GilgaMeche vs. Scotty "Light Rail" Baker
Meche has outperformed Baker so far this year overall, but not by much.
Meche started the season with a much, much higher GB% than he ever had before in his career (~60%), but it has since plummeted down to his typical ~40% GB%. (GB/FB/LD graph here.) Of course, he [...]

RonDL to bat in the 8th, 1 out:

Kyle "Cyclone" Davies vs. Matt Garza
Normally I would be excited for a double-header, but no. All I can really hang my hat on right now is that at least we're not throwing games away in the middle of a real pennant race.
Kansas City, believe it or not, has recently been hitting worse than the [...]

What this site needs (besides a good $0.05 cigar) is a semi-regular feature by Moss. Written in the third person, of course.

1983, with Alexis Korner, Charlie Watts and Ian Stewart. From "Alexis Korner and Friends"

Name: Moss (as conferred by SBG, and it has nothing to do with Randy Moss or with the green growth)
Hometown: Winsted, MN
Town I Currently Live In: Golden Valley, MN, one-time home of Torii, Sid and TK (does Death Star live here too?).
Profession: Patent attorney for a pharmaceutical company.
Bats: Weakly -- struck out a lot. [...]

Who else finds Nick Punto popping up a bunt to basically end the game last night a totally appropriate statement of the 2007 season?

[contributed by: Rhubarb_Runner]

1991 Minnesota Twins Yearbook

So, Ron Gardenhire, you were down 4-3 in the 9th inning of a game you needed to win. Jason Tyner led off with a single. Excellent. What are your options now?
Nick Punto, Alexi Casilla, and Jason Bartlett are due up next. Basically, they are all singles hitters. On your bench, [...]

live in Madrid, 1975

and their big hit, "Pictures of Matchstick Men", Top of the Pops, 1967.

Santana vs. Captain Cheeseburger
We probably get to hear more nonsense about trying to bunt on C.C. even though it's been of little-to-no use in the past. Like the game against Bedard, if Kubel and Buscher sit, I don't really mind. Sabathia's a legitimately tough lefty.
As far as the Twins' chances at this point [...]

Was that Eric Gregg behind the plate last night?

good stuff. Not sure who the vocalist is, but he's solid. He looks a bit like Scott Stapp. I know Krieger played with Stapp and Creed at Woodstock in 1999...

If that's not enough for you, here's a Velvet Revolver version. And a great version from 1970 by Status Quo.

9th inning, 2 outs...

Boof!@#!$ vs. Jake Westbrook
Today at his Strib blog, Joe Christensen reports the following information regarding Bonser and Westbrook: their wins, losses, ERA, and hits plus walks per game over the last three starts; their wins, losses, and ERA against their opponent. [Caution: I'm about to get a little carried away.]
I first find this [...]

Name: Algonad
Hometown: Algona, IA (Ed's Note: This is where I currently, and begrudgingly, live right now - Andrew)
Town I Currently Live In: Chanhassen, MN
Profession: Finance
Bats: Poorly
Throws: Equally poorly
Positions: 2B, OF
Greatest Career Achievement in Baseball/Softball/T-ball: I think I lead the conference in stolen bases and runs scored but had one [...]

I'm busy at work and without computer at home until Thursday. Take the reins, fellas!

[contributed by: Dread Pirate Will Young]

Veeck – As In Wreck: The Autobiography of Bill Veeck

Originally, the Twins were scheduled to play a T-Th series with the Indians, but thanks to a bunch of snow outs between the Mariners and the Indians way back in April, the series was moved to M-W. This alone wouldn't really have changed anything, but the (completely understandable) Twins-Royals postponement gave the Twins a [...]

I have a hard time giving up on slim odds (in case you haven't noticed yet), so after tonight's game I went browsing around for a pick-me-up. One nearly surefire way to cheer myself up is to go catch up on Pat Neshek's blog. Because he doesn't have a regular posting schedule, I [...]

Thanks to NBB for prompting this scheduling choice. I encourage each of you to go outside with your honey and watch the moon disappear. 1979, from the "All Your Revelation" video.

