BORDER BATTLE

Even though there’s been tons of great stuff going on over the last couple days, we have nothing for you. Yes, we’re horrible, but it’s been nice outside and it’s time for a loooong holiday weekend. So enjoy the sun, games, and cold ones and we’ll catch up with you next Wednesday with all sorts of fantastic coverage of the misadventures of Eddie Griffin, the NBA draft, the Joe Mauer sizzle, and even a bit of NFL talk (finally!).

If you need something to quench your sports thirst over the weekend, you’ll be quite fulfilled if you check out the latest Sports Bloggers Live podcast, recorded at Jay-Z’s 40/40 club during an NBA Draft bash. Four words: Drunken Chris Webber interview.

Have a great 4th (and don’t get too close to those roman candles)!

- E and The Mayor

As Deadspin proclaimed this morning, this is getting ridiculous. In case you weren’t impressed by Joe Mauer’s 4-for-5, 5 RBI outing versus the Dodgers on Monday, he went ahead and topped it. Tuesday night’s line: 5-for-5. He’s now batting a paltry .389.

The more amazing part of this Mauer’s recent tear is the atrocity being commited against him in AL All-Star voting. Need further proof that this voting is nothing more than a name game? Mauer is still only third in votes among AL catchers. Do your part and go fill out a ballot at MLB.com. Now.

Here at Border Battle, we don’t pretend to be the biggest baseball fans in the world. Sure, The Mayor is a Twins Superfan, but the guy only drops his sweet baseball monologue on us once a week. Nonetheless, things are getting quite spicy again in Twins Territory with the Twinkies picking up their fifth straight victory last night (yours truly was in attendence), their 15th in the past 17 games.

While we have a lot of fun writing about the Twins (and Brew Crew to some degree) as we wait in agony for NFL training camps — and concurrently, storylines — to begin, we’re simply not a baseball-first blog. Thus, we’ll continue to do our thing and in the meantime point you in the direction of some damn fine Twins blogs. Right now, there’s a big buzz for some guy named Joe. He went 4-for-5 last night with a double, a triple and 5 RBIs and is now batting .377 to lead the AL. Here’s what the people are saying:

• Thank You Brian Sabean: In addition to having the best-named Twins blog around, he’s currently highlighting Joe’s awesomeness and wishing the Twinkies were only in the National League.
• Nick & Nick’s Twins Blog has a closer lookMauer’s career night and wonders if the Twins should forget signing Hunter for the long-term and use the loot to lock up some of the young guys.
• Bat Girl as always, has tons on last night’s game, her boy Joe, and why Joe Morgan is a moron.
• Deadspin: Everyone’s favorite sports blog wonders how the hell the Twins got so good and ponders what Mauer had to do for that mojo.

Posted by Eric

Another week of one major sport is another one that makes us a bit short on words. Nonetheless, here are the people who had a great one last week:

• Erik Johnson: The Bloomington, MN native was picked #1 in the NHL draft by the St. Louis Blues. Going first overall always rules. Now if only it weren’t in the league that has its games televised on the Outdoor Life Network…
• Justin Morneau: What can we say? The guy struggled early, fans doubted. Now he’s on a tear hitting like the player people thought he was a year ago. Last week’s big numbers: 3 home runs (including a walk-off), 6 RBIs and over .330 average. He’s on pace too hit over 40 dingers too.
• Kevin McHale: Last time we checked, the guy still has a job despite the trainwreck that awaits the Wolves next season. It’s been a best SUMMER ever for Mr. McHale.

The Brewers? Well, I guess Chris Barnwell got his first start at shortstop last week. Must’ve been awesome for him.

How can an eight-game winning streak be so overshadowed by a pitching matchup between a rookie and guy making his first start of the year? Pretty easy when it’s the Twin’s latest phenom Francisco Liriano, and some other guy named Roger Clemens. Liriano has an era this season of 2.16, including 1.64 in the last 10 games. If that isn’t enough, Liriano has 67 strikeouts and only one loss all year. The other guy doesn’t have any stats this year, but is probably the most feared 40-year-old (actually 43-year-old) in sports. Mr. Clemens has 4,502 strikeouts, 341 wins and 7 Cy Young awards. And he should have won an eighth Cy Young award last season, but was robbed when Chris Carpenter won only because he had a better record. Same can be said for Johan Santana. That argument is for another time.

