Congratulations, John. May it be the first of many.

you know, he temporized, "John" _would_ be a good nickname for Boof

Woo Boof! Congrats to you on your first BOD! Kinda a funky game with some oddball calls and plays, but the Twins pulled it out! Now, if only Cleveland can keep their magic run streak going. They are only down by 2 in the 7th.

Yay! Great win for the TWINS!
I still have a soft spot for big nate (as well as maroth), but I'm soooo excited for John Paul!

Meanwhile, on the southside, the Sox had a 9 run lead, but that dwindled down to 2. I know we have a MUCH better bullpen than the sox, but is anyone else a little nervous about facing the recently hot Tribe, even without the mighty hafner hitting against us?

How did Liriano do? Al

Liriano: 3IP, 0R, 0H, 1BB, 4K, 1HBP

He threw 40 pitches.

I was really really impressed by Mr. Bonser today.

Thanks, the radio team did not mention him at game's end. Thet were going to dinner, and had more important things on their "minds". Does anyone know why he did not throw the planned 50 pitches? Al

There was a rain delay, Al.

Wow. What a game. Congrats Boof on your very first B.O.D. Nicely done. Here's to many more.

Even though Cleveland couldn't help us out, the Boff-meister came through. He's well deserving of a BOD.

"named after a vomiting noise"?!? You kill me, BG. In the best way.

Adam West as Batman (or Batgirl, perhaps?) lands an uppercut to the jaw of one of the Joker's henchmen: BOOF!!!

Kurtis, was that not before the start of the game? His performance left no doubt he is okay, but first I heard he'd throw 6o, then 50, and he ends up with 40. I just worried if there was any signifigance there. Al

Boof. Who knew?

So many warm fuzzies for Boof turning it up when the team needed him the most. Keep it up, dude!

I had always thought of Boof as being a noise from the other end of the gastro-intestinal tract.

Another great outing by the "Boof John B" (in the spirit of the Beach Boys classic "Sloop John B") as the Twins are in great shape to win the series!

way to pitch, Boof! Great game!
Tomorrow Mr. Santana will give us another great day of baseball, no?

Way fun.

kal

Al, Gardy said after the game that stopping at 40 pitches was a good call by the staff at Rochester because they saw what they needed to out of Liriano. He also implied that was good for the planned Wednesday start against the A’s.

Yay for Boooooooooof! I'm so glad I got to go.

Does anyone know who the starters will be for the Last Regular-season series?

I'm hoping it will go Santana, Liriano, ???
Because then Santana and Liriano will have more rest for the division series.

Back to an earlier nickname question: I'm all for conceding the point that Boof beat us to the punch by picking his own. However, it does seem to me that a Twins pitcher with the given name John Paul cries out to be dubbed "The Pope". Plus, it would provide a good excuse to pull out old Prince lyrics.

It seems to me that a guy who jumps through all the hoops to legally change his name should be called by the name he has chosen, or at least given a nickname other than the name he rejected.

Yakul...how's about we meet half way and go with "Pope Boof I" ;)

And I do have to say he went out and got the job DONE. This was the game Detroit needed to win...and you could see them out there getting ticked at themselves for letting it slip away.

And i don't recall which pitcher it was, but you can tell you've got a team beat when they're swinging at pitches that have no chance of being hit (Sean Casey, 5 ft. in front of home plate)

A B.O.D. for Boof makes me inordinately happy. Perhaps he is my back-up boyfriend?

I second gina's question as to who will be pitching that last series. I think I may actually get to go to go that Friday night!! *Fingers crossed*

Here is my favorite part of tonight:

Every single member of the Tigers lineup dragging their sore bodies into their hotel bed after a disheartening and unexpecting loss... and just as they are about to drop off, each one jolts awake with the following thought:

"Johan is pitching tomorrow."

Cheers to Boof for adding a little weight to those sleepless nights.

Oh, and by the way:

I thought everyone might like to know that most of the Twins are geeks just like the rest of us:

http://www.sportsline.com/video/player/fantasy_football?id=114851s

Witness the Twins' fantasy football draft. These guys are guys for sure.

more good news for the rotation: they're moving scott baker to the bullpen and starting matt guerrier tuesday.

http://minnesota.twins.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060909&content_id=1654245&vkey=news_min&fext=.jsp&c_id=min

let's hope he can get that long anticipated "W"....

