But I’m a creep/I’m a weirdo/What the hell am I doin’ here?/I don’t belong here

Whoa baby,
Over 7,000 hits! (Don’t’ worry I won’t be posting 7,000 random facts to celebrate.)

$5 Million for Hi Ho Silva’s Doppelganger
Boy, oh boy, the Twins are boasting about their latest acquisition with Livan Hernandez.
Stats:
Arizona Diamondbacks
11-11, 4.93 ERA, 33 starts

Inning-eater starter Livan Hernandez to join Twins

Livan signs with Twins

Non-baseball
Radiohead Tour Announced!!Are you excited? Are you planning the ticket camp-out? Are you ready to see Radiohead live???? Well, if you live in Minnesota let me be the first to burst your bubble. Thems boys ain’t happening by Minneapolis. Well, if you happen to live in a different state there may be hope for you. Check out their tour dates: http://www.radiohead.com/tourdates/

MOD
Ah, Radiohead! They defined my early years of high school (how sad does that sound) and it all started when I had first heard Creep around the age of 13/14. There I was in a new school full of Boyz II Men, Limp Bizkit, Dave Matthews Band, and Nirvana. There I was rocking out to Radiohead, Manic Street Preachers and Oasis. There I was jamming with my portable cassette player (I wouldn’t get my first CD player until later that year.) Yep, Radiohead has always been a part of my “when I first found cool music” phase.

Radiohead – Bodysnatchers (from In Rainbows)



Radiohead – Creep (the first Radiohead song I fell in love, that moment right at the chorus when the guitar breaks in…shivers!)

I saw Johanna down in the subway/She took an apartment in Washington Heights

Interesting article in Star Tribune

If pitching goes south, blame it on…Silva?

MOD – Music of the Day
Vampire Weekend
I have received many plugs and recommendations for this band these past few months and have brushed them off. You see, I kept confusing them with this local band called Vampire Hands which hasn’t received very good reviews. Little did I know that Vampire Weekend is actually a fantastic band. Seriously! Check out their album on iTunes, Amazon.com or whatever. They are also a featured band on MTV (which is a little weird but…eh.) Oh, they are also going to be on Letterman tonight!

Vampire Weekend website
Vampire Weekend Myspace

Music Videos
A-Punk


Mansard Roof

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

This indecisions bugging me/Esta undecision me molesta/If you don't want me, set me free/Si no me quieres, librame

Keepers, throw-aways and sinkers
The local news channels were all a-buzz with the “Torii Hunter Files for Free Agency” topic this morning. Fifteen days.
To quote one of my favorite bands (with a little tweaking) “Should he stay or should he go now?/Should he stay or should he go now?/If he goes there will be trouble?/And if he stays it may be double/So come on and let me know/Should he stay or should he go?”

It looks like Silva may be on the market also. It should be interesting to see what happens with that development.

Joe “Twitch ‘n Pitch” Nathan has been signed for six million dollars for 2008. Good news there.

The Anti-Christ in my office is all over the “Let Torii Go” and “Fight to Keep Silva” bandwagon this morning. This is an age old argument amongst the Land O’Cubicles and always ends with me calling him an “Ass Clown.” Well, yes, he is an Ass Clown but this is for a specific reason. He thinks the only reason I want Hunter to stay is because he’s cute and the only reason I want Silva to leave is because he’s not cute. Puh-lease (rolling my eyes like a teenager.) If I wanted to spend game time swooning over hotties I would turn on the fucking WB channel, not go to a baseball game. See, it is a fine line between being a baseball fan and being accused of only watching the sport for the hunks. Ass clown.

Here are some other free agents on the shelf:
Eckstein, Bonds, Colon, Andruw Jones, Rowand, Posada, Rivera, Green, Lo Duca. Oh, and God forbid we forget A-Rod.

Non-baseball
Did you know…?

Anoka, Minnesota is the Halloween capital of the world?
Yeah, I happen to call it the Crystal Meth capital of Minnesota but eh…poe-tay-toes, poh-tah-toes. (No offense meant to those who live in the Halloween Capital of the World unless you happen to "cooks the Meth.")

