Uh-HUH.

Boom!

Could it be? The return of LegoVision?

You can tell he's having fun right now. Just look at that smile on his face!

I thought Torii was the Spiderman Lego guy, or is that only when he's in the field?

Nonetheless...
14 of 15 games
11 hits for the Chairman
and 23 runs in one series

Now we just need someone to figure out how to beat the Tiggers and Sox

There are absolutely no words to describe the elation I'm feeling right now except maybe: YYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEESSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

And even that doesn't quite do it justice.

Can we get any help what so ever. Joe and Torii lit it up today, which is always good to see. And Santana, well there is a reason why batters start knocking their knees when they enter the batters box. But the damn Tigers won again and the way Pit is looking so will the Black Sox, just a little help even a game before the All-Star break would be nice. By the way, have you done your 100 votes for Joe today. It is recommended for strong growing Twins fans, so pour it on! VOTE JOE!

So tired of making up no ground!

I love the Twins so much. Things like Torii's grand dinger make me happy.

So thoughtful of Boo to give Nathan a save opportunity. Sacrificing your own ERA for the good of others. That's how this team is.

I share the frustration at the inability to gain ground, but imagine how far back the Twins would be had they not gone on this tear?

Look, if we win out & can't catch the Tigers, we'll just have to accept it ..

GT$#(%@#)$%@#$T#@U$()T#$T)#@$GUI%GJW$L%RG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I say forget about playoffs for now and just enjoy the ride. We've got 20+ games left against the two of them. The probably have 15 or so games left against each other. If the Twins keep winning, we'll catch up to one of them. Playoffs will take care of themselves. It's just too much fun these days.

As a Twins fan living in the Bay Area, I agree with bayareatwinsfan. It's way too early to worry about the playoffs. Let's just try to enjoy the fact that we seem to have auctioned off our ass-bats to every NL team we face.

I third that. I'm just so happy to see the offense back.

It's nice to see pitching and offense playing together lately. They must've kissed and made up after a couple of years of refusing to talk to one another. I'm enjoying it greatly.

As a Twins fan living in DC, I agree with all them there Bay Area folks. Besides, we get Detroit 3 times in July, Chicago 3 times in July, Detroit 3 times in August, Chicago 6 times in August... As I said before, if I'm those guys, the last thing I want to see is the Twins coming up on the schedule. At least, thanks to this amazing run, those games will mean something now.

And let me thank the boys for sweeping the stupid Dodgers. Now please sweep the Brewers - I'll be at the Dome Saturday and Sunday, so I finally get to see Cisco in person. Yee haw.

Does this team ever _not_ win? They're like some kind of force of nature about now.

Dear BG-

Thank you for creating this site and making it ok to gush about this terrific team. Baseball and the Twins stir feelings of joy, lovely escape from daily drudge, and a special sassy tingle when our boys sweep another team. Love to BG, love to the Twins!

Happy kal

Kurtis, there's no need to "imagine"... just have to look at the standings and find Cleveland.

Jim, my browser window doesn't scroll down that far. But your point is well taken.

one reason to have hope is that the tigers and white sox rely more on older players and older players are more prone to injury. not that i wish injury on anyone, even a white sock (why is the singular for boston and chicago still "sox"?) but you would think it would be more likely for them than for the twins. the tigers have a ton of young talent but rely a lot on i-rod, the gambler, and todd "i am the walrus" jones. same goes for thome and contreras (does anyone know how old he really is?). the twins in that age bracket aren't as key. look how well we're doing since our old men stopped playing regularly.
of course, freak injuries can occur to anyone at anytime, but after a guy's early 30's the pulls, strains, and other nagging stuff start to pile up, and i think the twins have fewer really important players in that category.

True confession time. When Torii hit his boom-boom I was not watching (can you really watch gameday on your computer?). I must admitt I saw bases loaded and figured "oh well I smell a DP coming" and ran to the printer to pickup a report. Sorry! I will never lose faith again in any of the Twins.
Congrats Torii! You deserve it. And everyone don't worry we will catch up!

Okay, odds may be long that we make a playoff run, but seriously, is there any team as scary as this in a short series?

2 starts for Supernatural and 2 for the Cisco Kid and your winter break begins, fellas.

I'm so happy that the Twins won. And, as a Padres fan, thanks for sweeping DaBums. My friend in NM is very happy that we may still get our wish of the Padres-Twins World Series.
GO Twins! The Sox and the Tigers can't be winning forever.

Spamsmom, he COULDN'T hit into a double play because there were two outs. So I guess he figured, "ah, what the hell, if I can't GIDP, I may as well hit one out."

Poor Lewwwww, by the way. He may be in danger of becoming the full-time pinch-runner.

Torii seems to, well, just be having more fun now that he doesn't think he has to do it all himself. Back in the Terrible Period of Darkness (when T-Phat and Rondell guaranteed anywhere from two to five outs each turn through the order, all by themselves), Torii played like he had to do Kirby-Game-Six every single night. Now, you can almost see him thinking, "Hell, if I don't get the RBI here, Free Bartlett will stick his ear flap in front of the next pitch. Or NLP will dive headfirst through the first baseman's spleen, Alien-style, to beat out an infield single. Or Redmond will simply threaten to get naked on 'em. So we're covered. No pressure. Awww, lookie - a hanging curve ball!" BOOM!

Meanwhile, at the risk of going off-thread (and entering the slightly strange world of Brother Gleeman (http://aarongleeman.com)): The Chairman, for whose magnificence we are manifestly unworthy, is one 4-for-5 day (or a 6-for-10 series) away from a certain milestone at the break. We're entering extremely rude epithet territory here.

If he goes 4-fer-5 on Friday he will be *exactly* at that milestone, TDQ. I don't know why there would be rude epithets, though. I think "thundrous applause" or perhaps "hushed awe" would be more appropriate.

I'm so proud of our boys. :)

"So tired of making up no ground!"

Well maybe we should have started playing in April like the rest of the division did.

Hey, I look at it as if these are games we won't have to make up in the future.

On dodgerblues.com (Dodgers sass!) the "Asshole of the Moment" is Joe Mauer...

> 6.27.06 - Joe Mauer
Who are you?

Now *that* is funny. Joe Mauer - spreading the pain from coast to coast!

Pitting Odalis Perez vs Johan Santana. Thank god for Tivo - entertainment like this doesn't come along every day, you know.

I'm in hopes that as the Twins continue to be amazing, ESPN will show more Twins games! We on the west coast hardly ever get to see the Twins play.

Revel away in the Winning Time, my dears!

-LA Lurkers

I'll fourth the earlier comments about just enjoying the run and hoping for the best. You might as well soak up some AL Central glory, because the Sox have the Cubs next-they're just playing the worst baseball in the league right now. Right with them is Pittsburgh-guess where Detroit goes next?
Personally, I'm secretly cheering for all three to sweep out and combine to go 47-6 against the NL, just to drive home how terrible the NL is and to demonstrate the power of the AL Central. Let's go for one of the best divisions in MLB history. And kick the crap out of the Sox and Tigers in the 2nd half. Lose to the Sox in the 1st half, crush their spirits in September. That's how we used to do it.

Actually, Curtis, the rude epithets would be along the line of "Holy (extremely rude gerund) (moderately rude barnyard phrase)."

Along with the thunderous applause, deep bows from the knees, and/or hushed awe.

http://riot.ieor.berkeley.edu/~baseball/american_league.html

See that "clinch" number. Win out, and the Twins win the division. Just.