"Boof is on fire, there's fire in Bart's belly, there's fire, fire, fire everywhere..."

BURN BABY! What a game, what a team, what a trip this is turning out to be! I was stuck with the NESN announcers as well through MBL TV and had to laugh and laugh over Punt-o. Then it kinda got old...but then again I can only take so much of Bostonian accents before I want to plug my ears. Well done boys! Bring on El Presidente tomorrow. He knows a thing or two about working with fire!

"Happy Zone" is where I am and enjoying it too.

At risk of nitpicking... I'm not sure *Junior* Ortiz hit 50 dingers in his life, much less in one year. Papi, on the other hand... ;)

-ex

http://www.startribune.com/509/story/685969.html
I love Cuddy.

Is it just me, or is September beginning to feel an awful lot like... June? Remember, that time when it truly felt like we may *never* lose another game? Because I could totally live with that.

And BabyBoof is the most fantastic nickname ever in a million years.

I vastly prefer '06 Hunter - who hurts opposing pitchers and punches balls out of the park - to '05 Hunter - who hurts his ankle and punches his own teammates. I think his HR landed somewhere just across the border. With Canada.

There's just something about inning #8... or maybe it's just a coincidence. It seems like this team just has an advantage against middle relief.

Before you applaud MLB.tv announcers as a group, though, I must warn you about those LAAAAAA guys. Keep that mute button handy. The Mariners announcers seem like they're falling asleep all game long. There's a few teams in the NL who don't exactly have, shall we say, "professionals" in the booth, either. Between homerism and just making up stuff out of thin air... well... long trips exist mostly to remind me that maybe Dick isn't all *that* bad.

Too much happiness to put into words right now, so I will just share this great little article from SI about the Doctor and Chairman's digs:

http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2006/players/09/19/roomies0925/index.html

I can't wait til tomorrow. It's going to be a grand night for Shelley.

Santana* is pitching, I'll be able to watch the game on ESPN instead of dealing with my crappy-ass wireless connection going out every friggin' 5 minutes, I'm going to watch the season premier of Grey's Anatomy with a few glasses of wine, and I'll be done with my debate in Ed Psych. Can't wait.

*Is anyone else annoyed with how every announcer (besides DickNBert, of course) pronounces Santana's name as Yo-han instead of Yo-hawn? If you've taken an ounce of Spanish in your life, you know how to pronounce a's. AWN. YO-FRIGGEN-HAWN. Cripe.

Ok. Sorry about the rant. I'm stressed about my debate.

It was beautiful being tied with the Tigers. Even though they won, I'm sure we'll be able to make up that half game in the next week. I'll take the Bitchsox being 5.5 games out anyday.

Batgirl, side-splitting as usual.

But maybe everything is side-splitting when you're on the verge of a season sweep against the Boston Red Sox.

I think I mentioned this in the previous thread, but I would still like to point out that Boof's curveball is F-ING SICK.

in a small p.s....

Didn't the Yankees' champagne celebration in honor of "clinching the division" (after a LOSS to the Blue Jays) seem really REALLY staged and fake? Thank god for ESPN, or else we'd have to know that they clinched the division thanks to two brilliant games by the Twins against their longtime foe. Fie to mainstream media, and we'll see who has the last laugh.

That is all.

*blink blink*

http://www.startribune.com/508/story/691001.html

...

I'm not one to say "Let's look past a series." Because I know where that ends up getting teams. But if Reusse is going to say that CWS has a chance to go 7-0 against Cle and Sea, why would he refrain from saying the same for the 4 against KC?

It seems like an article written to be contrary...and also to be (god forbid) the article he can point at and say "I told you so" should the Sox pull ahead of the Twins.

I'm squarely in the fewer chains camp.

Hey Boof, keep 'em in your locker. Or better yet, a safe deposit box. In Florida. (You don't want to look like Jeff Weaver, do ya?) Your pitching, however? You keep bringing that same stuff every five days.

... A.J. vs. society... *snickers wryly*

Shelley: Johan is a common first name in Norway, and here we pronounce it You-han.

