is set to begin tonight, there are some interesting storylines to keep an eye on in the upcoming months leading up to the playoffs. Some have been beat to death already: The Tampa Bay Devil Rays coming out party and their pursuit of their first playoff spot in franchise history, Josh Hamilton becoming the player that everyone thought he could be,(Only a few years later than expected) and the Cubs having the best shot to finally win the World Series and end the stupidity that is the Curse of the Billy Goat. Along with the storylines for the second half, there were somethings that happened in the first half that I feel need elaboration. With all the things that you hear about on ESPN, things that don't involve the Yankees, Red Sox, or Brett Farve usually get little or no air time. But there are some more than intriguing things that have flown under the radar. Here are a just a few:

The Best Trade of the Last Ten Years...
In the off-season, the Cincinnati Reds and Texas Rangers agreed to swap a raw, super talented kid pitcher for another super talented outfielder with a more than checkered past. Not many people made anything out of it at the time, but looking back, it may have been one of the best trades in recent memory; one that worked out amazingly for both teams. I'm talking about the Edison Volquez for Josh Hamilton swap. When I first saw this trade, I kind of shook my head. I decided that the Rangers have officially given up on having an semblance of a functioning starting rotation. They always field one of the best offenses in the game, and they are very exciting to watch because they score a ton of runs, but they never have to pitching to come close to contending. Having the story of Josh Hamilton beaten into me over the past All-Star weekend, I have kind of soured on the whole thing. Nonetheless the story is amazing. What this guy has done is awe-striking. Have only had a handful of at-bats, ever, in a minor league uniform and to be doing these kinds of things in the pros. For once, the scouts who touted him saying that he would be one of the best in the game someday, based on the skills of a high school kid, weren't wrong. In half a season, Hamilton is leading the league in RBI with 95 and is on pace for over 170 for the year. The show that he put on at the Home Run Derby was something that even brought me to my feet sitting at home in front of the TV. I can't imagine what the fans inside Yankee Stadium felt like. As for that raw, young talented pitcher that was sent the way of the Reds? He has only been one of the best pitchers in baseball for the first half of this year. Compiling a 12-3 record with a sub 2.50 era. In his first 13 starts, he hadn't given up more than 2 earned runs. So for he has been an aberration. A pitcher that does well in Cincinnati's Great American BallPark, the very definition of a hitter's park. It's not supposed to happen. He is making that possible.

Trades aren't supposed to work this well for both teams. I know, thats the premise of a trade, for it to work amazingly for both teams, but they rarely do. Usually one team gets a proven commodity and the other gets some random prospects that no one has ever heard of that you wont see in the big leagues for the next three years. This is the epitome of a fantastic trade and other teams should take note. This will be interesting to see if both these players can keep up their torrid starts. These are two of the brightest young stars in the game today and I'm personally rooting for both of them to keep amazing us as they have thus far.

Speaking of bright young stars. Tim Lincecum certainly doesn't look like a baseball player. He looks more like the guy you goofed around with in band practice during high school. I can imagine there is plenty of band members that stand 5 foot 11 and weigh 170 pounds. But I can venture to guess there aren't many who throw 99 miles an hour and have a breaking ball that buckles knees. Not many people are like Tim Lincecum. He may be one of a kind, actually. Little guys like this aren't supposed to do the things that he does. He's a truly scientific marvel. Sports Illustrated recently published an article on Lincecum breaking down and explaining the reasons why he could do such things with such a diminutive figure. They explained that it's his windup and his delivery that generates all his power. They described it as his body generating such energy and torque that, basically, his arm just comes along for the ride. This greatly reduces his propensity to injury and will, in turn, make sure we see this Marvel for years to come. The article kept making comparisons between Lincecum and Mark Prior, the oft-injured former future star of the Chicago Cubs, now with the San Diego Padres. Mark Prior was the picture-esqe prospect. Big, strong, strapping young lad with an arsenal of pitches. The Twins were even thinking the same thing when they were deciding between whether to select Prior and Joe Mauer with the 1st pick in the 2001 Amateur Draft. Maybe the Twins saw something that the rest of us did not. The article pointed out that there was obvious mechanical flaws with Priors delivery that everyone seemed to ignore, as they were clearly blinded by his somewhat more obvious frame and stature.

