Yeah…and Santa Claus reads every letter too!

The fiasco surrounding the two Northwest pilots who overshot the Minneapolis International Airport by 150 miles has the beginnings of a final resolution this morning but I’m still not buying it. As everyone knows by now the pilots claim they were going over monthly flight crew schedules on their laptops and that they “lost track of time and place.” Originally they had said they were having an arguement over airline policy - a story that likely couldn’t hold up under the intense questioning I’m sure they endured.  ‘What airline policy did you argue about?’, ‘Have you had other arguements about airline policy?’, ‘How did the arguement start?’, etc. That house of cards would collapse quickly under even the least cursory investigation. I have a better theory of what actually transpired.

I was in the military for 10 years and I did many a shift of guard duty during that time. More often than not I did these tours of duty with at least one other person, sometimes even three or four. It depended on the situation. In the instances where there were at least two of us there would be an agreement: “I’m gonna get some shuteye. Wake me in a few hours and then you can catch some Zs too.” This is what I believe happened on that flight.

One of the pilots tells the other that he needs to get some sleep and asks him to keep an eye on things and to wake him when it becomes necessary. Well, the other pilot falls asleep too and now both of them are ‘unavailable’ to whoever is trying to communicate with them. Keep in mind that one – or possibly both – of them most likely have headsets on which I imagine are designed to keep out any outside noise.

When it became apparent to the flight attendants (and some passengers) that the plane had passed the Twin Cities one of the attendants tried to reach them by phone – no answer. Then they knocked on the cabin door to the cockpit – again no answer. Finally, in a desperate attempt to contact them, the attendant spoke to them over the plane’s intercom system. This time they got an answer.

I find it absolutely impossible to believe that the pilots were not aware of either of the two previous attempts by the attendants to get their attention or that they failed to notice the attempts at contact by the air traffic controllers at Denver and Minneapolis airports. It just doesn’t seem very likely that all these efforts could have went by unnoticed.

It’s far more plausible that they both fell asleep, woke up at the point during the initial effort by the flight attendants to reach them by phone, and, realizing their mistake knew they had to come up with a story. Neither of the pilots had tuned the plane’s radio frequency to the Minneapolis airport who would have been trying to reach them so that likely explains why they were out of communication for an hour.

So, here’s what I’m saying happened. The pilots are both asleep, the phone in the cockpit rings and awakes one or both of them. They realize they’ve made a horrible error and know that an explanation will be necessary. Then there’s a knock on the cockpit’s door. “Don’t answer that! We’ve still got to get our story straight.” When the attendant speaks to them directly over the intercom the pilots know that a panic will happen if they don’t answer. That’s what I believe happened.

What do you think?

MLB ‘09 award predictions

MVPs

AL – ‘Baby Jesus’ Joe Mauer, Minnesota; runner-up – Derek Jeter (NYY). Kendry Morales (LAA) deserves a lot more respect than he’s getting though in these post-season polls. He virtually carried the Angel’s offense singlehandedly when the big bats were out with injuries for lengthy periods.

NL – Albert Pujols, St. Louis; runner-up Hanley Ramirez (Florida). Pablo Sandoval (San Francisco) should get plenty of votes too…he’ll most likely wind up third in the voting.

Cy Young

AL – Zack Greinke, Kansas City; runner-up Felix Hernandez (Seattle) who’s a very strong dark horse candidate but can’t circumvent the voters (and the media’s) season-long ‘love affair’ with Greinke. 

NL – Chris Carpenter, St. Louis; runner-up Adam Wainwright. One of these two Cardinals pitchers had better win the award!

Manager of the Year

AL – Joe Girardi, NYY, because he did turn the Yanks around after a disasterous opening month and a half. Mike Scoscia of the Angels will get consideration here for dealing with the death of future ace Nick Adenhart and winning the division title but Girardi really deserves it.

NL – Jim Tracy, Colorado. He took over the Rockies who were far out of contention and rallied them to an unbelievable wild-card finish. I can think of no one that should even challenge him for the award.    

