Welcome Jason Bartlett

If Santana's 13K gem, combined with rookie Jason Kubel's walk-off grand slam in the 12th inning against the Bo Sox--and on a night when Twins-trashin' David Ortiz went 0-5 with three strikeouts, no less--wasn't enough to brighten my mood, this news certainly was.

Jason Bartlett, the Twins' prospective shortstop who's spent the last two years creaming pitchers in Triple-A ball, is finally on his way back to the bigs. Not only does this mean that the Twins have decided to quit using one of the league's worst all-around players (Juan Castro) as their everyday shortstop, but also that the great Tony Batista experiment is finally over. Does this give the Twins hope to contend this year? No, of course not. He's a rookie shortstop, after all, and even veterans at that position have a tough time providing offensive punch (although my own mother probably has more pop than Castro). But at least it proves that the Twins management isn't completely hell bent on fielding a losing team. And that's something.