What a night

All I cared about while watching the Twins Thursday night was Brad Radke making it through about four or five innings without his arm falling off.
I didn't care if they won, I didn't care if Brad gave up 8 runs.
I just wanted Brad to have a nice night.
1, so he and the fans could enjoy what could've been his last start ever, and
2, so he could give Gardy any reason to choose him for the postseason roster over Carlos Silva.
So I wasn't asking much of the Twins.
Then they go and win the game in dramatic fashion, moving into a tie for first place in the Central, while Radke looked great for five innings, allowing no earned runs and hitting 90 on the gun.
That was an amazing performance by my favorite Twin.
Made possible, of course, by an opposite-field homer by Joe Mauer with two outs in the bottom of the ninth, and a terrific escape act in the top of the 9th by Juan Rincon, who loaded the bases with none out and got out of it.
But Radke was the story.
He was fighting tears afterward, maybe because he was touched by the crowd and the numerous tributes they showed him throughout the night, maybe because he was overcome by his own accomplishments in the face of tremendous physical adversity.
Either way, it was a monumental performance.
It did come against the KC Royals, who are not the NY Yankees, but even so, I think Twins Nation is unanimous in favoring Radke to take the mound at Yankee Stadium in the playoffs.
Maybe there's still some magic left.

Playoff Roster Possibilities

We'll find out tonight if Brad Radke has any chance to contribute to the Twins in the post-season.
The Twins are saying that if all goes well, he's in the post-season rotation, but my guess is that things don't even have to go 'well'.
I'm guessing that as long as his arm doesn't fall off he'll be pitching against the Yankees (I say Yankees because the Tigers all but clinched the Central with the Twins loss to KC last night).
Carlos Silva was in a nice little groove, but got roughed up in his last two starts. Last night KC was hitting him very hard. I don't know if Silva will even be on the playoff roster, let alone in the rotation.
To Silva's credit, he admitted after the game that he doesn't deserve a post-season start, saying he's let the team down all year.
If Radke pitches great tonight, my guess is that the post-season rotation will be Santana, Boof and Radke.
If Radke pitches decent, it'll probably be Santana, Boof, Garza and then maybe Radke.
As for the rest of the roster, there are some questions.
How many pitchers to bring? Typically 10 is the max for playoffs, but with the Twins lack of depth and experience in the rotation, they could bring as many as 11.
Santana, Boof, Garza, Nathan, Rincon, Reyes, Neshek and Crain are all locks.
After that you've got Guerrier, Eyre, Glen Perkins, Silva, Scott Baker and Radke. They might want to bring Perkins to give them an extra lefty. So a lot is still up in the air.
Assuming they take 11 pitchers, that leaves 14 position players.
Mauer, Redmond, Morneau, Castillo, Bartlett, Punto, Hunter, Cuddyer, White, Tyner and Nevin are locks.
That would leave three spots, with Kubel, Ford, Luis Rodriguez, Alexi Casilla, Josh Rabe, Terry Tiffee and Chris Heintz the candidates. Kubel has hardly played in the last month, as he's clearly not healthy. Tiffee is a switch hitter, which makes him a possibility, but my guess is they go with Rodriguez, Ford and Casilla. Casilla would fill a speed/pinch runner role much like Jarvis Brown did in the 1991 series. That was a significant move back then, as the Twins chose Brown, a useless hitter, over Pedro Munoz, a RH bat who killed lefties.
*As I said before, the Twins probably won't catch Detroit. They finish with three games against KC, and since they own the tiebreaker, the Twins have to finish ahead of them, meaning they're essentially two back with four to play.
So knowing they're likely to face the Yankees, consider this: Mark Redman has made two starts against the Twins in the last month. In those two starts he allowed two earned runs in 17 innings. In a start against the Yankees last week he allowed 9 runs in 2/3 of an inning.
As improved as the Twins offense is this year, they still have a scary and annoying tendency to randomly make journeyman look like Cy Young. The Yankees on the other hand, tend to expose such pitchers. The Twins will need Johan Santana and the bullpen to be at their absolute best if they are going to win that series.

