Omar...how do you do it?

Just a couple reactions from Mets fans re: getting Castillo from the Twins for 2 mid-level-at-best prospects:

• "Why did Minnesota even make this trade?"
• "The Mets gave up nothing for him.... wow Omar impressed me, "
• "Wow. i don't get it. I consider myself a die-hard Mets fan, and I've never heard of either of these two. For Castillo's solid bat, I'll take it. Omar... how do you do it..."

Maybe someday this will make sense to me. Hopefully today. or Tomorrow at least.

B.O.D.

The Boyfriend of The Day is Joe Mauer. Special thanks to Scotty Baker for solid pitching and to The Jasons for getting on base and running like the wind.

Well, F#$*. [Twins 3-KC 1]

Luis Castillo is gone to the Mets.

I've been at work all day and haven't watched SportsCenter since this morning, so I found out when I went to check my Fantasy Roster for tonight and saw that Castillo was scratched from tonight's roster. I immediately went to the Twins website, expecting the worst, and I wasn't wrong.

So, we gave away our lead-off man with a solid on-base percentage, who was helping us win games NOW. In return we got two minor-league prospects who will do nothing for us for quite some time, if ever.

Yeah, that was a super idea.

I don't want to talk about it anymore.

But Luis and I will always have that awkward one-sided conversation in Milwaukee to remember each other by. Good memories.

P.S. Terry Ryan, if you are reading this, and if you were thinking about talking to me anytime soon, I wouldn't. I'm pretty pissed at you right now. You made Luis Castillo CRY, for god's sake.

Edit: The Jasons are currently trying to cheer me up by scoring two runs in the 1st inning. Thanks guys. But I am still sad.

Edit #2: We won. I wish I could be excited about it, but I can't help but feeling that Ryan just started planning the funeral arrangements for the 2007 season. If we trade off someone good (or even just decent...or barely tolerable) to make a goddamned trade for Mike Piazza, who is like 78 years old and totally injury-prone [helloooo....we already HAVE a Rondell....], I'm going to have a stroke and/or make a nasty sign to hold at the Dome tomorrow.

High socks, blue uniforms, eighth inning magic and The Boyfriend of The Day

When I should have been working, I was watching the game and thinking, “Oh dear lord please don’t let C.C. Sabathia eat Little Nicky Punto, I know he looks like a tasty morsel but we need him alive!”
Matt Garza had a career high 11 strikeouts, Jason Bartlett stole his 20th base of the season, Justin Morneau got his 89th RBI and The Boyfriend of The Day, Mike Redmond(who came in as a pinch hitter for Nick Punto) hit a RBI double to tie up the game and start some eighth inning magic that led to Justin hitting the ball right to second basemen Josh Barfield who dropped it then over threw it to first basemen Ryan Garko snagging himself a double error and allowing both L-Rod, who pinch ran for Redmond, and Joe Mauer to score making it a 3-1 game. Just for good measure in the ninth inning, Lewwwwwwwwww Ford hit a homerun, because he could.

Inside the Clubhouse. [Twins 4-Cleveland 1]

We won a series. In Cleveland.

We are now only 7.5 games out.

Perhaps Jason Tyner's homerun IS, in fact, an omen that the Twins are going to win the World Series.

I'm sure this was tough to stomach for the Indians, as they thought they had a fool-proof plan to defeat the Twins this weekend. This is the best re-creation of the Tribe's pre-series meeting I could piece together:

Eric Wedge, the Indians manager, quietly gathered his players together and quickly closed and locked the clubhouse door, forcing a nervous and barely pubescent batboy to stand sentinel outside.

"Look guys. Sure, these Twins have been pretty weak lately. But I ain't taking any chances out there. We cannot get shut out of the playoffs by those damn Minnesota boys again. Boys, I want you to go out there and kill them this time!"

Grady Sizemore, channeling all the naive enthusiasm of Paula Abdul, Beaver Cleaver and Rudy Rudiger all put together, jumped out of his seat, pumped his fist in the air and said "Sure Coach! Let's go out there and win it for Cleveland!"

Everyone just sort of stared at him. "Sit down, you big dumb puppy," Wedge growled. "What I mean is....I want you guys to go out there and kill them. Take out whoever you can. Bruise some lungs, break some bones, smash up some of them pretty faces."

"What do you want me to do, boss?" asked Casey Blake.