ROY

AL – Andrew Bailey, Oakland; Gordon Beckham (CWS) didn’t earn it statistically IMO and Rick Porcello (Detroit), Ricky Romero (Toronto) & especially Jeff Neimann (Tampa Bay) were all quite good - just not as good as Bailey was though.

NL – Chris Coghlan, Florida; this guy earned it with his terrific season! Martin Prado (Atlanta) was also very good – just not great. Tommy Hanson (Atlanta) and J.A. Happ (Philadelphia) were both very impressive and I guess I wouldn’t be surprised to see Happ somehow get enough votes to sneak past Coghlan…but it shouldn’t happen!

Local restaurant that never opens closes it’s doors permanently

The recession continues to accrue casualties and our neighborhood wasn’t spared. Sometime during the past week the long and storied era of the San Antonio Grill & Bar officially came to a close. I say that in jest of course – oh, the restaurant did close but it did not have a ‘long and storied era’.

The fact of the matter is it never opened.

The building it occupied – or wanted to – was the site of a former Chi Chi’s which closed it doors well over six years ago. The Coyote Grille opened on the location for a brief period but it was one of many restaurants in the Twin Cities that suffered a loss of clientele when the Clean Air Policy was initiated and eventually closed it’s doors – September, 2005 to be exact.

Since then the place had been vacant but late in 2007 there was quite a bit of activity inside and outside the place. Soon the marquees, that had for so long been empty shells, displayed the signage of San Antonio Grill & Bar with the lettering on the marquee pad exclaiming COMING SOON! But, it didn’t…oh well.

I’m not sure why the efforts to open the San Antonio Grill & Bar succumbed but maybe the newest tenant, Chilito’s will make a more promising candidate. I’m guessing that it will feature Mexican cuisine with that name and I did not see any postings on the doors announcing a date for opening. The roadside marquee on Shingle Creek Parkway reads simply CHILITO’S. Perhaps wisely considering what happened to the previous restaurant venture there.

FYI – I googled for information on the closing of San Antonio Grill & Bar but it didn’t return any hits other directions to the location, nothing on why they just gave up…and I doubt they were victims of the Clean Air Policy.

UPDATE: 10/14/09 – At some point over the past two months the new owners added the words COMING SOON to the marquee. I would suggest this to be the ‘kiss of death’ but there are visual signs of life about the place. For instance, the same single car is usually parked in the lot in a different location each day and there is a length of yellow warning  tape across a small area of the sidewalk near the front entry where I believe some cement may have been repaired…or needs repairing. Maybe, just maybe, this time the restaurant actually opens!

Seriously…the Super Bowl?!?!?

NFL analysts and sportscasters have apparently lost their minds now that Brett Favre has come out of retirement for…what?…the tenth or twelfth time? Honestly, I’ve lost count – not that I care. I haven’t been a fan of Favre for the past several years as he became a nuisance with all of his announcements concerning “his final season” as well as the continuing demands he made on the Packers front office to ‘draft this player’, ’sign this free agent’ or ‘trade this player’, etc. As a Packers fan I could not have been happier when they dealt him to the NY Jets last year – goodbye & good riddance! The Aaron Rodgers era officially began, and it’s about time!

Well, Favre went on to distinguish himself in the early games with the Jets making one play after another and keep them in contention for a division title. And then Favre regressed into what he (unfortunately) seems to do best, and that’s launch one interception after another. His own teammates from last season spoke harshly about him after missing the playoffs. I recall seeing RB Thomas Jones on ESPN say that Favre’s poor play and untimely interceptions singlehandedly sunk their playoff hopes. Many other Jets came forward to support Jones in his statement; contrariwise only a few came forward to defend Favre.

But we don’t really need Jones to tell us what was so painfully obvious to everyone: Favre is over the hill. Everyone except the Vikings and every ‘talking head’ on the ESPN or NFL network that is.

