Another great Santana start.

He's 1/3 of the way to the consecutive scoreless innings streak. :) I know, a bit premature, but I had to fiddle with something when we were pounding the Bitch Sox into oblivion.

Something I noticed during the game today: It must be a good time to be a female Twins team. It seems we've put together a dandy squad of young good-looking folk, and a couple mandatory old, grizzly types to make those youngin's look better by comparison. These are the things I think about now that I'm not bothered with worrying about the Bitch Sox catching the Twins.

Batgirl, I heard you on KCCO before tonight's game. I was so pleased to see that the host of that show would ask you serious baseball questions. You are not always given enough credit for your knowledge of the game. But this radio host did not treat you as a just a "batgirl." You are the best! Thanks too for your sponsorship of Santana for whatever high office America needs. I have your bumber sticker on my SUV, and I hope America is paying atention.

Roy Hobbs

Batgirl, it's good to have you back, darlin'. Nobody spews bitch-sox bile the way you do. What's this silly talk about radio, though?

I bet those Bitch Sox standing in the field during the 6th inning really WANTED to sit down...
But our boys said, "NO!! THE ONLY WAY YOU SIT DOWN, IS WHEN JOHAN SITS YOU DOWN...BITCHES!!!"

What a fun game!!

Let's do it again tonight, shall we??

Hope The Jackal is hungry...

Not to be nit-picky, but back in July, Torii looked more like the current wearer of #93, Mr. Kevin Williams. Not that the John Randle refrence wasn't appreciated, but he hasn't played with the hostile Swedes for a couple of seasons

After last nights game I decided I hope we do NOT clinch the division at home. As much as it would be to see it happen Sunday during Santana's game, I think it would be more fun to see the team do it in Chicago on their turf!

First, before the game even started Batgirl paid a visit to me on site of the next campaign rally and offered me a slug of Wild Turkey from her hipflask (Skorch is a 12-year MacAllen scotch man himself).

Later the Twins proceeded to stomp the living bejesus out of Freddy Garcia and his squadron of indignant underachievers. Lastly, the always lovely Ms Donnalove stopped by as well to openly point and laugh at the Sox display of baseball buffoonery before returning to her seat after the 7th inning stretch.

Overall, an excellent evening at the old ballgame.

Wonder Woman - I tried to point Batgirl in your direction when she went back to her seats, you were in section 117, right? She and the rest of Team Batgirl were stationed on that side as well.

"dipshittery." Hee.

Twas a nail biter until Freddy walked Augie - the Henry - then Shannon gave himself up and well JJ was close to being charged at homeplate by a crazed fan - then he came thru - and well all hell broke loose =)

Joe Beimel - needs a smaller jersey - or he needs to tuck it in better -
JD - my what bright - white teeth you have!! Nice Dome-Vision pic! Do you still own that shiny watch with the face the size of Big Ben?!?

Skorch - yes in 117 row 5 - close to the first base side! - thanks for trying! Damn so close to greatness! Sunday - for sure then!
I was one play away from winning Twingo -damn that 9-4 play!!

Much Love -
Wonder Woman

I hate to be picky and geeky -- and at the same time, no less -- but I must quibble with this:

"risking, may I add, being thrown out of the game during the final stages of CyQuest '04."

Your readers in the graphic design industry have ill memories of a storage device that dominated our business for years -- a noisy, unreliable, ugly, expensive pile of goo known as the Syquest. We do not wish to associate Mr. Santana's efforts with such a base piece of engineering.

Yep, that's fussy alright. I regret typing it already. Perhaps it will help if I point out that time stood still while you were out of touch, Bat-girl. Your substitutes did an admirable job, but there is only one Bat-girl, and you, apparently, are her. (Or is it "she"?)

Just so we know the campaign has some ways to go...

After Supernatural's supernatural start, our favorite BBTN commentators, John "will I break a chair instead of throw one?" Kruk and Harold "where's my WS Ring?" Reynolds gave their "expert" response to Karl's question: will Johan win the Cy Young? NOOO, says Krukster, Schilling is going to win 22-23 games. NOOO, says the Harold, Schilling pitches against the AL East. Karl reels off the stats in disbelief - and does anyone note that the Rays and Jays have MUCH worse offenses than the Tribe and the Tigers? And does anyone note that Schilling can't pitch against his own team, so really the Yanks are the only class in the division? And that Santana has whupped all the relevant contenders? NOOO. The "experts" are unmoved. Schilling will beat the Yankees in dramatic fashion this weekend and everyone will remember it and vote for him. For once, I will be rooting for the hated pinstripes...

