GameChat – White Sox @ Twins #2, 7:10pm

So lots to talk about today!

1. Non-waiver Trade Deadline day has officially gone! The Twins made no further moves. There was a lot of discussion of course and rumors all over the place. They were just that, rumors. It did lead to some amusing tweets from a few Twins players including Denard Span and Glen Perkins. If you are on twitter and don’t follow them already, you REALLY should.  Discussion from our media folk with Terry Ryan seems to imply that by the end of the day, Span was NOT the player of most interest nor does the FO think that a move now was mandatory – or even the Free Agent market. They seem to be setting the groundwork for an honest discussion that rebuilding this team is a LONG TERM effort that needs improvements in the minor leagues as well as the off-season. Well, duh. We told you guys that LAST year.
2. Random announcement on twitter from Luke Hughes that he was joining an independent league team in Lancaster was very short-lived as mere hours later, he announced that he was going to be playing in Las Vegas as part of the Blue Jays system. Good for him and wow, this was quite a day for him.

For tonight, we get our first opportunity to hit Franky. Anyone else wondering which version of Liriano we’ll be facing tonight? I wonder how many secrets of his pitches our hitters know.. I have to admit I’m kind of looking forward to the challenge he presents. Let’s hope that Blackburn is the one really up to the challenge. One can always hope.

@#$%@#$%$ AJ!

No, really…  Things were actually going pretty well. It was a solid outing from Nick Blackburn who went deeper in today’s game than he has all season. The boys figured out how to get under Franky’s skin which Span contributed to by hitting him every AB and Mastro stole a couple bases on him. All in all, they managed to make this game pretty darn interesting..

And then AJ hit a @#$%@#$% HR off Jeff Gray.

If you’ve noticed a theme, you’re very observant or I’m not very subtle or both. Watch the baseball news tomorrow because I think Mr. Pierzynski is going to be in hot water with the big boys for cussing Nick Blackburn out as he came into home plate – loud enough to be heard by the pitcher, infielders AND the field mics.. oops. That of course means it’s been caught on video.

I know there are still AJ fans here in Twins Territory but I can honestly say that I wasn’t a fan even when he still played here – he’s a jerk who seems to regularly feel the need to prove it and make the game about him. Go figure.