Laying It On The Line

Twins Lose

Just finished watching the second game of the double header. In both games the Twins had a chance, but just didn’t bring it all together. However, I don’t think they really lost much.

In the first game Johan Santana pitched 5 innings. Not a lot. However, if you consider that he will be starting game one of the playoffs on Tuesday, it makes sense why he was pulled.

Ron Gardenhire wants his guys ready to play when Boston comes to town(let’s hope). Although it would have been nice to let Santana dominate the Yankees, it’s much more important that he dominate the first game of the playoffs.

In the second game the Twins put Kyle Lohse on the mound. I used to be a huge fan of Lohse. I believed that given a little seasoning he would be the dominate pitcher that everyone wanted. I was wrong. He’s been average at best during the whole season. Maybe it’s time for a change of scenery. Perhaps if he gets away from Minnesota he can help some other team.

The Twins play their final away game tomorrow. Hopefully they can pull it out and head home to face the Indians on a high note.

Oh, by the way. I believe Homer Hankys will be available soon. When I find more info I will post it.

I just received this in my email. It’s for one of those “Nigerian” scams. I think they are funny.

Recently I’ve read some sites that make it there mission to harass the people that send these messages. In my continuing mission to make life interesting, I have decided to add my name to the list of scam harassers. Let’s see how it goes.

Here’s the original message sent to me (my response will be in next post):

————————————

Dear sir,

Let me start by introducing myself properly to you. I am

Mark Escrupolo Masilag (junior) from Philippines(The only

surviving son of late Sir Mark Escrupolo Masilag)

I came to know and pick on you in my Private Search for a

Reputable Person to handle this Confidential Transaction.

The only reason I am contacting you, is that I have gathered

that you are a God fearing person who would not take

advantage of my situation.

My late father was a crude oil consultant based in Iran

until his unfortunate death as a result of the earth quake

disaster that just occurred in Iran killing thousands of

people which include my father and my mother I was fortunate

to have been in TOMATU a village thousands of kilometers

away from where my parents lived on a school escortion.

As I write this mail I am still very much in shock and pain

on what has happened to my parents. My reason of contact you

is that before my fathers death every year he moved all of

his profit made for the year from Iran to Holland just in

case there is any war in Iran so he would be sure he would

have money to fall back on when he goes back to Philippines,

the total amount of this funds as we speak is US$28 million.

I have been in contact with this security firm via mail as

that is all I have for now they have said that in other for

them to be able to release the funds I or the MARK ESCRUPOLO

MASILAGFAMILY representative must come to their office in

Holland to sign the funds release document before they can

release the funds.

Please all I want from you is to act as the ESCRUPOLO

MASILAG FAMILY personal representative sign the funds

release document and have the funds transferred into your

account.

I would be willing to share the money with you 50-50 if you

can do this to help save my soul from this poverty I am

facing now. For refence to what I have said,the relevant

webpages about the earthquake can be viewed:

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/12/30/iran.quake/index.html

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/12/29/quake.iran.doomsday.reut/index.h

tml

http://www.cnn.com/2003/WORLD/meast/12/29/us.iran.quake/index.html

I would completely understand if you do not want to help me

out in this transaction even though it is of mutual benefit,

with the high rate of fraud going on around this days one

can never be too careful,

I would be willing to send you my personal social security

card of Philippines so you can be sure this is for real and

you stand to change your life if you take this life time

opportunity to make some money.

Please reply to my private mxxx_esc@yahoo.com

Mark Escrupolo Masila (Jr)

Golf

I’ve started playing golf. Actually, that’s not true. To call what I do “playing golf” is to insult the meaning of the term. So far what I’ve done is go to the driving range and hit about 5,000 balls. Most make a nice banana arc to the right, but every now and then I get one to go straight. Of course then I think I’ve mastered my swing only to wiff the next shot so badly that my right shoulder tries to replace my left shoulder without bringing the rest of my torso with it.

I never thought I’d be a golfer. I used to sit down to watch some kind of sporting event on tv, and invariably there would be a golf game on. My main thought was, “How stupid is this? It’s just an expensive excuse to go for a long walk on freshly mown grass. No way I’m ever going to waste money on this non-sport.”

So, why did I take up the sport if I was so opposed to it? Well, I’m an engineer with a lot of engineering friends. For some reason golf and desk life go hand-in-hand. All of my friends are avid golfers. I figured if I wanted to hang out on the weekends, I’d best learn to do what everyone else was doing. Besides, they always drank beer and smoked cigars while doing it, so how bad could it be.

A funny thing about golf is that there are a lot of bright shiny toys that you just have to have. I’ve started getting catalogs showing all these clubs guaranteed to straighten your game, give you more distance, enhance the feel, etc. (Kinda sounds like condoms, but I digress.) With each catalog I could feel myselft being drawn into the cult of golf. I have to have these idols.

“Look at those Callaway clubs, man those are gorgeous.”

“Wow, that putter would make all the shots for me. How can I not get it?”

“Man, those gloves look supple.” (Hmm, maybe golf’s allure is sexual. Everything has that double meaning sound to it.)

Anyway, I’m hooked. Only played on a real course once, but already I’m thinking about next summer. My goal this fall is to get a brand new custom set of clubs. Of course I expect to be playing the PGA tour mid-2006. With my new clubs, what’s to hold me back?

No sports post today mainly because there wasn’t anything happening yesterday. The Twins had a day off, and the Vikes didn’t play the Monday game.

I’m having a hard time coming up with new topics to cover. There are a lot of good bloggers writing about Minnesota sports (look at the list of my favorites on the right), and they are a lot better at finding and reporting interesting news. Although I feel I have a ton of sports knowledge, I don’t have the ability to randomly come up with cool topics on just sports.

Therefore, I am going to add more posts on areas other than sports. I figure since I don’t really have that many readers anyway, the change will hardly be felt. If anyone does read this and has an idea for a topic that they would like to see, feel free to either comment about it or email it to me at MontanaVike@gmail.com.

Hope to hear from you.

Well, did you miss me? I just spent a week on the East Coast visiting in-laws and going to a wedding. Also did some deep sea fishing off the coast of New Hampshire. All in all a good week, but the old adage that says you need to go back to work to recover from the vacation is very true.

Twins win 90th

Twins Game Wrapup

Today the Twins won their 90th game of the season. Before the season started, quite a few of the baseball pundits said Minny would be lucky to win 85. Hopefully they can win 50% of their remaining 6 games. It would be cool to end the season 93-69.

Is there still any doubt that Johan Santana is the Cy Young winner? He is now 20-6, has a 2.62 ERA and 260 strikeouts. That’s fantastic, especially for a pitcher that will not be 26 until March of next year.

Vikings 2-1 now

It was messy, but it was a win. The Vikings game against the Chicago Bears today was not a game for football purists. With turnovers in the redzone, stupid penalties by all positions and sometimes questionable officiating, it was a game where the team that shot themselves in the foot the least amount of times won.

Yeah, Minnesota has bad aim also!!

I watched the Monday night game against Philadelphia and I saw a team that was inexperienced, but with some seasoning may put things together. Today after factoring in the number of injuries, I’m not so sure. I think we will be competitive in the NFC North, but the playoffs worry me. Hopefully once Bennett gets back the team will start to settle down and play good football. If not, Mike Tice may want to by stock in Rolaids.