I leave for Vegas in two weeks!
Holy crap! Where did time go? On November 12 I will be hurtling through the sky in a tin machine with Stacy, Lucy and Aunt K. Destination – Vegas Baby! Whilst most people go to Vegas for gambling and ramble-rousing I will be napping, sunning and shopping. Oh, and we will rent a car to hit the desert for some exploring. No snakes, no aliens and no homicidal maniacs need apply.

I won’t be handing out candy in the ‘hood this year!I was invited to attend this play “Cherry Docs” instead. I will gladly pass up on handing out candy to the thugs who don’t even bother to put costumes on. I will gladly skip the worry that each person at my door is going to shove their way in and steal my valuables (iPod, Sidekick, ect.) I will gladly forgo the fear that someone is casing the joint. Now, I wonder if Kris will laugh when I run to and from the car so I don’t get scared by the shadows. Damn Halloween, it isn’t as fun when you are an OCD Freak.

Swear count: 5

Take this sinking boat and point it home / We've still got time

Raise your hopeful voice you had a choice / You've made it now - Falling Slowly, The Frames (Glen Hansard) from the motion picture "Once"

Well, color me surprised. Silva pitched well. He pitched into the 8th without giving up a run. Sure, Detroit had 7 hits but our great defense shut them down after they got on base. On a slightly snarky Silva note (say that three times fast) I like how the review of the game had a flavor of Silva and LeCroy making a great duo and that they will most likely be paired up for Silva’s final start. Are you f-ing telling me that all it takes is having LeCroy behind the plate? Are you telling me that Baby Jesus, Red or that other kid weren’t the right match up? Now, I know, I know…that’s not what they meant but it sure looked like someone (cough) is grasping at straws to find a reason why Silva had a crappy year (much like last years.) Yeah, again…I know, I know his numbers aren’t bad but this year we needed better than “not bad.” I am not saying that Silva is to blame for our crap-tacular (yes, this word was necessary) year but he was part of it. And that is the end of my slightly snarky Silva rant.

And on to another…
Right now we are sitting at a record of 77-79. I know I am not the only one who feels that this wouldn’t be a good year to have a losing season (the first since 2000.) We need something to hold us through April (or February if you are obsessive compulsive) so we really need them to win four out of the next six games.

Baseball and Vodka, bringing people together
Well, I can safely say that my quirky knowledge of baseball paid off last night. Whilst at happy hour(s) I entered into a heated baseball debate with a stranger two stools down. As the 6th and 7th innings passed we found a mutual respect between our teams…Twins and Rockies. Jim/Bob/Bill was so impressed with my skillz (yeah, with a z) that he bought Tiff and I another round (at full price) to convince us to stay and watch the end of the game. Not only did I get my free drink but I got to watch my team beat Los Tigres whilst sharing the secrets of our beloved Twins. Thank you Bill/Bob/Jim/whatever your name and thank you Baseball.

What if no one's watching/What if when we're dead, we're just dead

What if it's just us down here/What if God ain't looking down/What if he's looking up instead - What If No One's Watching, Ani DiFranco

I know there is no crying in baseball but watching Torii leaving the field in the 9th to a standing ovation…I cried. Stacy Cried. Curlz (Risa) sent me a text that she was crying. Man, baseball is tough.

I missed a lot of the games due to circumstances outside of my control (social life) but I did catch what I could.
Friday, 9/21: L 4-6 (missed to due Ani DiFranco)
Saturday, 9/22: L 3-8 (missed due to the live action production of My Little Pony’s World’s Largest Freak show/Tea Party)
Sunday, 9/23: W 7-1 (watched whilst dozing on sofa)

Tonight Hi Ho Silva takes the mound. It isn’t a secret that I have been anti-Silva most of this season but I always reserve judgment one more game…so we’ll see how he does tonight.

Seven games left.

It can’t be wrong / When it feels so right / ’Cause you / You light up my life

We all knew it would happen. We all knew that the Twins would play ball like they uses. That they would play ball like they used to and it wouldn’t matter because the playoff runs were over for us. Oh well, it was a great game anyways. It wasn’t a great game for the Rangers though…especially the shortstop Young. We all know it is exciting when the other team has an error but there’s a point where you are like “D’oh dude, what are you doing?” …as our player trots home for a run. Yeah, I caught most of the game but there were two kids in the house and I was an assistant babysitter and there was throwing up (not by me) and screaming (only partially from me.) Oye.