"Well, hows about you send one of those deadly foul balls of yours down into their dugout. Try to take out that pesky third base coach of theirs. Let's see how many bases those speedy little bastards can steal without his indecipherable signals! It's just a shame that Redmond character won't be behind the plate. I see him getting nailed with bats and stuff all the time."

"How 'bout me? What should I do?" mumbled starting pitcher C.C. Sabathia between bites of Twinkie.

"Remember when you smacked that freakishly strong Canadian real good?"

"Mmm hmm."

"Just do that again. Whoever you like. Maybe that Tyner kid, he looks scrawny and breakable."

And so it went. Cleveland took the field and did their best to execute their deadly plan and put the hurt on the Twins. But with the magic of a Tyner homerun, an awesome Mike Redmond pinch-hit double, and a dream of the off-season that just won't die, the Twins pulled out the series win.

Stay tuned next weekend for a rematch at the Dome, when Cleveland will most likely attempt to assassinate bullpen catcher Nate Dammann, Lew Ford and Wally the Beer Man.

Boyfriend of The Day

To say that the Twins have been in a slump would be an understatement. We needed to win. I NEEDED a Boyfriend of The Day. Far too much time has passed, seven whole days, since we have had a Boyfriend of The Day but tonight that all changed. Do you know what else changed? Jason Tyner's streak of 1,220 at-bats with out a homerun that’s what! Sweet, Boyfriend of The Day, Jason Tyner hit a homerun in the third inning of tonight’s game against Cleveland. There are no words for how happy this makes me. It makes my heart sing. I think the only person who may be feeling a little sad about a Jason Tyner homerun is Ron Gardenhire, who now has to wear a Texas A&M shirt for a day. Go Aggies!

Twins 3-Cleveland 2

I caught a little bit of the game on the radio tonight, driving home from the Kansas City Chiefs training camp in River Falls. There was a significant moment in Twins History that occurred, but I will leave for my partner in crime to detail when an official Boyfriend of the Day proclamation is made. But needless to say, I nearly had an accident on the road when it happened.

Thank God we won. It was like water to a thirsty man, as Big Papi might say.

In other semi-baseball related news, I saw the cutest K.C. Royals fan at the training camp today. I needed photographic documentation, but since I didn't want to be completely creepy and weird, I had to take it when he wasn't looking. And now I'm posting it on the internet. Which totally negates the whole "don't be creepy and weird" idea.

The cute KC Royals fan in question. Go Royals.

There were actually a couple intriguing Royals fans there. And now I'm a little bit weirdly obsessed by the idea of Royals fans. I may have to swing by the training camp again next week when the Royals are in town, to see more of them. This could be my strangest obsession yet.

Twins 4-Cleveland 10.

Wow.

I'm not sure I even want to think about tonight's game, much less put anything in writing.

Poor Boof.

That boy needs a Win. Badly. He might also need a hug.

I thought maybe, just maybe, if he trimmed up the face-jungle growing on his chin, it might help. But it didn't. I'm crushed.

Well, I guess it did help in the sense that he was even more attractive tonight. But Sexy Boofiness won't win ballgames.

Unfortunately.

If Sexy Boofiness DID win ballgames, the Twins would be the reigning World Champions.

Boof's hair is getting longer, and his mustach/beard thing
is getting shorter. We are approaching perfection here, people.

Brian Buscher played 3rd base in his debut and made an error. I wish I could say that Nick Punto wouldn't have made an error.....but Nick Punto DID make an error at Short tonight. Ugliness all around.

The Twins are pretty lucky that we love them recklessly, unconditionally and without prejudice. Boof can sleep soundly tonight, knowing that he will always remain my primary Twins boyfriend even though this night went horribly awry for him.

In other news, Tadahito Iguchi is a Phillie now. It's hard to picture, but funny if you try. I will be sad that he's not in our league any more, because I do dearly love to say "Tadahito!"

Here we go.

Sort of an odd time to start a Twins baseball blog, isn't it?

The season's half over. It was an off day today. And above and beyond that, the Twins have seemingly forgotten how to play baseball as of late.

No matter. Our love of all things Twins and Baseball knows no bounds.

We are those girls. You know....THOSE girls. We are at enough games to know the vendors by heart and we manage to put ourselves within earshot of professional baseball players often enough to make Lew Ford kind of look at us funny now.

If obsession with our team is wrong, we don't want to be right.

With BatGirl, the Mr. Miagi of Twins Blogging, retired....this is how we have decided to entertain ourselves.