Goin back to the dance

The most improbable of Twins seasons saw it's official reward Monday night with the Twins clinching a playoff berth with their win over Kansas City.
It marks the Twins fourth trip to the playoffs in the last five years, and their sixth in my lifetime.
I was 7 in 1987, 11 in 1991, and while I remember both of those seasons much more clearly than you might think, 2002 still stands out as my favorite Twins season ever.
It had been so long. So long since the Twins had been winners. So long since the Metrodome was full for a baseball game, so long since people were actually talking about the team, wearing jerseys of their favorite players.
I remember being at Game 3 of the ALDS against Oakland, part of a record crowd of over 64,000 fans, and almost being brought to tears by what I was experiencing.
Between 1992 and 2002 there had been talk of contraction, a move to North Carolina and eight losing seasons. That day in the Dome, with 64,000 fans about to watch a playoff game, was a day I had been reasonably sure I would never experience. Two days later I sat in a jam-packed sports bar in Burnsville and watched AJ Pierzynski wallop a game-winning homer off of A's closer and ass-clown Billy Koch. He flipped his bat in defiance and the Twins eliminated the A's in Oakland - and that flip of AJ's bat remains one of the single greatest all time sports moments of my life. I still remember my cousin Spence, drunk out of his head, standing on top of our table shouting to no one in particular - "Twins win! Twins win! Twins win!" over and over.
In that respect, 2002 will probably always be the Twins team I treasure most, even if they win several more World Series during my lifetime.
But 2006 will likely be pretty high on the list as well.
Part of me keeps thinking about Francisco Liriano, Brad Radke, and even Shannon Stewart, wondering if they can win without them.
For the record, if all three of those guys were healthy I believe the Twins would be overwhelming favorites to win the World Series.
But you know what? It's clear by now that you can throw logic out the window with this team.
Nick Punto and Jason Tyner should not be major contributors to a playoff team, but they are.
Dennys Reyes shouldn't be the best lefty specialist on the planet, but he is.
Boof Bonser shouldn't be a solid No. 2 starter as a rookie, but he is.
Matt Garza shouldn't even be here at all (he began the year in A-ball and was getting doused with champagne in a Major League clubhouse Monday), but he is.
Rondell White wasn't good enough to play for the Sioux Falls Canaries in the first half, and here he is batting .320 since the All-Star break.
We've written them off so many times.
Even when they started turning things around, most of us just said, 'Hey things are looking pretty good, we should be able to contend next year.'
The Tigers and White Sox were so far ahead they were merely a blip on the radar, but we were reminded, once again, what a long season it is, and how the deficit really doesn't matter in May, June or even July or August.
We were reminded that things like speed, defense and fundamentals (Tyner, Punto, Castillo, Bartlett) are still important, and that power (Thome, Dye, Konerko) is still overrated.
We learned that Brad Radke is perhaps the gutsiest player the Twins have ever had, and that Torii Hunter, for all his double-plays and ugly swings, is still one hell of a baseball player.
Way, way back in March, Kirby Puckett passed away. One of my first thoughts when he died was to wonder what effect it would have on this year's team.
Could the ghost of Kirby Puckett guide them to a title? I certainly hoped so. And yeah, I have a corny tendency to believe in those kinds of things.
It almost seems like the only explanation. With all the team has endured, all the setbacks, all the injuries, some sort of cosmic intervention seems like the only thing that could possibly have allowed a team that was once 25-33 and in a distant fourth place to surge to a playoff spot and the brink of 100 wins even with two of the top three pitchers sitting out.
With three games remaining against KC and three against a White Sox team that now has nothing to play for, the Twins still have a chance to catch Detroit, who they trail by one game.
Surely the Twins will enter the playoffs as underdogs no matter who they face, but they obviously have paid no attention to any of that kind of crap, so neither should we.
It's been a crazy, weird, inspirational, magical, amazing year.
Hopefully Monday's celebration wasn't the last one of the fall.