I am going to my final live game of the season tonight thanks to Third Base Line. I am excited to see what happens at our final game against the Rangers, chat with TBL and bust out my traditions and oddities/eccentric-ness one last time.

Hey Curlz, maybe I will see you at the game tonight. You and Curveball should try really hard to get on the Kiss Cam so I can point and say “Hey, I know them!”

PS: Nice to see that Silva is stepping up his game since his future with the Twins is uncertain right now. Yeah, maybe if he stepped up during a few more pivotal games earlier in the year his future wouldn’t be uncertain. Ah, why am I so mean to that man? Probably because my Silva-loving/Hunter-hater co-worker got me all riled up this morning. Oh, and I don’t think anyone was more shocked than I was to see him get out of that ugly moment in the sixth when he had the bases loaded. Whoa baby, color me shock ‘n awed.

If you think it’s easy doin’ one night stands / Try playin’ in a rock roll band

It’s a long way to the top / If you wanna rock ‘n’ roll – It’s a long way to the top, AC/DC

Well, last night was my normal Monday Happy Hour event and this time we ventured to Uptown at Figlio’s. Unfortunately, the Uptown drinking establishments do not subscribe to that wonderful thing called Baseball. In fact, at this one place they had on an old episode of Law & Order, muted whilst the other TV wasn’t even on! Oh well, looks like I would have been really pissy if I saw the beginning of the game anyways.

Oh Silva, *shaking head sadly* why must you make it hurt so much? (Stats, anyone? 10-13.) Also, I know it feels like I am picking on you but please…those antics after Gardy pulled your ugly-pitching ass out of the game? Not necessary. (I do like to watch those kind of things because then I can make up stories in my head and such.)

Also, glad to see that on SI.com one of the top stories is “Triple play highlights Indians’ win over Twins.” Yeah…

I do want to give a shout out to Barty who is one of our most consistent players right now. Way to homer, dude!

Well, I will humbly represent the lady-bloggers (which sounds a little dirty) at the groundbreaking. However, I do have a happy hour before the event so my scribings of the happenings may be slightly skewed.

Quality vs. Quantity

Well, it is a Friday and pay-day along with a great baseball match-up…in my corporate world we call that a Triple Threat.

I would have loved to been at yesterday’s matinee game. Alas, that pesky corporate thing got in the way. However, I did fight “The Man” and followed the game via Gameday. The topic yesterday was the definition of a Quality Start (three earned runs or less in six innings.) This is a new topic for me since I never paid much attention to it before.
There are a few of us (maybe a more than a few) that think the definition needs to be tweaked. In this day and age going six innings and giving up three earned runs is not a good outing. That however does cause a lot of debate amongst the cubicle dwellers around me…especially the members of the Carlos Silva Fan Club. When we pointed out that Silva lost the “Quality Start” in the first inning of yesterday’s game it did not ease the tension. In fact, it brought on new debates of how he was solid the other seven innings. If it wasn’t for the Twins finding their bats and giving a little offense I believe that Silva’s Quality Start would not have been a good thing.
Oh well, c’est la vie, ect, ect. We will mark down the stats and move on to tonight’s match up of Santana and Verlander. It should make for some good baseball. Amy and I believe that Bert Blyleven will say:
It is a pitcher’s duel
Pitchers are the best athletes on the field
Something about doing another bet with Santana in order for him to pitch well.

Ah, Bert, you rascally rabbit!

Random baseball notes:
This is going to be old news but they are bringing Garza up to give him another shot. I can’t wait to see what this year will bring him.

My boy, Barty, hit his second homerun and stole two more bases yesterday. Go Barty Go!

Sources say that the fan who caught The Big Hurt’s 500 ball was wearing a Bartlett jersey…what to give props!

It was a great game and yet I found some teenage angst to spoil the mood

Ah yes, Silva was awesome. However, I do not feel the need to get on my knees and beg for forgiveness from my co-workers and baseballies that are throwing my fine words back at me. “One good game doth not make a great pitcher.”

