Twins news and notes

Justin-morneau-and-standee

Double the Morneau...double the fun!

Adorable photo lovingly swiped from www.justinmorneau.com

Oh, hi!  I've been kinda bad about writing lately, but that's because I've been obsessing over things like Muse and Lost as opposed to Phillies and Twins.  (Oh, and I've been sick.  And had a birthday.  And, you know, holidays.  And work is perpetually crazy.  Etc.)

But anyway, here I am with some Twins news...and some hopefully-it'll-be-Twins-news news.  ;)  First, the confirmed news: Justin Morneau will be running with the Olympic torch in his native Canada on 2/11.  Awesome!  And he's also busy preparing himself for spring training and the 2010 baseball season.  Now that he's all healthy again, I expect to see good things out of this guy in just a few months when the 2010 season finally starts up!

The other really exciting Twins-related stuff going on is that I keep hearing rumors of a 10-year extension between Mauer and the Twins.  Oh, how I hope this is--or becomes--true!  I'd love to see Mauer stay with his hometown team instead of, like, running off to join the Yankees.  (If he did, I'd be really sad.  Oh, and I'd also be moving to the Bronx.)

Speaking of Mauer--I adore this article about him.  And, of course, I adore Mauer.  *swoon*


Mor-no, no, nooooooo...

Morneau

Unbelievable.  Morneau's done for the season.  Freakin' stress fracture.  This sucks.

I was looking forward to watching the Twins try to catch up to and then surpass the Tigers this month.  I have a feeling that's not gonna happen now.  And it's gonna wreak havoc on one of my teams of BILFs, too.

Sigh.  Mauer, the pressure's all on you now to help the Twins win...


Dear Phillies:

Perplexed_cliff

Your number one fan (that'd be me) is going to move to Minnesota if you don't get your asses in gear.

And I mean "asses in gear" only in the sense of how you're performing; many of you have very nice asses that are otherwise in gear, and by that I mean I enjoy watching them...

BUT ONLY WHEN THEY'RE ATTACHED TO PLAYERS WHO WIN GAMES.

In case you haven't noticed, you're not winning many games lately.  To a large degree, I blame the pitching.  Pedro did a great job in his last start, and Hamels seems to have gotten his act together, but Mr. BILFalicious Lee has apparently decided that maybe the team needs a new Adam Eaton and that he should do the honors.  (OK, it's not that drastic...yet.  But it could be.  If he wasn't so hot, I might actually be hating him after Friday night's disaster.)  Don't even get me started talking about Brad Lidge.  Also don't get me started talking about a few of the injuries that this team has been afflicted with lately (any Mets fans who are reading this are probably laughing hysterically at that last line.  SHUT UP, METS FANS).  I wish Happ could have pitched today's game--but really, the problem wasn't with the starting pitching.  Moyer did a decent job, and then Park went and screwed it all up.

And as for the Phillies who don't pitch, do we need Ryan Howard to re-teach you all how to hit home runs?  (Except for you, Rauuuuul; we can't complain about your efforts on the field today.)

I'm hoping Happ gets better soon, that Utley's foot gets better, that the bats wake up again, and that our pitching quits sucking (Brett Myers for closer, pretty pretty please?).  I know that's a tall order, but that's what needs to happen.  It's September now; you guys are usually good in September.  Let's not be choke artists like our division rivals have been the past couple years, OK?  That would be really, really embarrassing.

Regardless, if you guys don't quit sucking, I swear I'm gonna move to Minnesota and root for the most attractive team in the American League.  Yeah, the Twins might be 7 games out of first place in the AL Central, but they're just as hot as you guys (especially Mauer and Morneau!), and they've actually won a few games lately.  And if you guys continue to play the way you've played all weekend long, the Twins may end up having a better record than you guys do, and that's kind of a scary thought...

But it's a potentially accurate one.

So shape up, fly right (not fly out), and pleeeeeeease...

Quit sucking. 

And don't let the "Lights Out" one anywhere near the mound.  At least not 'til November.


Lots of love,
That BILF Girl

If the Twins want any chance of making the playoffs...

...they've gotta get Morneau feeling better and back on the field ASAP.  Right now he's suffering from ear infection-related dizziness.  Poor guy.

Also, poor Twins.  As I write this, they're losing 9-1 to Texas.  They're in third place in the AL Central, and they don't even seem to be in the running for the wild card.  Ugh.  I really don't wanna see Detroit or the White Sox win the AL Central; the Twins are a much more awesome team.  And by that, I mean they're the hottest team in the AL..  ;)

Speaking of hot--I know I can't seem to shut up about this, but Cliff Lee is just, like, the most amazing pitcher EVER.  His numbers are phenomenal.  He doesn't appear to have an ego.  You can tell he tries his best every time he's out on the mound.  In each Phillies game he's pitched, he's earned only one run or less.  He hits, and he seems to enjoy hitting.  He adjusts his pitching style when necessary in order to get better results.  Dare I say I'm liking him even better than Hamels lately...?