Might be just me Goober, but that Sun Times link didn't work.

Not sure why it wouldn't, BAT... I had no trouble linking to it.

Thanks for the links, Goober.

The link is fixed.

nothing like a little awesome baseball press with my morning coffee...

I still haven't recovered from last night's game and am wondering if I even have it IN me to watch a day game today... which makes me wonder how in blazes our BOYS can do it.

I hope they all can find some reserves somewhere or down mega amounts of coffee or something...

A shot at a second consecutive road-sweep of the Bitch Sox and you aren't sure if you have it in you to watch, Babs? For shame! ;)

I got very little sleep last night (blaming the Batlings in the Batcave until the wee hours... and my allergies), but I'm meeting my son at our favorit bar to watch the game. If I can do it, you can too!

JC

The columnist who inspired Ozzie's homophobic tirade and subsequent sensitivity training weighs in on OG's love of the Piranhas.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/mariotti/cst-spt-jay27.html

I agree with Mariotti, too. I like hearing praise for the Twins as much as the next Twins fan, but Ozzie needs to think about his own team. It seems like he's saying he'd rather be managing ours.

gotta love the Flaming Lips title. the Mariners are having a bad year but we are trying to beat up on the Red Sox opening up the wildcard for the Twins.

Anybody else getting sick of people saying the Twins have "no stars"? Um ... Chairman? El Presidente? The Doctor? Cisco? The VP? This team has two legit MVP candidates, the Cy Young favorite and the guy who would have run away with ROY and maybe Cy Young if he hadn't been hurt. Yeah, the Jasons and Little Nicky slap the ball and run like hell sometimes, but sheesh, it's not like these are the KC Royals out there. They have some highly recognizable elite players.

OK. Done.

Thanks for the heads up, E-6. I generally despise Mariotti and avoid reading him at all costs, but I figured I'd check him out when I saw your post.

First, he is and always will be a total idiot and prime example of what a sports columnist SHOULDN'T be. That said, he's right (to a degree).

If roles were reversed and it was Gardy going on, ad nauseum, about how much he loved the BitchSox, we'd be ready to string him up. It's fine to be respectful toward your rival... it's even OK to praise them occasionally for a job well done. But this latest Oz-fest is bordering on fetishism. I would think Mariotti wouldn't be the only one getting tired of it... the Sox players themselves, for example.

I did find his claim to being the first to officially bring Dye's name in to the MVP race to be hilarious. I've heard him being pushed by half a dozen print and broadcast media-types in the past couple weeks. Now THAT'S the typical egocentric, self-promoting, ignorant of anything else outside his own mind, Mariotti I've hated for years.

Totally missed that Lips reference, but let me add a couple more. For beating the Bitch Sox on their turf twice in a playoff atmosphere: "Felt Good to Burn". What Sox players and fans thought after said games: "They Punctured My Yolk." About being 4 games out of first with 34 to go: "Race for the Prize". And, um, Sideshow Neshak in a bunny costume.

Appreciate your Mariners efforts, Jim, but it appears that our lads don't require any assistance.

I agree with Mariotti up to a point. I think he sees what I was saying the other day...what Ozzie is doing is a painfully obvious attempt to motivate his players and/or to get into our guys heads.

The point I think he's missing is that this is the type of ball that I think Ozzie wants from his team. Aaaaaaand I do think he and Gardy have a great amount of mutual respect for each other. For all his nonsensical blahblahblah Ozzie is an oldschool baseball guy and a player's manager. He's trying to get his team to buy into that.

----

As for getting into someone's head...read what Stelly did to AJ at BP yesterday here....

http://www.startribune.com/150/story/637968.html

BG and E6--

Thnx for all the links about last nites game. It was good to read about the 11th inning--I DVRd the game--and set timer for 4 hours. With the rain delay--I ran out just as LNP came up to the plate in the 11th. Not sure I can take another one of these games--especially cause MLB extra innings will give us the Hawk feed.

I agree with Mariotti about Ozzie--you shouldnt build up the opposition even if you are playing mind games with your players.

The Twins have a bunch of stars including 2 MVP candidates (Cuddles and the MD--they lead the league in 2 out RBIs) and a CY candidate and a top closer and the guy who most opposing announcers call the best young hitter in the game (the Chairman).

East Coast biased be DAMed!!!!!!!!!!!

DAM

Is it in the Chicago sports media style guide to use
"Bad Guys" when referring to the other team?

Couldn't Oz just buy his "NSMC" shirts and be done with it?

There's an idea, BG...

"The Piranhas are my non-sexual man crushes"

You KNOW you'll sell at least one!