The ultimate quandary.. How does the 5 foot nothing outlast and outshine a 6'5" ideal pitching prospect? Another amazing storyline, although most have never heard of this flamethrower. That might be because of the fact that he plays for one of the worst teams in baseball, the San Fransisco Giants. But anyone who bothers to look at his stats so far this season won't be able to look past him anymore. So far he has an 11-2 record, a 2.57 Earned Run Average, and 135 strikeouts in a 127 innings. Thats 11-2 on one of the two or three worst teams in Major League Baseball! Impressive. Even more impressive than his stats is actually watching him pitch. It's something that I suggest everyone see for themselves. I can tell you, you won't be disappointed.

Lastly, something closer to home.




The Twins are surprising a lot of people with the way they have been playing so far this season. What I hope people aren't forgetting about is that we have a not-so-secret weapon waiting in Triple-A. Fransisco Liriano is officially back. After undergoing Tommy John Surgery over a year and a half ago, people were wondering is what they saw in 2006 was a thing of the past. That the glimpse of greatness and dominance was just a flash of light that faded away. From the sounds of things, that isn't how its going to go. From multiple reports I've come across, Liriano is back to form, maybe even more so then before. One report had him hitting 99 Mph on the radar gun, higher than I ever remember him throwing before. This can only be music to Twins' fans ears. Another problem that he had when he came back from his surgery was his command. That apparently is no more, either. Over his last 21 innings, he has only walked 3 batters, while striking out 24, and over the entire minor league season, spanning 16 starts, he has walked only 28 batters in 97 innings. Fransisco is back to his old self and one can't help but smile at that. In 2006, baseball fans saw greatness and if you are a fan of baseball whatsoever, you have to be rooting for this young man to succeed. The question now is when will we see him in a Twins uniform? The Twins current staff has been pitching very well over the past couple months, with the exception being Livan Hernandez. There doesn't seem to be a spot for Liriano in the current rotation and from what I've read, the Twins seem content with leaving Livan in there, despite his 5+ ERA and leading the league in hits allowed. Apparently there have also been talks about moving him to the bullpen as a late reliever/set up man for Joe Nathan. I couldn't care less how you get him up here, but get him up here. At first I would recommend putting him in the bullpen to get him re-accustomed to major league hitters. If he still has the talent I like to think he does, he will find his way into the rotation sooner than later. He's young and there's no rush. I want to see this kid dominate like we know he can, and if that means waiting a while before throwing him to the wolves, I'm all for it.

Over the past year, I have seen my love for baseball return. These young stars are part of the reason why. With all the steriod talk clouding over the game in recent years, the future still looks brighter than ever. How can that be? These are the reasons why. This is why I still tune in, night after night to seemingly meaningless games in the heart of July. To see things that amaze me. That is why I will keep tuning in.

Thank you Erin



Hat tip: Twinkie Town


The Twins have a decision to make...

... And I think it's a pretty easy one. Right now the Twins have 13 pitchers on their 25 man roster. They'll also be starting their inter-league play in one week meaning there will be a lot more substitutions in the games and an absolute need for another bench player..

We've already run into trouble with the bench. in the final game against Baltimore Kevin Slowey had to pinch run for Mike Redmond so that Gardenhire's bench was intact for the final inning. Mauer had to come in as catcher for Redmond and because of that we lost our DH. Had Alexi Casilla not ended the game with a strike out Jessie Crain would have gotten an at-bat. The reason they have 13 pitchers right now is because Brandon Bass, Boof Bonser and Juan Rincon will have to pass through waivers if they're sent to Rochester.

Its obvious that Rincon should be the odd man out in this situation. For one thing he has absolutely no B's in his name... a necessity for long relief, which BB squared is capable of doing. The other reason is that Rincon hasn't been the same since he stopped hittin' the juice. Chalk Rincon's career up to the steroid era, maybe try to trade him for a couple of nice bats and move on.

Rincon was one of the best set up men in baseball. His ERA was 2.63 in 2004 and 2.46 in 2005. In May of 2005 he was suspended for steroids and his ERA began to creep up. 2006 wasn't horrible- his ERA was 2.91 but last year it skyrocketed to 5.13 and this year its hovering close to that. He gave up a home run against the Sox tonight and has been no help to his team... one hold in 26 innings just doesn't cut it.

