My 11-year-old, very tall daughter (5-5) loves kitties and now loves Bat-Girl.com. You gave her some giggles today. I stopped to talk momentarily to talk to our pastor today, while wearing a nice dark blue polo shirt with a Twins logo and all he could say was, "can you believe" to which I answered, "grrr", and he said "they just can't" and I said, "I know, it's really, ugggh."

So we won today. You can't say these are the sucking times when we are 6 games over .500, but with the Sox doing what they are doing, it feels like it.

I too have had enough of the Twins sucking. I was at the game on Friday and the last time I was that pissed off leaving the Dome was in October 2004. Here's hoping that our boys have tattooed "Nothing is anywhere simply present or absent" upon their hearts, and that they have put the ass-performance times behind them.

may Batkitty #3's dreams always be pleasant!

and I heard on the 'CCO post-game that DJ's girlfriend was in town today for the game, so our boy was obviously doing a little showing off. I wonder if we could get her to come to town a little more often, as we could certainly use that bat of his in every game...

I heard that too kafumbly.
I propose that he marry that young woman tonight, make her attend every home game and take her on road trips too. 3 for 4 today. That was nice to see.

I'm also very happy with Little Nicky Punto and I was quite pleased with the reception Boo got when he was introduced today, and the standing O from many fans after the 8th inning K'ing of the side.
And of course, the Nathanation of the side from my own boyfriend, the Nathanest of Joe's, to cap it all off in the 9th.

All in all a great bobblehead game, though it would have been nice if the man whose bobblehead was distributed today would have made some offensive contribution during the game.
Best thing Jacques did today was catching one of the ceremonial first pitches.

I too hope that batkitty #3's dreams stay sweet and happy, and the sucking time of the Twins is soon a distant memory.

I say it's time to conjour up images of the Bitch Sox sucking time.
Directed dreaming people...if we all work together, we can make it happen!!!

Did anyone just see Cuddly-bear on channel 5 Sports Wrap with Rod Simons? He did some card tricks that would have made David Blaine proud. If only he could translate those skills into spearing liners.

Well, the O's performed a happy whomping on the Sox today.

And since I was out of town, my kitties didn't hear about either the O's losses nor the Twins losses. I think they are the better for it, for both kitties become needy for reassurance when their teams lose, and then they get kitten snot all over our glasses.

Well, I'm officially on Crappy Dial-Up, so it appears I am no in a greath Sucking Time. Perhaps there is only a finite amount of Suck in the state, and the Twins Suck has been transfered to me. They won this afternoon, I moved back into my parents' house. Could be coincidence, could be... not coincidence. Something to think about.

>My 11-year-old, very tall daughter (5-5) loves kitties and now loves Bat-Girl.com.

Dear Mr/Ms Egg,

Be sure to, um, read the entries first.

Love,
Batgirl

BG,

Good point! LOL
Way OT, I am having an insomniac night, so I turned to ESPN classic and Lo and Behold, Game 6 of the 1993 WS is on with none other then Old Man Mulholland pitching (and getting shelled by the BlueJays). Just thought it was funny. He WAS young once.

Dear Ms. O'Water:

Yes, he was. We know that. But was "once" in 1993? I thought we would have to go back much further to regain TM's youth.

Dear Batgirl:

Genious, as usual. I love to read you when things are going well, but when the Twins are borderline (or outright) sucking, your writing is the best part of the baseball day. (Except, perhaps, the Bitch Sox being beaten. But that was even more fun when it was Tampa Bay. Seems like everyone loses to the Orioles this year.)

Crap. Can't spell today, or, apparently, proofread. Apologies.

Ahhh, yes, victory is sweet, suckyness...well SUCKS! But I stop myself from panicking when I remind myself that we are not even to the all star break yet.

Why does this not suprise me?!?
Sweet Dreams Batkitty #3..for we have a lot of season left!

OK, so I decided to come up on Saturday to see Boo's glorious return (well, his glorius post-Friday return...).

I think the boyfriend issue is solved because I was actually annoyed to see Mr. Rivas starting at second. In years past, I would have been thrilled, especially given his recent "status" on the team.

So, not only do I get Rivas instead of Punto, I also miss Torii, Mauer, Nathan, BARTLETT, and... Boo. Seriously, why did I even bother? Allright, that might be a little bit harsh, but I was bummed. And then they lose too? :(

The coolest thing that happened all game was witnessing Hershheiser playing catch with the crowd. I thought that was pretty classy.

p.s. What was up with Kyle relieving?