Carlos Silva vs. Paul Byrd
Silva continues his contract year push and Byrd continues his Cy Young Award push.
As far as I can tell, the Twins and Indians are going to battle with these players (more or less) in this series. (The numbers shown are post-All-Star Break.)

Pos
Dude
AB
OPS
OPS
AB
Dude

C
Redmond
58
0.727
0.751
148
Martinez

1B
Morneau
156
0.768
0.923
132
Garko

2B
Casilla
89
0.548
0.818
44
Cabrera

3B
Punto
109
0.467
0.626
159
Blake

SS
Bartlett
137
0.848
0.720
156
Peralta

LF
Tyner
93
0.800
0.700
84
Lofton

CF
Hunter
151
0.882
0.836
168
Sizemore

RF
Cuddyer
108
0.801
0.810
104
Gutierrez

DH
Kubel
88
0.798
0.711
128
Hafner

Sample size issues abound here, but I would [...]

Minnesota Twins (67-63) @ Cleveland Indians (72-57)
The Twins come off their four-game sweep of Baltimore heading into Cleveland to face the first-place Indians. The Indians just finished a 6-3 road trip, winning two of three from Tampa, Detroit, and Kansas City. Recently the Indians have struggled a bit at home, going 7-14 since [...]

- Four-game sweep! We must have made up a bunch of ground in the push for the playoffs! What's that? Still six games behind Cleveland in the loss column?
One of the problems with being six games behind is that you generally have to hope for other teams to fall apart. [...]

circa 1981 on "Fridays"

and "The Adultress" from the same broadcast. I think these might actually be live performances.

Light Rail? vs. Erik Bedard
They're adding a new line to the light rail system, so Slowey might be up as the emergency starter for this game.
Erik Bedard shouldn't need an introduction, but thanks to the Yankees-Red Sox Rivalry Networks ESPN and FOX (and the general crappiness of the rest of the O's), you don't [...]

LENIII reports that Torii Hunter has turned down a recent offer from the Twins to negotiate a contract extension, preferring to wait until the end of the season.
Hunter has had the upper hand on public relations all year long over the Twins -- and it seems to me that he's complained about the Twins not [...]

Agata Mazurkiewicz conducting, May 2007.

Matt Garza vs. Radhames Liz
Well, it looks like the Orioles have hopped on the where-can-we-find-a-soft-spot-for-our-prospect-pitchers-to-land? Hey-let's-pick-on-the-team-without-an-offense! train. Radhames, or Thin Lizzy as I like to call him, pitched a no-hitter on June 2nd this year in the AA Eastern League. And it wasn't even against the Rock Cats!
It sounds like Thin Lizzy [...]

It's early Saturday morning and I should be sleeping, but I'm keyed up about the day. We took possession of the house last night about 6:00 PM and I brought a couple of loads of kitchen stuff over in the Explorer so that Lucy would have an opportunity to work on something on Saturday [...]

The move continues...

Acoustic-jazz trio covers the Aphex Twin. Seriously.

Johan Santana vs. Jeremy Guthrie
Who is this Jeremy? Guthrie, a Scott Boras client, didn't feel that Pittsburgh's $1.7M bonus was enough for him when they drafted him in the third round in 2001. The Indians drafted him in the first round the next year, and Guthrie signed for a $2M bonus. [...]

You should read this article about the deceased 25 year old former NBA player. It is a sad story. The guy really had a problem and it killed him.
McHale said Griffin begged for help during his three seasons in Minnesota and even started taking Anabuse, a drug that makes alcoholics violently ill when [...]

Reggie Miller comes to his senses and decides to stay retired. I've always liked Reggie -- and his Knick-killing was fun to watch. He's also struck me as a guy who really has a solid head on his shoulders. I enjoy his work on TNT and am glad he'll be calling the [...]

Holy crap, did I spend a lot of money yesterday.