Here's to hoping the Tigers can pull the rug out from under the twinkies so the White Sox can regain the Wild Card lead.

Jermaine Dye = MVP for 2006!

[Also, Torii Hunter is my NSMC. Also, I would like it if Boof Bonser gave me one of his gold chains. Furthermore, I'm a devoted Hawk Harrelson fan. --ed. by Jeb]

Just want to give a "woot! woot!" for the good Doctor for that infield triple! Haven't seen baseball that exciting since I saw Guzman bunt for a home run.

(Yeah, yeah, reached on an error in each case. Whatever. Triples are hawt!)

Justin Morneau for MVP. Leads league in 2 out RBIs.

Speaking of Reliable Starters: Notes from Scranton, PA.

The thunder crashed behind the hills. The rain soaked deep into the astroturf. Somewhere deep in the bowels of the stadium Francisco Liriano prepared to pitch.

The rain fell hard for an hour, but at 8:02 they called out the vaccuum cleaner to suck up the puddles of water, knowing that that would be the only sucking of the night.

At 8:30 they sung the national anthem, and the PA system backed it up with Green day's "American Idiot." I'm not sure exactly what that means, but it was a nice bit of irony none the less.

The Redwings were up and down quickly in the first but, most of the 2500 people that bothered to wait through the rain delay were waiting for Liriano.

He climbed the mound, scraped the mud off his cleats, and threw 2 balls before getting the lead off hitter to ground out to third. Then he threw 6 more pitches which resulted in 2 strikeouts. No-one was even close to the ball. The guy behind us in a twins cap yelled "It's ok Francisco, you'll get 'em all next inning."

In short he looked good, pitched 2 more strong innings and then left it to the rest of the Rochester pitching staff to pitch a 1 hit shutout and drive them into the International League Championship against the Toldedo Mudhens (I think.)

In short, the kid looked good. Finished pitching in the game, went back to the bull pen to pitch a bit more, came back to the dug out to watch some more of the game.

Live From the Comfort Inn in Scranton, PA.

Brent and Connie

What is url? Anyway the rotation now has Bonser, Liriano, and Johan, and we play 13 games vs the Red Sox, Royals, Indians, and Orioles in the next 17 leading into the final series with the Chisox. We win 8 of those, and split with the Tigers, and A's, we'd have 92 wins going into that series, Liriano, and Johan will pitch 2 of those games, and Radke will pitch the final. So we win at least 93, and I think that will be enough. In the past, I have been wrong once or twice and I am way old, and given to gibbering, but I am just saying-Al

Wheeee! Watching Boof was a joy. Hats off to a guy who had the bases loaded in the third, and got Carlos Guillen to flyout to center. And then, after the bottom of the third--he jogs springily back to the mound as though he'd had a good twenty-minute breather and a nice three-run cushion, when really he'd had about two minutes and still just the one run.

Well done sir. And here comes Johan today. I wouldn't be surprised if the Tigers just forfeited, left a day early, and used today to rest their team. It seems like such a better use of their time.

Speaking of Liger... did anyone go to the game and see the "dance" group that performed prior to it? The guy! LOOKED. LIKE. NAPOLEON. DYNAMITE. No lie. My friends and I were laughing the whole time. Yay Boof!

Wow, BOOF. What a game. Finally, Guerrier! I'm stoked about that. Bonser may have a shot to nail down the 2nd starter spot between the WonderLefties. Santana/Bonser/Liriano/Guerrier for the playoffs? Silva would be in there with a strong finish.
I've been saying it all year-the end of this season is just going to be awesome. This team is special.

I have MLB extra innings, so I don't always get the Twin's announcers. But it was worth it a couple of nights ago when they played Tampa Bay. They gave our closer Twitchy a new nick name and I loved it. The GRIM REEPER! It was so funny, he was warming up and they looked out the in the bullpen and said well this game is now over the Grim Reeper is coming it. Death to all batters.

Had to share!

Look at this (Liriano)
http://minnesota.twins.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/news/article.jsp?ymd=20060909&content_id=1655220&vkey=news_min&fext=.jsp&c_id=min

As it stands right now, Johan is scheduled to pitch the season finale. He'll be skipped to allow him to start the first playoff game if it has already been clinched.