Beautiful. Just beautiful. I am so loving this run.

Well said...greatness is happening before our very eyes and we are lucky to see it!!!

I was a kid when Carew played for the Twins.
Old enough to appreciate it, but not to really grasp how much it meant.

This is going to be great fun...

Im already feeling very, well somthing, this season has driven us to low lows and now to pure joy. Our BOS are giving us a life time of memories in just this half season. Heres hoping they can keep up the run- I just don't want it to end.

Hear, hear. I can honestly say I don't care that we won't make the playoffs. This is just so much fun.

What a fun game. What a fun month!

Wish I could have seen the game tonight. And, although I love the outcome, of course, I was beginning to feel the teeniest bit sorry for Lowe and the way we were manhandling him. I mean, that was pretty harsh. Still, I'm not going to complain!

Eeeeee. Bring on July!

I am just too far away from all this fun, but still enjoying it to the full. Batgirl and MLB.com saving me. The recaps are great for my lunch break.

...and yes, it does seem we are looking at greatness. I grew up with Harmon Killebrew, watched Carew (on the odd Saturday Game-of-the-Week) with wonderment; and was lucky to see Puckett in both the '87 & '91 Series.
When you live far away, you have to take the chances you get. I will never forget my last live Twins game (not counting Spring Training with my parents in Florida). It was too long ago, but there was a guy named Jack pitching and it was for all marbles. It was also when I learned how to enjoy football (of the soccer kind). 1-0 scores are also exhilirating.

...Although a Mauer 5-hitter, following a Mauer 4-hitter(scoring lines like a pitcher) and a 9-2 lashing must certainly be better for the DomeDog business...

These are the exact things that will make this season worth watching right now.

Any playoff appearance is only icing on whatever cake these three guys have already baked for all of us.

I, too, have enjoyed this month. One of Selig's redeeming qualities (at least for us,at the moment) is the initiation of interleague play. 11-2! Do you think they can keep it going when they have to come back and play in the real world? What happens when they play division foes not named the Royals?

I was looking at the standings today...it's amazing that the Twinks, Sox and Cats are all playing amazingly well at the same time. Kinda makes you scratch your head. Oh well, let's keep it going! Remember, Santana historically doesn't play well until AFTER the all star game.

I kept saying to myself as I sat up from the couch, "Jeebus! *Another* hit!?" Soon I found myself wanting to genuflect like the fans on camera. Perhaps a few more games like this and we can get Joe named Pope.

Having grown up watching Killebrew/Oliva then Carew and so many others... all I can say is that I hope this group brings as many great memories to today's kids as those guys brought my friends and me.

They're all so young and you never know what could happen... phenoms come and go every year... but there does seem to be something very special brewing in this clubhouse.

I am in town for a week in between moving from the east coast to the west coast and I will be going to two games (tomorrow and Friday). I haven't been this excited since I had tickets to the '02 playoffs.

yes, it's a great time to be a Twins fan. a great, great time.

I think you should call him the Cisco Kid. Because "He was a friend of mine
The Cisco kid drank whiskey
Poncho drank the wine"
I know that I am paraphrasing the song and that he probably cant drink a lick of whisky (unless he is driving) BUT COME ON He IS the Frickin Cisco Kid and he can drink whiskey anytime in my book

I, too, need to add my "I'm lovin' this" post. Is it the great weather (of course we are inside), is it that the new stadium will be built (and therefore the team will be a'staying)? Is it letting the "young ones" play (due to sending "Bert and Ernie" out to sea)? Or probably it is that harmonic conversion of all that can go right in baseball and we get to happily revel in it. SIGH. Whatever is conspiring to give the team and us all this pleasure--I thank you. special thanks to Joe Marvelous, Johan, and the Kid but really the entire team rocks to the best beat.

Cheers, kal

Can we be best friends? And how TRAGIC was it that Lil Joey Mauer didn't play on Sunday? I trek up to the Cities to see him and I get one lousy warm up with Eyre. But it is a great time to be a Twins fan. This is an excellent blog.

Great quote from the latest Jim Souhan article on how the Twins are winning at an unbelievable pace yet gaining no ground.

"This is Secretariat, Man 'O' War and Seabiscuit running down the same backstretch. This is Tiger Woods dueling with Jack Nicklaus and Ben Hogan around Amen Corner. This is Lew Ford playing video games with two guys he met on the Internet."

Amazing game tonight. Lets just keep it up. Only worry about today's game.

Beautiful BG. I've been waiting for this post-I now understand what is really happening before our eyes-I just didn't know that until I read it.