Rune

But Johan isn't from Norway.

Oh man... Arod vs. himself. I really hate to kick him when he's down, but when he says stuff implying people might not like him because he's good looking or biracial... is he not asking for it?

This season. It keeps getting better and better. Words have....they have left me. Thank you, Batgirl for being able to help with those words.

The thing I'm trying to wrap my head around? My friend got his playoff tickets. Which means, I have playoff tickets. This season feels like a dream. A complete dream. But it's the most amazing dream I've ever had in my entire life.

Thank you, Twins. For the most amazing season I've ever had the opportunity of experiencing.

I just heard Kruk say good things about the Twins. Why does that make me feel ishy? Please don't cheer for us, ESPN, please keep telling the world that we're just a fluke, that the Sux are going to pass us up and we'll miss the playoffs. I really don't want you on our side. You're kinda creepy.

As long as we're talking about Johans, there was also a Johan in the Smurfs' first feature film, "The Smurfs and the Magic Flute", which took place in Scandinavia or possibly Bavaria. This Johan was a real boy, charged with the task of helping the Smurfs recover their magic flute. Sadly, I can't remember the pronounciation of his name, making this anecdote pointless.

Back on topic: Is it official? BabyBoof? A bold choice!

Torii highlights on the link.

Dear Mr. Patriate,

Batgirl and Jeb have been calling David Ortiz "Junior" since he came up with the Twins--since Twins teams did well with a "Junior Ortiz" on them.

Helpfully,
Batgirl

(Yet another) great game to listen to.

Here's the e-mail my brother and I got from my pops today:

"Dear Sons, I got 4 strips of Twins first-round playoff tickets. Oh, yeah. I'm going to be in Hawaii. You think you guys could use them?"

What a dad. What a team. I can't even get through a game recap without the "sports tears" (as my wife calls them) welling up. Makes me feel like I'm 8, watching Kirby and the boys again.

Did anyone else see Jose Guillen steal third base when AJ fell asleep while throwing the ball back to the pitcher? I was waiting for Guillen to flip the base.

WOAH woah freddy sanchez, slow down there a little bit... oh well, better you than jeter.

The conversations between me and the tiger fans around here have degenerated to 'oh no, it's twinkie' "this wasn't a big deal two weeks ago; at least I'm not a white sox fan" 'true. Say do you think you guys could lose a game?' "no"

We officially lifted the Yankees into the playoffs today. Which reminds me. As long as they are suffering from celebration hangover, why don't we catch them in the process of catching detroit? I'm content with the wild card, don't get me wrong, but this team makes me dream big dreams.

BG- I see. (grin)

Totally unrelated... am I the only person who thinks the A-Rod v self conflict is going to end (at least as far as we're concerned) in about game 5 of the ALCS with him so far in front of a Prez changeup that he falls through a rift in the space-time continuum and finds himself reliving that pitch over and over again for all of eternity?

-ex

Torhu, I am sick of articles like that from Reusse. I find it hilarious that the sox have a 'serious' chance at going 7-0 but the Twins who have been red hot should be worried. Sox have not been that great against non contendinhg teams either. Tigers were not playing great not too long ago and yet easily took the series from the Sox. LOL

Torhu, that article irritated me as well, not only was it annoying, it was poorly written with a horrible conclusion and closing statement.

But nothing irritated me more than
http://www.startribune.com/510/story/690864.html

This article. Because apparently, Vikings can trump a Twins playoff game. To which I say: o rly?

Anyway, enough of the bad mojo. Torii is a hottie, Boof is indeed on fire, and this win was well deserved.

reusse is perennially pessimistic about the twins. my dad and i would listen to him on kstp on the way into work every morning this summer and no awesome performance was ever good enough for him.

he also talked all summer about how boof just "doesn't have big league stuff." i think boofy has proved to us since he's been back up here that he does, in fact, have big league stuff. he just needed to find it.

Batgirl, I hope you enjoy your stint in Red Sox Nation. Personally, I might choke if I ever have to listen to the Red Sox talking heads go on and on and on and on and....uh, what was I saying again?

