BORDER BATTLE

The weekend’s almost here and we have just the medicine to get you through your drudging Thursday afternoon. No it’s not an ice cold ale, but it is a local sports links round-up!

• Apparently all the superstars throw themselves a public party when they land in Mpls. Now, for only $10 you can stand around in the same room as *drumroll*…Mike James!!!
• Thousands of stockholders descended upon Green Bay this week to see how their “investment” was doing. There were no dividends paid this year.
• If you’re frustrated by the Brewers’ inconsistent play, you can always harken back to what happened in a game on this day thirty years ago.

Over 90 games into the season and we’re in the dog days of baseball (as well as summer). Some superfans have not missed a game all season. To you we say get a life. But rather, congrats. You have either put up with a Brewers team that was once swept by the aweful Pittsburg Pirates, or a Twins crew who started the season 1-5.

Those of us from the western side of the St. Croix river are used to negativity. With a 51-40 record we still get upset. Any Brewer fan would rejoice with such an impressive feat. Rather, Minnesota fans know that with the outfield pieced together with guys like Jason Tyner, Nick Punto, and Michael Cuddyer, the good times can’t keep rolling. It’s nice now — we can see the starting outfield for when “Carl Pohlad Field” opens in 2010, but it’s not a starting outfield for 2006.

The Brew crew again toy with their fans’ emotions as usual, floating near .500 all season. The longest streak all year was four games. Followed by a 5 game skid. Can’t get too mad but can’t get excited either. Maybe there is one thing to get excited about, as star ace Ben Sheets returns Monday against the Pirates. One quality start every five games though? Not enough. With Carlos Lee and Torii Hunter soon becoming either a Yankee or a Met, we can look forward to football season right around the corner.

Ughhh! Should we?

Posted by The Mayor

On Sunday night, the lineups for the 2006 mid-summer classic were finally announced. Whether you care to watch the All-Star game or not, the fact remains that the starting lineups are nothing more than a battle of popularity and home attendance, with this year’s results being the greatest example of that problem in recent memory.

It’s not clear what the best voting system might be, but there’s got to be some changes to prevent things like this:

• Fan Offense #1: Not voting Joe Mauer as the starting catcher for the American League. ‘Pudge’ Rodriguez is a guy I respect — a hard-working veteran who’s had a great career — but he’s not the player he was five years ago and even if he was, he still wouldn’t be putting up the numbers Mauer is right now. The league leader in batting, and hottest player over the past month, should not sitting on the bench. Shame, shame.
• Fan Offense #2: Not voting Carlos Lee as an NL starter. While this situation isn’t as ludicious as the previous one, there’s still a strong argument to be made here. Jason Bay and Carlos Beltran are both having fantastic seasons, but their numbers aren’t quite as spectacular as Mr. Lee’s 25 home runs and 61 RBIs. I could get into which player is more important to their team’s offense, but I’ll leave it to the empirical for now.
• Fan Offense #3 Ozzie Guillen’s Offense: Not choosing Francisco Liriano as a pitcher for the AL team. Is there even an argument against a 9-1 record and 1.99 ERA? Luckily this situation can still be salavaged, as Liriano is up for the All-Star game’s Final Vote, a nifty little promotion that allows the fans to vote the final reserve for each team. Com’on kids, get over to MLB.com and make up for the Mauer situation.

And my suggestion for the All-Star voting system flaws? Since it’s too time-consuming, difficult, and offensive to qualify fans’ baseball intelligence, I would simply change the system to allow the fans to vote a starting line-up’s worth of players, but put the starting lineup decisions on the All-Star teams’ respective managers. I know, that doesn’t account for sanity of guys like Mr. Guillen, but it’s a start.

Posted by Eric — I’ll be back on Wednesday

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.

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.

We’re back in full effect. Sports action has shifted into neutral in our respective states. Must…start…football.

• John Jones: Guy pays his dues, becomes 10th president of the Green Bay Packers. He may end up regretting a vow to continue a presidential tradition of personally taking phone calls from the legion of Green Bay ownership if this season begins like the last one.
• Dwayne Roloson - Former Wild Goalie leaves for the Edmonton Oilers in ‘06, drinks lots of Molson, and receives the glory of playing in front of a television audience of thousands in the 2006 Stanley Cup Finals.
• Joe Mauer - The Twins catcher has hit .458 over his last 14 games and is currently posting a .355 batting average for the season, good for second in the American League. Oh and by the way, Mauer and 2005 Miss USA and former Miss North Carolina Chelsea Cooley have begun dating on a semi-regular basis (straight from the mouth of The Mayor).
• NL Central teams - Their division-mates from Milwaukee just dropped eight straight. Fans will continue to attend games, but tailgate efforts will be doubled.

Jones inherits a money, but high-stress position. Mauer takes the bacon, no question.







Taken at approximately the same time Brewers’ Manager Ned Yost began frantically searching for the “Oh Sh*t!” button.

Long gone are the days when this would’ve been a rivalry. Thanks to Major League Baseball’s re-alignment, all we have the memories of the times when these two small-market teams would cross the border several times a year and guys named Robin and Paul and Kirby would take the field. Today, it’s nothing more than a great opportunity for Minnesotans to make a short trek for a weekend of watching baseball the way God meant it to be played. And with interest in interleague play dwindling with both fans and players, we may soon be left with only the memories. Enjoy it while you can, kids.

• Hot…and Not So Hot: Milwaukee is currently skating on a 4-game winning streak including a sweep of the Philadelphia Phillies who were the hottest team in baseball coming into that series. They’ve been pretty clutch too, winning three of their last four with walk-off runs. The Twins on the other hand…let’s just say they still have to figure things out in a lot of areas. They’re not out of it yet though…
• His Name is What?!?: Sunday afternoon’s game will see the major league debut of Twins RHP Boof Bonser. Someone please let us know if that’s a nickname or if his parents were cavemen. If it’s not a nickname, he needs one.
• There Will Be Blaze Orange: “The 135th annual meeting of the National Rifle Association is expected to attract 60,000 gun advocates to downtown Milwaukee this weekend in celebration and defense of the 2nd Amendment, organizers say.”

Liriano vs. Davis starts it out tonight. There’s going to be a WHOLE LOTTA beer consumed this weekend. I’ll be there for one of three.

FYI, the Twins own the last six games 4-2. Post your predictions and other thoughts in the comments below.