Big Hurt signs with Oakland, costs A's $337,000.

All the cold that's in this town sucks.

I just logged on to check a few things and was saddened to see that Joe Nuxhall died. It’s like that as you get older, I know. Grandparents and parents, aunts and uncles, neighbors and family friends. The ones we called grownups as children one by one disappear and only the memory, a dim reminder [...]

So, I guess I didn't take as many pictures as I thought I did, but I'll share what I've got. Also, I took my smaller, less fancy camera because I was taking my good one to the US-Brazil game, so the zoomed-in shots are a little grainy, but that's a price I'm willing to pay [...]

Something you want to see? Call the request line.

When the Twins last hit Detroit, there was a suggestion that we should have been playing some Motown. So, with the Tigers in town, consider this weekend a sort of make-up date.
Here we have Diana Ross with the Temptations, performing "The Way You Do The Things You Do" and "Respect," from the 1968 NBC special, [...]

The Miles Davis Quintet performing "So What," from The Robert Herridge Theater, CBS-TV, April 1959 (broadcast July 1960).
Miles Davis, trumpet
John Coltrane, tenor sax
Wynton Kelly, piano
Paul Chambers, bass
Jimmy Cobb, drums
Cannonball Adderley was in the band at the time, but, according to discographer Peter Losin, he missed the date because of a migraine.

This is what happens when the weather gets bad in Chicago.

David Gilmour(!) with the Tap.

These go to 11.

Now left with the players that I've paid lots of attention to, guys who have been on the 25-man roster for at least a big chunk of last year. I'm going to try to slow down and find as many mugshots from before 2006 as I can. Today: The bullpen.
(Note: I'm not [...]

Wolves lose in Portland 101-98. Oops, I guess Wittman wasn't the answer.

What you rather have, a World Series ring or a Hall of Fame plaque? Fifty-seven percent of respondents in the ESPN.COM poll said the ring.
I say the plaque.
I think that it's this simple. Whose career would you rather have: Ted Williams's or Al Newman's? Ernie Banks's or Steve Lombardozzi's? Barry Bonds's [...]

Grab a cup, it's freshly brewed.

Reading in between the lines, I've decided old Glen (and it's one "N", I've been spelling it wrong) is a dink.
Yeah, he comes off as a dink, but sometimes a person's public persona isn't actually the way they really are. Grandpa is telling me that he really is a dink, though.
He writes a column [...]

The 2006 Minnesota Vikings through 13 weeks:

Game results sorted by turnover margin

Points
Turnovers

Result
Vikings
Opponent
Vikings
Opponent
TO Margin

W
31
26
1
5
4

W
30
20
2
6
4

W
31
13
0
3
3

L
3
9
1
3
2

W
26
17
3
4
1

W
19
16
0
0
0

W
16
13
1
1
0

W
19
16
2
2
0

L
13
23
5
5
0

L
20
24
3
2
-1

L
12
17
2
0
-2

L
7
31
4
2
-2

L
17
23
2
0
-2

Excepting the 9-3 debacle of a loss to the 49ers, this season has been very simple: when the Vikings have forced more turnovers than they've committed, they've won, and when they've committed more turnovers than they've forced, they've lost. [...]

The Minnesota Timberwolves defeated the Utah Jazz on Friday night to pull even at 9-9 on the season. The T-Wolves have won six of nine and they got another inspired performance from Kevin Garnett tonight.
KG scored 31 points, grabbed 14 rebounds, dished out just one assist, but added two steals and three blocks. [...]

I've heard a lot of talk about Adam Morrison as ROY. I'm not buying it and I stand by my assessment of him pre-draft as a bust. John Hollinger weighs in:
Morrison is a 6-9 forward playing 35 minutes a night, and yet he's grabbed three offensive rebounds the entire season. While I'd expect [...]

I turned on the Timberwolves game on Wednesday night and I saw probably the most exciting couple of minutes of T-Wolves basketball that I’ve seen in some time. The Wolves got a great win against a very good Houston team and my dour mood on the club brightened a little. Sometimes the game [...]