It seems that the Vikings are on the fast track to the Super Bowl with the addition of Favre. Really? And who is he going to be throwing all those passes to – I mean besides everyone in a uniform other than the Vikings? The great pass catching tandem of Bernard Berrian & Bobby Wade? And no talk of Percy Harvin please. He’s an untested rookie who has much to prove before being considered any kind of real threat.  Which reminds me – how many Super Bowls did the Vikings win with Randy Moss?

I’m not an expert by any stretch of the imagination, but all of this talk about Minnesota becoming the favored team to win the Super Bowl is completely over the top and downright ludicrous. This is the same team that struggled to beat the lowly, no respect Detroit Lions (twice!) and surrendered 48 points in one game to the offensively challenged Chicago Bears this past season. Where does the reasoning come from that puts the Vikings in the driver’s seat to the Super Bowl?

No matter. With Favre in at quarterback for the Vikings that’s a sure two wins for the Pack along with between 6 – 10 interceptions. You know it’ll happen. Favre has a chip on his shoulder that is exactly the size of Green Bay. We’ll see it all on Monday night, October 5th. He’ll over compensate and have the type of offensive collapse he’s had far too many of in the recent past.  Additionally one of my dreams will most certainly materialize: Seeing Favre dressed in a Vikings uniform getting mauled by the Packers defense - which will of course cause him to launch a few of those off-target passes in retaliation.

Yet, one more blog about the complete unknown Bob Dylan

In case you haven’t had a TV or radio on or been to any site on the internet in the past week, then you probably did not hear about a pair of North Jersey police officers who failed to recognize the singer and song writing legend Bob Dylan. Nearly everyone who has a website or blog has reported this incident ad nausea since the story first broke and, naturally, added their own remarks. Most of the accounts I read online couldn’t seem to resist pointing out the painfully apparent parallel to Dylan’s classic ‘Like A Rolling Stone’ which becomes especially obvious when you read the narrative that took place between the police and Dylan.

Also too many of the articles insisted on having to insert various lines from Dylan songs in each paragraph, some of which were embarrassing and others just awful in their attempts at humor. Many of the reports suggest a consensus agreement to point out that Dylan now knows what it feels like ‘to be a complete unknown.’ If you need that explained to you then you can stop reading this right now…

Actually, I’d say the more appropriate line from that same classic song would actually be the last line from the final verse where he sings, ‘You’re invisible now, you’ve got no secrets to conceal’.

While I doubt that identifying past & present cultural icons that transcend generations isn’t part of the course schedule at police academy, the one item that I could not find a definite answer for was if the two officers recognized the names of Willie Nelson & John Mellencamp who Dylan explained he was there in town to perform in concert with. But I assume that they did and this is the reason why they went directly to the hotel and got the staff there to vouch for him. But the tragedy here isn’t that Dylan wasn’t recognized – as unbelievable as that seems to many. No, the tragedy here is that the two police officers, both in their mid-20’s, could very, very likely tell you the names of all the current (and maybe many of the past) contestants on ‘American Idol’ and what they performed as well. Now, that is a tragedy!

Twins can put a wrap on ‘09

Any thoughts the Twins (or fans) had of the team making the post-season can definitely be forgotten. Though it’s still ‘in fashion’ to read both local & national sports writers stating the team is only out of first place by four (no five, no – six!) games and can rebound that’s a really hard sell. If the 2009 Twins were in any other division with their current record, any talk of divisional hopes would have faded out of conversation long, long ago. But they’re in the miserably weak AL Central, with the division-leading Tigers just five games over .500 and barely maintaining a two-game lead over the White Sox. So the Twins, being led by MVP candidates Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer, with solid support from Jason Kubel and Michael Cuddyer who are each having breakout seasons, are still getting kind consideration from many to challenge for the title. Nonsense!

There are suggestions that the Twins can surge back into competition with a six to eight game win streak – not entirely impossible when you realize they have multiple games left to play with the depleted and stripped down Indians and the perennial basement dwelling Royals who lack any ability to generate run production. Unless they’re playing the Twins. Minnesota got their ass Royal-ly kicked by Kansas City in a recent series; Cleveland’s starting lineup can’t compare to the Twins but they easily managed to take two of three from us – at the Dome. You see, offense isn’t the problem for the Twins, it’s pitching that’s become the disaster for them.

