well, we finally got some runs for his Radness; a 5 run lead after 6. He is the ace of our staff: 9 times in 14 starts, he has gone at least 7 innings, no problem here; we have Rincon, and Nathan in the pen, each of whom has had a recent stint of at least 21 batters retired without a single hit: what a laugher, guess I'll turn in early.

The only thing more laughable than tonight's loss was that truly humiliating 9 run 2nd inning the Bitch Sox had to sit through. Maybe not sit...more like run to the outfield wall and kiss that ball goodbye. Wait, wait....do my eyes deceive me?? The Expos???

Not that I'm complaining, but what business did Montreal have winning that game?? It's not like they're Tampa Bay or anything!!! Jeez!!

Hey,

My wife is "Director of Operations" at Spalon Montage(which means she runs the place, but doesn't make as much money as the "GM"'s at the other locations). She'll be tickled that Sooz goes there!!

I would go there for haircuts, but the cheese grater I have at home works just fine, thank you very much.

Eric

Dear Batgirl,

I accept full blame for Saturday's loss to Bud's Team Held in Trust. By the time Bennett hit that double in the 7th that had runners on 2nd & 3rd with 1 out, and a 5-2 score, it was obvious to all of us that Bradradke was done. I knew it too, deep down. But, you see, I wanted to believe that he could pull out of trouble because he's our Appointed Staff Ace for Life--and my cheat sheat says that we can bank on Bradradke for 7 innings or at least 95 pitches. I swear, he hadn't hardly cracked 70 pitches, yet. I looked at Andy, and he just shrugged. What was I to think?

Besides, the pitcher was due to bat 3rd for us in the 8th--and I couldn't just *waste* a reliever only to be forced to pinch-hit for him the next inning, could I?

Well, it all blew up in my face--but at least Louie bailed me out with one of his trademark blasts to LF in the 8th. (Bless him, he's like a Latino version of my younger self. That Morneau and Restovich could learn a lot from that guy.)

But it just wasn't my day. Tie game in the 8th, I guess it makes sense to go with your best relievers. And that BooBerry has been pitching like a mother-- lately, hasn't he? Yeah, you know. But the first two batters of the inning were lefthanded, and I'd already used Fultz. The cheat sheet says I can't bring in a righty to face Jenkins and Overbay, right? So I bring in Mulholland.

Now, frightwig had warned last weekend about the perils of pushing my luck with Old Mulholland in tie games in the late innings. He said that sort of thing could bite me in the ass someday. I'd like to think of Terry Mulholland as more than just my mop-up man; I have so much respect for him. He's like a father to me. Plus we both like fishing, and playing Santa for the kids at Christmastime, so we got stuff to talk about on road trips. Guys who hunt & fish are like gold for clubhouse chemistry.

But I should listen to frightwig. When batters are hitting .325 against a guy, he probably shouldn't be out there in a tie game to start the 8th or 9th. Maybe he shouldn't even be on the team. I don't know anymore. I look in the mirror, and I don't even know myself.

One thing's for certain, I should've started the 8th with my man BooBerry. I can see that now. I lost the game today, and blew the chance to add a game to our lead in the standings. (The Bitch Sox lost 17-14 in Montreal? What the hell?!)Hopefully, next time I'll learn from my mistakes and do the right thing.

I'm sorry,

Gardy
(Keep up the great work!)

Dear Batgirl,

I don't know how they figured out Radke. He was at 70 pitches. 95% of the time he doesn't collapse until after 90 pitches. (This was his limit last year, opponents batting averages went up from the middle-low .200s to just over .300s at the 90 pitch mark.)

Anyhow, You are 100% WRONG. In the 7th, Koskie doesn't screw up and miss that ball and the sac fly scoring the third run becomes the third out. Presto-change-o we're out of the 7th with 2 runs scored and Rincon is up to position Nathan for the kill.

Not Actually Blaming Any One Twin, For It Was A Team Loss,
Mimiru

PS: Maybe the Whine Sox and the Twins should get together for a BBQ (while forcing the KC Royals to do the cooking and serving as befits their station) and swap pathetic sob stories. It might do them good.

But don't you think that for the Twinkies' bullpen to pitch better, Fatty Matty would have to give up his deal with Lucifer? With his cholesterol "issues", the S.S. LeCroy is surely speeding along the Devil's collection efforts, but ol' Lucifer won't make more than one deal per team (save the Yankees, who have their own special place in Hell).

Dear Ms. Mimiru,

Batgirl never blames, she only loves. She certainly does not blame Bradke for the loss, or Fultz, or Terry Mulholland. She loves them all, even Terry, even though he's way old.

Sincerely,
Batgirl

I'm afraid that Mimiru is right. At the moment both the White Sox and the Twins are playing some pretty mediocre baseball. The American League Central is no source of pride for anyone. I figure the Sox will soon improve, when they start facing easier competition than the Expos.

An interesting thing about the Twins is that they are finally getting production from their middle infielders, I think Silva has been hitting .500 since he came off the DL. And Mauer and Ford are hitting well, yet the team still can't put together many consecutive wins. This phenomenon suggests to the objective fan, such as myself, that the Twins just aren't all that good this year. What do you guys think?

Go Sox!

I've wondered that myself. By the way, it's Rivas hitting off the DL not Silva, Silva is the pitcher. One of our huge problems is Koskie and Doug.

Doug for instance, has suffered a .100 drop in OPS this year compared to his career numbers (.688 to .776) and Koskie while just under his career OPS (.831 v .836) has missed a LOT of baseball and the only reason his OPS is so high is because his slugging % is .500 with all the home runs he's been hitting lately.

Also, with Joe Mauer gone for so many weeks we had to rely on Henry Blanco. While Henry was "the Babe" for the first month in, he turned back into a pumpkin once mid-May rolled around. When you look at the drop in productivity from AJ Pierzynski to Blanco (.784 to .605!!!)I shudder.

All I know is that as a Twins/Cubs fan - and yes, that's thanks to my dad who grew up in northern IL and infected me with the dread Cubs disease despite growing up in MN and being a Twins fan as well - why does Terry Mulholland have to be inflicted on me twice? Not cool.

Living in Chicago as I do now does have it's bonuses. Dropping 2 to the fucking Expos? Nice. I will have some fun tomorrow at work.

At least Billy Koch didn't lose them the games :)

Despite the changes in latitudes, changes in attitudes, Billy was wastin' away again in Margaritaville today. A Michael Young single, a Hank Blalock blast over the wall in RF, and Billy Marlin was singin' the "Why Don't We Get Drunk And..." blues.

No word on whether Blalock shouted BOO-YA! as he flipped the bat and watched his hit fly out.

Dear Mimiru:
With all those numbers, I thought it was gleeman talking.

Hehe, it's just 1 stat. I can't do any forumlae so don't ask me to figure out OPS+ or god forbid, the "Gleeman" Production Average. Besides, I'm waaaaay nicer than him which most stat-heads aren't. :)

Oooh, almost forgot. Average OPS this year for a MLB player is (I think) .750 so really, good players are above that line and the higher above the better.