And that was a beauty of a run. So wonderful. That whole game just washed me in a pool of warm fuzzyness. It was fantastic with the bats and the running and the stolen bases and the good fielding. Ahhhhh, what a game. Horray for Torii!

Ahha, BG, good choice. Good game too, I could go for 1 (or dare I say 2) more of those. ;-)

MORE MORE MORE !!!!!!!!!
I want MORE I tell ya.
YYYYAAAAYYYYY for the good guys!!!!!!!!!

(um u really shouldnt post after Fri night cocktail game but what the hey)

Hooray for my boyfriend! And with Bradke and Supernatural up next, you have to feel this gives us a leg up on the series.

Torii was putting some good swings on the ball tonight. That was nice to see.

And Ozzie, Mr. Guillen, sir, just so you know, walking a guy to get to Morneau isn't advisable.

Ozzie Guillen is really regretting that intentional walk now. Oops. Do it again, please.

I think we have every right to hope for two more of these Ws this weekend: Bradke is on fire, Santana esta en fuego. It's going to be a lovely series.

Insurance runs are hot.

Thought for sure this would go to Morneau but since Torii is my boyfriend I'm totally ok with the BOD choice. We do need Sweetcheeks hot and here's hoping his feet don't fall off... same goes for Brad's shoulder... y espero que el dedo del Presidente esté mejor en domingo porque voy a estar alli mirando el partido.

Ah! Spanish! I thought I put you in my past!

I hope that El Presidente's start is awesome on Sunday because I am going to be there watching the game.

Close? My Spanish consisted mostly of adding o's to stuff, like "Yo hope-o que Punto's kneecap-o esta ok-o."

Just get the game to the bullpen Boof....good boy Boof, good boy.

LOL Will

Will, yes basically. I was going along the line of injuries on the team with Santana's blister/split fingernail. I said 'I hope Santana's finger is better on Sunday becuase I'll be there watching the game. Way to go with the Spanish. I better be able to come up with halfway decent spanish considering I took it for 5 years in high school and a semester my freshman year of college.

You called it Erin. I'm the first guy to whine that the Twins don't get any recognition from the press. But when that lack of recognition makes Ozzie walk Cuddy to pitch to our legitimate MVP candidate --- god bless that ignorance!

When Cuddy was intentionally walked, I turned to Jlubby and said, "Well, that was dumber than dog shit."

I was right.

Does anyone have the stats on how Morneau has done this year after Cuddyer is intentionally walked before him?

Dear Batgirl:

Does Jason Tyner have a nickname yet? I could not help but notice his resemblance to Ichiro at the plate. Lefty, holds the bat similarly, both slap at the ball and run fast. I humbly propose the following as possible nicknames,

Jason “White Suzuki” Tyner
Jason “Turning Japaneser” Tyner
Jason “Chopstick” Tyner

Tyner is THE ASSASSIN.

Dear Batgirl,

I know it's always been tough for me having some of my nieces & nephews so far away. I am sure you do miss the BatBaby tremendously. But it does allow for the opportunity to give her lots of extra presents for no reason at all, since being so far away is a great excuse for doing your auntly duty & spoiling her as much as you possibly can.

If Torii can step up for her sake and continue to do what he did last night, then it is only right that he be awarded the B.O.D., preferably as often as possible.

I am hearing an awful lot of Hunter haters out there lately (not here necessarily, but out there in the stands and one particularly annoying guy in my office), and to have him come through as he did last night only serves to vindicate people like me, you, and BatBaby, who always do our best to keep the faith.

bubblemint

I've taken to calling Tyner "The Scarecrow", myself. He reminds me of Ray Bolger.

Check this out:
http://us.movies1.yimg.com/movies.yahoo.com/images/hv/photo/movie_pix/warner_home/the_wizard_of_oz/_group_photos/jack_haley5.jpg

Then look at this:
http://sports.yahoo.com/mlb/photo?slug=1a4c8b9913c74c7a91b19f0ffb479aae.twins_royals_baseball_mocr116&prov=ap

You follow?

from today's strib

~~Pat Neshek in his past two games:

2 wins, 1.2 IP, 1 hit, 0 runs, 3 strikeouts. ~~

Sweeeeet. I love our bullpen! I also loved Boof striking out AJ and how ESPN made special note of it. ;-)

You know I've always thought that Tyner's batting stance is very similar to that of Coco Crisp. Except he doesn't grip his bat like he's playing a flute like Crisp does.
Besides, Mauer is "Big Ichiro".