Yes, the problem with the Twins this year is that the starting rotation has shown zero indication that they can string together those six to eight consecutive solid starts it would take to make such a win streak even plausible. The Twins longest winning streak in 2009 is four games – four games! – and the staff has yet to put together six consecutive starts during the second half without allowing double-digit runs. Yes, you read that right. The Twins have allowed 10 or more runs eight times already since the All-Star break.

Eight!

And not only to the Yankees, Angels or the Red Sox, the heavy hitters of the AL. The lowly Oakland A’s did it twice and the Royals did it once. To add further insult to injury the A’s had only turned that trick once before in the entire season, and the Royals now have done it four times in 2009—twice against the Twins no less. The starting five is clearly running on fumes, not even able to get past five innings. With the exception of Scott Baker, who has tossed back-to-back decent games for the first time in weeks, the rotation seems more ready to implode rather than ready to tap into reserves for a pennant race. And forget about the bullpen. Matt Gurrier and Joe Nathan continue to be strong down the stretch but the rest of them seem just as out of gas as the starters. Left-hander Jose Mijares has rebounded to become reliable, but he can’t bail us out of every situation. With no help on the foreseeable horizon it can be assumed that the Twins are just entering the early stages of a free fall.

The recent six-game homestand against the last-place Royals and fourth-place Tribe was supposed to rejuvenate the team and get them back into the thick of things. Instead, they dropped two of three to each team and have fallen six games behind the division leading Tigers. Minnesota now hasn’t won consecutive games since the four-game win streak July 26-29 – including an impressive three game sweep of the second-place White Sox. In their 11 losses since July 31, the pitching staff has surrendered an average of over 8 runs a game, and with 45 games left to play this certainly seems like a disaster in the making.

The Twins have a total of 13 games remaining to play against the Tigers and White Sox. Neither team is overwhelming and each has plenty of suspect positional problems like the Twins. But without any help for the pitching staff all indications are that Minnesota stands a very good chance of getting bounced to the cellar of the division. And that’s something I really don’t want to see come to happen.

15 years later: The players’ strike & the Montreal Expos…what might’ve been

Wednesday of this week marked a day that all baseball fans would like to have seen never happen. At midnight on August 11, 1994 Major League Baseball players went on strike, having been unable to come to an agreement with owners over fiscal concerns. Both sides were inflexible during the debacle that would eventually lead to a situation that had been unheard of before – a MLB season would be interrupted by a strike with no World Series played and no champion officially crowned. Team owners insisted that over half of the (then) 28 teams were losing money while the players refused to listen, saying that the owners were lying and that they were really trying to reduce their salaries and also break the union. On September 14 the unthinkable happened; the baseball season was officially called to an end and fans everywhere began wondering if there would be a 1995 season…some of the more fickle fans declared “Who cares?”

Well, baseball resumed play the next season with some changes, along with much grumbling still continuing among (and between) owners, players and fans. But the biggest change that occurred in 1995 wasn’t just the face of baseball – the Montreal Expos entered into a purgatory that would ultimately cause their demise. On August 12 of ‘94, the day the players’ strike began, the Expos were sitting at 74-40, an unbelievable 34 games above .500 and first place in the National League by 12 games! Manager Felipe Alou had a 25 man squad of players whose average age was 26. Sean Berry, the third baseman, was the team’s ’seasoned’ veteran at 28; starting pitcher Jeff Fassero (31) & reserve 1B Randy Milligan (32) were the only players over 30. There were seven players who had double digit figures in stolen bases; outfielders Moises Alou & Larry Walker were having MVP caliber seasons and the starting rotation – which featured a recent acquisition from the Dodgers, Pedro Martinez – were 50-22. Relievers John Wetteland & Mel Rojas were at their peaks with Wetteland posting 25 saves and Rojas 16. This was a team that by all indications was a very serious contender for the World Series title.