Can't wait for Sunday!

Hello all:

I found some info about "Cy" Santana that I haven't seen commented on elsewhere:

http://cbs.sportsline.com/mlb/story/7639794/4
[bottom of the page]

Minnesota Cy Young candidate, strikeout artist and cartoon aficionado Johan Santana, who prefers to spend his time off holed up at home with his wife, Yasmile and their 2-year-old daughter, Jasmily, lists his five favorite cartoons:

1. Dora the Explorer. "It's unbelievable. My daughter knows every time what time it's on TV. And we have the DVD, so every morning when she wakes up, we have to make sure that DVD is ready to go."

2. Barney. "She always sings along with Barney, all the time. We have it in Spanish, too."

3. Blue's Clues. "Honestly, I don't know this one. We watch Nickelodeon, and at noon it's Dora and at 12:30 it's Blue's Clues.

4. Tom and Jerry. "That one's my favorite."

5. Looney Tunes. "I love the Tasmanian Devil."

"NOOO, says Krukster, Schilling is going to win 22-23 games. NOOO, says the Harold, Schilling pitches against the AL East."

That is just crazy.

1.) Wins are meaningless. Schilling gets 2 more runs per game of run support than Johan does. Also, 4 of Santana's 6 losses have come when he delivered a quality start.

2.) Statistics of opposing batters faced so far:

Santana: .264 BA, .331 OBP, .421 SLG
Schilling: .266 BA, .335 OBP, .423 SLG

They are facing almost identical groups of hitters. To ignore how Johan is leading the AL in every relevant pitching category because he's in the central is just crazy.

*backs away from the stats slowly*

Monkey's on Redbull, priceless.

Just Wondering how the folks at Santana/Nathan '04 feel about Johan's impressive performance during the Primary last night?

supportfully,

anb

http://www.dailysouthtown.com/southtown/dssports/pro/151sd3.htm

Gotta love those Bitch Sox!

Mongo - thanks for the link -

I believe the appropriate reply for this article is BLAH-BLAH -BLAH -BLAH BLAH BLAH - and rewind - we've heard it before - enough all ready.
Like we didn't have some key players on the DL?!? Sad testiment to Sox depth - no-one was good enough to step in and fill Magglio and Frank's shoes? Ok so they were big shoes to fill - but still. Maybe when the Sox realize that bitching gets them no-where -they may actually contend and not fall to the wayside late in the year.
At least Ozzie gave us some credit.

Ok done now - sorry for the rant -

Much Love -
Wonder Woman

Those whiny bitches! So ok, they lost Mags and Thomas, but other than that, Pauly was one of their only (good) players that was ever hurt during the year!! We've had like close to 20 transactions on the Disabled List. It's not like we haven't played without our "good" players. But we've got guys that step up and that's the difference. I was watching the game last night and there were at least two plays where three Bitch Sox were trying to catch pop-ups in the infield at the same time. That's a lack of team chemistry and a lack of communication. Their problems go FAAAAAAAAR past Mags and the Big Hurt. They need a complete personality makeover. I can't wait to see Silva kick the maple leafs out of Buerhle's ass tonight!

My dearest Bat-girl, while new to this phenomenon know as bat-girl.com, I have fallen madly in love with all of you. How nice it is to know I'm not the only fan with potential restraining orders pending.

Now that I've gotten that out of the way. . .I have a feeling Supernatural will get the Cy Young not only due to his amazing performance this year, but due to the fact that he is indeed a Twin. A few short years ago the ugly ogre (dare I speak his name?)threatened to get rid of our beloved Twins. Now they are well on to their way of yet another fantastic season. It's a very Santanarella story. The press and public love those types of fairy tales.

Twinsprof - I heard Kruk dump that horseshit last night too and damn near did a right-handed Santana impersonation of my own with the remote. He actually said almost word-for-word "I guess I'm one of those stupid baseball people that think wins are a pitchers most important stat". Bingo!

This is the same guy who earlier this season when asked who he'd rather have pitching for them out of 4-5 great pitchers and Jarrod Washburn with an 8-3 record and 4.76 ERA, he went with Washburn because he had the most wins in the group. All the other pitchers listed had him outgunned on every other stat shown, but he had the most wins so obviously he was the best pitcher. Incredible.