Carrie,

My wife calls Tyner the Scarecrow as well. Not sure about the IBB stat, but (obviously) Ozzie walked Cuddy to set up the lefty-lefty matchup. Which would make sense if the good Doctor were Jacque Jones (.183 vs LHP, .309 vs RHP), but he's not, he's Justin Morneau and he's hitting .305 against lefties and .325 against righties and he's totally awesome and if we make the playoffs we can start calling him Justin Morneau, M.D., Ph.D., B.O.D., M.V.P.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't the Sox figure out a few weeks ago why you shouldn't walk Cuddy in front of Morneau?

I'm not positive, but I think it was even the same pitcher and the exact same result from Morneau's bat.

Not to help the other team out there, but here's a hint.
Don't tick off the big canuck.

Oh Canada!...We stand on guard for thee! Oh Canada! We stand on guard, For, THEE!!!

At the risk of being shredded by everyone who absolutely loves him, let me be a devil's advocate and explain why Torii Hunter frustrates people. (I will give a start-off disclaimer that I really like Torii and want him on our team for a lot of years.)

I believe that Torii is absolutely important to this club and he is great. However, he is not as important as one would hope when it comes to the offense of this team. Does he contribute--yes. Does he have some pop--yes. Does he have some speed--yes. Does he have some consistency--no. Does he have plate discipline--no.

So here's the knock: as good as Torii is and as important as he is to the team, I understand when people don't want to pay a guy $10m who is essentially a role-player in the offense. Torii does contribute to the offense, but what I have learned over the past several years is that, because of his plate discipline, he is subject to being extremely streaky. He will beat the living daylights out of the ball one week and not get a hit the next. Because of this flaw, he does not provide the consistent offensive leadership that would earn him big money. That's why our offense has sputtered so much the last few years--Torii was the guy we were counting on to save our offense. When he is the guy we count on for offense our runs are going to be extremely streaky.

I'll admit, I have been frustrated many times by Torii and, unfortunately, being a guy, I cannot overlook the flaws because of the "sweetcheeks." ;0)

So here's what I propose--Believe me when I say that 12 inches from my face I have a Torii bobblehead--give the guy a ton of credit because he IS important to this team. He is an ambassador, he is a wizard on the field, and he comes up with some big runs. However, you have to give some credibility to some of the arguments out there. Doesn't mean that the guys who flat out hate Torii know anything--just means that there are flaws. Now we have some legit star hitters and the pressure is off Torii--great. But I ask this question--how much is an ambassador and a defensive genius worth? Think hard about that one...

Sincerely,
Hrbekfan (and Toriifan)

Hrbekfan:

I totally get what you're saying, Torii makes me hold my breath when he comes to the plate: will it be a dinger, or will he ground out into a double play? I honestly believe that Torii wants to be Kirby, and has taken to heart Kirby's claim that he "never met a pitch that he didn't like." If he could work a little bit on plate discipline, he wouldn't give me palpatations. But I'll love him forever and cheer him on regardless, no matter how much he chases those sliders.

That being said, couldn't help but give some Sux fans a little grief after his homerun last night. Heh! Take that you obnoxious, beer-guzzling, make-me-get-up-every-two-freakin'-outs-so-you-can-get-ANOTHER-beer goofballs!

I've never questioned the BOD award, but Mr. B thinks Batgirl needs to make an exception to all existing rules and make OZZIE GUILLEN the honorary BOD for walking Cuddyer. Besides, it'll bring out all of Ozzie's macho insecurities that cause him to do the things he does. What a dork!

By the way, if I remember correctly, Jason Tyner was deemed "The Assassin" by RD during one of his fill-in stints for Batgirl for drilling a line drive off Captain Cheeseburger's arm and nailing a second Cleveland pitcher in that game.

Enjoy the weekend!

Playoff Odds Report

http://www.baseballprospectus.com/statistics/ps_odds.php

Shelley, I took four years in high school, then vowed never to return to the subject due in large part to Sra. Brown, my teacher for those last two years. So yeah, besides me saying 'trabajabamos' or 'hablabamos' every now and then, you know, just for the hell of it, me and Spanish don't get along.

Hrbekfan, I really like Torii, but I don't think I'd want Torii back next year at his current price. There just seems to be so many smarter uses for that money, like getting a legit DH or locking up our young guys long term.