Tiebreaker recap

Hey Sox fans -- the Man in Black has two words for you.

Meanwhile, the future is bright for the Twins. Five young starting pitchers -- age 24 to 26 this season -- with a year of experience under their belts. Mauer, Morneau and Nathan locked up long-term. Great years from the "kids" -- Gomez, Span and Casilla. The potential emergence of Mijares as an eighth-inning guy, with Neshek coming back next year as well. And only one more year in the Dome.

Pitchers and catchers report in 132 days ...

Twins-Sox series recap

Twins 9, White Sox 3

Great Twins game last night. That was exactly how they wanted the series to start -- not just with a win, but with a decisive win that could send a message to the Sox that will carry over throughout the series.

Baker was just massive last night -- and in winning his 10th game, he became the 5th Twins starter to win 10 this year (including the departed Livan) -- first time in team history that's happened. Other positives:

• Gotta pat Gardy on the back for playing the hunch on Kubel. Let's see what Cuddy does tonight against Buehrle.
• Nice to see nine runs with Span and Casilla going 0-for-10.
• The crowd was really into it. Standing on every two-strike count, curtain calls, and just generally maintaining a buzz throughout.
  
• It was fun to see small-ball driving the Sox crazy with bunts and stolen bases and getting the runner over and taking the extra base.
• It was also fun to see three HRs.
• Delmon's bomb was a blast.

Delmon still did that crazy thing at the end of his double, where he refuses to slide and then almost falls off the base while hopping to stop his momentum. I know he's got a sore ankle, but sometimes he looks like a guy playing softball at the church picnic who doesn't want to get grass stains on his good pants.

But that's a minor complaint after watching a nearly perfect victory. One down, two to go.

Last nail?

After watching the Twins' gut-wrenching, come-from-behind, come-from-ahead loss to Cleveland last night, which might have been the final nail in their coffin this season, my thoughts drifted to 1984.

Where were you in summer of 1984? That was a big year for me -- I was deep in the throes of puberty, listening to a lot of Van Halen, riding my moped around town to my first real jobs (umpiring little league baseball games and working at a drive-in restaurant), and parting my hair on the side again after an ill-fated, follow-the-crowd experiment with the center-part-feathered look. Ugh.

Anyway, in the summer of 1984, the Minnesota Twins made their first serious run at a division title in my 10 years of following the team. Powered by a dynamic young lineup that featured emerging stars Kent Hrbek, Gary Gaetti, Tom Brunansky and a rookie center fielder named Kirby Puckett, the Twins entered the last week of the season 81-75 and tied for first place with the Kansas City Royals.

Even after dropping a pair at Chicago, the Twins still trailed the Royals by only two games with one series remaining -- a four-gamer at Cleveland, a team they had just swept at the Metrodome a week earlier and that was 16 games below .500 entering the final weekend.

Now, I had just entered 10th grade that month, making the big leap from junior high to high school, so I was rather caught up with ... uh ... my studies, as well as trying to impress the ladies with said moped (verdict: unsuccessful), so I can't recall the details of that series chapter and verse. Thankfully, a wonderful site called Baseball Almanac is out there on the Internets, a great resource for baseball dorks like me.

On Thursday night, Mike Smithson took a 3-0 lead into the 8th, gave up a couple of runs and yielded to Ron Davis, who gave up tying run before getting out of the 8th. Then, with two outs in the 9th, the great Jamie Quirk took RD deep and the Twins lost 4-3.

But the Royals lost to the Angels, leaving the door open for the Twins -- two games out with three to play. On Friday night, the Twins took a 10-0 lead after two and a half innings. Staff ace Frank Viola gave back two in the third, then blew up in the sixth as the Tribe scored seven more times to cut the lead to 10-9. (Meanwhile, the Twins were getting blanked by the Indians' bullpen duo of future Twin LeRoy Purdy Smith and the immortal Tom Waddell.)

Once again, RD was the scapegoat for the loss -- the Tribe tied it off him in the 8th, and he put the winning run on in the 9th before the immortal Ed Hodge gave up two hits and allowed the winning run to score. I wish I knew who had the hits but that's not part of the box score.