Once again, BG, you say what needs to be said, exactly how it needs to be said.

And I agree with Brooklynegg-- while some of the playing this weekend can only be described as Sucking, it's hard to really feel like it's a Sucking Time when we're not only OVER .500, but until this weekend were over .600, fergoshsakes.

Sweet dreams to Batkitty #3. Luckily or unluckily, baseball means nothing to our cat, except that it means I don't pay attention to letting her Outside in a timely manner.

Off-Topic, but here's an Allard Baird quote from the Topeka news paper:

"Our master list will be broken into two groups -- those with managerial experience at the Major League level and the guys who do not," Baird said. "(Major league experience) is what I'm looking for. If we can't find the right guy with experience at the Major League level, then we'll look for guys who fit under that."

Sounds like Newmie might not be the guy they think they need. (Except, you know, if they need someone to teach guys how to play baseball. Duh.)

Baird also says that they are in no hurry to decide and might stay with the interim guy for the rest of the season.

Here's the link: http://cjonline.com/stories/051305/roy_manager.shtml. You need to sign in to get to it.

Bottom line: I'm so torn. I want Newmie to get his chance, but I so don't want to lose him. Sigh.

Say Rah!,

Kyle was relieving because he was skipped in the rotation because of the days off. except for that one Gopher ball, I thought he did a lovely job. it was nice to see Kyle on the mound instead of Lyle, and it was nice that Lyle didn't then infect the rest of the team in protest.

it's too bad you didn't get to stay for Sunday's game, which was quite lovely, for the most part. except for the return of Old Jacque and the misadventures of Lew Ford, it was a great ball game all around.

after the fact, i did talk to some friends and we worked out that the kyle scenario was possibly schedule-related. i just wanted to double check. i was thoroughly confused at the time though. well, and irritated at missing boo too.

we'd talked about staying for sunday's game, but with the 4-hour drive, we headed home instead.

aside from the loss and lack of eye-candy at the game, it was a sucessful trip nonetheless. say i bought a new hoodie and a hat too. well, and no trip to the cities is complete without a stop at the macaroni grill in burnsville.

being at friday's game was incredibly discouraging. I can only hope Tuesday is better. Despite lsing on Saturday, it was really cool to watch Kenny Rogers (I can't say that with out giggling) pitch. He was all over the plate.

"threw the ball around the park like a bunch of monkeys on Ritalin." Could not be a better description of some of the plays! But we are in great shape! The season is not yet 1/4 of the way done and we are playing decent ball. The Bitch Sox will not keep up their pace and I think our game will only improve. Cuddy and double I have yet to get hot and really Stewie too has not been up to par. We will only get better!

Lew, I adore you, but please don't play in center field any more.

Thank you.

I was a little disappointed that my birthday-boy boyfriend didn't get a birthday grand slam (how cool would that have been?), but I realized he's saving his power so he can show off in front of Corey when he's in town.

Corey Koskie is the Doctor's boyfriend.

and Boo is Jesse Crain's boyfriend.

that's so cute. :)

Dear Twins Goddess,

I was just testing your love on Sunday.

Lew

"The season is not yet 1/4 of the way done and we are playing decent ball. The Bitch Sox will not keep up their pace and I think our game will only improve. Cuddy and double I have yet to get hot and really Stewie too has not been up to par. We will only get better!"

Just a note, but personally, I'm not as confident. I don't see the Bitch Sox fading as in past years. Heck - even last year, their fade was more injury-related than what we'd been used to. This year, they're actually getting Frank Thomas back sometime in the next few weeks, which will provide a boost to their biggest weakness - the offense.

They'll certainly fall off from their current pace, but it's going to be a dogfight all year.

I just had to share this Gardy quote in regard to our LNP's continual habit of sliding head first into bases. *GRIN*

Second baseman Nick Punto set up a Justin Morneau sacrifice fly in the first inning, beating out a bunt down the third-base line after a leadoff double by Stewart. Punto punctuated the hustle play with a head-first dive to the bag.

"If the knucklehead wants to do it, just go ahead and do it," Gardenhire said in grudging acceptance of the baseball no-no. "I just don't want to see him coming up with a busted-up shoulder or finger. But that's part of his makeup, part of his game. ... We needed a kick in the butt early in the game."

We know how ya feel Gardy...

they discussed sliding into first on BB2N yesterday, and how sometimes it's a good idea. I hope Nicky didn't catch it, or he'll just say "SEE?!" and Gardy will roll his eyes and say, "whatever."

