I [heart] the Chairman.

First career HR off a lefty! In terms of his development as an overall player, that's probably the biggest part. MLB.tv flickered from about the time it left the infield to when it went over the wall, so I didn't really see it.

There's always the replay. Repeatedly.

*smile*

Can't argue with that.

I love beating the BitchSox -- especially when it comes with Temper Tantrum Neal Cotts (Now With Gatorade-Throwing Action!)

Sweet.

*BOOM*. And it was good.

So now I'm just praying the deal for Soriano falls through. That is one righthanded bat I do not want to deal with.

Dear Mr. Tantrum,

Joe Mauer is the best batter in the Majors. Did you not get the memo?

That is all.

- Stuck In Fargo

Sox melt like ice cream
on a July afternoon.
Why can't the Tigers?

Triples may be hottt - but three 'BOOMS' ain't tepid, either. And all them young Jasons at the bottom of the lineup - well, they're just so GOSH-durn cute standing out there second and third, nobody out, time and again.

.800 ball the last six-plus weeks. This isn't just a hot streak any more - it's starting to smell like something more. ::: Locking self away before I start muttering crap like 'destiny.' :::

Tonight's game was so much fun. Although the home plate ump made that ridiculous call that even the white sox broadcasters were saying that they caught a break, it didn't even matter. And I was laughing out loud when they said something about how insane the Twins would be if they were to somehow work out a deal with tampa bay to get scott kazmir. I doubt TB would ever part with him but could you imagine?

And now we have The Johaninator and the 'Cisco kid up. To quote Darth Vader:

"I have you now!"

My mistake. Silva's on Wendsday. Oh well, Silva could still perform.

"that three run homer and timely display of awesomeness makes you, Chairman Mauer, the Boyfriend of the Day."

damn straight, it does! yahoo Chairman! I, like Batgirl, was just hoping for a single. but I'll take a three-run dinger off a lefty, any day! weeeeee! this is fun.

and right now on Sports Center, they're talking about Joe Mauer in relation to Johnny Bench as the next greatest offensive catcher. :-)

Someone PLEASE help clear the confusion I have over what you see when you click on my name.

(It's from Sportsline.com's game recap)

Nice Haiku Kurtis. How bout this:

Boom. Boom. Boom.
Goes Cuddles, Doctor and Chairman.
Shelley digs the long ball.

What a great night.

Eric, Kyle Lo(h)se is a player of the game simply because he didn't cause the Twins to lose, try as he might.

haha blue, I was just going to say the Exact same thing.

great game by our guys tonight, esp that blast by mauer to put it away. Lots of fun to watch and now we're only 2 back.

I'm really hoping that the soriano trade falls through for the bitch sox, though it could also mean that theyre going further away from the smallball offense that won them a world series last year and more towards the power hitting team that finished runner up to the twins 3 years straight

Hah, the haikus are great.

Dear Ozzie, when first
is open, and Chairman's up...
pitch to him again!

Twinsboy-
Are you sure you want to use that line? This is a bit nitpicky but didnt Drath Vader say that right before the Millenium Falcon showed up and blasted his ass?

:happydance: :happydance:

Dear Mikey McDimples,

Just a quick note to thank you for spraying that required scent of inter-team competition all over the park that the Doc likes to take a deep whiff of to get himself riled up. Because we all neau that in that situation we can always neau mor.

Your Fan,

Justin's Hussy

Watch sportcenter tonight... the two jason's made the top plays of the the night.

Yay for the Chairman! Congrats on your first dinger off a lefty. It was along time coming, but boy, you sure made it count. Hot damn.

Also yay for the Jasons - man, I wish I could see that! Oh, Rookie BF.... I really like having you out in CF.

OFF topic.

As far as the whole Soriano trade issue goes, I personally would like to see him go to the Marlins, although if the White Sox were to get him, they would need to give up at least two of their top pitching prospects to do so. So that's not really bad news for for the Twins either.

regarding Sportscenter's discussion of the Chairman as the greatest hitting catcher since Johnny Benchumm, whatever happened to that other guy with sideburns? (click on my name for the jpg link) You know the one. Mike Piazza. The one whose Wikipedia entry describes as "generally recognized as the top-hitting catcher of all time." You know. 12-time All-Star. All-time leader in HRs as a catcher. 10 consecutive NL Silver Slugger awards as the top-hitting catcher in the league.

Or do the Sportscenter guys no longer consider Piazza a catcher??

Only caught bits of the fun while at work-did they say how long that Cuddyer moon shot was?
I tell you what...there's some wierd mojo going on with this team when these guys straight outta
Rochester are clicking (see Tyner,Neshek)and last years also-rans (see Cuddyer,Punto)are playing shit-hot,everyday,winning ball.

eric,
that's friggin hilarious, somebody's idea of a joke over at cbs.