Oh yeah, the twins are on fire! 1987 has always been that golden year in my memory, but this season has wormed its way up next to it in pure fiery magic.

The NESN announcers, they are very good at talking about things juuuust a second too long so they venture under the auspices of the creepy. Like the guy who tells a joke and then stares at you for a few uncomfortable seconds while you don't laugh. I'll be glad when I can hear Buck Martinez tell stories about catching games in cold weather back in the day.

now we have TWO starters with winning records for the playoffs.

I have to agree with Jeb, but it's just because I'm a big fan of Cole Porter's.

Oh, and it's that "L10" column that makes me happy. Let's just hope the column looks like that on 10/1.

Ozzie thinks Sox have 50-50 maybe 60-40 chance to make the playoffs. That wacky Ozzie. He is crazy. Twins playoff chances are at around 96%? Didn't the Sox have to sweep if not win the series against the Tigers. Good luck with you're delusions Ozzie. Magic # is 6.

I'm glad someone got a snapshot of that tie. I didn't get a chance to see it.

Amazing. This season is amazing.

BG, you captured my feelings exacttly. I sent that same standings chart to several people during that period of bliss last night. And I had a phone call from a July naysayer ("well, since they are out of it this year, we can work on building up the younger players.") to acknowledge how "of little faith" he was.

Late September baseball rocks!

As we entered the eighth and as that home run cleared the Volvo sign without question on its way still going up....

....My family began singing, "We don't need no water let the MotherBoofer burn."

It's been in my head since. And I LIKE it. :-)

* Torii, Torii, Torii, that was amazing.
* Why wasn't Bart somewere on the Web Gems roster?
* Congrats to Ortiz on his 50th.
* Bert almost got himself into trouble again, however inadvertent it was - "Fifty bi...PItches for Boof Bonser." ;)
* That double play was mad crazy.
* Lew got a hit! Sweeeeet.
* Have I mentioned that I love our boys (almost typed "buoys," but I guess that would have been apropos)
* Booooooooof!

Great baseball, great baseball reading. Thanks everyone, Minnesota Twins, bloggers and commentators, Batmom-to-be. Even grumpy old Patrick Reusse. He gets to talk to the team, and his column today was cool.

Love that Viva Rivas site! I started my research for my Luis Rivas paper right around the time it went on-line. Rivas was signed on his 16th birthday and is the first MLB product of our Venezuela program. He never could hit, and his glove range was subpar, but he was our second baseman on three playoff teams - and even after he got fat, he turned the double play like nobody I've seen.

How about Torii Hunter, overshadowing Ortiz's big moment? Too bad you're not a right hander, David, so you can't hit it over the big green wall. I could watch that replay all winter. That ball is space junk!

"If you think you're pitching well because you're or not , then you ARE! And you should know that!"

" goes in the front big guy."

(Because the filter of my life is Crash Davis)

WHAT THE??? html slays me again. I MEANT:

"If you think you're pitching well because you're (wearing gold chains) or not (wearing gold chains), then you ARE! And you should know that!"

"(Medallion) goes in the front big guy."

Oh boys. Oh you wonderful guys. There are no words to describe the elation. Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU for being so friggen awesome.

BG, excellent. Per the usual.

smaki--Yes. Leave us alone ESPN. Especially since you won't even hear of our Justin for MVP.

Boof's curve DOES rock.

Anna, thanks for the link the the M&M digs. Sounds like it looks EXACTLY like I thought it would.

Patrick Reusse can go suck an egg. I swear he doesn't like the Twins and takes pleasure whenever any of them struggle. There's gotta be a backstory there.

Charlie, here comes the deuce. And when you speak of me, speak well.

One the one hand, I find it sad and kind of creepy that we helped the Yankees last night - not that I would have done it differently mind you.

On the other hand? the mental image of the Yankees team sitting in their clubhouse after a loss to the Jays... all of them gathered around tv's and cheering on the Twins? yeah, that makes me feel better.

*giggle*

As an MLBTVer myself, I've enjoyed the NESN crew too.