I'm not entirely clear on the waiver process, but I believe that Rincon's veteran status will make it a bit more difficult to send him down and may force the Twins to pay the difference between the contract he signed with the Twins for 2.47 million and the contract that his new team would offer him but we've just got to eat it and move on. Rincon and Jesse Crain are the weakest pitchers in the bullpen according to Aaron Gleeman's adjusted WPA but Crain has a much better ERA and doesn't have that black mark on his record.

It's time to bring in a bat.

We were at the wacky Twins game last night

Yesterday around 5 I was sleeping/ watching Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind when I got a phone call. On the other end was Bez offering me a ticket to go to the Twins game with him, Neubie and another friend of our... awesome, I love free baseball. Little did we know that I would get even more free baseball than originally thought. We figured that the game would go long because boof was pitching but we never expected to get the game that we did.

Minus the two HRs, the first of which I called as we walked to the ballpark, Boof cruised into the 7th and I though we had the game in hand. Back in the fourth I bet Bez a dollar that Everett wouldn't reach 1st. He did and Bez told me not to worry because Casilla was up next and the inning would be over soon and we'd still be down. About 5 seconds later we were celebrating Casilla's bomb... he hit that ball hard. Now Alexi Casilla and Everett both both have more home runs than Delmon Young and Joe Mauer, unbelievable.

Around the 8th when we were still down Neubie claimed that there was no need to worry because Delmon Young was going to tie it up. To my surprise he was right, young got a triple and Mike Lamb brought him home. Gardy put it all on the line (or so we thought) when he began pinch hitting in the 9th. Monroe and Redmond made appearances we got lost figuring out who was playing where when the 10th began. That confusion was quickly replaced by trying to figure out why Rincon could not be replaced in the same inning with 2 on. I may love baseball, but I don't carry a rule book in my back pocket so I didn't know that Gardy couldn't come to the mound after Rick Anderson had already been in the same at bat.

We figured that the game was over with the bases loaded and a call-up on the mound, (even adjusting out caps out of the rally position) but Korecky came through big time. We figured we had it made once Korecky got his first Major league hit, scooted to second after jumping over Harris' grass burner and touched down at third after they walked Mauer. Korecky became the first Twins' pitcher to get a hit in an A.L. game since the inception of the DH. Cuddy and the good Doctor disappointed that inning. Korecky came back and sat down some very good players to give us our opportunity in the 12th.

Go-Gomez made it on base and flustered the pitcher before reaching second when Young grounded out. Texas figured it was best to walk Mike Lamb to get a shot at career AAA player Howie Clark. We figured Clark was a goner and were really hoping to get to the next player. The next player to bat was to be Livan Hernandez, who has repeatedly asked Gardenhire for the chance to pinch hit in such a situation. Unfortunately for Hernandez, but fortunately for the Twins Clark roped athe ball right over Josh Hamilton's head and the game was over.

Insane... almost as insane as half the crowd getting to their feet at the end of the 9th and taking off. I don't care if you have a day job sit down and cheer your team on for at least one extra inning. Probably the best game I've been to ever, nothing that happened was expected and everything was exciting.

Me thinks Craig Monroe should maybably has pinks bats all of the times

(and other strange Twins observations)

On Mother's day Craig Monroe hit two home runs and was the major reason the Twins won that game. He doubled his home run production for the year in a single game and pulled himself into a tie for the second most home runs on the team. Thats not a good sign, but this team has been scoring more as of late so I'm just going to hope that the team heats up soon.

Adam Everett has more home runs than Mauer and Delmon Young combined. Adam Everett has 36 home runs in nearly 2200 at bats. I think maybe Mauer spent too much time getting pointers from Jason Tyner last year. Young is the more troubling of the two, he was supposed to be a power hitter and an all-star in the making. He claims hes a slow starter but its pretty hard to label yourself something like that when you're 22 years old. Twinkie Town has a good little piece about Young and some stats that kind of scare me.

Mike Lamb has been a thorn in my side for the majority of the season so far, but this weekend he has two two-out, two RBI hits. Hopefully this trend continues.