And Lyle said, "Oh GARDY, The Kid is ready." And the GARDY did say on to him, "Nay. The Franchise shall dwell a little longer in the Pen." But Lyle despised the GARDY and took matters into his own hands.
- The Book of Liriano 3:10-12

Its a damn shame that Liriano isn't starting the All-Star game-he's the best pitcher in MLB right now. You can't blame the kid for only starting 8 games, he has just as many wins and a better ERA than Santana in half as many starts. If Santana is a candidate than Liriano deserves to be too.

The bottom line is that Mauer, Liriano, and Santana (possibly even Morneau) should all be at the all-star game in a few weeks; but they won't because ESPN doesn't care about the twins.

I have to agree that this is so much fun to watch them winning (for me, watching is checking the live updates on ESPN). Every day I check the scores and lo and behold, they are winning again. Even when they are losing, like last week against Houston, I know that they have a reasonable chance of coming back. Last week, down 4-1, they came back, almost lost it again, and then won it in extras (thanks Justin)

What has killed the Twins chances this year was that 4 game set with Chicago last month. The Twins started out great, winning the first two, and it looked like we were going to catch up. But then came game 3, the game in which we scored 7 in the first, and lost. After that, we lost game 4, then went on to lose 3 straight to Detroit. That loss in game 3 of the Sox series killed our momentum and IMO set the table for the rest of the losses. We keep up the momentum, and chances are we'd be right up there with 'em.

BG, don't worry about not really being sentient whilst Carew was playing. Bert wasn't sentient then, either.

You are absolutely right BatGirl about the advice to watch these guys knowing that we'll be talking about them to our kids.

God bless Terry Ryan.

Too bad ESPN's STILL not giving enough respect. The headline for this game on their front page right now is "Mauer power: Twins catcher bats average to .369."

Ummm, yeah, that's only about 20 points lower than the truth...

Absolutley excellent. History in the making, and we are all witnessing it first hand. Gotta love it. Every night we are seeing something special happen. How lucky can we get?

P.S. I especially love the Johan butt wiggle. I will have to settle for playing it over in my mind today. :)

:glazed over eyes as she gazes into the future:

I remember those games...Joe Mauer, Frisco Liriano, Johan Santana, Justin Morneau, the Jasons, Joe Nathan--that was Twitchy McXanax's real name, y'know. I watched 'em all play. You cannot, in all your years, see anything more beautiful than that. Kids! You don't know beauty when you see it.

I remember Rod. Also I remember the local sports writers finding fault with him (What???? I am glad they don't do that now!) He was a "singles" hitter, some one more interested in getting onbase to raise his average than in hitting dingers like Killebrew, Allison and Oliva. This was considered, if not a bad thing at least a lesser thing. It wasn't until he just missed .400 that they changed their mind. I was afflicted with that thinking to. When they renamed a street "Carew Drive" I joked it should have instead been named "Carew Blop hit"

"Oh I'm too young, dewy and fresh-faced to have seen Rod Carew!"

Quiet, you... before I whack you with my cane. >:-(

Rod Carew was my first baseball boyfriend. I had a baseball card I got out of a Wheaties box of him that I carried EVERYWHERE.

It sucks that we aren't gaining any ground, and it sucks that I live in Chicago and can't watch these games, but the Twins are a beautiful thing these days and they still make me happy.

This is the best looking core of players I've seen in 40 years of watching the Twins. They've had hitters before but they've never had pitching like this. Don't look at it as we can't gain ground, look at it as the other two are playing their best and they still can't shake us.

The other Carew complaint at the time was that he didn't try hard enough at 2nd base. Writers said he didn't want to get close and miss or muff and get an error. Which, of course, was hog wash. He was a great fielder, IMHO.

I'm not sure if anyone has circulated this: "Joe Mauer's charmed life," Yahoo! Sports. Joe is trying to impress his hot girlfriend. http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/news?slug=jp-mauer062606&prov=yhoo&type=lgns

And amen and hallelujah to your observations, Batgirl. I'm so excited for my hot dog lunch at the Metrodome.

Anyone remember the year that Carew stole home like five times? Everytime he was on third, it was "And here comes Carew!!" Does anyone steal home anymore?

I think our Twins' run is fun even if the other teams are winning, too. If they go 130-32, more power to them. Our players are all only fifteen years old, so we know that their players are going to die first, anyway.

Anyone else notice that LNP is doing GREAT and I think it's because he knows exactly what he's supposed to do - get on base somehow so the Chairman can hit. I also believe he's got a clause in his contract that pays him a couple of bucks every time he hits the ground. Or as my daughter puts it, "Nicky likes to fall down." He's not just little anymore, he's graduated to "pesky." Little Pesky Punto.