George, Barbara, and ESPN will be on hand for the game as well as millions watching at home. In Minnesota we are used to being the cute underdog team that everyone but White Sox fans love and respect. Unfortunately, the Twins will be the side show while America roots for one of the hardest working athletes ever. Clemens will try to prove he still has it. No doubt after the season he had last year he will still dominate this seson, luckily for the Twins they get to face the ace in is first game back since The World Series last year.

The Twins get to send Liriano to the mound against an average hitting team, but a team who has never seen the 22-year-old ace pitch. Twins should win this one, but no one can really determine what Clemens is going to do. Certainly good, but not good enough for the Twins of the past two weeks. This should be a fast game with plenty of strikeouts. Any baseball drinking games should be saved for a later game that might last more than two hours. Also any drinking game involving strikeouts should not be played to this one, especially if one has work on Friday morning.

Go Twins! Sadly go Brewers too - we have some ground to make up on those Tigers!

Posted by The Mayor

“Who has a wider stance: Batista or Dubay’s wife?”

- Our very own Twins Superfan and master of tomfoolery, The Mayor, on a call into Common’s show on KFAN yesterday, possibly sharing the line of the week.

While it’s a tad belated, here’s the scoop on great happenings for MN and WI sports figures last week…

Football of any American variety is a month away and we really have no reason to cover the World Cup on a blog that carries the theme that this one does (unless Norway was in it this year). Thus, it’s your baseball clubs that must be highlighted once again:

• The Milwaukee Brewers: just when things were looking like you could call it a season, the Brew Crew took 2-of-3 on the road against the Reds and then swept the Cleveland Indians in their 3-game series of interleague play, putting them at one game below .500. We won’t spoil the fun by metioning the last night’s game…
• The Minnesota Twins: turning in a week even more impressive than their NL neighbors to the east, the Twinkies achieved something no one was really expecting in a sweep of the Pirates to cap off a7-game win streak. With the club sitting at .500, Mauer and Morneau playing a bit more like the “Mantle and Maris” comparison that was bestown upon them last season, and some young players injecting some much-needed energy and hitting into the lineup, there is a newfound optimism for the remainder of the season in Twins fans.

And in the not-so-great week category, our condolences to Mr. Batista. Surely some baseball fans elsewhere will find that batting stance endearing.

Just when I had discounted any possibility of the Twins’ season having any excitement left, my words swifly dove back into my mouth like a boomerang’s return. The Minnesota Twins — through lineup juggling and one of their leaders falling to 6th in the batting order — managed an impressive sweep of the Boston Red Sox (for a complete breakdown, I recommend Bat Girl’s blog).

The sweep was impressive for several reasons. Besides the fact that it was the same Twins we’ve been watching over the past month, the victories came largely on the shoulders of a few youngsters recently injected into the lineup in Jason Kubel, Terry Tiffe and Jason Bartlett, the last of whom convinced management that Juan Castro was dispensible - a decision that has already displayed it’s wisdom. Kubel was the greatest hero of the bunch, hitting a home run in each of the three games, including a grand salami in game two (a game that also featured one hell of a pitcher’s duel with Santana and Schilling each going eight deep). But maybe most impressive feat of the series was the impressive pitching outings by some of the Twins struggling veterans. On Wednesday, the usually-rocked Brad Radke gave up only one run and five hits in six and Carlos Silva followed it up last night with his best performance of the season, picking up the win. Yes, the same Silva who entered Thursday with one quality start in 10 attempts. I almost pinched myself to see if I was in fact dreaming.

Moreneau’s hitting for power and decent average. Maurer’s still tearing it up. Young guys are making an impact. Pitchers are pitching — and well. Dare I say the Twins could still be exciting to watch this season? It might be prudent to wait ’til after the midsummer classic to make a statement like that.

Speaking of, don’t forget to vote for Joe Mauer for the AL All-Star team. The kid is getting slept on!

Posted by Eric.