1/2 game out, 5 1/2 up

Briefly, while the Tigers-White Sox game was still going last night, the Twins were tied for first. They caught the Tigers.
Detroit ended up winning, though, to pull back up by a half-game.
The Sox, now 5 1/2 back, are all but finished. The Twins only need win a few more to clinch the wild-card, and they look like they're going to fight Detroit till the bitter end.
*One thing I realized during last night's satisfying 8-2 win over Boston is that Jason Bartlett (pictured) is becoming more than just a good shortstop. He's becoming one of the best. He turned two more terrific plays, and if he hadn't stupidly spent the first two months of the season in Triple-A, he'd be a contender for both the AL batting title and the Gold Glove. The first couple times Bartlett came up he looked raw and ragged, like everything he did was difficult for him.
Now, he looks very smooth and easy, just like Juan Castro did. Only Bartlett has more range, a better arm and a more reliable glove than Castro.
Calling Bartlett the next Greg Gagne may be selling him short.
*Torii Hunter is on the best streak of his career. His homer last night (#28) was an absolute bomb, and it came in a big, big spot. Even after spending two weeks on the DL, Hunter has a great chance to finally - finally - reach 30 homers for the first time in his career.
*How 'bout Boof? He now has a 3.74 ERA since being re-called, and is a more than respectable 6-5 with a 4.36 ERA overall. If Silva continues his re-emergence, the Twins might have three solid starters for the playoffs after all. Four if you count Matt Garza, who appears to be figuring things out, too.
*Rondell White is hitting .313 since the All-Star break. Just thought you'd like to know.
*Joe Mauer is hitting .280 since July 1. I've been getting a lot of shit from people for being too negative, especially when it comes to Mauer, but .280 out of the 3-hole is just plain inexcusable when the three guys behind you (four if you want to count Rondell White) are all mashing.
*These are the batting averages of the Twins starting lineup:
.296
.292
.344
.282
.325
.275
.236
.323
.315
All nine are more than solid except for White's .236, which, as mentioned above, has been steadily rising for two months. Six of the others are over .292, and the two who aren't - Cuddyer and Hunter, have combined for 50 homers and 191 RBIs. Not bad.
I'm not sure how much he's had to do with it, but Joe Vavra is hitting coach of the year.
*Wednesday's win was the Twins' 90th, the fourth time in five years they've reached 90 wins under Ron Gardenhire. At 90-61, their current winning percentage is .596, which would be their best in any of those years. When you consider they were 25-33 at one point, that is amazing.
*Johan goes today, looking for win #19. Getting it would mean a season sweep (6-0) over the BoSox, and put another nail in Ozzie Guillen's coffin.

Nightmare Come True

Francisco Liriano made his triumphant return to the Twins rotation Wednesday, and as he mowed the Oakland hitters down with ease through the first two innings I allowed myself to fantasize about a World Series title.
And then everyone's worst fears were realized, when Liriano hopped off the mound, wincing in pain.
Worst of all, the pain is in his elbow. His season is almost certainly over.
And as bad as that is, it's not even really the worst of it. What's worse is the gaining-steam fear that Liriano is a left-handed Kerry Wood.
Wood, like Liriano, is virtually unhittable when healthy, with a high-90's fastball and a breaking ball that breaks so sharply it doesn't seem real. But because of the violent snap of the elbow that Wood uses to deliver his back-breaking curveball, he is never, ever, ever healthy. I just laugh when Cubs fans brag about Wood, because I know he's never going to last more than 10 starts. Canaries manager Mike Pinto once told me Kerry Wood has 'the worst mechanics of any pitcher in pro baseball anywhere'.
I don't know that Liriano's mechanics are that bad, but he obviously snaps his slider with a tremendous amount of torque. Everyone laughed at the San Francisco Giants for including Liriano in the AJ trade, but this is why they did. He battled arm problems in San Fran, and it's apparent that he's going to continually do so in Minny.
If there's any good news, its that I believe Ron Gardenhire and pitching coach Rick Anderson are a hell of a lot smarter than the bumbling idiots in Chicago that have been working with Wood. I'm hopeful that Anderson will be able to work with Liriano and possibly find a way to alter his mechanics that would lessen the strain on his elbow without drastically reducing his effectiveness.
Either that, or the Twins may have to turn him into a reliever.
I still think the Twins have a good shot to make the playoffs, but without Liriano, I'm not optimistic about their chances of advancing to the World Series.