Meanwhile, the Royals won in Oakland and that did it for the 1984 Minnesota Twins. One aside -- at least they didn't completely roll over. On that Saturday, they took a 3-0 lead in the first inning off Neal Heaton, but John Butcher couldn't hold it and they lost 6-4. And on Sunday, they scored twice in the top of the first off (wait for it ...) Bert Blyleven, but they didn't get another run until the 8th, by which time the Indians had tuned up Ken Schrom en route to a 7-4 win.

Of course, the AL West title that year was pretty much a consolation prize because the Royals were steamrolled by the juggernaut that was the World Champion Detroit Tigers. But still, it was a nice, unexpected run for the Twins, and it set the stage for their 1987 World Series season, with many of those young stars from '84 providing the backbone of the '87 team.

Anyway, this is a round-about way of saying it was a good run this summer, and maybe the Sox will still fall flat on their faces, but it doesn't look like it. If they play .500 ball the rest of the way, the Twins will have to go 9-2. I don't see them getting out of Tampa with fewer than two losses this weekend, and that doesn't even account for their game against 22-2 Cliff Lee tonight.

I just hope somewhere in Minnesota there's a 15-year-old kid stinking of Clearasil and Old Spice, driving a moped around town and clinging to the last dying hope of a flickering Twins season. Dare to dream, kid.

Wrong on so many levels

On Monday night, the Twins became part of a disturbing trend in professional sports by offering an "all you can eat" promotion. For 33 bucks, fans could gorge themselves on all the basics -- hot dogs, pretzels, popcorn, soft drinks -- from the time the doors opened until the end of the eighth inning.

Now, I'm going to try to avoid coming across as a fun-killing prude here, because I know teams and their fans are always looking for ways to inject a little fun into the game experience. But this is just wrong on so many levels. First off, do Americans (especially sports fans) really need to be encouraged to eat more junk food? The fattest nation in the world does not need an incentive to stuff more hot dogs down its gullet. And trust me, I've eaten in the Metrodome many times -- this isn't a fine-dining experience. Quantity trumps quality at the Dome even if you're only having a bite of one pretzel.

Let's not even get into the whole "kids are starving in Myanmar and we're being gluttons" angle, because this food isn't going to go to Myanmar if it doesn't get eaten by Joe from Apple Valley. It's not that this is bad for the starving children (and adults) around the world, or even in our own back yard. It's bad for anybody who participates in this promotion. And it's a bad sign that professional sports are encouraging and enabling obesity among its fans.

Check out some of the anecdotes from the Strib story, including the guy who bought a brand new pair of cargo pants at the Mall of America before hopping on the light rail to go to the game. Yes, he wanted to make sure he had enough pockets available to stuff with pork products and empty carbs so he wouldn't actually burn some of those calories walking back to the concession stand more than necessary.

Or the foursome that had hammered home 15 hot dogs before the game even started. Or the family that took their kids "to dinner" at the game, but started with hot dogs so the children at least got their protein.

And finally, because the game went 12 innings but the promotion ended in the eighth inning (so the vendors and counter staff could clean up and get home), we get this post from a slob who apparently thinks "all you can eat" is false advertising (scroll down to 9:20 a.m.):

"The all you can eat promotion was shut down 4 innings before the game ended. Extra innings or not, they need to be open until the game is over. That’s horrible cusotmer (sic) relations. If you want to save $$$ by closing down in the 8th inning, then tell your bullpen to throw strikes and tell your overpaid RF to learn how to hit with men in scoring position and less than 2 outs."

Another fine example of the "it's all about me" crowd, which is exactly who this promotion is targeting. In an instant gratification world, stuffing your face with endless crap food feels good right now, so let's do it, regardless of whether it's good for you in the long run.

I can hardly wait for the lawsuits to start trickling in against the Twins when the fans who purchased these tickets start dropping dead of cardiac disease in the next few years. That's the logical next step -- well, that and a section of double-wide seats for these fans at the new ballpark.