Pat Neshek being out for the season scares the shit out of me.

After tonight's win Livan Hernandez is 6-1. I hope we finally picked up a cheap veteran pitcher who won't be gone from the team by the all-star break.

I feel horrible for waiting this long to mention it but I was extremely excited about Carlos Gomez' cycle. Gomez flashes brilliance far more often than I expected already; he's tied for the A.L. lead in steals, covers a lot of ground in the outfield and is doing a decent job at the plate. I'm probably going to hold off for a while longer but I'm strongly considering purchasing a Go-Gomez jersey. Thats a big deal because I tend to be bad at consuming things.

The Twins roster is basically set

The Twins signed Joe Nathan to a 4 year $47 million contract with a club option for a 5th year. I'm in favor of this even though I know its kind of controversial considering the Santana trade and letting Torii Hunter walk. We got Nathan at a major discount and his no-trade clause only allows for him to select 3 teams that he does not want to play for. That means we can keep him for all four years if our starting pitching surprises us and the line-up lives up to it's potential in the batters box or we can turn Neshek or someone else into our closer and get something very good in return for an all-star caliber closer with a discounted contract.

It looks like Carlos Gomez will be our center fielder on opening day. If nothing else we'll get some interesting quotes on a daily basis from the young Dominican. If he can figure out how to put the bat on the ball on a regular basis and not get overly excited on defense this move will be worth it. Hopefully he'll figure out the names of "the catcher and that other guy."

There were no other surprises in the starting lineup. Mauer will bat second and play catcher, Cuddyer will take right and hit third, Morneau will bat 4th and play first, Delmon Young will take Torii Hunters spot in the order and play left field, Kubel will DH in 6th, Mike Lamb will play third and bat 7th, Brendan Harris will play second and bat 8th and Adam Everett will play short and bat last.

Matt Tolbert staying with the team didn't make sense to me until I read in the Pioneer Press that Gardy feel comfortable plugging him into 7 of the nine positions on the field. Craig Monroe, Mike Redmond and Little Nicky Punto will ride the pine with Tolbert until their numbers get called.

Livan Hernandez, Boof Bonser and Kevin Slowey are locks for starting pitching and the other two spots seem destined for Scott Baker and Fransisco Liriano. The only thing that makes Baker questionable is his injury earlier this spring and a flu that just won't go away. The rumor was that Liriano would start the season in AAA, but after throwing a no hitter through 4 innings against Baltimore he may go north with the team. Baker's absence means that Nick Blackburn will most likely take the final starting role and Brian Bass will play long reliever. Hometown kid Glen Perkins didn't make the team, but he'll surely make his way to Minneapolis when the injuries begin.

Good luck Rangers

A so called "new and improved" Sidney Ponson signed with the Texas Rangers today. The rumors are that he has stopped drinking, lost weight and picked up some mph's. He obviously had enough time to work on all that last year. After the Twins let him go early in the season, I'm assuming he did some thinking and decided he didn't want to be known as a fat drunk pitcher who sported a curly mullet a few years too late.

Ponson threw just 37 2/3 innings last year with Minnesota. He went 2-5 with a 6.93 ERA and was released in early May.

I don't blame him, I wouldn't want that to be my stigma either.

Weighing about 20 pounds less than when the Cardinals released him 20 months earlier, Ponson exhibited a 93-94 mph fastball, a slider that touched 88 and a changeup that hit 84. An animal with bite replaced the rolling curveball seen two years ago.

That has to be promising for the Rangers. I'm just glad we don't have that old guy that Terry Ryan is giving a chance this year.

Ponson Works out for scouts.

Livan Hernandez is a Twin

The Twins added some experience to their starting rotation today when Livan Hernandez signed a one-year deal worth about 5 million dollars. Whether or not this turns out to be another waste of money like Ramon Ortiz and Sidney Ponson is yet to be determined. Hernandez went 11-11 with a 4.93 ERA with Arizona last year which is already a slight step up from Ortiz' 11-16 with a 5.57 ERA with Washington the year before signing with the Twins.

The opening day starter is still unclear, but if I had to guess I'd say that Hernandez would be given the job because of his veteran status. He's definitely not Santana and may only be on par with Carlos Silva, but the one thing he does that this team desperately needs is eat up innings. He has thrown at least 199 innings since 1998, hopefully that trend will continue and the bullpen will know that at the very least they'll have one day to rest during the rotation.

