Suck It, East Coast

Eight years, $184 million - full no-trade clause.

Now let's just hope for no injuries....

Ouch.... ouch ouch ouch

Note the position of the umpire as he calls the clearly fair ball foul.

Great game by Blackburn. Too bad that it all has to wind down in the shittiest way possible.

On a sidenote, I overheard Ron Darling saying after the team's MVP Justin Morneau went down with an injury, it was guys like Michael Cuddyer, Jason Kubel... and Delmon Young that pulled the Twins into contention.

Joe Mauer, meanwhile, selfishly hit .354/.471/.487 - to be clear, that means he was getting on base almost as often as he was getting out over the critical playoff drive. What Cuddy did was great, but he and Kubel aren't getting RBIs if Mauer isn't setting the table for them. To act as if the soon-to-be AL MVP had less to do with the Twins eventual division title than DELMON YOUNG, is cockflickery, my friends.

Also, in what universe do people still think the MVP of the 2009 Twins is Justin Morneau??

What a complete disappointment... let's pick up at least one from this very beatable team, shall we, gentlemen??

How Amazing Is Joe Mauer?

Joe Mauer came off the bench and hit yet another home run in today's 6-5 loss to the Red Sox. That gives him 11 on the year, good enough to break the top ten in the AL. There are several amazing things about this fact.

1. He missed ALL of April. That means that he's caught up to the rest of the AL - and he spotted them a whole month.
2. He's never really been a power hitter before, his career high in home runs is 13 (in 608 plate appearances, as opposed to 11 in 100 plate appearances this year). Until this season, he had averaged a home run every 46.8 at bats - this year he's averaging one every 7.36 at bats.
3. Most of the homers he has hit (seven) have gone opposite field, none of them have been dead pulls - none (he's hit two to dead center, and two to right-centerfield).
4. He's hit 5 just this week.
   

It could be said that he's gotten lucky with a few of these, as there have been a decent number of them that have just barely sneaked over the left field wall. Even if he's been lucky with the home runs, his batting line is a ridiculous .444/.530/.914 - including an otherworldy .527/.597/1.055 against righties.

I've pretty much run out of positive adjectives to describe how he's playing. This is the best I've ever seen anyone play the game. These numbers are obviously completely unsustainable, but add in the fact that he's a freaking catcher, and he's got to merit some serious MVP talk assuming he stays healthy.

Wow.

This Warms My Heart

From a poll on ESPN.com...

5) Which AL player least deserves to be starting?

24.9% David Ortiz, Red Sox (voted to start, but will sit because of injury)
21.9% Derek Jeter, Yankees
11.9% Dustin Pedroia, Red Sox
11.0% Kevin Youkilis, Red Sox
8.3% All deserve to start
8.0% Ichiro Suzuki, Mariners
7.7% Manny Ramirez, Red Sox
3.4% Alex Rodriguez, Yankees
1.5% Josh Hamilton, Rangers
1.4% Joe Mauer, Twins

Now, obviously this poll is about as scientific as astrology, but the results are still dead on. Mauer is the best catcher in the American League, and it's nice to see public opinion verify that for once.