A Whiteout is Coming to Minnesota...

No - I'm not talking about every fan wearing white T-shirts at a particular game.

Check out the probable (okay - maybe only possible) starting line-up for the 2012-2013 Minnesota Timberwolves:

At Point Guard - Ricky Rubio



At Shooting Guard - Luke Ridnour



At Small Forward - Chase Budinger



At Power Forward - Kevin Love



And at Center - Nikola Pekovic



Apparently, David Kahn is hell-bent on proving that 5 white guys can win in the NBA.

Good Luck, David!

BTW David - I hear that Steve Nash, Kirk Hinrich, Brian Scalabrine, Chris Kaman, and hometown guy, Joel Przybilla, are all unrestricted free agents if you want to bolster the squad a bit.

After an almost 4 year hiatus...

I have returned!

Oops, they did it again...

That's right...for the second game in a row the bullpen blew a late lead to the lowly Mariners.


This time it was Matt Guerrier giving up two hits in the bottom of the 8th followed by Joe Nathan being brought in and getting his 3rd blown save of the season by giving up a double to Jose Lopez.

I think I may take today off (which maybe the Twins want to do with Matt Guirrier since he has pitched in 6 games over the last 8 days) and not watch the Twinkies. I just can't take another bullpen meltdown to a team that is 25 games below 0.500 (44-69).

One final thought - Do you think that the Twins should just intentionally walk Raul Ibanez every time he comes to the plate? He has ripped the Twins pitchers by hitting 0.600 (6 for 10) with 2 HRs and 11 RBIs over the last two games.

Just a thought.

What the #@$&????

Really? Brian F-in' Bass is brought in when the Twins are only up by 1 run in the bottom of the 7th? No surprise, he gives up the tying run! Where is Jesse Crain?

Then they bring in Craig Breslow. Really?? Craig F-in' Breslow?? No surprise, he is responsible for the go ahead run for the lowly Mariners. Once again, where the hell is Jesse Crain??

Whew - at least Gardy is smart enough to bring in one of the Twins key relievers, Matt Guerrier...

NO!!!! What the hell is going on here? This is the last time I ask, WHERE THE F--- IS JESSE CRAIN?!?

What a disastrous inning for the Twins - 10 Runs on 8 Hits and 2 Errors. The score went from 6-1 Twins to 11-6 Mariners...Unbelievable. Way to play first place baseball boys!

Say - isn't it almost football season? Any new news on the Brett Favre saga? How about that Adrian Peterson? He's pretty good...don't you think? Skol Vikings!

UPDATE: August 4, 2008 - Don't worry, I'm not off the Twins bandwagon...I'm just disgusted by a horrible inning. Let's get those Mariners tomorrow boys!

UPDATE 2: August 5, 2008 - Since when is a situational 1-inning relief pitcher (i.e. Jesse Crain) not available the day following a game in which he pitched 1 inning? That is ridiculous - It's his job to pitch in that situation! Sure he pitched the DAY before (Aug 3), but he hadn't pitched for 3 days prior to that (Jul 31) and two days prior to that (Jul 29). Funny - Matt Guirrier not only pitched last night but he pitched the day before (Aug 3), two days prior (Aug 1), one day prior (Jul 31), and two days prior (Jul 29). And it showed - I could have understood him getting last night off...but not Jesse Crain.

Welcome back, your arm was your ticket out (of AAA).

Francisco Liriano's August 3, 2008 line - 6.0 innings pitched, 3 hits allowed, 0 runs allowed, 3 walks allowed, 5 strikeouts and 1 WIN. This victory in his first start after returning from AAA-Rochester pushed the Twins into 1st place in the A.L. Central after the ChiSox got pummelled by the Royals 14-3.

Welcome Back (again), Francisco and Welcome Back to First Place, MN Twins!

Livan's gotta go...

That's it! Forget the conversations about which young arm needs to be sent from the starting line-up to the bullpen to bring up Francisco Liriano. The answer is simple - send the OLD guy packing. I don't care what you do...trade him if you can, release him or have him replace Brian Bass in the pen for long relief alongside another demoted starter - Boof Bonser. I don't want to see that 61 mph curveball anymore when the game is close (btw is his curveball speed the reason he is number 61?)

Seriously - he was a serviceable veteran in the beginning of the season for a young starting rotation. But I think that the need for his veteran presence in said rotation has come to an end.

Over his last 4 starts he is 1-3 with a 6.94 ERA, a WHIP of 1.84 and the opponents are hitting 0.352 against him...his only win coming against the mediocre Texas Rangers.

Bring back Liriano and add him to the Baker, Blackburn, Slowey, and Perkins rotation...NOW!

UPDATE: August 1, 2008 - Livan Hernandez and Craig Monroe were designated for assignment while Francisco Liriano and Randy Ruiz were called up from AAA. Liriano will take Hernandez's spot in the starting rotation and Ruiz will replace Monroe's ineffective bat on the bench.

Welcome Back Francisco!

Roy Smalley thinks he's a genius...I think he's overrated!

I know that this entry may not go over well with all of the Joe Mauer fanatics out there, including Roy Smalley, but having watched Joe Mauer ground into double plays in each of the last two games (which he does well too often - but I will not refer to him as 4-6-3, I promise) I can't hold back my feelings about our "Hometown Hero" any further. Joe Mauer is overrated - plain and simple. Oh yeah, and he shouldn't be batting 3rd in the Twins line-up (I'll get to that soon enough).