Well folks, I'm back from the circus...err...wedding. What have I missed?
- The Twins went 4-3 in my absence--rather fitting for a .500 team, don't you think?
- What's wrong with Johan? Wait, nothing's wrong? Sounds like a good answer to me.
- For the most part, the offense struggled and the pitching did alright--especially [...]

Ike may have been a first class pr*ck, but he ran a nice "revue." This is from an Amsterdam show in 1969.

I’m not sure, but I think ubelmann drove in five runs for the Rangers last night in their 30-3 pounding of the once pitching rich Baltimore Orioles. Regardless of whether that was him or not, I know that he’s not available for tonight’s Game Log (maybe that was him pitching for the [...]

Bill Murray may be charged with a DUI in Sweden after being pulled over in a golf cart that he "borrowed" to drive himself to a restaurant.

Name: Banjo
Hometown: Hoyt Lakes, MN
Town I Currently Live In: Minneapolis, MN
Profession: Small Business Owner
Bats: L
Throws: L
Positions: 1st Base, Right Field
Greatest Career Achievement in Baseball/Softball/T-ball: I was HBP 13 times in Cadets, the equivalent of Little League and took a high, infield fly ball on the noggin. (That might explain [...]

Lucy and I are off buying a house today.

I started this blog on July 17, 2004 and for the first five weeks or so I didn't have a counter on it. In that time I took the bar, went on vacation and didn't do all that much with it. Then, on August 23, 2004, I put a counter on the site [...]

From the TV show, Hollywood Palace. The year is 1966. Thanks to Twayn for this swell pick.

Here's a replacement from Monterrey 1967. Thanks for the idea, Twayn. Nasty CR police.

No doubt motivated to move books, Jerome Bettis reveals that he faked the occurrence of an injury in training camp in 2000 to avoid being cut. In reality, he was already injured -- or rather recovering from an injury -- when he went down on a play in training camp. His new book [...]

Hello, Citizens of SBG Nation, this is SBG with your Game Log for the last game of the series against the Seattle Mariners. As you may know, our esteemed citizen, ubelmann, normally writes these previews for your consumption, but he is not available to write today’s offering. Contrary to what you might [...]

Eddie ran into a moving train with his SUV down in Houston. I won't speculate about this except to say that this is a sad end for a troubled young man.

If Nick Punto is a tiny superhero, then major league pitching must be his Kryptonite.

Live from Cannes, 1968. Weirdo blues at its finest. From the Safe As Milk LP.

Hi, I'm Greek House! You may remember me from such posts as Sharks vs. Piranhas Parts I and II. I am also the author of the best selling book "Guppieball: The Art of Leaving Runners on Base".
The 3rd part of the series deals with what happens when our two teams slump. I [...]

Hopefully, our friend ubelmann hasn’t joined some death cult where he has to kill himself upon the arrival of a comet or something. His whereabouts remain unknown and if he doesn’t show up by around Thursday or so, I’ll start to get worried. Thus, it’s me filling in again for the u-ful one.

Tonight, we’ve got a Jarrod Washburn vs. Scott “Light Rail” Baker matchup.

Name: SideshowTootie
Hometown: Fridley, MN
Town I Currently Live In: Northfield, MN
Profession: College Student, Stats monkey
Bats: Right
Throws: Right
Positions: 2nd Base, Sidewinding ROOGY
Greatest Career Achievement in Baseball/Softball/T-ball: Probably a game-winning home run in a JV high school game

If Sunday's game was enough to get you going all by itself, this morning requires a little of the java.

Tim on The Monkees(!) TV-show, 1968. The lovely Song to the Siren
Jeff makes Leonard Cohen's Hallelujah his own.
Something you want to see? Call the request line. Did you miss a video or want to watch one again from a while back? Click here for the SBG Music Archive.

For all I know, ubelmann has run off and joined the circus, so I’ll grab the reins here and provide you with a preview of tonight’s game against the Seat…
WHOOOOOSH!
WTF was that?
Ah yes. That was El Tren Grande roaring through the Texas Rangers lineup Sunday afternoon. What a show he put on. [...]