The pitchers set to start the year off looks to be Hernandez, Scott Baker, Boof Bonser, Kevin Slowey and a fight between a healing Fransisco Liriano, Nick Blackburn and the newly acquired Phil Humber. If this team has any hope of staying in the race for the central pennant we’re going to need Liriano to show up like he did in his rookie season, Hernandez to pitch more like he did in 2000 or 2003 and Delmon Young to do his best Frank Robinson impression.

God, I hope this pans out.

Twins Lose: Santana now a Metropolitan

The Twins traded Johan to the Mets today, and pending the two parties coming to terms on a contract extension, Santana will be a Metropolitan by the end of the week.

Fuck, in my own opinion Bill Smith has blinked twice.

1) When making the deal for Delmon Young, he originally could have included Rincon in the deal, but then he blinked and added Morlan. Don't get me wrong, I like the pieces we got in this deal, it's just a shame we had to get rid of one of our best pitching prospects in the process.

2) From the beginning of the Santana talks, the Twins stated that they wouldn't deal with the Mets without them including Reyes. It was pretty obvious that the Mets weren't going to included him in the deal under any circumstances. So the next best thing was to get a top prospect (see: Fernando Martinez), they definitely didn't do that.

I know, I know, this trading for Prospects business is never clear until said prospects have a chance to prove or disprove themselves. It is just that I'm not feeling much confidence in our new GM.

On the other hand 2 draft picks and a season of distractions wouldn't be any better.

So in the last 6 months or so we've lost the following:

Kevin Garnett

Torii Hunter

Johan Santana


Hey at least Santana didn't go to Boston or the Yankees, and will be playing in the NL. I'm going to go throw up now.

Also, the Twins Geek ask some interesting questions on this transaction.

Something good finally happens to the Twins

Justin Morneau and Micheal Cuddayer have signed long term deals with the Twins ensuring that we will not have another Hunter/Santana debacle on our hands. Morneau's contract is said to be 6 years long and worth about $80 million while Cuddayer's is 3 years and about $23 million. I think I would have liked them to put another year on Cuddy's contract, but if they move him to center like Gardy (bat-shit crazily) said might happen three years would probably be a better deal for the team to have the 4th year option.

I am really starting to like Bill Smith as the general manager of this team. I don't know about his ability to get the prospects in trades that Terry Ryan always seemed to find but he was willing to trade pitching for batting and now he's signed two very good baseball players to contracts before they got a whiff of free agency. Terry Ryan would be sitting with his thumb up his ass going over the Johan trade offers with a fine toothed comb and too busy to ensure that two of the best players on the club stay here in Minnesota.

Now all Smith has to do to pull off the trifecta of GM brilliance is get the Mets, Red Sox and Yankees back into a bidding war. Get me Lester and Elsbury. Get me Hughs, Kennedy and Cabrerra. Get me a couple players from the Mets that Terry Ryan approves of. Honestly I have no clue about any of the players being offered by the Mets and that scares me, but I didn't know who Joe Nathan, Boof Bonser and Fransisco Liriano were when I was unsure about making Mauer the every day starter (still not sure about how that will play out).

The Star Tribune told me about the contracts.

Guest Rant

Dan left us a nice little comment, which I felt needed a promotion from the comments section. Dan is a law student by the way. Thanks Dan.

Im sorry, Im watching this TERRIBLE coverage on ESPN and I feel I need to say something ( I sent an Email to ESPN but I doubt they are going to respond ) Could ESPN be baseball apologists Any MORE? it is goddamned ridicoulous. OF COURSE THE EVIDENCE IS HEARSAY AND CIRCUMSTANTIAL! For being a sports "news" company, one would thing ESPN would put it in a BIT of context. Sen. Mitchell did not have subpeona power to follow up allegations, nor access to or the power to order tests (of which aren't even able to detect HGH because there are no blood testing), and the strength of the union and its players not cooperating leads to only one logical conclusion - this whole thing is a sham to rehabilitate MLBs image. MLB looks like it is doing something - and keeps Congress from actually doing a substantive search and finding some real solid results.

