"BG is dearly looking forward to the next couple of thousand"

As am I BG, as am I. I'm also starting to look forward to extra inning walk-offs from our younger boys.

I, too, will miss that crazy-ass loon T-Fat. I love that little guy.

So you noticed, too, the very very bad word that the Doctor said when he was called out at second... ok, so it was pretty obvious.

I win on the no-sleep-ometer. Barely got 3 hours... now I'm off to work for 12 hours to get some nice overtime pay.

Have fun in Cali!

A cab to California? Man, I'd hate to see that fare.

I never thought I'd be so happy to see a guy shaped like a pear replaced by a guy named after a pear.

Henceforth and from now on the walk off four run dinger will be known as a Kubel - let it be so.

Hmm. Let's see. Jason Kubel. Justin Morneau. Joe Mauer. Jason Bartlett. Johan Santana. Hell, even Juan Castro.

Would it be too out of line to call this team "The J Squad"?

What about Joe Nathan? Juan Rincon? Jesse Crain? Jason Tyner, later in the season?

I don't think "The J Squad" would be out of line at all.

Heh, I forgot all those names? Damn. I knew I was out of it this morning--getting up to replace a fuse, outside, with the remnants of Alberto circling over my head (sadly, there will be no Ricardo this year to join in the fun)--but I didn't know I was that far gone...

Well, yeah, I guess the names all line up - but what's catchy or clever about calling the team "The J Squad"? Does that have some hidden meaning I'm missing? I'd prefer to call them "2006 World Series Champions" (as unlikely as that might be), if it's all the same to you.

The needle of the "Cosmic Irony Meter" may never be the same after the first win of the year for Dennys comes from a Grand Slam.

Someone up there has a wicked sense of humor.

2006 may be a bit much to ask, adidasman, but the future looks pretty bright for these J-men (and even for a few with names like Mike and Francisco). It doesn't take a lot of imagination to see a number of potential all-stars in this group.

13 K's in 8 innings of work... 24 outs... that means just over half of Johan's outs last night came on K's.

Pretty good jorb there, Johan!

I had the privilege of being at the game last night. Seriously--the best game I've ever been able to attend. My voice still hurts this morning. Now tonight we can bring the "Welcome back Bart" sign instead of the "Free Bart" sign. Good stuff. Bye Craptista.

>the first win of the year for Dennys comes from a Grand Slam.

LOL!!

Jason Bartlett is free! Woo-hoo!

Adidasman,

I'd love to call them World Champions too. In the meantime however, cute nicknames will have to do.

I will admit that my first instinct was "Torii and the J Squad". Don't know why I shortened it, though. I'll blame it on lack of sleep...

MK

Serial!!! that was too funny!! I can't believe we missed that last night! All in all, I was just giddy and woozy - probably from holding my breath - and still wondering how that ball carried so darn far.

Ahhhh.... all in all, a wonderful night of baseball.

"Jason Kubel. Justin Morneau. Joe Mauer. Jason Bartlett. Johan Santana. Juan Castro. Joe Nathan. Juan Rincon. Jesse Crain. Jason Tyner."

---Don't forget J. Boof Bonser and The Jackal ;)

That was a beautiful, beautiful game. I'm SO glad Johan is ours. *bliss*

Funny how we're sloowwwwwwwwly shifting out of "we need to get going if we're going to contend this year" into "hey, the future is looking pretty good..." mode, isn't it? We would have been there last season, I suspect, were it not for the expectations of back-to-back-to-back division titles - but hey, we're there now, we have a stadium coming, and hope once again springs eternal. It feels good to say that, though I'm a bit sad that my boy Brad will likely never get the ring he deserves after suffering through so many bad Twins teams.

And yeah, I get that there are lots of "J" names on the team. But "The J Squad" still isn't cute or clever or anything. Sorry.

Oh, and bye-bye, T-Fat. Good luck and God bless.

Wow. Just...wow. One of the two or three greatest games I've attended in my life.

This is how the sports sounded on my radio station this morning (a public radio station in New York):

"In sports, the Heat won, the Mets won, the Yankees won (and pitched good). Oh, and after a great pitching duel between Johan Santana and Curt Schilling [Redbird stops fixing her hair to listen], the Twins win in the 12th inning on a ....[rest of broadcast drowned out on account of Redbird cheering]."