Twins breakdown: Delmon Young

Time to continue the Twins breakdown series with a look at the team's new left-fielder, Delmon Young.

The good: Apparently, he's a pretty good actor -- at least, he holds his own with Twins legends Harmon Killebrew, Rod Carew and Tony Oliva in the video above. He's got a strong arm as well, as evidenced by his four assists from left field. He seems to run OK -- not a speedster, but he won't hurt you on the bases, either.

The bad: Where's the power? Preseason predictions of 25 home runs seemed a tad optimistic considering he hit only 13 last year as a rookie in Tampa Bay, but it sure looked like he'd be a bit more proficient with the long ball. Instead, some of his swings have had a dead-fish quality to them. He's also hitting just .256, more than 30 points below his rookie average. Young appears to be pressing a bit at the plate -- I wish I were around the clubhouse so I could get a feel for whether he's the type of guy who might put too much pressure on himself to perform, especially in a new setting. Because from here, that's what appears to be happening.

The ugly: Is there a less athletic-looking 22-year-old professional ... uh ... sports player than Delmon Young? (I almost said "professional athlete," but that doesn't really fit given the start of the sentence.) He lumbers around the outfield with Frankenstein legs, like he's got no flexibility in his hips, and he doesn't look comfortable in the batters box, especially when trying to make adjustments to different types of pitches. At least he hasn't thrown a bat at an umpire or caused any controversy in the clubhouse yet.

The verdict: The jury is still out on whether he's a middle-of-the-lineup kind of guy. He's batting seventh right now, which is about where his production merits. Until he starts showing some power, he'll be much less valuable than the player the Twins thought they were getting.

Twins breakdown: Go-Go Gomez

My first post of the year dedicated solely to the Twins will focus on their new center fielder, Carlos "Go-Go" Gomez. I think he has the potential to be the most exciting player on the team since the young Cristian Guzman, or the most infuriating player on the team since Pat Mears. Or both, probably.

The good: I love the way the kid handles himself on the field. He just looks comfortable -- even a little cocky, but isn't it about time the Twins had a player who held his head up high and didn't play the whole "I'm just happy to be here" game with his body language? He's got amazing speed, and despite his role as their leadoff hitter, I kinda like the fact that he'll swing from his heels from time to time (OK, always). He's got power potential, so all of the idiots who think he should be chopping at the ball like Guzman always did need to grab a clue. He's got 20-HR potential, and lots of power to the gaps.

The bad: He seems to be operating under the mistaken impression that Twins center fielders are contractually obligated to swing at every slider in the dirt over the outside corner, or even in the left-handed batters box. Torii Hunter eventually figured out how to lay off those -- perhaps Gomez will catch on more quickly. Somebody needs to get through to him that when you're asked to lay down a sacrifice bunt, you lay down a sacrifice bunt -- you don't try to drag bunt three times in a row. And he needs to be a bit less carefree with his drag bunts. Bunt at strikes, and find a baseline -- with his wheels, the only way he'll fail is if he bunts it right back at the pitcher or pops it up, both of which have been happening far too frequently for my taste. Take the extra half-second to get down a good bunt, Go-Go, because you've got the speed to beat out any throw from a third baseman or pitcher covering the line.

The ugly: We heard all through spring training that he's got an amazing arm, and I agree, there's some power behind his throws, but I can't remember a Twins outfielder with a less accurate arm than Gomez. Everything he throws seems to veer to the right (his left) -- the opposite of a tail, so I guess you'd say it's a hook. I haven't watched his form that closely, but that kind of throw happens when a player is throwing across his body. Let's hope Jerry White is working with him on throwing more overhand. Cuddyer had to make that transition when he moved from the infield to right field. Gomez has always been an outfielder, so he's got no excuse. I just hope he doesn't start thinking about footwork and release points, because then we could have the second coming of Jacque "Worm Burner" Jones on our hands.

The verdict: Future all-star, atypical leadoff hitter who will drive the ball, could wind up like Ichiro but hitting about 70 points lower at his ceiling.