But BG missed the part in the 7th(?) when MLBTV was feeding during an intermission. Old Man Ramble was laughing manically at *something*. Pure comedy gold.

Is this not just the finest hometown baseball ever!?!
And Batgirl, your astute and articulate game analysis, commentary, and light shone on the finer points that could otherwise be overlooked, is also the finest!
I am so lovin' all of it!

Great post as usual, BG! Great comments from the Batlings, too!

I'm still a little teary-eyed and sniffly from reading Mr. Brown's post. This is one of the many incredible things about baseball being in our lives: How it allows the love a parent has for a son or daughter--all grown up or not--to overflow and manifest itself in such a wonderful and heartwarming fashion.

There's a lump in my throat, mist in my eyes, and a smile on my face because of just about EVERYTHING that's been going on in our Twins world this season. What a journey!

CapBabs, I was thinking the same thing last night. had to be 30 or so Yankees watching the big screen in the clubhouse all immediately becoming huge Torii Hunter fans in the 8th inning. I found the whole champagne celebration thing very odd, however. I mean, if you can't at least get to the playoffs every year with a $200mm payroll, what's the point? I guess if you're the Yankees, I just sort of would expect you to save the champagne for when you win the Series (tho that doesn't seem to be happening a lot lately so maybe they had to use up that champagne before it lost its fizz).

FH, I may be mistaken, but I thought one of Bart's plays did make one of the web gems or plays of the day segments on SC last night. Personally, though, I'm to the point where I prefer that ESPN just keep ignoring the Twins. Keep talking about how the rotation, with all those rookies, just isn't up to the standards of the Yankees and Tigers right now. Keep hyping Jeter for MVP (as if his below average defensive range and substandard power needs more hype). Seems to be working.

JC - I was otherwise occupied when the Gems were aired and could not give them my full attention, so I could be wrong. Another Batling posted elsewhere that he didn't see one of Bart either, so I kinda assumed that he didn't make it. *shrug*

I gotta agree with your sentiments on ESPN. Seems to be working reeeeeeeal good, ya?

I found it interesting that the decision to hit and run with Mauer on first and Cuddyer at the plate was attributed by that genius John Kruk to Jim Leyland, who, I believe, was in Chicago at the time.

Ah yes, Mr. Kruk. The Twins are so inept that they cannot dream up a hit-and-run like that without outside help. That must be why, against all odds, we are a half game out of the lead.

He needs to stick to what he knows. Like the White Sox, because apparently the time is ripe for them to win every game they have left to play and magically rise to the top of the division. Truly, Mr. Kruk, you have a dizzying baseball intellect.

"Did anyone else see Jose Guillen steal third base when AJ fell asleep while throwing the ball back to the pitcher? I was waiting for Guillen to flip the base."

I believe you meant *Carlos* Guillen. It was he who executed a beautiful, wonderful, delightful delayed steal of third against A.J. and the Bitch Sox last night, and the look on Pierzynski's face was priceless. It sent a rousing, leaping, full-throated cheer through the house of KenK, accompanied by (I must admit) some rather adolescent hand gestures and trash-talking directed toward Pierzynski's televised mug. Something roughly in the vein of "Take that, you insufferable prick!" (I confess to a, um, mild dislike for him.)

And now that the Bitch Sox have had their collective heads pounded into the sands of non-contention (minus a minuscule sliver of statistical nitpicking), let us all revel in the glorious battle between our two proud and noble nations (er, oops, I mean "teams") for the glory of the division title, and the secondary glory of the wild card.

This kind of race is so much fun, ain't it? (Especially when the Ozzie's Southside Psychos have been kicked out, and only the cool teams are left in the struggle.)

Go Tigers!

I didn't catch the Krukism, that's pretty funny. Maybe his stomach was growling and it distracted him.

I didn't catch the return of Peter Gammons on ESPN early in the evening but I sure hope he's back to making regular contributions soon. They SO desperately need him.

In the "shock of the week" category, did you see that Tino Martinez says that the Yankees are the favorites to win the World Series now? Now that's journalism, folks.