I can't believe you'd pick Joe. Yeah he broke the game open, but the only reason there was still a game to be broken open was because of the momentum-killing catches by Jason Tyner. Twice he robbed us of extra bases. Twice I cursed the thrice-Jasoned Twins lineup.

It's a tough game to swallow, but with Javy still being strutted up there in the 6th inning (as we Sox fans call it, the Inning of Pain and Doom when he pitches), we knew what was coming.

And when Neal Cotts was facing a lefty without any history of hitting lefties...we knew what was coming.

Ah well. I've got both Jose and Johan starting in my fantasy league tomorrow. LET'S SEE A PITCHER'S DUEL!

Soriano is a big fat whatever. Let's not forget he's racking up those stats in the ridiculously terrible National League. He also strikes out way too much for me to worry about him in games against the Twins. (see 26 in 2003 postseason)

The dude can play, obviously, and he might get them some more wins in games against other teams. But, as previously mentioned, they'll have to give up something for him. And this season is going to come down to the Twins putting away the Sox themselves in the 2nd half, just like we used to do it. It will happen-maybe not this series, with Silva pitching Wednesday, but it's going to happen.

To make the postseason, the Twins gotta set sight on the Tigers. They may not be catchable, but trying to get close to them might get us enough wins to win a beastly WC race. Either way, this second half is stacked with Central teams playing each other. There is going to be some incredible baseball, and some great races. I can dig it.

Pander, How in the world could you not pick Joe? He got the big 3 run homer when needed. He also got the last 4 rbi's. Justin Morneau got a ton of BOD this way. As hasbeen said you can't win unless you score runs. Joe deserved BOD no question about it!

Pander, you might have an argument if Tyner were one of the main BOD choices. But given the rules, the Chairman's homer definitely put him over the top.

This is cool.

ESPN has a "Mauer swing breakdown". Click on my name.

It's art in motion, I tell you.

I totally remember saying, "Mauer, make Tyner being 'thrown out' at the plate a non-issue." And he did! Good stuff.

Santana's having the type of year that is Cy-worthy and he's only the 3rd biggest story on his own team behind Liriano and Mauer (and the Good Doctor is a big story, too).
all i'm saying is that my NSMC feelings used to be so strong for Johan, and now i'm just so torn! which way do i turn? or do i spurn them all and throw myself into LNP's arms?

Batgirl,

LTRFTP. You have reached a new level of literary genius with your work in Greek mythology. I thought it impossible for your writing to improve, and yet, here we have what amounts to a great work of art. Thanks for giving such a great perspective on our beloved twins. Perhaps you can do a Cupid-Psyche piece in regard to your B.O.D. competition.

Thanks Adam!
That is cool. Mauer's swing is a thing of beauty! Go Joe!

I had the misfortune of missing all of the Twins scoring because of a meeting. But looking back at the box score, it was pretty obvious who the winner of the BOD was.

:tips hat to the Chairman:

Nothing against you or TG, BG, but complaining about the officiating?

Fortunately, City Pages linked to a list of the top ten worst officiating calls ever (http://www.askmen.com/sports/fitness_top_ten_60/60_fitness_list.html); the Twins are on this list, and it wasn't for a call that went against them.

I'd say we probably still haven't paid off the karmic debt for that one, though carrying Tony Batista on the roster for a half-season probably did some good...

--
DMW

If Chicago were to get Soriano, then Posednik moves to center field. And that means you have returned to the pre-Ozzie White Sox who could hit but not field (at least in the outfield, and we know where that got them). Plus Soriano is going to cost something, and he's a rent a player. Fear not Twins fans.

DMW sure is bitter about a call 15 years ago. Twins won fair and square deal with it.

Ha ha ha ha...check out that Ask Men article. Hrbek's play is still getting people angry, 15 years later. Anybody who thinks there was any way for Hrbie to maintain his tag by means other than those he used hasn't watched the video closely enough. Drew Coble, you're a good man in my book.

Of course, we did win. That may color my opinion slightly.

I heart the Chairman!!!! What a stud, I wish I could have seen it, I probably would have swooned- him being my boyfriend and all. Let's get some more!

About this Soriano deal- I think this trade wouldn't be the worse thing to happen. As mentioned before
1) He is worth a lot and the Bitch Sox would have to give up some good pitching for him.

2) The Twins pitching staff is incredible, and facing him at the plate wouldn't be a big deal- where as facing the the Sox pitchers might cause more of a threat.

3) Like someone above said, let the Bitch Sox try and win when all they want is power, see how far they get then. Us Twins fans (of all people) know that only power-hitters in your line-up don't automatically equal more wins.

