The methodical and quick dispatching of the Twins last night by Kelvim (That’s Not A Typo) Escobar didn’t inspire a whole lot of thoughts that hadn’t been thought before. So rather than rehash, I figured it was best to offer up a few diversions until this afternoon’s game.

*I’m still not convinced that Cleveland is for real. Not as convinced as I was that Detroit was for real in ‘06 and that, if anything, the Twins would have to pray for a White Sox collapse and that the AL East wouldn’t provide the Wild Card. That being said, the Twins are currently four games out in the 2007 Wild Card standings and the Central’s main competition may come from a California/Oakland/Seattle battle in the West. This is another reason for Twins moves to be made sooner rather than later. The wild-card standings are here.

*Want a chance at 2008 Twins season tickets? All you have to do is pick the winner in 27 major-league games in a row in mlb.com’s Survivor game. The game is simple. Pick a winner a day. If your team wins, the streak continues. If you lose, start over. Surely we can all find a no-brainer every day, right? Go here to play. Why 27? The all-time major league winning streak is 26. The longest in the history of the mlb.com game is 24. It’s a Section 220-approved five-minute timewaster. I have the D-backs today.

*Aaron Gleeman recently invited his readers to ask him questions and today he supplies the answers. It’s an interesting glimpse, even if you don’t read him regularly. (Yo, Aaron. sign me up for the poker tournament.) 

*Check out and participate in Joe C’s straw poll on the biggest disappointment and surprise of the season.

*Perhaps the best analysis of Twins’ DH situation came from a commented posted yesterday that bears repeating. Sooze, from Babes Love Baseball, resorted to her Sesame Street songbook and offered: “The Twins’ designated hitter situation bothers the crap out of me, as well. Aren’t DH’s supposed to be frightening? Gary Sheffield, Frank Thomas, Sammy Sosa, Jim Thome, Jack Cust, Carl Everett, Jason Giambi, Travis Hafner, David Ortiz… Jason Tyner?  One of these things is not like the others - one of these things just doesn’t belong.”

*Speaking of time-wasters, Sooze’s blb.com site (not to be confused with mlb.com) is featuring an ongoing Rookie Card Playoffs. If you were one of those people who took secret delight (or any kind of delight) in Batgirl’s “Hottest Chick” competitions, this might serve as a substitute.

*The Torii-for-A-Rod post a couple of days back gathered a fair amount of attention and a wild array of reaction. I snuck a comment toward the bottom in response to someone who asked about the “purpose” of the post and I figured I ought to repeat it:

“The ‘purpose’ … is to get people talking to each other and to get people to consider that, in the next few years, things are gonna be changing on the Twins roster and people ought to start thinking about the possibilities — ones they like and ones they don’t like — right about now. If people have fun and entertain each other doing that, all the better And, whatever the case, it’s better than debating Edwin Encarnacion-for-Scott Baker or whether Jason Tyner should be in the lineup every day.

“Some people seem intent to not want to have fun when talking baseball, but that’s not the norm here. There’s a place in this debate for everything from people talking about A-Rod’s place among baseball’s best players to the value of Hunter’s smile to A-Rod’s recently publicized “Iowa connection” to where Hunter ranks among the elite center fielders.

“And did anyone really believe that line about wanting to look out for the Yankees? I mean, do we really want them to finish ahead of the Devil Rays?”

Enjoy Kevin Slowey.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, June 6th, 2007 at 9:05 am and is filed under Hot links. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.