Take a deep breath

I've been listening to and reading a lot of the national Santana reaction -- even the local Vegas sports radio guys are up in arms about it, because about half of them are from the Midwest.

The recurring theme, of course, is that the Twins got screwed and they deserve to get ripped left and right for making a "panic move." Well, I'm not going to defend the Twins here, because that's not my job, but I will point out a couple of interesting reactions to the hysteria.

1. The most common attack comes in the form of, "They had better packages on the table from the Red Sox and Yankees in December and should have taken them." Yet after a few minutes of ranting, these same people almost always say, "Well, we don't know for sure that those names were all on the table. The Yankees and Red Sox were basically trying to keep Santana away from the other team and were never really interested in giving up too much for a guy headed to free agency and asking for $140 million over six years."

So which is it -- they had better offers on the table, or we don't know what they had on the table and it was likely that when push came to shove, those big names wouldn't have been included? I guess only Billy Smith, Theo Esptein and Brian Cashman know for sure, and they're not talking.

2. Everybody seems to be going crazy that the Twins didn't get this Martinez kid, who is the Mets' No. 1 prospect according to Baseball America, and that the Twins should be getting ripped because they don't know if Gomez or any of the pitchers are going to pan out. But, if they had received Martinez in the trade, wouldn't it have been just as logical to say they don't know if Martinez will pan out? I also hear that the Mets have a weak farm system, so getting four of the top seven prospects from their minor leagues isn't really saying much. Again, wouldn't that same logic apply to the magical Martinez? Either way, it's a crap shoot.

3. The other bit of prevailing wisdom from the "experts" is that the Twins should have hung onto Santana until the trade deadline if this is all they could get for him. Yet it's pretty clear that Santana and his agent said that they'd invoke his no-trade clause and ride out the season, then split via free agency, leaving the Twins with two first-round draft picks instead of a package of prospects.

So, would you rather have this Mets' package, or let a cloud of negativity hover over the season, deal with the "Will Santana leave?" questions every fifth day, and get two late first-round picks (one a sandwich pick between the first two rounds, and the other from the team that signed him, which would probably be late in the first round since it would be the Yankees, Red Sox or Mets who would sign him)?

I think it's fair to scrutinize this trade and even conclude that it wasn't a great deal for the Twins, at least on the surface. But it's entirely unfair to only look at the negatives of the deal without considering the even-more-negative outcomes that likely would have occurred as well. A little balance -- is that too much to ask?

Twins talk

With TwinsFest under way back in the twin farms, it might be a good time to break out the first Twins chatter of 2008. My buddy K-Man reported that the Twins have signed Morneau and Cuddyer to long-term deals, which gets me thinking ... could this be the start of a push to keep Johan Santana in Twins pinstripes?

Think about it -- with Torii Hunter landing in Anaheim, it looked all but certain that the Twins would deal Santana to the highest bidder. But early reports on Francisco Liriano are promising, and if they can get a full season out of two of the top lefties in the AL, the Twins could compete for a postseason berth, even in the stacked AL Central.

Inking the team's franchise first baseman and a solid RBI guy in Cuddyer to anchor the middle of the batting order lets Santana know they're not giving up on the future. And there's been some speculation lately that not only are the Yankees, Red Sox and Mets reluctant to part with enough prospects to make a trade for Santana attractive to the Twins, but those big-market teams also could be hesitant to offer Johan the $150 million or so that it would take to sign him.

So, if you're Santana, would you push for a trade and try to get every dollar you can in an environment that might not be a good fit for you, or would you "settle" for a five-year, $100 million deal with the only team you've ever pitched for, with a manager and pitching coach you like, with a clubhouse you know you fit into, and with a rabid fan base backing your every move?

Something to ponder, at least ...

Better safe than sorry

I'm sure some Twins fans are lamenting the fact that they didn't even pursue Japanese outfielder Kosuke Fukudome, who signed a four-year, $48 million contract with the Cubs this week.