By the beginning of the next season the Expos would experience a makeover that would change their fortunes for the worse. Much worse. They finished the ‘95 season eight games under .500 and had only four remaining starting lineup players and two of the five starting pitchers from their previous year. They rebounded in 1996 by finishing 14 games over .500, coming within two games of the Wild Card berth. It would be their last hurrah. Beginning in 1997 the team began to get worse season in and season out and basically become a joke. Eventually they shut the doors forever in Montreal and moved the franchise to Washington D.C. where, as we all know, it has not done much better.

Would the Expos have gone onto become the world champs in ‘94 if the season hadn’t ended? I say very likely, others would argue with me. But as for those people who continue to say that baseball would have been saved in Montreal if the Expos had won a World Series during the ‘94 season, well, they are simply crazy. Even during that phenomenal year they finished 11th out of 14 teams for attendance – and it didn’t get better either. There simply wasn’t enough interest in the sport of baseball in that area and I doubt seriously that there would have been a surge in attendance because of a championship. Instead, I’d say that if the Expos had moved the franchise to Washington at the end of the ‘94 season they would likely have been able to retain all those players from that season under contract and not been forced to hold routine ‘fire sales’ in the following years to cut payroll. But that’s just my two cents worth…

Blood Meridian – an atmospheric, harrowing tale of the ‘Wild West’

This book is the ultimate litmus test for the avid reader of fiction. An arguable triumph of prose, style, form and content it has no equal I could think of to compare it to. I haven’t read an exceptional amount of Westerns but then I’m not sure that is the best category to place this book. It is epic in story conception and completely without the romantic elements that are so prevalent in such novels. It’s theme of depraved brutality is unlikely to appeal to a mass audience despite the magnificent poetic style and form McCarthy utilizes here. Even though I was repelled by the violence of the story and found it quite difficult to read at times I still felt driven to finish it because of the author’s excellence in creating a powerful visual picture inside the mind’s eye.

Blood Meridian: Or The Evening Redness In The West recounts the odyssey of a Tennessean, ‘The Kid’, a fourteen year old runaway who eventually falls in with a band of men that have only the barest threads of humanity which they loose quickly. It isn’t long before ‘The Kid’ learns to survive by learning their ways, willingly assisting in the terror they spread as they journey westward beginning at the Texas – Mexico border and spanning a few years between the 1840’s & the 1850’s. The rest of the supporting characters in the story are vividly fleshed out with the judge, an educated and shrewd man among near-savages, being the most unforgettable. ‘The Kid’ outlasts all of his counterparts with his wanderings taking him to the coast of California and almost back to the same spot where his travels began, meeting up with the judge one final time.

McCarthy has turned the normal pageantry of the Western tale inside on itself in an effort to help us discover the part of the western advancement of our nation that seeks to remain hidden and often at our own insistence. Our desire to remain happily ignorant of this dark region of history comes naturally to everyone – it isn’t pleasant to hear (or read) about. Confronting that evil (and being confronted by that evil) even at this now great distance of time is unsettling for most of us. It won’t be an easy read for anyone, it will get under your skin and stay there for the duration of your reading and it will likely even leave you feeling uneasy after you’ve finished.

Understandably Blood Meridian will not fascinate each reader in the way it did me. Visit the websites of Barnes & Noble, Borders, or even Amazon and read as many reviews as you wish to and you’ll see that there is a huge debate over the merits of the book. There is plenty of criticism and equal (or more) amounts of praise for this controversial but bravura work by McCarthy. If you’re a reader of fiction who is looking for a real challenge then I strongly suggest the book to you; and be certain to venture as far into the book as you can. Getting accustomed to the style and rhythm of the storytelling takes a while, and steeling yourself against the often numbing theme of violence will also be difficult at the beginning. But I found the rewards were worth it and I can’t recall such a senses-stunning, more memorable ending to a book ever.