It looks like Frank Thomas is off to AAA to rehab (click my name for the link). On Saturday night my dad and I decided he needs to come back so he can kill the team chemistry in Chicago.

I truly hope that Sucking Time is over, because I hate it. And it kills me to lose any game when the opposite lot make 3 friggin' errors. Remember the Moral High Ground, the Happy Place.

They had a thing on TV this weekend about Old Man Mulholland's no hitter in '89. He is the only player from that game still playing in the MLB.

All,

I had the pleasure of listening to your announcers for the first time (XM radio carried the MN feed) and I must say, though they had their moments, the announcers were most pleasant to listen to.

YankeeFan

I've got comments. Boy, do I have comments. Let's start with observations from Friday night's game, shall we?

Once again, I have to raise the issue of ticket dyslexia. If, in the 3rd inning, in the MIDDLE OF A PLAY, you're too stupid to figure out where you're supposed to sit and you're being that stupid in front of me, it's inevitable that the rightful owners of the seats are going to show up. Then, much play acting about "Duh.. oh... duh.. these aren't our seats... duh..." Just sit in the seats that you paid for, dammit!

Ok, that's off my chest. On the mixed feelings side, it's great to go to the game with a four year old. She's the best. However, if she also likes peanuts, you will only get one half, or less if you're slow, of the peanuts that you shell. This is a fair price to pay to foster a kid's love for the game.

Four year old girls can eat two times their weight in peanuts, popcorn, and cotton candy.

Cotton candy is ok to give to a four year old at 10 o'clock at night only if you're taking her home to her parents' house. Heheheh.

If Luis Rivas isn't going to dive for a grounder up the middle in a tie game, even after losing his job, then he doesn't really want to be here and should be allowed to go somewhere else by cutting him. Maybe to the Nationals?

Now, about the ChiSox. Frankly, I'm not optimistic about The Collapse this year. Barring injuries, they have some leaders on that team this year and some actual chemistry. They're playing more like a team than in years past and their pitching is very good. I don't see them keeping up the same pace, no. But I still see them winning games. They could put up a winning percentage somewhere in the mid .600 range. The last three years, we've won the division with percentages of .568, .556, and .584 while posting the fourth or fifth best record in the American League. That might not get it done this year. We may find ourselves in a battle for the wild card spot this year.

Our lineup is still gelling and taking shape. It's not the unstoppable run producing machine we thought it might be before the season started. Our pitching is starting a little slower than it did last year. People are paying closer attention to it, I think and scouting it more. We've gotten the recognition and attention and it's causing other teams to take more notice. And our fielding, we're still putting it all together there. Morneau is getting better, but he'll never have Dougie's range. With Bartlett and Cuddyer throwing to him, that's going to stand out even more when he can't quite scoop the tough throws.

I'm hoping that as we go along here, the pace will pick up and everything will fall into place. But, as things stand now, it's going to be a tough, tough division to win this year.

I suggest picking up the latest issue of USA Today Sports Weekly, it has a wonderful article on the younger Twins (Mauer, Morneau, Bartlett and Punto).

In it was a hilarious quote from Torii Hunter on Morneau:

"The guy is a bonehead, but what do you expect, he's Canadian. He actually makes more sense after getting hit in the head."

"Monkeys on Ritalin"

I want a band to call themselves that some day. I'll buy every record they ever put out. just picturing it brought a smile to my day. Of course, when you stay up until all hours of the night to watch baseball and then get up at 4:30, it doesn't leave much in the day for you to smile about, because you're tired, and crabby. That'll happen i guess. But the monkeys on Ritalin will always be there to lift my spirits. Thanks, BG, for yet another unorthodox way of lifting the spirits of batlings all over the globe.

P.S. Jason Bartlett is my boyfriend.

CapitalBabs,

Perhaps LNP should talk to Scott Rolen about the dangers of sliding into bases -- or Hee Sop Choi -- head first. Not that he'll stop doing it either.

Love,
Redbird

Did anyone notice the date yesterday (besides being the Good Doctor's BD, that is!)? As I was writing on my scorecard, 5-15-05, I realized that, of course, we were going to win! It was the Variation on the Cupcake Day!! And with Radke pitching, I was just sure that he knew what to do on such a day.

I noticed that our beloved Justin is the calendar boy for May on my cool Twins calendar.

k-bro