Jim Crikket, I'm in complete agreement that Mariotti is a worthless embarrassment to sportswriters everywhere. And that's saying something... (I also agree that I'd be nauseated if Gardy spent that amount of energy tossing bouquets at the Sox--or any other opponent.) That said, here are two links on the subject you might enjoy:

A Trib columnist calling Mariotti to task for his absurd flip-flopping during the 2005 Championship campaign--complete with time-line. Mariotti's hypocricy is astounding !

http://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2005/10/jay_mariottis_y.html

And the title of this one says it all:

http://jaythejoke.com/blog.html

This is a little off subject, but oh well. Castillo's play in the ninth was amazing, but Morneau helped a little. He did the full on splits! A lot of girls (including me) can't even do the splits. Castillo made an awesome stop and throw, but shouldn't Morneau get a little credit, too?

Oh, the sun is bright and the air is fresh this morning, my friends...I love waking up knowing we beat the BS and have a chance to sweep them. Again. At their house. Oh, yes.

And what could ruin this for me? Oh, just having to go to WORK. All I have to say is F*ck that noise, I am bringing a secret radio and listening every chance I get.

Listening to the Sports Huddle on 'CCO this morning, and everyone is singing praises. Willie Eyre was on the phone, talking about the last two innings last night, and Jim Souhan talked about AJ and how he may have finally run out of grace with his former team. He said that after Dye's 2-run dinger last night, A.J. went to the top of the dugout steps and yelled some obscenities over to the Twins dugout. And after the game, the Twins (who usually just shrug AJ off) had nothing good to say. Even Gardy, the one guy who'd defend AJ no matter what, is done rationalizing his shenanigans. That's the word from Souhan, anyways.

Anyways. Silva today, and I know that makes us a little nervous, but let's all remember who he's going up against: Mark 'I've-Forgotten-How-To-Pitch' Buerhle. Looks good to me.

I just thought of something else. Maybe Ozzie has become all lovey-dovey with the Twins because of his sensitivity training. He's really learning to express his positive feelings. Haha! It's the new, loving Ozzie.

Did anyone with ESPN Insider happen to catch Buster Olney's article about Radke? I don't have insider but read the first paragraph and it sounded like a good one.

I just replayed the 1/2 inning from last night when Sideshow went up against AJ. Does anyone remember the mound visit from The Chairman and the big smile that appeared on Sideshow's face while they were talking? It was priceless; I think I'm in love...in a nonsexual-man-crush sort of way, of course.

Ya know, that story about Mariotti's flip-flops resemble very much my feelings on the Twins this year at times. I thought they'd be luck to win 75 in April and May. Now I'm expecting them to go all the way. Sometimes it just matters which way the winds blow.

From, twinsbaseball.com
//The real last line of defense: Eyre was declared the last man standing in the Minnesota bullpen on Saturday.

However, if the contest against the White Sox had stretched longer than 14 innings, there's no question that things really would have gotten interesting due to a last ditch effort of ad-libbing. That means possibly resorting to using a position player on the mound.

Exactly who that player would be didn't seem to be a question, as Gardenhire suggested Michael Cuddyer may have seen his first time on the hill if the game went that long.

"He talks the most trash," Gardenhire said. "And normally the guy that talks the most trash about pitching is the guy that you stick out there. So he's next in line."//

JetChick,

I heard about that visit to the mound and the big grin!! I'm dying to know what was said...I'm going out of a limb and guessing it had something to do with AJ...

Hey!
Is there a "gotta smell em'" t-shirt?????
I looked in the batstore and didn't see one...
If there isn't... you should make one, and if there is...I WANT ONE!

I want one too. And a Pirahnta t-shirt. They can't say 'pirahna'.

You gotta have the 't'.

I GOT ONE. I got a Smell 'Em shirt.

It took me forever to find my way around downtown in the middle of the night, in the construction that plagues 2nd Ave, and I swear all the one-ways kept magically changing directions on me to keep me from my destination.

But I GOT ONE!!!!! All of you go and do the same, quickly, because there are hardly any at Nick's Sporting Goods.

And yes, they kick ass.

A friend stopped by Nick's today and said that Nick's will also have them up on e-bay ... right now they are limited, but were ordering more.

Is Nick's the only place to get them?

Not sure, Caledonia. It's the only place I've heard of so far.

They are available on ebay. I just did a search for "smell 'em" and there they were.

The Smell 'Em T-Shirts are available for $20 (and are currently in stock) at the Mall of America gift stores in the Mall of America and online at www.mallofamericagifts.com, the Twins Pro Shops and the Sports Minnesota store in the MSP Airport.