Return of the Chief?

If Carlos Silva has really rediscovered his sinker, (it'll take more than two starts to convince me) the Twins are a lock for the postseason.
A rotation that had appeared in shambles as little as a week or so ago, could suddenly be back to 4-strong with Santana, Liriano, Bonser and Silva. Tonight we'll see what Matt Guerrier is capable of doing. I'd look for something like 5 innings, 2 or 3 runs.
*Michael Cuddyer now has 22 homers, 37 doubles and 98 RBIs. He also has 9 OF assists. It once again bears repeating that the Twins success this year wasn't dependant on new arrivals like Tony Batista and Rondell White (though think how good the Twins would be if either of them had done what we'd hoped), but rather on the improvement of who was already here.
Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Michael Cuddyer, Nick Punto and Jason Bartlett have all been among the most improved players in the league. None of them were particularly threatening last year, and now all of them are guys who can do big damage with the bat in their own way.
*I didn't watch a whole lot of the Vikings game last night, because the Twins game was far more important. But I loved the first drive, and it sounds like the defense played pretty well. Brad Johnson was terrific, and if Troy Williamson could catch he would've been even better.
Giving the ball to Chester Taylor 31 times says a lot about what Hamster Face hopes to do this year. Control the clock, limit turnovers, keep defense fresh. That's great, I just wonder how long they're going to stick with a guy who averages 2.8 yards per carry!!

