I believe Mr. Stark needs a Santana/Nathan '04 button!

"Last September in Minnesota, they were giving out buttons that said, 'Santana for President.' But they were crossing out 'President' and writing 'Cy Young.'"

Unrelated (sorry), but a little picture for you Lew fans.

http://images.sportsline.com/u/ap/photos/FLRS103031516_1024x768.jpg

I like how SI.com called Rivas "Luis Rodriguez." It's not like he's some minor league prospect. On second thought, he has been on the hot seat...

This health thing with Morneau is getting bizarre.

Now he had an infected lymph node removed from the area of his recent appendectomy.

Oh, and Mauer has an infection around the spot where a wisdom tooth was removed.

http://www.startribune.com/stories/509/5292696.html

*sigh* I love you, Dougie Baseball.

"Range of a highway cone." LOL! That Mark Grace is a funny guy.

Believe it or not, there are two Venezuelans named Luis in camp at the moment. Rodriguez is apparently in the shortstop line.

Dear Batgirl,

I'm sure those Red Sox wives got the idea from your original "Queer Eye for the Twins Guy" column.

Jodi probably told them about it and it sparked the idea in their minds.

Lovely article on Dougie.

Start spreadin' the news Doug...if you can make it there, you'll make it anywhere!!

And the Santana article nearly brought me to tears too.

All my thanks,

bubblemint

It's a great article on Doug -- make sure you click on the media link for the photos from Tuesday's paper. You gotta love those Mets uniforms.

I tend to think that Doug will get his hitting eye back if he's playing everday. But NYT clips won't keep the dogs away in May and June, if he's hitting .235.

From Stark's Sanatana article:

"I remember there was a lady who came up to me one day, and she was crying the whole time. I was, like, 'Wow. I didn't know this was that big.'"

Ok, who was it. Come on now, fess up :)

YankeeFan

Yesterday Johan is signing autographs and not many of us there, so I figured why not and stood there with a ball to sign. As he gets to me someone from the organization says he has to go to do an interview, right now. So I pull the ball back from him and figure, go, I'll get you some other time maybe. Well, reading the article was worth not getting the ball signed, great article. Not sure it was from yesterday, but that's fine.

Call me a nerd or whatever, but I found the graphic and all the technical details of playing first base very fascinating. I always appreciated how hard Doug worked, but now I know truly how much thought he put into the game.

And I adore Santana. But that went without saying.

Beth

I agree with Beth on the appreciation of first basemen. Especially because I used to play third base, and quite a few plays I made wouldn't have been as good without the extra effort by our first baseman. They make everyone else in the infield look better, but rarely get the recognition they deserve.

I think SI.com hit on something. This team is so easy to love because of who they are. It's nice to have a team to follow with a bunch of good guys that play well on it. It's especially nice that we get articles about LeCory eating bugs, Santana being a national hero, and Gardenhire being a character instead of someone being arrested, constantly asked about 'roids, or in a contract hold out.

Watching that Luis Rodriquez kid in the first Spring game, I'd guess that the Twins won't be too anxious about letting Rivas go if he wants to leave after this year.

In other news, the Twins are keeping an eye on the Marlin's efforts to get a new stadium built. The plan calls for the state to kick in $30 mil, the Marlins to pony up $192 mil and the city and county to pay the rest for the $420 mil stadium.

So, my question is, if the Twins offered up $192 mil, instead of the current offer of $120 mil, do you think that would get a stadium built here for them?

Here's the link to the article:

http://www.startribune.com/stories/509/5294937.html

Well now I am stumped:

"I always appreciated how hard Doug worked, but now I know truly how much thought he put into the game."

You mean Rafi Palmiero's gold glove didn't adequately acknowledge his contributions at first base?

YankeeFan

Is there a printing format to print your prose? When I attempt to print the selected text, all I get is about 1" in the middle of the paper and requires me to print 10 pages to receive today and yesterday's information. Thanks.

Dearest Mr./Ms. Bandit,

Here is a possible solution, courtesy of mmmmarkiep.

>Well, I can't get it (the main pages) to print right from my browser, either. However, if you go to Edit, Select All, Edit, Copy, then open a blank MS Word document and select Edit, Paste and paste what you just copied into a Word Document, you can then select which pages to print out from there. This worked for me.

I hope this helps.

Love,
BG

Luis Rodriguez has been the primary 2B at AAA Rochester the last couple years, although he played a handful of games at 3B and SS this past season. In 2004 he hit .286/.353/.389 in 127 games. He's 24, turning 25 on June 27. Listed at 5'9", 170 lbs., a switch-hitter. I did wonder when I saw that SI comment whether the writer really meant to compliment Rivas, though.

Nah, Rivas is 5'11"

In shoes or stocking feet? :)

Cleats.