But, let’s move on to the point of this blog. Silva pitched a phenomenal game last night. In fact, everyone played their “A” game. It was fun to watch. It was fun to cheer. It was fun to stand during the 9th inning and hold my breath in anticipation of Silva’s shut-out (mind you, this was done from the comfort on my living room with a bottle of Blue Moon beer.)

Bert said…
Do you ever find yourself thinking you are using a new/imaginative nickname or phrasing but then find out everyone is using it? Well, my baseball-gang (yet to be named) and I have been using the term “Hi Ho Silva” in reference to said pitcher. Well, lo and behold, I heard Captain Bert say “Hi ho Silva, away.” I don’t think that means I am cool.

Don’t make me take out my earrings (in reference to trash talking)
I found myself shouting out “in your face” when they showed clips of Bobby Cox (the Braves manager) looking stoic in the dugout. Yeah, I am shallow? What are you going to do about it? You all knew coming into this blog that I was going to write about my favorite thing…baseball but I wouldn’t filter my trashy/ghetto/girly thoughts. I wasn’t going to dumb down myself in order to appeal to “professional baseball talky.”

Warning: Yankee bitching ahead
By the way…on ESPN’s Baseball Tonight I was saddened (aka disgusted) to find them spending 20 precious minutes dissecting the fact that Subway numbers of the Mets and Yankees. What? The Yankees are getting better and the Mets are getting worse? Does no one else see the numbers? What? The Yankees have won 11 of their last 13 games? What? A-Rod hit number 25? Oh, also…this may sound shallow but I wish that Sports Illustrated online would attempt to include a picture of any one of our great Twins plays in their “Great Plays of the Week” photo gallery. Seriously, I grind my teeth looking at them.

Well, there is just a lot of info I have to share including some risqué pictures

Friday 5/4: Twins 0, RedSox 2 - L
Saturday 5/5: Twins 2, RedSox 1 – W
Sunday 5/6: Twins 3, RedSox 4 – L (but we really tried to fight back!)

I was in attendance at the game on Friday to watch Hi Ho Silva pitch “not badly.” When is it a good thing when our pitchers do “not bad?” Anyways, I was at the game celebrating my birthday with my posse (minus Amy who is finally back from Hawaii.) We started out at Matty B’s (bar owned by Matt Birk, MN Viking’s player) then wandered over to the Metrodome to get good seats. I had beer, brat, pretzel and cotton candy. I think the sugar high was worse than a hang over! Whenever I go to a game with J.B. we always have a standing bet around Torii Hunter. J.B. is not a Torii fan and well, I am. We have a $1 on every time Torii is up to bat. If Torii strikes out, flies out or otherwise does not make it to first base I pay J.B. a dollar. If Torii touches first on a walk, single, fielder’s choice, homerun or whatever, I get a dollar. Friday was a very good game for me. I made $4! AND, I got to rub it in J.B.’s face that Torii is on fire! (Currently Torii is at a 21-game hitting streak.) After the game we went to Kieran’s for post-game libations.

The Word on Baby Jesus (Mauer):
The Hometown Hero is on the 15-Day DL for a quadri-something muscle strain. I may mock Baby Jesus (understatement?) but I do know that not having him will hurt us.
In non-baseball news:
Joe “Baby Jesus” Mauer was chosen as one of America’s Most Eligible Bachelors by Hollywood Extra. Tee hee hee (evil laugh). Oh man, this is going to be good. Not only does he have a write up and television spot on the show he also is the prize in the “Win a Date with Joe Mauer” contest.

Click here to read his article on the Extra website:
A Great Catch - Literally!
http://extratv.warnerbros.com/2007/05/a_great_catch_literally.html

Other Twins Game News:
We lost on Friday; I was there to watch the lazy loss. We won on Saturday; I watched that one on T.V. and enjoyed the win for Santana. We lost on Sunday with Ponson on the mound. He has had one good game out of all his starts and it wasn’t Sunday’s. That was a sad show.

Outside of the Twins Baseball News:

Everyone (and I mean every publication) is talking about Clemens’s signing with the Yankees. Like this is a big surprise! Hello? He signed a one-year contract worth $28,000,022. That is more than a ¼ of the Twins entire salary.