Simply the best

At times this year, Johan Santana was overshadowed by Francisco Liriano, but the Twins simply wouldn't be within sniffing distance of the playoffs without Santana, who's not only the best pitcher in baseball, but who might already be the best pitcher in Twins history at age 27.
The Cy Young has been pretty much locked up, but now talk of Johan winning AL MVP is gaining steam as well.
I've generally been against any guy who only plays in about 23% of his team's games winning the MVP award, but with Johan, its hard to argue. He's been at his best when it has mattered most - unbeatable at home. If Ron Gardenhire didn't insist on limiting him to 100 pitches a start (which actually doesn't bother me too much) Johan would probably be looking at 330 Ks this year, he might have 6 or 7 complete game shutouts, and he'd probably have a couple extra wins.
As it is, he's gonna win 20 at least, and finish with around 260 Ks.
The Twins took 3 out of 4 to pull within two games of Detroit, and as great as that is, I'd have rather gained three games on Chicago than the Tigers.
Still, with Liriano set to rejoin the rotation Wednesday, the Twins have a great shot of getting one of the two spots that the three teams are battling for.
*Matt Guerrier will replace Scott Baker the next time through the rotation. It's worth a shot, as Guerrier has been solid out of the pen. But while Guerrier has posted an excellent 3.04 ERA, he's also allowed an opponents batting average of .297. He'll give up some hits. Five decent innings would be a success.
In an interesting side note, Guerrier has now pitched in 85 career games without a win, the longest active streak in the majors.
The Twins other noteworthy such streak, Jason Tyner's homerless streak, nearly ended Sunday when Tyner tripled off the baggy. He was about 10 feet short, but had he pulled it a little further down the line he would've got it. Tyner has now gone 1,008 at-bats without a dinger. He's hit 2 homers in AAA, both over the fence. He's approaching Al Newman territory. Newman went almost 2,000 ABs without a homer from the middle of his rookie season to the end of his career.
*Torii Hunter manufactured a run all by himself Sunday, and for anyone who missed it, it's worth re-telling.
He singled up the middle to lead off the 2nd inning. Then he stole second. Then Jason Kubel struck out swinging at a pitch in the dirt, forcing Detroit catcher Vance Wilson to either tag Kubel or throw to first. With Hunter dancing about 15 feet off second, Wilson stared at Hunter for a second, and, thinking that was enough to keep him there, tossed the ball to first to retire the hobbled Kubel. He didn't exactly lob the ball to first but he certainly didnt fire it, and Hunter broke for third. First baseman Chris Shelton's throw back across the diamond wasn't near in time, and Hunter was on 3rd with one out. Jason Tyner then hit a short fly ball to left, that Tigers LF Craig Monroe had to come way in on. 'No way that's deep enough' I thought as Monroe settled under it, but Hunter took off the minute Monroe caught it. His throw was way up the line, and Torii scored standing up. The ball was probably hit about 160 feet to left-field, and Monroe was coming in on the ball.
The small-ball talk gets nauseating at times, but there is no question that that's how the Twins were able to win 3 out of 4 from Detroit this weekend.
Dick Bremer made an excellent point during Sunday's broadcast when he said that Detroit has a deadly lineup because of the homerun power they have, but that when the homers don't come, they can't score runs. He's totally right. That has even been the case somewhat for Chicago this year. They've relied more on the long ball this year than they did in their World Series season.
Teams that rely on the homerun usually don't make noise in the playoffs. The pitching is much better in the postseason, which means you have to find alternate ways to score runs.
Just another reason the Twins will be dangerous if they can qualify for the playoffs.
*Monday night prediction - Vikings 17, Redskins 13

Vikings '06

As I've said before, I am not exactly counting down the minutes to the Vikings season opener. In fact, I'll probably watch more of the Twins game on Monday night than I will the Vikings.
But I'm still a Vikings fan dammit, and as soon as the Twins season ends I'm sure I'll dive in head first.
Unless of course they're 1-6 by then.