Dear readers,

Somebody on ESPN, can't remember who, said Schilling should get it because he pitches on the East Coast and there's more pressure.

I mean, come on!

Shaking my head,
BG

Of course, Twins viewers should have known it was going to be horrible when the "analysis" come after another shocking segment: a review of "AL playoff teams" and who should be the #1 starter in playoffs. NYY, OK, Boston, OK, Oakland, OK, Anaheim, I guess OK... then they stop!! It is apparently not interesting to them that tied for the league lead in quality starts and in fact fifth "overall" according to ESPN's "average game score" stat is Bradke. Radke outranks BOTH Anaheim pitchers, BOTH Oakland pitchers, and... oh, the Yankees' best pitcher?? Jon Lieber, 22nd. (OK, no more stats) It is just outrageous.

Here's a fun mental picture for you.

The Choke-ago Bitch Sox are similar to a small child with his fingers planted firmly in his ears.

You know, the kind that goes: "Lalalalala...I can't hear you!"

It's one of those things you can sit back and laugh at. As they attempt to deny...well...fact.

I think it's ESPN's job to put as many "contriversal" figures on TV as they can.

They've singlehandedly ruined Baseball Tonight with Kruk and Dibble. They've killed their NFL preview show with Michael Irvin, and they've killed their NBA show with Stephen A. Smith.

The worst, is that I don't think it's a mistake. I think they are intentionally putting idiots on the air to "create" contriversy. Basically I'd look for Eric Neel's commentary and Bill Simmon's commentary (both on Page 2) for actual intelligent discussion on any of the issues.

I'd cite Neyer, but he's a lightning rod for the non-statistically oriented. That and he's "premium" content now. I'd cite Jon Stark, but he's getting harder and harder to find his column or him on air.

Anyways, I think they are simply looking to "start the debate", by using such dumb arguments such as "pressure" or "wins" being the primary judge for the Cy Young Award. It's the way sports TV has gone. See who can more persuavesively (eek) argue whatever position they draw.

That being said, Karl Ravech actually looked pissed off at Kruk during this "discussion" last night. :)

Hmmmm. What does this say about the team who has had their bitchy asses kicked so hard and so often by said 'one and done' team? They take comfort in having their asses kicked by such a team?

What's fun about the Bitch Sox bitching is that they usually make themselves sounds stupider than anyone else could.

It was Jeff Brantley who said Schilling should get the Cy Young because he pitches under so much more pressure, whereas Johan was just out there in Minnesota where no one pays much attention to what you are doing. Actually, this peeved me way more than Kruk. At least the Krukster has some kind of twisted logic behind his argument, and he went on to say that if Santana finished with more wins then he should get the award. But Brantley appeared to be saying that it didn't matter what we did out here in the frozen midsection, it just wouldn't count as much because we weren't doing it under the brilliant media glare of the East Coast. Which is the biggest load of codswallop I've heard in quite some time. (Oh -- and Schilling also deserves it because "he has been carrying the Red Sox all year long." Yeah, because you sure can't depend on those other crappy starters like that Pedro guy, and you can't expect any run support with that anemic offense with Manny and David Ortiz and those other clowns.)

Harold appeared to be saying that Santana deserved the Cy Young but that Schilling would get it because he pitches in the American League East where you get more attention. Which strikes me as a cop-out.

But I'm not worried. I am willing to give the baseball writers a lot more credit than that, and if Santana finishes the year strong and continues to lead in ERA and strikeouts and all that good stuff and is only a win or so behind Schilling, I think there's a good chance the best man wins.

(And BTW, even on BBTN, the guys who strike me as being the most knowledgeable about baseball, such as Tim Kurkjian and Peter Gammons, are saying it's Johan, hands-down.)

Smitty

I kind of like Kruk and Reynolds. But, here's the deal, let's step back and be realistic. First, who do you think has more name recognition outside of the Twin Cities, Santana or Schilling? Schilling, hands down. Second, who do you think sportswriters around the country have had an opportunity to see pitch more often on TV, Santana or Schilling? Third, who has plays in the "tougher" division, Santana or Schilling? It's unfortunate but perception means a lot.