All of us so worried about the fact that we haven't gained ground on the Tigers or the Pale Hose need to remember - we have a truckload of games left against both teams, and they against each other. If I'm Jim Leyland or PC Guillen, the last thing I want to see is the swaggering Twins heading my way... If we keep playing this well, the rest will take care of itself - if not this year, certainly in 2007.

This is so sweet and so unexpected. Win Twins.

This has been so much fun lately. I was at the game again last night with my mom, a friend, friend's mom and friend's 2 grandma's. Fun was had by everyone. The grandma's "really like that Mauer kid". All I can hope for now is that the Chairman becomes a star and the Tiggers and Sox start losing at least a few games so we can gain some ground, since we already have the momentum.

SoCal:

I remember - and it was actually 7 times, tying a major league record (I'm not sure who else had done it). You are right - every time Carew got on third, especially against a left-handed pitcher who would foolishly spurn the stretch and go to a full wind-up, everyone would hold their breath and anticipate an attempted steal of home. While triples may be hot, and chicks may dig the long ball, stealing home takes some serious SASS just to try it!

-Glove Boy

I finally had the pleasure of watching the Twins on TV here in LA - what a night! I was shaking my head in amazement at every 'Cisco K and Mauer hit. And the big markets are definitely starting to notice our kids: apart from a two-inning digression in which they obsessed about Russell Martin's facial hair (did any of you notice that he shaved his moustache between his first and second ABs?), all the Dodgers announcers could talk about was how great Liriano and the Chairman are, and will be for years to come.

Last night we brought our 7 month old daughter to the game. She was adopted from Mexico last month and we are trying to decide if she should have a Santana or a Liriano jersey. I, of course, wear my Mauer shirt. After all, I am her "catcher" since she is so squirmy.

Watching this team is so fun right now. I can't wait to get back to AL baseball to see what we can do in the division! It doesn't really matter where we finish as long as we play good baseball!

Congratulations, Amber!!!! :-)

And I say... one of each!

Last night as I was following the game online, I began to contemplate getting cable so I could watch more games. I have a feeling that what's happening here could be the start of something very memorable, and I want to be able to watch it.

Amber- Congratulations! I say get a Santana jersey that fits her now, and get a Liriano jersey for her to grow into.

Well, Rach... if you had cable, you could have heard Bert just now mispronounce Jeff Kent's last name in a very uncomfortable way...

To all the Torii-haters who were thinking "ground out" or "strike out" in the first inning, when the bases were loaded, 2 outs, and the count was 1-2...

he tooooooooooold you!

first i got to watch kirby. now these guys. i'm so lucky.

Wayy off subject, but did anyone catch the 4 ejections last night in the rangers/giants game?

I can't say that I blame him because that ball clearly was fair, but Teix looked a lot like that minor league manager the other night who completely flipped out.

"Well, Rach... if you had cable, you could have heard Bert just now mispronounce Jeff Kent's last name in a very uncomfortable way..."

Oh dear...

Even if I did have cable right now, I still would have missed that because I think my employer would frown on me bringing my TV to work with me.

Rodney is still paying dividends. I don't think it's a coincidence that Mauer, Morneau, and even Punto are having career years. I saw a lot of Rod last night in two of Punto's at bats, the triple and the single.

This was a particularly funny opening to a article on mlb.com
[The sign on Twins manager Ron Gardenhire's office said it all.
"Francisco Liriano and Joe Mauer's lockers that way" was sprawled on a white piece of paper with an arrow pointing to the Twins locker room and a small note on the bottom that said, "You don't need me."]
Congratulations Amber, I'm with Rach.

Torii couldn't even hit Morneau and he's the size of a small grade school. We love Torii but realize his limitations. The exception does not make the rule.

I'm happy to see everybody happy and excited to be a Twins fan again.

Hot damn, I love these kids. They're so friggin' likable! Kubel, Cuddyer (my boyfriend), Bartlett, Mauer, Morneau? They're all so friggin' likable... and, what's this? They can play baseball!

Liriano's nasty, too. Kid's gotta learn some humility if he's going to be a Twin... but woah. Sickness.

I hate to say this, b/c I love him... but I think Lew's gotta take a seat once Shannon comes back. Hitting .213 after 175 ABs in this hot, hot, HOT line-up is not acceptable.

Carew would often try the stealing home thing with Killer at bat, and the big guy would have to restrain himself from driving Rodney deep to left. I think Cobb was the guy he tied:he had a few good years too.

Cobb has the AL single season record at 8 (1912) and the NL record-holder is Pete Reiser at 7 (1946). Cobb has the career record at 54.

Gotta love Google.