It's funny, but the whole idea behind hiring Brad Childress as Vikings head coach was supposedly to bring stability to the organization, but I'm not so sure that that's happened.
Guys are still getting arrested left and right, and Childress seems more interested in surrounding himself with former Philadelphia Eagles and Wisconsin Badgers than he does building this team for the Super Bowl.
Having said that, I'm not going to bury a guy before the season starts. He's a detail-oriented guy, and I like that. That's the one good thing about football coaches. They're smart guys who study alot, whereas managers in baseball are usually dumb ex-players who use their 'gut' over statistics, research and data (see Gardenhire, Ron).
The team:
QB: Brad Johnson had an excellent preseason, and if he's healthy, will not only not lose games, he will win games. If he starts all 16 games, I envision him completing about 65 percent of his passes, for about 3,300 yards, 20-25 TDs, and less than 10 INT, which would put his QB rating over 90.
Brooks Bollinger is a solid backup - lightyears better than Mike McMahon. Tarvaris Jackson had a good preseason, but being able to move him back to the No. 3 spot is preferable.
RB: Chester Taylor was totally unimpressive in preseason. Some of the 'experts' have touted him as a big sleeper (SI's Peter King predicts over 1,500 yds), while others say the Vikings are making a mistake in committing to him. My guess is that with the O-line the Vikings have, he'll be able to make some plays, the question may be if he can carry the ball 300 times over the course of the season.
Mewelde Moore is the same as he ever was. Good player, hurt again. He's a backup.
To me, Ciatrick Fason is just a guy.
FB: Tony Richardson was an underrated pickup. He might be able to help Taylor become something back there. It would've been nice to have Joey Goodspeed (lost to an ACL in mincamp) for depth.
WR: The Vikings don't even have a No. 2, let alone a No. 1, at WR.
Troy Williamson has speed, and the pressure is on him to deliver.
Marcus Robinson is still useful in the red zone, but his days of 1,400 yard seasons are long, long gone.
Travis Taylor is an ideal No. 3. Nothing more, nothing less.
Todd Pinkston is terrible, and the only reason he's on this team is because Brad Childress knows him.
TE: Jermaine Wiggins and Jim Kleinsasser make an excellent receiver/blocker combo.
OL: The left side is the best in the league. The right side appears solid with Artis Hicks and Marcus Johnson. If these guys play to their potential, BJ should be healthy, the running game should be sound, and the Viking offense will be able to limit turnovers, control the clock, and pick up first downs. It's cliche, but lineplay decides football games.
DL: Has the potential to be strong, with Erasmus James and Keneche Udeze on the cusp of maybe being stars. Kevin Williams has to have a comeback season, and if he does, this could be a deadly front 4 with big Pat Williams in the middle as well. He was the best interior Dlineman in the NFL last year.
LB: Even though he was just a rookie, the Vikings will miss Chad Greenway. His injury seriously depletes the depth. EJ Henderson had a great camp, but he'll have to prove it in gams that count. Ben Leber has been barely better than average so far in his career, while Napolean Harris needs to have a big season in the middle. If he doesn't, he might be out of the league. With Greenway out, the backups are Donatarrius Thomas, Jason Glenn and Heath Farwell.
S: Tank Williams will also be missed. Dwight Smith steps in to a starters role, and while he's a big hitter, he can't cover. Darren Sharper is one of the best centerfielders in football, and just a flat-out great football player. But he's not getting any younger.
CB: Fred Smoot was a great cover corner at Washington, hopefully he can shake off all that happened last year and resume that role. Antoine Winfield is the best tackling corner in the NFL, but according to NFL stats, he gave up one of the highest competion percentages on passes thrown his way last year. His effectiveness in the passing game has been highly overrated thus far.
K: Ryan Longwell will be a very good kicker. Chris Kluwe should be a better than average punter.

It's almost impossible to tell whats gonna happen.
They were 9-7 last year, and it would be hard to argue that they haven't improved since then.
Then again, that 9-7 is misleading. The Bears didn't even try in the season finale (they had already clinched), and the Vikes clearly had no business winning a couple of those games (the Giants game leaps to mind).
Predicition: 9-7

2006 NFC North
Vikings 9-7
Bears 8-8
Lions 8-8
Packers 6-10

Wanted: Hitters

It's hard to blame the Twins pitching for their recent struggles.
Their gutty veteran (Brad Radke) and rookie phenom (Francisco Liriano) are both on the DL, forcing the team to rely on Boof Bonser, Scott Baker, Matt Garza and Carlos Silva (along with Cy Santana) to get them to the playoffs.
And yet, if the season ended today, they'd be in the playoffs, which is amazing.
The problem is the offense. They've gone cold.
It's been almost two weeks since they roughed up an opposing starter, even though Justin Verlander and Mark Buehrle are the only All-Star caliber pitchers they've faced in that time.
Darrel Rassner, Jae Seo, Tim Corcoran, Luke Hudson, and several other journeyman have had no trouble putting the Twins to bed lately.
Joe Mauer either walks or chops a three-hopper to second base every time, Justin Morneau isn't being given anything to hit, Nick Punto has apparently remembered that he's Nick Punto, and Torii Hunter appears to be cooling off.
With the pitching staff battling so many injuries, it's up to the offense to pick up the slack, and theyre not doing it.
*Carlos Silva apologized to his teammates for leaving Wednesday's start early.
*Francisco Liriano is scheduled to pitch in a minor league playoff game Saturday. If all goes well, he could rejoin the Twins rotation Sept. 14.