7 Lists Of 7 (8/9/09)

7 Best Twins second basemen (because we need one so badly right now!)

1. Rod Carew – no contest! Not the cleanest fielding 2B but we could sure use that bat.

2. Chuck Knoblauch – He was awesome for the years he was a player here.

3. Tim Teufel – Played two terrific seasons for the team before being unwisely traded to the Mets.

4. Rob Wilfong – Played five seasons here and had a career year in 1979. Traded w/P Doug Corbett to the Angels for Tom Brunansky.

5. John Castino – Switched to 2B from 3B when Carew became the starting 1B. Castino played two solid years at second before back injuries ended his career.

6. Bernie Allen – He had an amazing rookie year, a decent second year but couldn’t stop the downward spiral. Eventually was traded to the new Washington franchise.

7. Cesar Tovar – He was actually a utility infielder and really didn’t play a lot of 2B, but when he did he did his bat was in the lineup – and that’s why I include him here.

7 favorite Beatles songs

1. Something – Music & Words by George Harrison. Still, and always, my favorite.

2. Penny Lane – Music & Words by John Lennon & Paul McCartney. A great song that is mostly filled with reminiscences of McCartney’s youth.

3. Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds – Music & Words by Lennon/McCartney. Inspired by a drawing that Lennon’s son Julian did of his friend Lucy.

4. In My Life – Music & Words by Lennon/McCartney. Similar to Penny Lane, this song is a walk down memory lane for Lennon.

5. Back In The U.S.S.R/Dear Prudence – Music & Words by Lennon/McCartney. The song medley that famously opens the group’s ‘White Album’ has an interesting inspiration which you can read all about at Wikipedia.

6. I Am The Walrus – Music & Words by Lennon/McCartney. Lennon composed most of this gobbledygook of lyrics when he learned that the English master at his former grammar school was making the class analyze Beatles lyrics.

7. I Need You - Another Harrison composition, this first appeared on the album soundtrack for the movie ‘Help!’.

7 favorite Cary Grant films

1. ‘North By Northwest’ – Director Alfred Hitchcock’s undisputed classic and maybe the grandest adventure film ever made. Easily Grant’s best.

2. ‘Bringing Up Baby’ – Considered by film buffs and film critics alike as the definitive screwball comedy.

3. ‘The Philadelphia Story’ – A great comedy with the can’t miss star trio of Grant, Jimmy Stewart & Katherine Hepburn.

4. ‘Gunga Din’ – Another great adventure story also with a can’t miss star trio of Grant, Victor McLaglen and Douglas Fairbanks, Jr.

5. ‘Notorious’ – An earlier teaming with director Hitchcock, co-starring with Ingrid Bergman & Claude Rains in a terrific, suspenseful film.

6. ‘Arsenic And Old Lace’ – Funny, funny movie about two kindly old women “helping lonely old men to find happiness” in 1941 Brooklyn, NY.

7. ‘That Touch Of Mink’ – The only teaming of Grant & Doris Day and a classic comedy that should not be missed.

7 favorite Ben & Jerry’s flavors (subject to change without notice!)

1. Cherry Garcia

2. Chunky Monkey

3. Vanilla Heath Bar Crunch

4. Karamel Sutra

5. Imagine Whirled Peace

6. Butter Pecan

7. Strawberry Cheesecake

7 worst pickup lines I’ve overheard

1. “I can eat my weight in cocktail wieners.”

2. “I have Sinatra tickets!”

3. “Did you see today’s ‘Marmaduke’ comic strip?”

4. “I’m a close personal friend of Sid Hartman.”

5. “If you want clean towels for the restroom I can make that happen.”

6. “Somebody farted. Let’s get out of here!”

7. (Please fill this in by leaving me your suggestions in the comments below)

7 best books by Kurt Vonnegut

1. Cat’s Cradle

2. The Sirens of Titan

3. Slaughterhouse-Five

4. God Bless You, Mr. Rosewater

5. Jailbird

6. Welcome to the Monkey House

7. Mother Night

7 worst moves people have made in Yahoo! fantasy baseball this week

1. Picking up Minnesota P Glen Perkins off the waiver wire. He’s clearly suffering from arm fatigue and lost his spot in the rotation.