Notice how nobody will be punished from this??? its a joke. people act like its a big deal but nothing will change. Not only does this maintain the level of cynicism that I currently have for baseball, it demolishes the last shred of credibility left for ESPN. I am sick of their made up news stories (T.O. vs Keyshawn.... OOOOOHHHHHH I DON'T FREAKING CARE AT ALL), the incredible imbalance in covering teams (notice that the Patriots have their own tagline at the bottom, along with the NHL, NBA, and NFL - ridiculous - even the Pursuit of Perfection bullshit) and now that they hype the SHIT out of this report, they come out and have the balls to say there is nothing substantive. FUCK ESPN I QUIT. This is pretty typical, I get all pissed off at how much ESPN sucks, stay away from it for two weeks, get drawn back in SPortscenter, then get all pissed off all over again. They have crossed the line from reporting the sports news to creating the sports news. Its terrible.

On another note, on FOX News this morning they had a "source" that claimed had names, and many of them turned out to be wrong - including Nomar Garciappara and Johnny Damon. But that is typical FOX news, much like when that psycho took over the Clinton office they broadcast the wrong guys name for an hour before finding out the real guys name. ITS CALLED CONFIRMING A STORY BEFORE RUNNING IT. Bush League.

Warning

At 1pm Central Standard time tomorrow shit is going to hit the proverbial fan. George Mitchell has called a presser for 2pm eastern at the Grand Hyatt, in New York city. In this press conference he will be revealing his report to Major League Baseball on steroid use. It is expected that he will be naming up to 70 players, former and present, that are associated to steroids.

To be honest, what i think you need to be warned about is what is going to come about because of this Mitchell Report; nothing. Nothing is going to change, from the way it is now. They aren't going to go take stats away from these players. They aren't going to give fans money back because they got tricked into believing lies. Nope, there will be a bunch of people who will say, "I told you so," and then we'll go right back to the way things are now.

This report will not point any fingers at the real problem in baseball, Mr. Bud Selig. He ignored the problem when he was an owner, and when he became commissioner he did the same. So this report will ignore him and his office who were and are the true enablers in this whole problem and point fingers at players.

The fun part now has been speculating who will be named in this thing. To me it's pretty obvious the twins non-tendered Jason Tyner today because they know he'll be named in this thing tomorrow, and they don't want to be associated with such a power player like him. Well, until tomorrow at 1 central take a break from all that is baseball commentary, because come 1:45 you will be unable to get any other kind of commentary for quite a while.

Lunch Break : I'm Starving and won't make it to lunch

-I wonder if this energy bar is something you can eat out on a boat. Fred Smoot's Smack!!

-I have Roddy White on my fantasy team and it ended up that I didn't need his points monday night, so I would like to give them back, because this kid is a tool. And he has free T-shirts. "I did it myself."

-Get your fun last name Cubs jerseys. As I write this I learned the Cubs just signed Kosuke Fukudome. That is a fun last name. I wish we played them this year, because it would be classic how Dick and Bert reacted to that name. No link yet, but I'm sure when I post this that if you look hard enough you will find the story, I have faith in you.


-Although this wouldn't happen for a few years, ESPN has expressed interest in broadcasting the English Premier League (EPL). I have a feeling this could be a very polarizing issue. With the history the WWL has in being a self serving bastard of a cable network, it would be interesting to see how they could fuck up the most popular sports league in the world. ESPN & the Premiership.

-You think athlete's here make lots of money, check out what this F1 driver's reported contract:

MADRID, Spain (AP) -- After an unsettled season marked by infighting and controversy, Fernando Alonso capped 2007 on a positive note.

The two-time Formula One world champion agreed to a two-year contract with Renault that puts him back behind the wheel of the French team where he achieved his greatest success.

Spanish media reported that Alonso would earn $51.3 million per season, though Renault would not confirm the figure.

That's a bit more the A-Rod.

-For all you Gopher basketball fans, I know there are tons of you out there, Tubby finally signed a contract today. $13 million/7 years. That seems either too long or too low to me, but I'm not going to do the research to confirm my theory.

-Last but not least: Snack-Attack

HUH???

Terry Ryan is done, as GM. This is strange. Why now? Why at all? Is he saying? There are so many questions. More later.