If only the Vikings had given Brad Johnson a raise like our buddies Top Jimmy and Bump were advocating things would have been so much better.

One last day in November. It's been a pretty good month -- not insane like October -- but good.
Albert Pujols thinks that the MVP should come from a playoff team. So, if someone from Tampa Bay hits .475 with 120 home runs next year, he wouldn't be eligible if the Yankees hold off [...]

LeBron James is almost too good to be true. He's still 21 years old and already he has 6,536 points, 1635 rebounds, and 1615 assists. He's also logged a gargantuan (for his age) 10,201 minutes on the floor. If he stays healthy and plays till he's about 40, he'll be the league's [...]

Must win this one to stop the bleeding. This is also an open discussion on KG, the player.
T-Wolves Win!

• Yesterday was a crisp 16 hours in the office. Not today. I'll limit it to ten or twelve. It's been an extremely tough stretch.
• ubelmann points out that Sporting News named Terry Ryan executive of the year as voted on by his peers. I think he won it for the Pierzynski trade, [...]

It's just one game of course, but beat LA is a perennial cry. I'm not optimistic.
Wolves Lose

It's Monday morning and Lucy and I are on our way back to Minneapolis. It was a great time in Raleigh. We went to Lucy's college roommate's surprise 40th birrhday party. Her husband put on a great party, and we had a great time.
Last night we went out for dinner [...]

Waiting for our flight to Raleigh.
My wife claims that I'm addicted to this website. Maybe she's right. After all, I'm sitting here on a min vacation writing away. Well, actually, I'm just killing time. Lucy is tired and barely awake.
I was watching TV and I saw an ad for [...]

• I'm still crushed at work.
What's on your mind?

Well, last night was a tough loss. Let's see how the boys do this morning.

I Would Loves Me Some Series Win.
The Twins have decided to give everyone a day off in the rotation because of the day off. As a result, the Twins are looking at Garza, Bonser, and Santana lined up for the final series of the season. Honestly, I'd like to see that lineup be [...]

Well, the Sunday game wasn't one that I particularly enjoyed. But, the Twins got one of three and lo and behold, the ChiSox lost two of three to the Royals (love those scrappy kids!) and here we sit, 1/2 game behind the ChiSox.
What I learned this weekend:
1. Scott Baker is a candidate to [...]

Lucy and I are at a family get together in Otter Tail County with 35 other people in the rain.
Rumors of a crisis might have been slightly exaggerated. Garza for the series win?

Rain? Will they play?

I hear this baseball thing that we love so much has spread toward the East Coast and now New York has a team. Our local nine will be in the Bronx tonight battling their tails off.
Tail feathers everywhere.

Following the Twins this summer has been a wild ride. I said earlier that if they get in this race -- even if they don't make it to the post season -- this would be the best season of the recent years of good play. I think I'm right about that.
Well, following that [...]

Judge orders them to reveal the sources that leaked grand jury testimony in Bonds case. Of course, the leaking of federal grand jury testimony is a crime and those who leaked it should go to jail. The authors say they'll go to jail before they reveal their sources. And they should go [...]

TJ takes a big swipe at KG in today's column. Apparently, TJ doesn't love KG as much as he loves Torii Hunter.

I was quite worried that requiring registration would curtail the amount of commenting that occurred on this site. However, pretty much every regular comment has registered and requiring the registration has pretty much competely stopped the spam attacks. Right after that, a couple of spams were sneaking through, but now that has fallen [...]

Sorry, no time for an elaborate pre-game post, and I didn't do it last night. So, here it is.
Twins at Tigers.
The Twins need to start winning these.

Match Up
Detroit: 68-33, 1st AL Central, 8.5 GA. Detroit has the best record in all of baseball.
Detroit is 35-16 on the road.
Minnesota: 59-41, T2nd AL Central, 8.5 GB
Minnesota is 37-11 at home.
Look at that road record for Detroit. Awesome.
Rankings
Runs Scored
Detroit is in 6th the AL with 531 runs scored.
Minnesota is in 8th the AL [...]