2. Cutting Baltimore OF Luke Scott. He’s mired in a hitting slump right now but he’ll come out of it soon – by which time someone else will have picked him up.

3. Cutting San Francisco 2B Freddy Sanchez. Why??? All he does is hit .300 or better and score runs! I don’t get this at all…especially knowing that the owner needed him – badly!

4. Picking up Pittsburgh P Tom Gorzelanny. He’s absolutely awful with completely inferior stats. Why do you want to sabotage your own team?!?!?

5. Cutting Florida OF Cody Ross. He’s hitting a marginal .260 but he’s got unquestionable power numbers. Like Luke Scott he’s a keeper.

6. Picking up Toronto P Mark Rzepczynski. Huh? The rookie left-hander has to start against the power lineups of the Yankees & Red Sox. No way I risk this move.

7. Picking up Toronto P Scott Downs. Hey, genius, I cut him because he lost the closer’s role – that and the fact that he pretty much sucked! An absolute waste of a move.

Tigers get Pavanowned!

I was dubious about Minnesota’s acquisition of Cleveland Indians pitcher Carl Pavano when the trade was announced. I was still upset – no fuming – that the Twins GM Bill Smith hadn’t made a deal for for a veteran starting pitcher or middle relief pitcher that the team desperately needs to stay competitive in the division. The Tigers got Jarrod Washburn from the Mariners for a song and the White Sox managed to work out an equitable trade for San Diego’s Jake Peavy. To make matters worse Smith went on record as saying that “It was a tough market for relievers.” Nonsense. That remark should insult the intelligence of all Twins faithful. If Smith expected fans to believe that the team couldn’t acquire a reliever unless they traded top prospects then he’s a fool. Many teams made deals at the trade deadline for relievers and gave up little to nothing to get them. Pitchers like San Diego’s Cla Meredith and Pittsburgh’s John Grabow, who each could have improved the Twins bullpen immensely, changed teams for paltry sums in terms of player quality.

So when the Pavano deal hit the news headlines I was skeptical from the beginning, not willing to give Pavano a chance to prove something to Twins fans. Well, he did just that tonight by once again dominating the Tigers hitters. In three previous career games against Detroit he posted 3 wins, 13 Ks, 1 walk (1!), 5 earned runs on 18 hits in 23.1 innings pitched for an ERA of 1.93. That’s good. That’s really good! We need a pitcher that can dominate Detroit like that. They’re our roadblock to winning the AL Central and we’ll need a few more big games like that against them to win the division title. Of course it helped Pavano that the Twins put 11 runs on the board because Tiger’s pitcher Justin Verlander had an atypical poor pitching outing.

No matter the outcome tonight the team must win at Detroit tomorrow to maintain pace in the pennant race. The Twins cannot afford to lose a series to the division leader and allow them to gain ground we just got back. Scott Baker takes the mound for Minnesota tomorrow and Washburn will be the starting pitcher for Detroit. Baker has been very, very good lately but Washburn has been tough all year – his ERA is currently 2.93. He had a rough outing last week against Baltimore, his first game in a Detroit uniform, but I expect him to come out strong for tomorrow’s game. The Twins have had reasonably good success against Washburn – in 17 games they have a 7-6 record – so if Baker continues to have his good stuff then I’m predicting a Twins victory.

One last thing: I mentioned the Tigers acquisition of Jarrod Washburn a few times in my blog the past few days and it only now struck me: In 1987 the Tigers were in a pennant race and made a trade with the Atlanta Braves, acquiring veteran pitcher Doyle Alexander for a minor league pitching prospect. Alexander was stellar and went on to post 9 wins with no losses for the Tigers the rest of the regular season and they made the playoffs facing the Minnesota Twins. As most of the Minnesota fan base knows Alexander got owned by the Twins in that series, but probably most everybody forgets who that traded player was – that ‘minor league pitching prospect’ was future Hall-Of-Famer John Smoltz. Could Luke French possibly be in line for a ‘charmed life’ as a major league starting pitcher?