I, for one, am glad they didn't throw their hat into that ring. I've got nothing against Japanese players, and I sure wish Carl Pohlad would spend some of his billions on quality players instead of carrying out his plan to line his coffin with $1,000 bills.

But can you even imagine the hysteria at WCCO when Sid would try to pronounce "Fukudome" for the first time? Or even the 50th time? Face it, the Twins did their old broadcast partner a favor by saving them from multiple FCC obscenity fines.

And if Bob Casey were still the public address announcer at the dome, all bets would be off. That would have been a press box moment I would have flown back to witness.

The ex-Twin factor

Baseball fans have always looked for an edge in determining the World Series winner. One popular notion is that the team with fewer ex-Cubs will win. So, let's look at it from an ex-Twin perspective. I'm still not sure if more or fewer ex-Twins will get you over the hump, but regardless, here are the former Minnesota ballplayers still toiling under the October skies:

Boston -- Bobby Kielty, David Ortiz (and Jason Varitek was a former first-round draft pick of the Twins but never signed)

Colorado -- LaTroy Hawkins

Considering how the Rockies have done so far in the playoffs (Phillies -- J.D. Durbin, Kyle Lohse, J.C. Romero; Arizona -- Jeff Cirillo, Augie Ojeda), you've got to like Colorado again.

All of this is a round-about way of mentioning that I'm going to be in Denver for the middle three games of the Series. I'm writing a couple of feature articles for magazines based in Colorado and Boston, and I've got a credential, so it didn't take much arm-twisting to get me there. WHIH will post from Coors Field when possible. Stay tuned.

Large-minded ballplayers

If it's true that consistency is the hobgoblin of small minds, the Twins clubhouse must be a freakin' Mensa meeting. After reading what Johan Santana had to say about the Twins' inaction at the trading deadline, and his teammates' support for his attack on the Twins front office, I wanted to throw a brick through my laptop screen.

Because if you followed the team the past four months, you know the running theme for this season has been, "Don't break us up! Don't trade Torii! Give us a chance to show what we can do! We like the team we've got! We can beat the Tigers and Indians with this bunch, so keep us together!"

Then, the day after they decide to keep the team together (save for slap-hitting free-agent-to-be Luis Castillo), Santana and Hunter go all prima donna on the bit and whine about the front office not getting them any help. Wait, I thought you liked the team you've got? I thought all you wanted was a chance to show what you can do down the stretch?

I tell ya, if I were Terry Ryan, I'd have walked away from this a long time ago, not because Pohlad doesn't give him enough money to do his job, but because he's overseeing a clubhouse full of candy-assed babies who cry to the media when they don't get their way. (Granted, when I'm wearing my media hat it makes for good copy, but as an unabashed Twins fan, it wears thin. Real fast.)

It's as if Hunter and Santana were listening in, George Bush wiretap-style, as Ryan rebuffed team after team begging to ship their superstars to Minnesota in exchange for the Twins' rejects. I'm just guessing here, but if the Rockies had wanted to send Garrett Atkins to the Twins for Juan Rincon and Lew Ford (who can pack their bags for Rochester or Mexico right now, as far as I'm concerned), Ryan would have obliged. But the teams who were selling apparently wanted more than what the teams who were buying were willing to offer.

Example: the Twins were interested in pig-faced journeyman infielder Ty Wiggingon of the Devil Rays to fill their Punto-sized hole at 3B. But the Devil Rays reportedly were asking for Matt Garza in return. (See my post last month about Garza if you need to discern my feelings about that trade offer.) Garza for Wigginton has the potential of, say, Frank Robinson for Milt Pappas. And, if the Twins had traded Garza, it's even money that Santana, Hunter, et al, would have griped that the team was trading away its future, so why should they consider signing a long-term deal with them?

Unreal. Just come right out and admit you're looking for a way out of Minnesota and don't blame it on Terry Ryan and the rest of the front office, fellas. You only come across as ungrateful, spoiled multi-millionaires, and hey, you don't want to let the public in on that secret...