I mentioned that I'm going to go to the game on Friday night and obviously I'm cheering for the Twins and looking forward to a Twins Victory. I want the Twins to win for a number of reasons, of course. One, I am hoping that the Twins can make the post season and [...]

If you are having any problems commenting on this site, please e-mail me. I can try to help you.
I got an e-mail from a reader who was having a problem last night. I didn't think we were still having any problems. I went back and slogged through 1000 spam comments and found [...]

Last night we had a power blip. Lucy and I were watching whatever it is that she wanted me to watch on TV and I didn't think much of it. Later, I went to set up the Game Log for Saturday's game and I realized that the computer was d-e-a-d. Crap. [...]

Nick is reporting that KFAN is reporting that Boof is coming up and Kyle Lohse is headed to the minors.

I came across a new Twins blog through Will Young today.  It's called Coffeyville Whirlwind.  Check it out and say hi from SBG.

The Twins with six in the first to lead 6-3 (and they are still batting).  What is going on with the Twins?  Not that I'm complaining, mind you.
Update:  ScruFi gets tossed, the Twins squander a big early lead and appear to be going down to defeat.  Whooped-Ass.

I want to give out a special shout out to John Perricone at Only Baseball Matters.  His site is one of the few that I read outside of the Twins market on a regular basis.  I have e-mailed John a few times on various topics.
John has a great site and I had a link to [...]

With Sheffield also hurt, I gotta believe the Yanks will be looking for an outfielder. Hunter? I don't think they have what we want. Stewart? He and Damon could play catch (with a cutoff man in between, of course).

From Shooter, who I never read, but happened to look at today.  Jim Brower's account of a conversation on the San Francisco bench with Barry Bonds.
"Barry leans over and says to us, 'Listen, this guy, on the first pitch, is going to throw a fastball, a cutter inside to get me off the plate. The [...]

From Tim Keown, ESPN.COM:
Well, if that ain't full circle: This week's Nation magazine, in one of the many Barry vs. Babe comparisons leaking in from outside the sports world, cites a section of a book titled "The Baseball Hall of Shame's Warped Record Book" stating that Ruth once fell ill after "attempting to inject himself [...]

Just write Cuddyer's name in the lineup.  Watch the offense improve.  Listen to the announcers tout him.  Wonder why we ever signed Tony Batista.  Wonder if L-Rod shouldn't be written in every day at third.

I absolutely don't get this.  From ESPN:
Kobe Bryant scored 24 points of 8-of-16 shooting, but the rest of the Lakers starters were 17-for-50. Bryant scored only one point and took just three shots in the second half.
Three shots in the second half of a seventh game.  I didn't see the fourth quarter, but I did see [...]

That's a heckuva good win right there.  Two in the ninth to finally beat the Tigers.

Here's what separates Reusse from Top Jimmy.  While TJ writes about wanting to love athletes and almost gets teary-eyed about the prospect of Hunter leaving this team, Reusse properly recognizes and writes that the Twins need to clean house -- and that means Hunter has to go.  It's not about love and emotion, it's about [...]

I was listening to Mike & Mike this morning and they were talking with Marc Stein about last night's game between the Lakers and the Suns in LA, won by the Suns, despite Kobe Bryant's 50 points.  Stein said that Kobe shot out of necessity -- the other players weren't doing much (especially Smush Parker).  [...]

This guy talked the fool, telling the world his kid would do this and that.  He's the kind of guy who you would normally dismiss as a lunatic.  Except that everything he said came true.
Tiger Woods is easily the most intriguing athlete in the world for me.  You wonder where the drive comes from, where [...]

That looked a lot like the Brad Radke we've seen a lot of before.  Yes, it was the Royals, but I'll take it.
The fact is, I'd really rather write sunny stories about the Twins.  But, I won't do it unless they actually play well with respect to expectations.  The last two nights we saw what [...]