I agree, to an extent with Reynolds when he says that a lot of it's going to come down to what happens in the next few weeks. If Santana continues to pitch brilliantly, because he's at least being touted as a candidate, and even the favorite, he has a real shot at the award. But, if Schilling pitches well, in front of what's certain to be a big national audience, against the love 'em or hate 'em, high dollar, superstar lineup Yankees, then it might not matter what Santana does.

Wins matter, but wins are a mark of what your team does for you. Look at Radke. He has some fantastic numbers, but not that many wins. Hell, what was the stat on Randy Johnson? 40 strikeouts in 3 starts and he gets two losses and a no decision? Wins aren't all about who's the best pitcher. The Cy Young award is all about who's the best pitcher. I beleive that a pitcher should be judged on what he can control.

So, all that is a lengthy way of saying I really don't want to root AGAINST Schilling (I think that's bad karma) but I wouldn't mind seeing him lose a game or two and Santana winning out the regular season.

My letter to ESPN. It could be better, but it's from the heart:

If you'll take my advice, you really should fire Jeff Brantley and John Kruk, right now. They're single-handedly ruining Baseball Tonight, which used to be a forum for interesting discussion as well as highlights. You can get rid of Rob Dibble, too; but I'm writing particularly about Brantley and Kruk because what they've been saying about Johan Santana and the Cy Young race is just worthless horseshit that makes your network look bad. It's not rare for those two to come off like such Cro-Mag idiots, either, but now they're even dragging a respectable person like Harold Reynolds to their level--and that's more than I can stand.

Get Gammons and Kurkjian on camera more often again. Hell, give some airtime to Stark and Neyer, too. Whatever, but bring back some analysts who actually have a brain in their heads. Even if I disagree with what those guys say, at least I can respect the thought they've put into the issue.

The dumb ex-jock thing is just turning me off, and I vow never to watch Baseball Tonight again until those jackasses Brantley and Kruk are gone. If I wanted to watch idiots talk about baseball, I could always watch The Best Damn Sports Show on Fox.

Sincerely,

Frightwig-Very nicely done, my sentiments exactly only with less cussing and no childish threats to hold my breath until my face turns blue. Did you actually send that to ESPN?

One little nit-picky note for no other reason than because it caught my eye; if Brantley and Kruk were both dragging down Baseball Tonight, would it be "single-handedly"? Phrased another way might suggest they were working together, tag-teaming like Shawn Michaels and Marty Janetty to drag down Baseball Tonight, only this time *both* of them get thrown through a window when they're done working together. Who doesn't enjoy a nice Midnight Rockers reference? Food for thought.

Levity aside, you hit the nail on the head.

Yes, I really did send that to ESPN, and I sincerely intend to carry out my vow to boycott Baseball Tonight until it has two less Cro-Mags on the panel. You got me on the "single-handedly" thing. D'oh! I'm firing my editor now. :)

Ah, last night's game... so wonderful. Sorry to be so late with my comments but I had to work all day and then I had left my lights on so I had to call for a jump and ARGHEDjfgasui.

It is lucky that my scorecard has enough slots for 18 names (well actually 36, with substitutions and all) because I had to use the extra 9 for the inning that should shut the Bitch Sox up for GOOD (but won't.) I am naming myself official scorekeeper of the Batlings.

Anyway, the Twins killed a notorious Twins Killer last night. Henry Blanco played an outstanding game, which he always does when I am there. Bitches sat down. I wish Johan had been batting, and could have hit a homerun, and told Fredegar to "Sit Down, Bitch!"

Skorch, did you figure out who the other Batfan was that was a few rows down from you?

Donnalove - I didn't get their names, but I did talk to them after the game. I reminded them of the rally on Sunday though, so we should hopefully have a couple more in attendance.

fright/skorch,

That is hilarious and true. I see Kruk on tv, and I turn the station to IMAX. Which is about the saddest thing ever.

Speaking on the Schilling/Santana Cy debate, One of the BBTN "experts" (Brantley?) brought up the fact that Schilling pitches in a tougher division. Schilling does not have to face his own team, so the Yankees are the only tough team he faces in his division. Certainly not Toronto or Baltimore. Santana faces Cleveland and their great lineup and the BitchSox and their potent offense and even Detroit and their much improved team. Yes KC sucks, but Johan threw a complete game shutout against them, so you can't really hold that against him. I can't see how they can make that statement.