¡VIVA RIVAS!

Allow me to introduce the latest presidential ticket: Redman-Nelson. (That would be Redman, Mark, SP-KC; and Nelson, Josh, CL-KC) While the Santana-Nathan juggernaut is already advancing to October, Redman-Nelson weren't about to deliver a concession speech tonight.

Oh no. Instead they played dirty, to the consternation of Twins fans everywhere. No one likes to watch slop thrown up to the plate, but that's just what Redman-Nelson threw -- juicy, messy, sloppety slop. Against the Twins, it's the equivalent to a nasty attack ad: Messy, often effective, and exceedingly painful to watch, especially if you're on the receiving end. You know what's coming and you know you should hit mute, or better yet, the power button; but you sit there and watch in morbid curiousity nonetheless, and before you know it, you've been Redman'd...again.

Really, is there anything more painful than watching Twins hitters flail away against soft-tossing lefties? Mark Redman shut down the Twins for the second time in a month, and V. Rivas is grumpy. The good (and also frustrating) news is that the Tigers lost. Nothing lost, nothing gained, and one less game left in the regular season. Tick-tock. Tick-tock.

In reality, the game was over when this sequence of events occurred to the hottest hitter on the team:

(replay of Torii's strikeout playing)
Bert: Torii, just trying to make good contact
(Torii swings..)
Bert: And with the follow-through, he falls down.
(Torii crumples to the ground in the most embarassing manner possible -- on a 75 MPH Mark Redman fastball)

Uff-da

Rivas of the Day: It's so hard to pick just one, so I'll call out the entire Twins offense tonight for their failure to tap into Redman's 5+ ERA yet again. (Silva? It's time to give the poor guy a break. It's safe to say he knows he sucks right now)

LINKS

Check out this blasphemous (and bizarre) article from the Contra-Costa Times: It's time to cut off boozy celebrations. Apparently, he's not joking. Talk about scratching the bottom of the idea barrel.

OK, I won't ever complain about East Coast media bias after the New York Times' royal treatment of the Twins this year. Yet another article from the paper that runs All the (Twins) News That's Fit to Print.

What's this? Torii's willing to consider a paycut in exchange for a four-year contract? Apparently a few bottles of bubbly is all it took to turn him into a big, cuddly softy.