Minnesota at Oakland. Oakland 8. Minnesota 4.

In the sixth inning of today's game, Twins pitching coach Rick Anderson went out to have a wee chat with Juan Rincon after he walked the lead-off batter. Anderson was, apparently, rather animated and after the game, Rincon had this to say:

"It's the first time I've seen him like that," Rincon said. "It's part of the game. We're not girls. Sometimes we need something like that to wake up. It's not like 'Hey sweetheart, hit your spots.'"

We're not girls? Juan, honey, you have an excellent penchant for stating the obvious. Batgirl is delighted you are not a girl because if you secretly were she feels your life would be a difficult one, for you are large and hairy. But one must ask: what exactly do you think a girl would have done in that situation?

Do you think Batgirl flinches from a dressing down? Do you think she runs from her responsibilities? When she is called on to a game that has run 'til 4am because you, Juan, walked in the tying run, do you think she weeps and cries to the heavens? No. No, she does not. She does her job, Juan. And anyway, Anderson never would have come out, for she does not pitch prissily to Eric Chavez to lead off the 6th, because she's been at enough Twins games to know that walks will haunt. Don't you ever pay any attention to the scoreboard? And even if she did walk Chavez, she'd certainly remember to hold him on so he couldn't steal second. Batgirl focuses, Juan. She is a girl and she focuses. Oh and you should see what would happen if Rick Anderson tried to talk to Sooz like that. She'd put his 'stache where the sun don't shine and then proceed to pick Chavez off first as had been her plan all along, just to humiliate him. And the women of Team Batgirl, who are girls would like to ask--Juan, sweetheart, really—do you think you might hit your spots? Next time?

But this is not the point. The point is, Rick Anderson has every right to be a little testy, and Juan Rincon could be forgiven for an unfortunate interview. For this road trip has not gone very well, and not just for Batgirl's body clock. After wiping up the Central in April, the West has slapped us around in May. We're 3-6 in our last nine games, and Batgirl cannot help but feel, in her girlish way, that the team has gotten away from some of the fundamental principles of the franchise. A Twins pitcher, well, he might give up a lot of dingers, but he never ever walks a man. And a Twins fielder, well, he may not be hitting the combined weight of the BatKitties, but at least he fields like a poem. Three errors today? 74 walks? Are these our boys? Perhaps the team is still heady with their irrationally exuberant offensive output of April, and they have forgotten that in Twins baseball, we don’t score many runs, but we don't give any away either, and you if play like that you'll end up on the sunny-side up part of the scoreboard more often than not. And that is something that we all, girls and guys, can agree on.

Oh, dear readers, this road trip was not our finest. What went wrong?