Earlier this season I was watching the Twins pre-game show on FSN North when I heard Roy Smalley call Joe Mauer a genius...and it almost made me puke. Don't get me wrong, Joe Mauer is a very good baseball player and just might be the best catcher currently in the bigs and I am glad that he is on my favorite team...but a genius? Really? Don't you think that some of the rhetoric about Joe Mauer goes a bit far? I most certainly do.

OK - so the decision to draft Joe over Mark Prior was obviously the right choice. However, he isn't the best player selected in that draft - that honor goes to Mark Teixiera. And OK - he has a "sweet swing"...for a singles hitter who hits the ball well to all parts of the field when he's not hitting it to the second baseman (I wonder if he and Ichiro compare notes).

But that goes to my point that he shouldn't be batting 3rd in the Twins line-up. He is a quintessential #2 hitter (I would almost say lead-off hitter but his 6'-5", 230 lb frame isn't spry enough for that position). Maybe my expectations of a #3 hitter are a bit skewed since I grew up watching Kirby Puckett own the #3 spot and lead the Twins to 2 World Series titles. But that is the burden Joe must bear by being put third on the line-up card night after night. But I guess that's not Joe's fault, that would be Gardy's.

If I had to guess, the next question from Mauer fans would be "Who then would they put in the three hole if they moved Joe up to the #2 spot?" There is only one good answer - Justin Morneau - the Twins best hitter. Don't you want the best hitter in your line-up guaranteed to hit in the first inning? I know I do.

I guess if I were putting the Twins line-up together (taking into account current injuries) it would be as follows:
1. Denard Span - RF
2. Joe Mauer - C
3. Justin Morneau - 1B
4. Delmon Young - RF
5. Jason Kubel - DH
6. Brian Buscher - 3B
7. Brandon Harris - SS
8. Nick Punto - 2B
9. Carlos Gomez - CF

When (If) everybody is healthy the line-up would look like this:
1. Denard Span - RF/LF
2. Joe Mauer - C
3. Justin Morneau - 1B
4. Delmon Young - LF/DH
5. Jason Kubel - DH or Michael Cuddyer - RF/DH
6. Brian Buscher - 3B
7. Brandon Harris - SS
8. Carlos Gomez - CF
9. Alexi Casilla - 2B

The hottest team in baseball is...

THE MINNESOTA TWINS!

That's right, the hometown nine have won their last 10 games and have dominated the most recent stretch of interleague games (12-1 since June 13th against the National League). I was almost ready to write them off during their 6 game losing streak in early June that included a four-game sweep at the hands of the White Sox which left the Twins 6-1/2 games behind in the standings.

Even in a game that Nick Blackburn gave up 4 home runs resulting in 6 earned runs (which I saw first hand), the Twins were able to consistently score to keep the game close. And it was Joe Mauer (who's power numbers I have been critical of for a long time) who stepped to the plate with 2 outs in the bottom of the eighth and drove the ball over the center field wall to give the Twins a one run lead which Joe Nathan was able to hold in the ninth.

Even with having lost the likes of Johan Santana and Torii Hunter in the offseason and having a rotation that is anything but stellar, the Twins are keeping themselves competitive and should be in the hunt for the AL Central title well into the latter half of the season. Don't get me wrong, I don't think they can win the World Series, but they are quite entertaining to watch and could be competitive if they make it to the playoffs.

We'll just have to wait and see how the rest of the summer pans out for the squad.

Who doesn't Love Mayo? Kevin McHale...he must be a Miracle Whip man!

It was no surprise that Kevin McHale had once again swapped first round picks on draft night (a la Ray Allen/Stephon Marbury and Brandon Roy/Randy Foye) by sending O.J. Mayo to Memphis for Kevin Love. At least this time we received an additional player who will actually contribute in Mike Miller (and he's almost one of us - he's from Mitchell, South Dakota - Home of the Corn Palace - that should sell a ticket or two).

In the end, we'll have to wait and see if it works in the T-Wolves favor like the Stephon Marbury for Ray Allen trade (I'll give them the benefit of the doubt on that one) or if it is a mistake like trading Brandon Roy (2007 Rookie of the Year & 2008 All-Star) for Randy Foye in 2006.

The Wolves are now stacked with big, white guys (Love, Miller, Brian Cardinal, and Mark Madsen...plus we drafted Nikola Pekovic, I almost forgot) - could we ask for anything more? Who knows, maybe McHale will trade for Kris Humphries or sign Spencer Tollackson before training camp?

You never know what he is going to do next.

"This is for everybody in 'Sota"

I'm sure that Kevin believes his victory with the Celtics is "for everybody in 'Sota." He wants us to be a part of it since 'Sota helped shape who he is not only as a player, but as a person. But the truth remains - he won a championship as a member of the Boston Celtics, not the Minnesota Timberwolves. His victory, in fact, was for everybody in Beantown and the rest of New England.

Don't get me wrong - I appreciate the sentiment, especially since it came from such a raw, spontaneous moment. However, my happiness ends at having watched one of my favorite players win a championship. Much like when Big Papi helped the Red Sox win two World Series and Randy Moss helped the Patriots go 19-0 and win the Super...wait...scratch that last example. I am happy for KG and Big Papi, but it is bittersweet that they did not accomplish their feats with my beloved Minnesota franchises.

Last night did leave me wondering what might have been had Kevin McHale and Glen Taylor decided to add two all-stars to the T-Wolves to play along side KG like Danny Ainge did in Boston for Paul Pierce. Just maybe KG could have hoisted up the Larry O'Brien Trophy saying "This is for everybody in 'Sota" and it would have been true.