Yo Frodo, what you doin’ wearing the ring’/All powerful jewelry, is that your new thing’

Rumor?
SBG posted yesterday that the Mariners are interested in Hi Ho Silva “The Chief” and the numbers being thrown around are four years for $44 million.

Introductions
Low and behold, I have added a few new links to my sidebar in hopes of giving props to the right kind of people.

Jeff Shreve – displaced MN Twins fan (with devilishly good taste in music)
Babes Love Baseball
Yeah, Buddy
K-Bro’s Blog
Win Twins
And a special shout out (man, I hate that term) to Curlz of Curlz & Curveballs to give her a gentle reminder to update her damn blog.

Non-Baseball News

Musica Musica
* My top new band found in 2007, Travis, is set to record a new album in February
* Conor Oberst (of Bright Eyes) is playing two “on the down-low” concerts December 29 and 30 at the 400 Bar. What’s the hush-hush all about?
* Foley, Snake, Patrick and I will be rocking out at the Foo Fighters in February
* Wednesday night is a big line up at First Avenue with Belfast Cowboys, Romantica and Stook. To quote the Clash, will I stay or will I go?
* You can sample The Feelings brand (spanking) new single at their Myspace page. It is pretty damn catchy.
* The local publication, The City Pages posted The Year in Music 2007.
* Any Mika fans out there? I am debating whether or not to go to his show in February (Feb 6, First Ave.) and I am curious to know if anyone has seen him before and recommends his live show. I just haven’t heard much from him except one song, which I liked.
* Night of Southern Rock with Marshall Tucker Band, Georgia Satellites and Atlanta Rhythm Section is playing in January at the Hinckley Casino. Throw in a little .38 Special and I am so there.
* I am currently listening to the NPR: Live Concert Podcast of Art Brut and just realized that I love them.

Video Advent Calendar – 5 more days until Christmas Eve (when I celebrate with my family)
So thanks to one of my co-workers in our San Fran office, I found out about this show on HBO called Flight of the Conchords. I just rented the first season on DVD which made me laugh out loud. The video below is in honor of Vegan Joe.

Flight of the Conchords – Frodo, Don’t Wear the Ring

When you’re applauding your fine mind / Darker corners come to shine

The quality control I run / The filters that I sue / What I’ve forgotten…is now forgotten
It’s Our Job – Sondre Lerche

So, Amy and I have this baseball relationship. Now, before you go “oh, girl talk” and skip on to another blog (maybe one filled with more stats) let me explain. We have this type of relationship where we know we are always aware of the game if it is on. Whether we are at dinner, the bar (mostly in my case), driving in the car or sitting at home in front of the television we are always available to chat on the phone about the game. Last night was a great example. At Torii’s Grand Slam I dialed her number. She didn’t even say hello she just went right into baseball talk. It is like we were at the game drinking beer and shelling peanuts. We don’t need greetings, niceties or cordial exchanges. We need baseball talk.

Moving on to less sappy but no less important topics
* Torii hit a Grand Slam. It was bound to happen. The Mariners tempted fate when they walked Baby Jesus to load the bases and get to Hunter not once but twice. Come on, we all know that pumps Torii up. (Let alone if you add in the drama with the home plate ump and an eeeejected Gardy.)
* Rondell White hit his first homerun of the season and Tommy Watkins got his first hit in the Majors.
* Come on Blue! What’s your deal? So what if Morneausey is channeling Bad Ass these days, all talking back to Umps and stuff. So what if Cuddy nailed the coffin door closed (even though no one knows what was really said) and exchanged some words with you after his swinging strike out. Those were totally old school playground antics happening at home plate. I kind of liked it.
* If I have to read one more article, blurb or quote about how Torii is using reverse psychology by saying “We stink” I am going to scream. I can just envision new t-shirts with that saying on them. Please note: I would probably buy one though, because I love that kind of stuff.

News You Probably Can’t Use
Twins sent Raymoan Ortiz to Colorado. So long, you seemed like such a nice guy…unlike that greasy Sidney Ponson. That is totally something my Grams would say.