Ready for prime time all along

Sure, the Twins lost 1-zip to the Tigers tonight, but they got a second straight outstanding effort from Matt Garza, who allowed three hits, one walk and zero earned runs over seven innings of work against one of the toughest lineups in the league. This comes on the heels of his first start of the year, when he tossed six shutout frames against the White Sox.

Close observers of the Twins might be surprised at Garza's domination after he failed to make the team in spring training, then struggled for three months at Triple-A Rochester. But even closer observers will note that Garza likely was the victim of a phenomenon known as What The Hell Am I Still Doing At Triple-A? Syndrome.

You see, some guys who struggle at Triple-A are doing so because, frankly, they suck. But others get mired in a funk because they know -- hell, they've proved -- that they belong in the big leagues. They know there's nothing more for them to prove at Triple-A, and instead of being the happy camper and good soldier when the big club sends them down, they get frustrated staring up at the glass ceiling and wondering why they're still riding buses and eating at Carl's Jr. and the Waffle House.

Last year, Garza joined the Twins in August and went 3-6 down the stretch (with losses of 1-0 and 2-0 thrown in for good measure) and showed enough moxie that most people expected him to make the club this spring. But the Twins sent him down to work on his curve ball (so they say), then gave lesser lights Kevin Slowey and Scott Baker the first two shots to make the rotation after the predictable implosion of Sidney Ponson and Ramon Ortiz.

Meanwhile, Garza stewed, whined about being forced to throw something other than his electric fastball, and posted a 4-6 record with a 4.21 ERA against Triple-A hitters. When the league finally caught up with Slowey, the Twins' brass seemingly had no choice but to bring up Garza and hope his results at Rochester were not indicative of future performance.

And they weren't -- not because Garza came back with a huge chip on his shoulder, trying to prove to Terry Ryan, Ron Gardenhire and Rick Anderson that they were wrong to send him down this spring. Because if you're trying to prove somebody wrong in baseball, the game will eat you alive. (It's probably the same in all sports, but I only speak from experience with baseball.)

No, Garza has been successful so far (and I suspect he'll continue to impress) because he knew all along that he belongs in the big leagues. Now, instead of being nervous like most young pitchers with less than a year of major league service time under their belts, Garza can finally exhale, relax and do what he knows he's capable of doing. And that's exactly how he's pitched thus far since his callup.

Of course, I have no specific insight into Garza's case because I'm here, not there. This is all just speculation on my part. But I've seen it happen before, and tomorrow I'll point out another member of the What The Hell Am I Still Doing At Triple-A? club who's having a breakout year in 2007.

Getting primed for the derby

That subject of that headline could be either Justin Morneau or me, because we're both going to be at the Home Run Derby in San Francisco on Monday. Morneau prepared for his trip on Friday by becoming the first Twin since Tony Oliva to hit three home runs in a game as the Twins pasted the White Sox 12-0 in the nightcap of a doubleheader that featured an ugly 20-14 victory in Game 1.

Meanwhile, I prepared for the trip by packing a bag. It's not quite the same thing, but it'll get me to the Bay Area and that's all that counts. Kris and I are celebrating our 15th anniversary this summer, and decided a four-day trip to one of our favorite cities in the world would be a good way to mark the occasion. Plus we got all-access media passes thanks to a friend of her boss (it's good to be the king, or at least work for him), so we've got that going for us. Which is very, very nice.

I'll be blogging from the Bay Area this weekend and early next week, offering some insights on the Futures Game, Home Run Derby, the game itself, and whatever else tickles our collective fancy during our visit. I can taste the clam chowder already.

Meanwhile, here are some factoids about Morneau's feat to tide you over until then. Bob Allison, Harmon Killebrew and Oliva were the first three Twins to hit three homers in a game. Oliva turned the trick in 1973, before I was old enough to follow the game. In the 34 years since then, 17 players have hit three home runs in a game against the Twins. The odds of 17 consecutive three-homer games coming off the bats of the Twins' opponents have to be astronomical, even given the putrid state of the Twins' pitching in some of those years.