Along the same vein as "heavethehawk.com" and "firejoemorgan.com", it can only be a matter of time before "ridtheworldofevervyoneatBaseballTomight.com" is the top blog in all of baseball blogdom.

I love Tino's analysis, he's such a fair, unbiased voice of reason.

I was out for dinner and sort of made my table shut up a little so I could watch Peter Gammons. I just got so excited to see the only REAL voice of reason back in action on ESPN.

Friends, you can save money and aggravation by not paying for cable. I get by just fine with live spectating (you can use outdoor voices at the Dome, even grown men, although your daughters might stare at you funny once in awhile), John Gordon and the Dazzle Man Dan Gladden, Sunday t.v., MLB.com, and Batgirl.

This season has been one of the most fun in recent years (with the 2002 contraction team being a close 2nd)!

Why's everyone hatin on the BBTN guys all the sudden. They've been praising the Twins all year, and especially since June. I can understand the 'creepiness' of having ESPN as your fan club (after all, that is probably what has kept the Yankees from winning a championship for 5 years). But they will still praise the Yanks first, which will deny the Yanks another title.

BOOF! (i think i will end all my posts that way!)

I must say, I've never enjoyed watching a Yankees division clinching celebration as much as when I realized it meant the Twins won. (Not that the local news mentioned the Twins, they just said the Red Sox lost -- luckily I have critical thinking skills.)

i agree with nailbiter - altho i wish i could see Bert more often. occasionally i head to Adrian's to catch a game on FSN, but mostly i'm cool with what i got. i love baseball on the radio, & ever since BG's "what if" episode on Kris Benson i can't help but laugh everytime i hear John Gordon say "touch 'em all!" (that entry is in the pantheon of all-time great comic writing - up there with Woody Allen's "Mr. Big") also, i find ESPN's website to be far better than there broadcast, & far less offensive - Caple, Neel, Neyer, hell, even the Sports Guy.

Was anyone else at the game last night? There were a fair amount of twins fans, and I'd say we were nearing a majority - at least in terms of crowd noise - after the eighth when most of the BoSox fans did their best imitation of a metrodome crowd and left before the ninth.

I only bring it up because, when Morneau came up in the eighth and proceeded to get his 1000th RBI, there were unambigous and united chants of "MVP! MVP! MVP!" from all corners of the park. It was awesome.

What a great game -- good to see so many Twins fans braving Fenway!

Did you know that if we keep playing so well we could conceivably win home field advantage? I mean I don't want to get too excited or anything, but honestly... homer hankies anyone?

Batgirl,

Can you please direct me (or get me close) to the date in the BG archives with your Kris Benson piece referenced by dfb? I'm jonesing for more BG humor.

Grazie.

I had no idea Torii hit the ball THAT far since I do not have cable either - glad to know I'm not the only one - holy crap! I wonder if it plunked a car - or kept flying onto the express way??

I love baseball on the radio - too =)
Not having cable - I guess makes it more special - for lack of better words - when I do get to see them live.

keep it up boys =)

Much Love
Wonder Woman

JetChick, here is the link: http://www.bat-girl.com/archives/000370.php.

FYI, there is a search function on the left-hand side of the main page. Enjoy one of the funniest things you'll ever read!

Dearest Redbird -

LOL - you're funny.

Twins and Cards in the World Series?????
I wouldn't mind - then I wouldn't feel bad if we lost - plus I have selfish reasons for this match up- Albert was on the DL when I went to see them in Milwaukee - and then I would finally get to see one of my favourites play in person.

Of course - I would want the twins to win - but it would be ok if Albert had a monster series =)

hope all is good -

Much Love
Wonder Woman

*Let's not forget when the announcers started singing "I'm too sexy for NESN, too sexy for NESN, so sexy yeaaaa!"

Really. It happened. They were singing it during commercial break.

Nick~ Thanks--still smiling...

Dear Wonder Woman,

I wish. Unfortunately there's this thing called left-handed pitching which we don't hit very well, and this "closer" thing we don't have. But with Albert and (Carpenter) there's always a chance. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Love,
Redbird

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