Speaking of Twins salary…
Quoting John Donovan from Sports Illustrated
“I'll take Bud Selig's job for a day, if I can get his prorated salary, too. Actually, I was talking to an NL GM in spring training about the culture around the Twins. Not only do they hire good people but they keep good people. Few organizations engender such loyalty -- I'm talking scouts, coaches, secretaries, you name it. It's a credit to Terry Ryan, a man who refused to even talk to other franchises about GM openings when his team was on the contraction chopping block.”

Non-baseball Sporting News:

It was a good fight but the Rangers are out of the NHL playoffs. They really tried but couldn’t get past the Sabers yesterday.

Random Photos:

Here are a couple discriminating photos of Snake after many hours of celebrating. I believe he has defiled the sign from the Kieran's:

Mild Weather and Mild Baseball

Cleveland 7, Twins 3 in 12 innings

Today I hurt: my head hurts, my heart hurts and my Twins hurts.

12 innings are summarized with…
Hi Ho Silva did averagely okay
One inning of great offense
Barty is struggling for his SS groove
Morneausey is having a bad streak
One grape martini, one blueberry vodka mix, one Philly sushi roll, edamame and three hours of gossip all prevented me from catching the first four innings
Jesse Crain (or Crainadian by Pulling a Blyleven) did not do so well (understatement of the year?)
When Torii hit his homerun they played the StarWars theme song.

RedSox Swept Yankees? Hey Chicken Little, is the sky falling?

Is it bad that I laugh at the Yankees getting swept by the Red Sox? Is it bad that my two favorite teams are the Twins and whoever is playing the Yankees? Man, I sound like a Packer vs. Vikings football fan. Yikes! It is not that I hate the Yankees, they just make me mental!

In Twins news: The only non-televised game this weekend ended up being the only one we won. D’oh! Friday was painful, Saturday sounded funny and Sunday was poor. Come on boys!!! Don’t make me break out my lucky charms again *insert squeaky Irish accent saying “Ye can’t get me lucky charms!”* Oh, I know Amy is beating her head right now and that makes me giggle.

Tonight the Twins are back in against the Indians! Watch out for some girls wearing pink shirts that call themselves “Grady’s Ladies.” Eek! I guess it is no worse than the girls here wearing pink Joe “Baby Jesus” Mauer jerseys.
Oh and Hi Ho Silva is pitching. Let’s sit back and judge!

Hello, I Have a Question for the Baseball Gods. Oh, by the way...it is almost GAME DAY!

We are asking the baseball Gods why. Why Silva? Why keep the Chief up? Amy and I were discussing via the phone tonight the latest updated on our pitching line-up. (Amy had to pause Season 1, disc 1 of Supernatural.) Gardy and T-Ball (Terry Ryan) sent Garza down to minors and kept Hi Ho Silva in the fifth spot of the pitching, our pitching, rotation. Why?

In all reality, I have no say in the matter. Yadda yadda yadda.

It is getting closer and closer to GAME DAY!!! Just about four days until Home Opener. My crew is ready for some baseball. Here is the game day plan:

6:00 a.m.: Breakfast on the Plaza. The organization hands out donuts, milk, juice, dome dogs (hot dogs) and free stuff to anyway who passes by the Metrodome. Last year I went through and got my milk and dome dog and ate it while walking in to work. Gross, but tradition. Hopefully this year Amy and I can carpool…hint, hint.
7:30 A.M.: Proudly show off my baseball uniform. This year I will be sporting jeans, Nick Punto t-shirt and grey Twins hoodie.
11:00 a.m.: Mill about in the IDS Crystal Court to wait for the MN Twins rally to begin. I am a lucky gal because the rally is held in my office building. I wonder who will be there! I have shamelessly blocked two hours in the middle of the day in order to make sure I can make it to the rally.
3:30 p.m.: The crew will start getting restless and happy hour will be necessary. It is a toss-up between the standard Kieran’s and the newest edition Matty B’s (which is owned my MN Vikings Matt Birk).
5:30: Head to Da’ Dome for the game.
6:05 p.m.: I will probably be crying at this point due to the 2006 montage. I ALWAYS cry at the montage.
6:15: I plan on cheering my ass off whilst announcing our team. Sorry O-ri-orioles.
6:20: Turn on your ESPN channel it is time to PLAY BALL!