Here, you take it

If there's anything worse for a pitcher than sucking, it's not wanting the ball.
After mysteriously taking himself out of a start early for the third time this year, this time in the middle of a one-hitter, it looks like that may be the case with Carlos Silva.
He was cruising against Tampa Bay, needing just 59 pitches to get through six innings, when he refused to go out for the 7th because of a stomach ache.
Silva didnt seem to think it was a big deal, citing the Twins strong bullpen. But that just makes it sound like he wanted to pass the buck onto someone else in a 1-0 game. I doubt that he would've asked out if the score had been 9-0.
It was clear from the post-game comments of Gardy and Rick Anderson (Andy in particular) that the team felt betrayed by Silva's bail-out move.
Wednesday's strong start notwithstanding, it's been a miserable year for Silva, and the fact that he's becoming something of a head case makes it seem very possible, maybe even likely, that the Twins will look to trade him this off-season.
They've already traded Kyle Lohse, and Brad Radke is probably going to retire, so it might seem risky to trade yet 200-inning guy.
But the emergence of Boof Bonser, not to mention the raw talent that's evident in Matt Garza, Scott Baker and others, makes Silva more than expendable.
The Twins won 2 of 3 from Tampa, and considering they'd beat them 14 times in a row, they were probably due for a loss. But its still a tough loss. Detroit comes to town now, and we're not exactly throwing a bunch of aces at them.
*Good news, though. Liriano will be back. Perhaps as early as Sept. 14.
*Bert Blyleven has been suspended an additional 3 games by the Twins for saying fuck twice on Sunday. (I insist on writing out 'fuck' since every newspaper in America apparently thinks that we're all a bunch of kindergartners.) The additional suspension means that Bert will not be fired.
And I'm glad. As much as I hate his goddamn telestrator, I like Bert.