When I called him a criminal earlier, I was chastised for rushing to judgment. Now that he's agreed to plead guilty, I say again: this guy is a sadistic, heartless criminal.

Sorry to throw cold water on everyone following the awesome performance that he gave yesterday, but I want to know -- if you were the Twins GM would you trade Santana in the off-season? The return for him could be gigantic, especially if the Mets were involved. Losing him to free agency would [...]

Arizona has exceeded their Pythagorean Win Total by a whopping ten games. How is that happening? Chris Jaffe at Hardball Times has the answer. Think about the Twins when you read this article.

Nothing like a good jolt of caffeine -- or a 17 strikeout performance -- to get the blood pumping again.

I'm a rocker
I'm a roller
I'm a right out of controller

Bon Scott-era AC/DC from 1977. Angus Young shows great urgency in this clip. At around the half-way mark he takes his "axe" into the balcony. Priceless. Play loud!

The Twins won the third game of a three game series 7-3 against the ChiSox, taking the series 2-1. Johan Santana improved to 15-5 with a 3.03 ERA (look, his ERA is down this year, and after yesterday's masterpiece, all systems are go), pitching seven innings and allowing just one run with 5 Ks [...]

In honor of El Presidente's career-high and club record 17 strikeouts, I present to you each and everyone one in order. Enjoy.

#1 - Brad Wilkerson. 2nd out of the 1st inning

ubelmann continues his exile from SBG Nation, so I'm filling in with today's Game Log post.
The Twins have a record of 13-47 in the American League leading 60 games that they have played where they have scored three or fewer runs, a .217 winning percentage. The average AL team is 9.4-38.1 in [...]

Last night, I took BabySBG and Lucy to a drive in movie. Lucy needs to get out once in a while as the four walls can close in on her. So, I made the popcorn, threw a pop or two in the cooler and we headed to the drive-in theater in the rain.
On [...]

The Twins fell to the Chicago White Sox in the second game of a three game series, 4-1. Brad Radke went five innings, giving up three runs (one earned) and 46,215 faithful went home disappointed. With the loss, the Twins (71-51) remained 7.5 games behind the Detroit Tigers and fell two games behind [...]

From a festival in Bath, 1970. Gorgeous British Isles folk-rock.

Dave Swarbrick, Richard Thompson, Simon Nicol, Dave Pegg and Dave Mattacks

Once again, our boy ubelmann is off doing some non-WGOM stuff, leaving me to mind the store.
The Twins continue their three game series with the Texas Rangers tonight after winning the first game by scoring on a ground out and a wild pitch. Carlos Silva pitched seven innings, allowing only a [...]

The Twins started a three game series against the AL Wild Card leading Chicago White Sox off on a good note, beating the pale hosers 7-3. Torii Hunter hit his 16th home run of the season in the sixth inning to break a 3-3 tie. It was Hunter's first home run in [...]

Well now. In a little bit of irony, the night that Nicky PooPoo sank to -20 VORP (he's at -20.2) he becomes a hero of sorts with a single and a two base error to reach third with no one out in the tenth inning of another game in which the starting pitcher "failed" [...]

Were Nicky Punto's teammates celebrating his -20 VORP?

After yesterday's nod to the Fascist Regime, Wagner seems like a logical segue. Like rock and/or roll, this should be played LOUD.

I love the smell of napalm in the morning.

See if you can spot George Lucas playing with the brasses at about 4:24.

Hello, ubelmann fans, and sorry to disappoint you. Yes, it's your former best buddy, SBG, filling in for your new best buddy, ubelmann with tonight's game log. ubelmann has decided that some stupid wedding is more important than tending to the WGOM. Where is the love?? In his absence [...]

Good grief:
Remember, the charges against Vick are accusations. The Duke lacrosse mess reminded us that accusations are not the same as guilt and that prosecutors might be unscrupulous.
True enough (well actually, accusations are not the same as a conviction, which is proof of guilt beyond a reasonable doubt, but considering the rest of the article, [...]