Some thoughts to wind down by

Is anyone getting tired of the pitchers' duels? My stomach has been taking a beating. There was a little relief from the stress in the eighth tonight but I'm sitting here writing this while I should be in bed because there are still too many knots in the stomach to fall asleep.


Is anyone getting tired of watching games on the pool table the Twins accept as a baseball field?


Positive signs:

Byrd's masterpiece: But he's been coming close to that all year. You knew this one was coming sometime.



More important: Jhonny Peralta hitting the ball the opposite way three times tonight, twice for singles and once for a fairly loud out. Then he turned on one for a single in his last at bat. Maybe it's a sign he's put his "homerun swing" to bed and will start getting after it again.



Also good: Hafner hit a heat-seeking missile for his 18th homer. I'd trade that for two solid singles and a double in the gap though. School is still out on Pronk.



If you saw the play Twins 2B Alexi Casilla made - throwing out fleet-footed Grady at the plate from the seat of his pants at second base - you understand a little bit more about why the Twins felt they could deal Luis Castillo to the Mets.



Glad this series is over for another reason. I got the Twins announcing crew for all four games on the dish. Bert Blylevin is a little bit funny at first, but after four games he just comes off as a sarcastic smartass.



Now it's on to Chicago, which likely means the White Sox crew for at least two of the three games. Dumb (Hawk Harrelson) and Dumber (Darrin Jackson). The worst homers of any announcer team in the league and extremely stupid to boot.



Speaking of stupid. I spent a lot of time in between innings of the Tribe game tonight switching over to check on the Tigers. They don't come any more stupid than Tigers' color man Rod Allen. Except maybe for Rex Hudler with the Angels. Guys work all their lives to make a living as baseball broadcasters and dumbass jocks who can't string two words together get the jobs. (Rick Manning is excluded, since he often successfully fulfills his role as expert who has played the game and knows what it's about and often covers for the inept Matt Underwood).



Anybody have any thoughts why the Yankees cut loose Mike Myers? The fans here in NYC don't and there's been some grumbling. It might have made some sense had they brought up the highly touted Joba Chamberlain, but they brought up Jim Brower for God's sake. Reasonably effective left-handed specialists don't come out of the woodwork. I'd say Myers got shagged.