Bert's F-Bombs, Yankees series, I hate Hamster Face

In case you missed it, Bert Blyleven said this on Sunday's pregame telecast.
"We have to do this fuckin' thing over cuz I just fucked it up. What? Oh, we're live? Oh, I'm sorry about that."
Seriously.
Often the pregame segments (in this case they were talking about the MVP candidacies of Justin Morneau, Joe Mauer and Derek Jeter) are taped in advance. That's what Bert thought was happening Sunday, but it was live, and his two F-bombs were heard loud and clear, after he had obviously stumbled through the segment.
He apologized again, sincerely I thought, in the top of the first, and a couple more times throughout the game. The Twins have suspended him for two games, and while they haven't ruled out firing him, it sounds like, for now, Bert is going to survive.
I occassionally make appearances on local TV sports shows, and I remember the first time I went on, the anchor told me, 'The golden rule is never say fuck in the studio - ever. No matter how sure you are that the cameras are off, something can always happen. So just never, every say fuck.'
Someone should've told Bert.
*Considering Carlos Silva, Scott Baker and Matt Garza took the mound, I'm actually happy with the Yankees series. The Twins are damn lucky to get one. I think it's clear by now that Silva isn't going to get it together this year, and considering the wealth of young pitchers in the organization, I'd consider trading him in the off-season. Baker, who I still think is going to be very good, pitched well, but the Yankees admit that they, for some reason, just can't hit the guy. I was at the game against the Yankees back in April when Baker mowed them down, in what was probably the best start of his career. As for Garza, he's not there yet, and I dont think it'll happen this year. I still think he's going to be great, but right now he seems nervous, and while he has the stuff to get ahead of hitters, he still hasn't figured out how to put them away.
The good news is that Boof Bonser looks like he's getting it together. I'm actually starting to feel fairly confident when he takes the mound.
*Francisco Liriano is apparently on track to return soon, which is great news. My guess is that he pitches out of the bullpen at first, and if the Twins manage to sneak into the playoffs, then maybe he can make some 5 or 6 inning starts.
*Brad Radke, on the other hand, is apparently done. He has vowed to return, but the doctors say that it will be nearly impossible. Stay tuned.
*I've decided that I hate Brad Childress, and anything less than a division title will ensure that I hate him forever. He continues to sign any player that he has ever coached before (Todd Pinkston? Are you fucking kidding me? There are receivers on the Sioux Falls Storm I'd rather have than that piece of shit), and he cut several Tice draft-picks, seemingly to make the point that he wants to win (read: lose) with his own guys.
Dustin Fox, Chris Lewinski, Willie Offord, Rod Davis, Richard Angulo, Jason Carter, Charles Gordon - these guys appeared capable of contributing. But heaven forbid we keep them over someone who didn't do shit while wearing an Eagles uniform (Carter, Angulo and Gordon did get resigned to the practice squad).
The fact is, Hamster face is taking over a team that went 9-7 last year and just missed the playoffs. He should be focused on improving the team slightly and winning what should be a totally weak NFC North. Instead, it appears that he's trying to tear it down and start over with his own guys. This is a bullshit move that many coaches and managers in various sports have pulled over the years. They're basically providing themselves a safety net for their first year, trying to say that they're not really trying to win, but rather 'build a foundation' or some bullshit.
It's stupid. This team can be a playoff team. I'm not saying that cutting Rod Davis is going to keep the Vikings out of the playoffs, but I am saying that just going out and adding whatever shit-scrub you coached three years ago is not how you improve.
That would be like me getting hired as the Editor of Sports Illustrated and hiring a bunch of my drunk-ass college roommates to be my staff writers.
Then when readers, or my superiors, questioned my decisions, I'd say some crap like, "Well, I'm familiar with them and they're familiar with me, and they have a good understanding of what I'm looking for, and we're building a foundation here and blah, blah, blah. It's a bunch of shit, and frankly, it's insulting to Vikings fans. Even if it works it's insulting, because it insinuates simple laziness. Who needs scouts, when you can just add anyone that Brad Childress has ever fucking met.

Two trades I like

Both the Twins and Vikings made trades Thursday that I like.
The Twins acquired DH/1B/3B/C/OF Phil Nevin (shown at left in video-game mode) from the Cubs for a PTBNL, while the Vikings picked up QB Brooks Bollinger for DT CJ Mosley.
First, the Nevin trade.
Nevin was a highly touted stud coming out of college, and the Astros made him the No. 1 overall pick in 1992.
It took him until 1999 to amount to anything, but from 99-01 with San Diego he hit 96 homers and drove in over 300 runs.
As recently as 2004 he hit .289 with 26 dingers and 105 RBIs, and he's hit 21 bombs so far this year with Texas and Chicago.
He's 35, and still capable of playing a few different positions, though the Twins will make him their DH. Nevin's salary is for over $10 million this year, but the Twins aren't paying hardly any of it. I haven't been able to find out if his contract expires after this year (I'm assuming it does) because, depending on how well he finishes the season, I'd be interested in possibly bringing him back next year at the right price, either as the DH or possibly at 3B.
Either way, this is a nice pickup for the Twins. Nevin makes their lineup better. With all the injuries I'd have liked to see the Twins pick up a starter, but aside from Boomer Wells it doesn't sound like anyone was available.
*As for the Vikings, Brooks Bollinger is a good pickup. He's exactly what a backup QB is supposed to be. Not great (otherwise he'd be starting) but good enough to win on his better days. As much as I like the trade, though, it's yet another example of Hamster Face's croneyism (Bollinger played at Wisconsin, where Childress was OC).
That's the same kind of shit that got the Vikes in trouble with Mike McMahon.
Someone needs to tell Hamster Face that there's no requirement for him to have previously coached players before signing them.
I once played right-field for the Canaries for one inning, I don't think Mike Pinto's gonna sign me when he's managing somewhere else next year.