Regarding the Fran Foley situation over at Winter Park:
Those few of us in the local sporting press who don't start the day with a large glass of purple Kool-Aid have been trying to tell Vikings fans that nothing about Foley smelled right.
A large glass of PURPLE Kool-Aid!  To whom is Top Jimmy referring, exactly?  Grandpa [...]

Ol' Pat lays some smack on the soon to be departed center fielder.
David Ortiz has earned his right to take shots at the go-with-the-pitch approach to hitting that former Twins manager Tom Kelly pushed with his players. Torii Hunter endorsed Ortiz's shots at Kelly in a Star Tribune story last month.
The fact is, the worst [...]

I've spouted off about the Twins play in April.  A much cooler head than me has posted his monthly grades.  Go over and say hi to Seth Stohs and read his write up.  It's pretty "F"-ing good.

It's Brad Radke v. Joe Mays in a classic pitcher's duel tonight at the dome.  Will either team score?  Or will they play about 35 innings before just giving up and calling it a tie?

The Mariners are favored over the Twins tonight, who are sending Johan Santana to the mound.  I don't bet on games, but I'm almost tempted to put some money on that action.

I found think link in the comments section of Aaron's blog.  It is an e-mail sent to Top Jimmy and his purported response.
Unlike most, I actually think Souhan is a very good writer and I enjoy his columns.  He actually replies to emails so I thought i'd give it a shot, and he responded only [...]

Keith Richards is still hospitalized in New Zeeland after falling out of a palm tree.
What the hell was he doing in a palm tree?  I don't get it!
He also reportedly crashed a jet ski after falling out of the tree.  Keef, you are 62 years old!  Take it easy, buddy!

Top Jimmy weighs in after the fact and pronounces the Twins an embarrassment.  He writes some truisms and invokes Andy McPhail by saying that a team like the Twins (small market) should either be rebuilding or contending, but never in the middle.  And he almost heartbreakingly concedes that Torii Hunter is no leader. 
Hunter is lost [...]

Former SBGville resident Chuck Klosterman analyzes the decision by the Houston Texans to bypass Reggie Bush with the first pick in the draft.

BP has the Twins report in their notebook today.   If you are looking for snark, try out this beauty:
The Twins' Out Factory (chief foreman: Rondell White) has resembled a real offense when Castillo plays

Seth Stohs mentioned a comment in the Pioneer Press about Torii Hunter and his opinion of the batting coach.  Specifically, the article says this:
"He can't teach me anything," Torii Hunter, the Twins' $10.75 million center fielder, said of Vavra. "Those guys played in the big leagues a long time. I don't think Vavra ever played [...]

I proclaimed at the beginning of the NBA season that I would buy an authentic Derek Jeter jersey and wear it to a Twins game if Kobe Bryant won the NBA MVP. I figured that there was no way on God's green earth that Bryant would win the award. Then, he went out [...]

I am wondering if you read the 360 degrees and eight pack features that I put together.  I have been trying to provide information for people to digest and talk about, along with a running commentary on the state of the pitching and hitting.  Disappointingly, I find very little feedback on these missives, which require [...]

There's Michael Cuddyer in the lineup today and so far he's 2-2 with a home run and a walk.  On the one hand, Cuddyer is hitting, right now, .241/.333/.586/.919.  And over his last ten games played, he's hitting .318/.423/.772/1.196.  But, we KNOW that he's not an every day player (remember last April?).  How to reconcile [...]

For those of you that don't know, Babe Ruth hit the last three homeruns of his career in one game.
I bring that up because Barry Bonds hit his 711th home run today and now that game is all that separates them on the all-time home run list.

From Top Jimmy:
Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World," one of the greatest songs ever and a fitting tribute to Kirby Puckett's playing career, [has replaced] the wretched, so-bad-it-has-to-be-wrapped-in-a-flag-to-be-heard "Proud to be an American" during Twins' seventh-inning stretches.
I hope this doesn't:
Castro-Castillo. Juan Castro might not hit .250 this year, and Luis Castillo might limp all season, but when [...]