Made my morning. Also, I think I woke up my downstairs neighbors, but it doesn't matter because I'm moving next week.

Don't forget Jerry White and Joe Vavra. And Jedi Lew Ford......

Bartlett is free at last, free at last! This is prodigious. This is like Nelson Mandela getting out of prison, like Spartacus throwing off the shackles and taking up the sword. And Kubel, well, that was simply... Homeric.

Which uniform will Johan be wearing when he gets 2000, 3000, and 4000ks ?

[[THE BEST GAME i HAVE EVER ATTENDED]]. wow. :)

So I read in the paper this morning that Batista is going to be replaced by Castro ... is there going to be another Bay of Pigs?

Goodness - lots of specultion that Torii is willing to go the Red Sox - so the Pioneer Press states -

Anyway- back to the game - YAY - I wish I could have been there =)

Much love
Wonder Woman

WW, personally, I'm getting REAL tired of Hunter talking every day about where he might be heading or willing to go or not willing to go. Shut up and hit the damn ball already.

Best game I've watched since Viola went up against Hershiser at Dodger stadium in 92'

What a great game! Made even better since the Twins won.

that wasn't 92'

it was 89' I believe the battle of cy young winners

I guess I'm now offically old enough to no longer get my dates straight

Tons of excitement, great game! I watched it on the MLB package with a Sox fan, so it was an especially sweet finish.
The future is, of course, terribly bright. But I have concern at a key position: Manager. I don't think the game needed to be that close last night. Why was switch-hitting Punto (.400+ over last 10 games) on the bench, with ice-cold righty Castro starting against Schilling? I fast-forwarded through Castro's at-bats, we were giving away outs. I just wonder about him always pulling hot bats out of the lineup like this. It was silly to have Lew Ford hitting 2nd with that .220 with Punto on the bench.

I'm amazed no one has yet mentioned Lew's hideous attempt at a sacrifice bunt in the 9th; if Lew gets that down, Kubel's heroics might have been unnecessary. (Even the newspapers managed to ignore that gaffe in the post-victory afterglow.) But, considering this is the 2006 Twins, they probably would have stranded ol' Luis at third anyway...

Let's face it, Lew had a very bad all-around game. Santana's 1st "hit" given up was basically an error. And if we stick Kubel in left, put Punto at short hitting 2nd, we get Santana the win. Even easier to get that win if we're willing to DH Redmond in a game like this instead of Lew's weak bat in the lineup. Sorry, Lew.

I just sashayed over to the Pioneer press site to see about all this Torii-to-Boston nonsense; JimCrikket, I agree. If Torii wants to stay, he should stop telling us where he would be willing to go in a trade. if he doesn't want to stay, then talk all you want. But don't do both, Torii. It just looks disingenuous, like you're straddling the fence (no pun intended).

And I feel sorry for David Ortiz and his continued bitterness toward the Twins. Perhaps someone should point out to him what his numbers were like when he was with the Twins, not to mention how many times he was on the DL. If anyone should feel betrayed, it's the Twins - he had all that talent, they clearly saw it and gave him ample opportunity to show it, but he never really put it to use until he went to Boston. Trust me, Big Papi, Terry Ryan would have gladly kept you if he'd seen you play with anywhere near the passion and skill you now exhibit. So maybe you need to be a bit more realistic about why the team chose to do what it did.

Another PP article mentioned the possibility of the team acquiring a veteran third baseman; I just happen to know of a team in Wisconsin that has a very fine third baseman. He's a swell Canadian fellow who doesn't seem to be getting much playing time. Kushkie or something like that. Maybe we could get him.

For those of you who don't watch Twins games via television, I can tell you why Santana had such a FABULOUS night last night...

He got his hair cut. No more scary fro-like coif. Let the strikeouts roll!!

Yes- I agree about Torii is he getting bummed about the attention the Chairman is geting -I don't know.

Big Pappi really disappoints me too - anyway he will probably now succumb to the SI curse

LOL - Johan got a haircut - he should know now to keep the 'do in check =)

Much love
Wonder Woman

PS - Corey looked pretty good last weekend against the Cards.