THANK YOU CHICAGO

With my past experience with the White Sox, I don't think I could be as happy for another team as I am right now. If you haven't heard the White Sox just extended Ozzie Guillen through 2012. This means we can expect them to fall apart year after year, until at least 2013, which is wonderful. Even though the Twins are DONE this season, life as a Twins fan is good.

Johan Santana Fans 17 Rangers

Viva El Presidente! 17 strikeouts? Like Dick said, Mr. Santana is now the proud owner of the most strikeouts in club history... and he's probably going to hold on to that for, oh I don't know... forever.

If it weren't for Cuddy's home run in the second this gem of a game could have gone down the crapper like so many good starts from this pitching staff. They may not all be as thrilling as Santana's win yesterday but Boof, Silva and especially Garza have all felt the wrath of Ryan's inability to open up his wallet.

Terry Ryan should have thrown a huge contract right in front of his locker after the game ended. Obviously he is the best pitcher in baseball and he will be for quite some time. They may be all but mathematically eliminated from the playoffs this year but seeing Santana do this sort of thing still makes me smile.

Congratulations Mike Bacsik!

You've just become immortalized as the answer to a Trivial Pursuit question that I'll never get correct.

Barry Bonds has hit his record breaking 756th home run and now stands atop the record books. I think he was cheating... I bet that bat was corked. I couldn't find a video of it on YouTube so here is a link to the Evil Empire if you want to see the monstrous swing.

As we all expected Bud Selig was not around to celebrate the achievement. Whether or not the man was on steroids I think the Commish should have been there to acknowledge the moment in time. This innocent until proven guilty thing should stand in sports as well as courts. I've seen his stats, hat size and rookie card and yes it all looks bad but people need to be given the benefit of the doubt.

Plus A-Rod is going to kill that record in a few years unless he gets caught with another boo-a-licious stripper and his wife kills him. Even if A-Rod doesn't it will be Ryan Howard, Prince Fielder or someone else who came out of the minors at an early age and began swinging for the fences immediately.
At least ESPN won't have to cut into another exciting installment of "Who's Now" every time Bonds comes to the plate.

Castillo Leaves State, Bracey Leaves Country

Yes, every one knows that Kevin Garnett is no longer a member of the Minnesota Timberwolves, but he was not the only sports figure to get a little time in our posts to say goodbye...

The Twins also traded one of their better players in Luis Castillo away for 2 prospects. Those prospects are Drew Butera a catching prospect and son of former Twin Sal Butera and outfielder Dustin Martin. The catcher makes me wonder because it seems like the Twins have a ton of catching prospects that are going to sit behind the All-star caliber and hometown hero Joe Mauer. This organization had better turn right back around and trade a couple of prospects (like their AAA catcher) or Rincon or Silva or a combination for a bat that works properly. The problem is that they have about a half an hour to do this.

Castillo's bat worked properly... he had a .304 average. We've lost the fastest man with a limp in the MLB, the man who stated they year with about 12 straight infield hits, the man who regularly beat out bunts and the guy who seemed to be the only one getting on base a while back. As far as defense goes it sounds like we'll be bringing Brian Bruscher in as the everyday 3rd baseman, moving Punto to second and bringing Alexi Casilla back to the bigs as a speedster and utility infielder to groom as our everyday 2nd baseman. As much as I dislike losing a 3 time all-star and 3 time gold glover this seems logical for the future... I'm just still thinking about the present.

As for Bracey, he recently signed with a greek team called Aris TT Bank. I didn't manage to look up the stats on Bracey's summer league stint with Denver but I can't imagine that they invited him back. Too bad, I honestly think the guy has enough talent to be a solid six or seventh man and possibly even end up as a starter. Of course this isn't the end by any means and there are tons of players who went to Europe for a couple years to hone their game before hitting the Association again. If I can find time between work and looking for a new truck I'll ask him about his new team and his thoughts on the KG trade. I know I've said that before, but seing as he'll be leaving the country soon and he is the only person I semi-sort-of-know with any insider information on the Wolves and the NBA so I'll make sure to do it soon. Good luck Bracey.

Holy Crap! Jason Tyner Hit a Home run

I. AM. SPEECHLESS.