DMW, Batgirl is merely doing her speciality, which is revealing the underlying narrative of a baseball game. In this case, it was very much an inspiring fable of a heroic chairman overcoming the arbitrary whims of Laz "Moirae" Diaz.

That being said, complaining about the umpiring is as old and noble an American tradition as watching baseball.

Dear Nora,

DMW is a noble and fair Twins fan. You are very kind of jump to Batgirl's defense, but please do not jump on other commentors, for we are all at home here, in Batgirl's world.

Dear Mr, Wintheiser,

Honestly, if we'd lost I might not have mentioned it. It was a blown call. Sometimes they go your way, Sometimes they don't. Bad calls are a part of the game and are sometimes worth mentioning as such--as Mr. Kurtis says so well, they are woven into the fabric of a game, and part of what made Mr. Mauer's homerun so noble.
Sincerely,
Batgirl

"3) Like someone above said, let the Bitch Sox try and win when all they want is power, see how far they get then. Us Twins fans (of all people) know that only power-hitters in your line-up don't automatically equal more wins." -L. H. Girl.

As much as I am loathe to defend gaining Soriano (I really, really don't like him), attaining him isn't simply a power grab. Soriano IS a 4 1/2 tool player, hello 25SB! Despite Pods, our base-to-base game is probably the slowest in baseball. Thome-Konerko-Dye-Pierzynski is a quadruple play in the making. Soriano would definitely give our lineup some mobility.

The problem with adding him to the Sox roster is twofold.

1) Outfield defense. Oh. Em. Gee. If we get him, we HAVE to send off Pods in some deal or another, because we CAN'T put both of em in that outfield. We literally CAN'T. The suckitude would create some sort of gaping black hole of defense. Sharp singles to center would become doubles on Pod's arm. No. Bad mojo.

2) Where do we have him hit? With his power, he should hit 3rd. With his speed, he should be top or 2nd. With his KO potential he should be 6th. It's...confusing.

He's just not a good addition to our lineup or defensive scheme. Our infield is set in stone (or at least should be) with Crede, Iguchi, Uribe, and Konerko. The outfield needs help, and adding an ass-tastic outfielder shouldn't be high on Kenny's list. I'm willing to bet he's just trying to drive the price up to screw over the Twins/Tigers. In which case, brava signeour Williams.

As for my earlier declaration of BOD status to Tyner...I wasn't aware of the rules regarding BOD. I guess I'm more thinking of Player of the Game I guess. Mauer hitting the homer may have given the runs, but we'd have already been up by like 5 if we hadn't totally had the air sucked out of us by Tyner's Rowand-esque grabs out in center.

Ah well.

Here's hoping the Sox and Twins blank each other through 8, then Jenks and Nathan battle for 3 scoreless, then we beat the crap out of Rincon for the win. Two reasons...one being that the Sox win, the other being that it'd help me out in every fantasy category. Woot. Hehe.

It's lovely to see Joe-Joe rise above his usual sustained brilliance and do something truly heroic.

Dear BG,

You are right about the nature of blown calls, of course. And it's true that the blown call sets up the 'Mauer's homer rescues the Twins from an ill fate not of their own making', which is a powerful (dare I say 'mythic'?) narrative.

I suppose this means I still haven't successfully kicked the contrarian habit. Perhaps my psychiatrist can increase the dosage on my Samazol.

And thanks for the compliment. In the interest of fairness I'll point out that I can accept 'fair', but that using the same word to describe both me and Mauer's homer either seriously over-estimates me or under-estimates the beloved Chairman. Or, in perhaps the best compromise, simply demonstrates your own graciousness.

--
DMW

Wait a second, Pander, did you just write "Rowand-esque"?

In a Twins-friendly message board, comparing any running, leaping, or generally awesome catches in center field to anyone other than Mr. Hunter takes "huevos grandes". ;-)

How does the infamous Staubach-Pearson "Hail Mary" not make that list of blown calls? I'm just saying....

Not that I'm bitter or anything.

"In a Twins-friendly message board, comparing any running, leaping, or generally awesome catches in center field to anyone other than Mr. Hunter takes "huevos grandes". ;-)" -Serial Thrilla

True, it is a bold statement.

However, injuries being what they are now and were last year (ill-begotten Gold Glove now takes on a more literal meaning), Rowand has had the momentum since 2005. Tyner didn't make any leaping grabs to steal home runs, he just made great breaks to run down otherwise SURE doubles/triples like Rowand is known to do. Stealing homers is flashy, preventing doubles wins games.

"Stealing homers is flashy, preventing doubles wins games."

Yes, Pander, and Torii does both.

However, given your loyalties, your assessment is understandable. I suppose...