Here are yesterday's updated American League All-Star ballotting results at catcher:

1. Jason Varitek, Red Sox 630,657
2. Ivan Rodriguez, Tigers 595,132
3. Jorge Posada, Yankees 489,480
4. A.J. Pierzynski, White Sox 370,020
5. Victor Martinez, Indians 324,575

It's a travesty of a mockery of a sham. Vote Mauer!

I likes the quip in the Star tribune about how now that Ortiz got his dig in of the Twins that SI will next year have Rondell White complain about his underachieving while playing with the Twins. One of the papers also here is a quote from Mr. Ortiz that I found interesting:

"[The Twins] did me that bad," Ortiz said. "I never had a problem with anybody in that organization. Ever, bro. I was a good teammate. I respect everybody. I never had no argument with no coach, nobody. I never did anything wrong, but they did me wrong. No respect, bro. I was lucky I got a job with the Red Sox."

So, basically we should have kept him on even though he was injured alot of the time and was no where near what he is today because basically he was a nice guy. Wow, that is all you need to be in the majors? Sign me up! LOL

P.E.Mike:

"Which uniform will Johan be wearing when he gets 2000, 3000, and 4000ks ?"

I'm going to go with road greys, home alternate blues, and home whites. Hopefully we'll have done away with the pixie vests by then, but Johan seems to have the sense to leave them in the clubhouse anyway.

When Matt Moses gets his call to the Bigs, can we call him The Matmos, or would a Barbarella reference be too obscure?

Re: re-acquiring Corey. Clearly, TR should have gone after him in the offseason when it was clear he was available on the cheap. I'm not sure, however, that bringing in a 33 year old to play the position at this point is the right move. I like the guy and I certainly wouldn't complain if he were brought back but I think it's a stretch to think he would be the long term solution at 3rd base. If you're going to argue that it's time to shed some of these veterans to allow the kids who are going to be the next generation of Twins to get major league playing time, how do you argue to bring Koskie back and take innings/ABs away from Tiffee/Moses or anyone else? Just seems inconsistent to me, but as I said, I wouldn't mind seeing the guy back in the fold.

Koskie to the Twins for Loshe?

I'm getting pretty tried of Torii speaking out of both sides of his mouth too. Last I read he was telling the papers that he would like to still be a Twin when the new stadium opens and now he's telling them that he's willing to start waving his no trade clause to Boston and Chicago (cubs)

Which is it Torii?

It would be nice to have an OF of Kubel, Hunter, and Cuddyer (just make sure Hunter bats no highier than 6th)but if ya want to go then go ahead and go. I just hope Hunter doesn't become a distraction.

Yeah, hitting in to bases loaded inning ending double plays is distraction enough.

So you want Torii to pretend that nobody is talking about him being traded? I find it perfectly consistent that he could prefer to stay here but is realistic enough to realize it may not be in the cards. Ever since the trade rumors started -- and he didn't start them -- Torii has said that he understands that this is a business. I prefer that to someone who interprets a roster move as a personal insult.

There isn't a GM in baseball that wouldn't trade their most popular, longest-tenured player if they thought it was to the team's advantage. Why we expect unilateral "loyalty" from players is a mystery to me.

Yes, I do expect him to stop talking about it. There's no rule that says you have to answer a reporter's question time after time. The right answer is "right now Im a Twin and my focus is on doing the best job I can do for this team. The rest will work itself out however it works out."

Also if not in the cards means he might not stay b/c of cost, well he has alot of control over that.

I can name at least 2 important Twins who really wanted to stay and proved it by taking less money to prove it.

But yes at the end of the day I think I have problem with I want to stay but yeah Yankee pinstripes would be nice type of comments.

He may not start the trade rumors but he does nothing to slow them down either.

i nominate the red sox batboy as boyfriend of the day for his awesome tackle!!!

I think Torii wants to stay but wants a team around him who can win. Apparently Gardy read my comments yesterday, so he went with my lineup of choice for the blowout. I love Punto hitting 2nd and no Lew or Castro v the right-hander. NICE JOB GARDY.