It’s not enough / It’s not enough / Whatever I give / It’ll never be enough

No hysterical scene / You will never play rough / I’m the one who will scream / But it won’t be enough - It’s Not Enough by The Who

Well, color me shocked and awed. The Twins came in to the game and scored 11 f-ing runs! Unfortunately, yours truly went to bed early. I caught the first two runs (which looked like classic Twins scoring) and then tore myself away from the television. It was going on 10:00 p.m. and I still had to bake cookies for an office potluck. (Office Space, anyone?) I heard my phone ringing “I don’t care if Monday’s blue / Tuesday’s grey and Wednesday too / Thursday I don’t care about you / It’s Friday I am in love” but I was in a very detailed part of my baking (breaking the perforated dough pieces and placing them on a baking sheet) so I couldn’t grab it. Amy was calling to tell me that Barty hit a homerun. Way to go Barty! In fact, way to go everyone. 11 runs, that’s great. However, not to be Dr. Doom or any other evil characters but I am going to say what most of the other blogs are saying right now. Please, can we space this shit out? Spanking a team every few months whilst struggling to get runs on the board the rest of the time is embarrassing. Not only for you, for me too. Some may call me narcissistic but it’s true. I try to be a good Twins fan. I have a dozen t-shirts, a few hats (that I never wear), bumper stickers, a MN Twins spare tire cover on my Jeep and a freaking Twins antennae topper. I am hardcore. I drink, swear at the television, eat sunflower seeds, keep score (occasionally), jeer, chant, defend, use nicknames, high-five, alienate my non-baseball friends and talk stats. (I do draw the line at spitting.) In other words, I am here to stay. However, I would like to not have to fight in the schoolyard with other people defending you. (Yes, the whole “me” thing again.)

So, to end on a happy note: The Twins beat the Mariners 11 – 4 last night. Today’s game is on at 3:35 p.m. CT so I won’t feel guilty about going to bed and missing a game.

Pissing In My Wheaties and other random things

Well, it appears I picked a fine time to miss a few ugly games. As some of you may know I was incommunicado this weekend due to Girls Family Vacation 2007. I can’t say that I necessarily “missed” seeing the Twins fail to deliver anything spectacular. I watched a little of last night’s game (Monday) until the storm got bad and FSN was flickering. First, I hate West Coast games because they don’t start until 9:00 p.m. and when I have to be to work at 7:00 a.m. that sucks. Laziness aside, I had some hope in the 7th when Baby Jesus (Mauer) tied the game. I thought…hey, this is it; this is Eye of the Tiger!

Denied.

So…moving on. This morning I was told by a co-worker to start preparing for football season since our baseball one will be ending. Well, I couldn’t deck the guy but I did give him a firm “dressing down” for pissing in my Wheaties at 7:15 a.m. (first day back after a long weekend.) Seriously, if you want to mess with the bull you are going to get the verbal horns. Note: I am trying to fit as many random sayings into this entry.

Amy, can you guess who said that to me?

Well, c’est la vie. Today is another day and another game. Let’s hope Garza can live up to his Wonder Boy title and take care of Seattle.

In the Ghetto...

Here I am representing Morneausey alongside the statue of Elvis Presley as a boy. This was taken in Tupelo, Mississippi outside of the shack where Elvis was born. Yeah...I saw his tiny little itsy bitsy shack that he was born in. Poor Elvis...note my sarcasm. His "shack" was the same size as my first apartment.

How can I follow up my last post where I had a brush with fame (on the Jumbo-screen) and rockstar seats? I don’t think I can so I will just stick with what I know…nothing exciting.

Rewind to Tuesday:
Okay, I said it a million times yesterday…If Baker pitched well I would eat my words.
Well, here I am sitting down to a plate of smack-talk with a side of proved-me-wrong. It doesn’t taste well but I would rather eat my words than lose a game.
Well, enough of turning me into the victim and on to the hero of the game, Baker. He pitched well, he didn’t look freaked out, he seemed stable and managed to keep it together. Great game!!! I wasn’t at the game but I sure watched the whole event (all 12-innings) on the television. When it became stressful I would log onto Pulling a Blyleven and follow their baseball banter.

Fast forward to present time:
It is 9:30 p.m. on Wednesday and I am watching a 5-4 game with the Blue Jays in the lead. I missed the fifth, sixth and seventh inning due to yet another accident on 36th & Park Ave (the suicide corner.) No one was hurt but there was a lot of mad people and a fire truck full of hunky firemen. I was very tempted to bust out my baseball binoculars to watch the action but decided that I would look suspiciously like a freak.

Risa is at the game tonight and I know she is doing me proud by cheering and yelling. I am going to head back to the television to watch the last two innings unfold.