Then again, when you realize that Morneau was the first Twin in 16 years to hit 30 homers in a season when he did it last year -- a period that encompassed the steroid era, the wave of smaller retro ballparks, the juiced ball and two expansion seasons when the pitching is always watered down -- maybe we shouldn't be surprised.

Just for giggles, here are the 17 players who hit three homers in a game against the Twins between Oliva and Morneau:

Bobby Grich, Al Oliver, Eddie Murray, Jeff Burroughs, Doug DeCinces, Harold Baines, Cory Snyder, Joe Carter, Dave Winfield, Dave Henderson, Juan Gonzalez, Darnell Coles, Ernie Young, Geronimo Berroa, Ivan Rodriguez, Edgar Martinez, Ellis Burks.

Not a bad list -- some decent sluggers in there -- but when the Coles-Young-Berroa trifecta hit, that's when I became convinced the baseball gods would never allow another Twins hitter into the club.

Thank you, Mr. Morneau, for putting that to rest. See you in San Francisco.

The Twins' next great slugger

He hit his first career double on Tuesday. He hit his first career triple on Sunday. His OPS (the trendy new stat, which measures on-base plus slugging percentage) is a hefty 1.089, easily the best on the team. And he's driving in a run every seven at-bats this year.

Is it time for the Twins to start using Johan Santana as their new designated hitter? Granted, we're looking at a pretty small sample size (seven at-bats) this year, but he's shown enough confidence and bat control to at least merit consideration as a pinch hitter in certain situations.

Right?

More than just sunflower seeds and porn

This is pretty cool. The Twins' wives are sponsoring a charity auction on baskets of goodies put together by the team's players and coaches -- their favorite things, so to speak. Scroll through the contents of the various baskets to learn what the players are into.

Some of the finds aren't that surprising -- I say "Lord of the Rings DVDs" and you say "Lew Ford" -- but it was nice to see that Justin Morneau is a fan of The Tragically Hip, and Matt Guerrier is a fellow crossword fan.

Biggest surprise, however? Had to be Johan Santana including a DVD of "A Night at the Roxbury."

Ummmmm ... okaaaaay ...

Thanks, A.J.

Haven't talked about the Twins at all yet, but with my MLB Extra Innings package on the dish keeping me in touch with the boys, I still pay very close attention to the goings-on at 34 Puckett Place. Today's game finally inspired me to write.

In my time covering the Twins for the AP and MLB.com, I had occasion to interview A.J. Pierzynski. Not a bad fellow, as far as athletes go -- willing, and able, to offer more than just cliches to reporters looking for some trenchant postgame analysis.

Since the Twins traded him (in the one-sided deal of the century), A.J. has been greeted with nothing but boos in the Dome. Seems he's the kind of guy you love on your team and hate on any other team, especially when that team is the White Sox. Or, as his own manager, Ozzie Guillen, has said, A.J.'s the kind of guy you hate when he's on the other team, and when he's on your team, you hate him a little less.

So today, A.J. gets the Twins riled up because he decides to get into Justin Morneau's head by stepping on the inside of first base (i.e., right at Morneau's ankle/heel) when running out a ground ball. As a former first baseman, I can totally understand why Morneau might be upset. The only time I really came close to throwing a punch on the baseball field was when some dude did the same thing to me in Owatonna.

Almost on cue, the Twins responded in the next half inning, batting around and scoring five runs to take an 8-4 lead, en route to a 10-4 victory. A.J. tried to apologize to Morneau (see above) but the big Canuck wasn't biting. StarTribune baseball reporter Joe Christensen has a solid wrapup of the events in his blog today, and my favorite baseball writer ever, Patrick Reusse, finds a way to compare A.J. to Bart Simpson (never had Patrick pegged as a fellow Simpsons fan).

Anyway, Pierzynski says he didn't mean to clip Morneau's heel, and he didn't even know he had until the Twins dugout was all over him the next inning. Which is typical A.J. He never intends to do anything controversial, yet trouble always seems to find him.

Regardless, Twins fans owe him a debt of gratitude. That game was slipping out of their fingers before he reminded them why Twins-White Sox has become such a great rivalry.