…where I’m expected to watch the White Sox-Tigers game today.

Everyone else has had their crack at it, but I can’t fault Cleveland for not starting Cliff Lee yesterday. The guy hasn’t been a picture of health throughout his career and there was very little upside for him to go out there yesterday. Of course, following the game on mlb.com’s Gameday and seeing Juan Rincon come in with Cleveland trailing 3-1 was pretty much my game-over moment.(And, uhhh, the Twins could have avoided this whole Sunday-Monday thing with a little bit better performance on Friday-Saturday, right?)

Speaking of final game sit-downs, this is the 20th anniversary of when Twins lefty Allan Anderson opted not to pitch his scheduled start on the final day of the season so he could guarantee himself an ERA title. According to reports at the time, Anderson sought out the wisdom of a couple of veterans, including Bert Blyleven. ”I hadn’t paid much attention to it,” Anderson said the next year, according to the New York Times. ”But the day before everybody asked me about it. I never had been in a situation like that. I asked a few people - Blyleven, (Frank) Viola, the pitching coach - what they would do. Bert said he never won the ERA title in the 20 years he’s been pitching. I said: ‘Why not take it? I may never have another chance to win it.’ ”

Anderson lasted three more years in the majors, going 17-10 the following season and 12-29 in the following two combined. He most certainly never had another chance to win the ERA title.

Just figured I’d give you something else to think about as you’re wiling away the hours until today’s game, which is on ESPN2 and WGN. Choose announcers depending on your mood.

Here are a few other things you can do to pass the time:

1) Make up your playoff roster, a version with Slowey and a version without. 11 or 12 pitchers? Who are the reserves? What’s your rotation?

2) We can all cite some games that got away. Go back and find the games the Twins stole when all looked bleak– like the Sunday afternoon they fell behind 6-0 in the first inning to Detroit and came back to win 7-6.

3) Send a FAX to the Dome with batting tips for Justin Morneau. The Twins are gathering there to watch the game and I’m sure he’ll be glad to see that you care.

4) Develop one day of love for Gary Sheffield.

5) Fill out an MVP and Cy Young ballot, picking Nos. 1 through 10 for MVP and 1 through 3 for Cy. Don’t put ‘em in the comments for now. I’ll ask for them at some point in the future and we’ll crown the Section 220 American League MVP and Cy Young winner.

6) Enjoy it.

One more note: I’ll be outta service from sundown tonight ’til sundown Tuesday to celebrate the New Year. Shana tovah umetekah to my peeps!

This entry was posted on Sunday, September 28th, 2008 at 11:59 pm and is filed under Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.