Twins 6, Mariners 5 - the last inning was a nail biter

Minnesota Twins 6, Mariners 5

Whew, it was a pretty scary ending and ya’ll know how I don’t like scary movies. As the game progressed it was less about the status of the game and more about getting the W(in) for Santana.

Tonight I headed over to Amy’s apartment to watch the game and celebrate her signing away her life and closing on her first house (townhouse in Maple Grove). We watched the game whilst eating pizza.

Here are a few observations and comments tossed around the game viewing (please remember that we love baseball, understand the way it is played and respect the talent and skills it takes, however we also can be kind of girly):

· Low and behold it is Baby Jesus’ (Joe Mauer) birthday. Happy Birthday Baby Jesus!!! 24, man I am old!
· In the third inning I caught the Joe Mauer Birthday Montage that FSN produced.
· In honor of Joe’s birthday he got a hit and got hit (a nasty pitch to the elbow…ouch!)
· Bert Blyleven saying not once but twice that the pitchers are the best athletes on the field. Biased? Nah!
· Amy kept getting distracted by Sherrill’s (Mariner’s) pitch delivery. It was kind of a Vegas Showgirl kick.
· Sexon (1B Mariners) is 6’9” which is very tall when I am only 5’3”. We liked to compare him to other players that made it to first base. Casilla was only to his elbow.
· This next observation is in honor of Amy and her love of Morneau. It has become commonplace that when Morneausey strikes out he likes to say a particular swear word (starts with F and ends with UCK). Anyways, I think the camera people are catching on and make a point to not show him during that moment. Tonight they must have forgotten because in the slow motion replay of his strike out we got to see Morneausey drop the F-Bomb in slow-mo. Nice.
· Corrections! Bert is going for a triple threat. He just commented that pitchers are the best athletes. Third time’s a charm.

Random non-baseball news:
· The Wild are in Anaheim playing their little Minnesota Glory hearts out trying to line up the match. Right now it is 3 games (Anaheim) to 1 Wild. Come on guys!!! Captain Stanley would like a vacation to the Xcel Center.
· I washed my hands in Amy’s bathroom and dried them with a collections edition of a Harry Potter “Hogswart’s” hand towel. Nice touch. I hope she puts that out in her new place!

Twins 11, Seattle 2 - Felt secure enough to go to bed early

Ah, life vest! You make me feel so secure. Kind of like Ortiz in our pitching line up. Oh, if only Silva could obtain that status.

Minnesota Twins 11, Seattle 2

Damn you West Coast for having the game start at 9:00 p.m. This girl can’t stay awake until midnight! Especially when I wake up at 5:45 a.m. Argh! Another bad side effect…It is too late to call Amy with random baseball talk.

You know, it was a good thing that Stacy was sitting in the dining room last night. She may have not have been paying attention to me but if she wasn’t there I would have looked like a crazy person talking to myself. Well, crazier than normal.

If you were quietly observing me in the corner here are a few things you may have overheard me say whilst watching the Baseball game…

Oh good! They have Bartlett back in
Hey! Baby Jesus is going to be 25 on Thursday, man I am old
We are on fire!
Uh oh, Bert already said something wrong. I think Dick just gently corrected his blooper about a triple versus a double
The pirantas are back? When did they leave? Hey, I saw piranhas in the Bahamas. Not that I saw them outside of a glass box aquarium or anything
Dude, 7 to 1? I guess I can go to bed early!
Whoa! The Wild are up 4 to 1. That is going to be a good game. I bet Gregg is really hung over tomorrow.
Stacy! Come look! There is a big fight on the ice. So, this Anaheim guy hit the Wild guy but it was a bad, unsportsmanlike like hit. Look! Did you see that?
What? They are walking Morneausey to load the bases. I hate when they do that. I feel bad for the next player up. It is like he is the last picked for dodge ball. Come on Hunter!!!
Holy Shit! Hunter just hit a homerun! *insert evil laughter* I guess that will teach the Mariners to think it would be better to face Hunter than Morneausey. Mmmwwwahahaaha
Oh, one of the Wild players is on the ice “taking a lap”. The announcer just said that he felt bad for the Refs in Anaheim who inherit the fight issue. Man, I gotta watch that on Thursday. Come on Wild!!!No Stacy, don’t worry. I won’t be double-timing between hockey and baseball. I won’t cheat on baseball that way.
Uh, it is almost 11:00, I am going to bed.