Cold Comfort

I love this summary, from La Velle E. Neal's column at the Star Tribune online (could be in the hard copy; I'll never know):

"After watching Torii Hunter get hit in the face, the Twins snapped their four-game losing streak in the 11th inning."

That's rich. Torii gets hit in the second inning and it only takes us nine more fucking innings to score a measly run against what remains the worst team in the American League? Boy, that must have riled up the troops! (One thing: the above quote wasn't in the article, but was the summary on the 'front page' of the Strib.)

Now, I didn't watch the game. Yesterday afternoon, I thanked the God I don't believe in for that, as another one of these sickly, extra-inning contests would have killed more brain cells than I can spare. However, I can read, both articles and box scores, and this game looked like yet another hideous contest, both from a pitching standpoint and an offensive one. Both sides were utterly ineffective, stranding 25 runners on the bags (11 were Twins) and our big boppers had two hits and two walks in 15 at-bats. Boof walked 7, struck out 8. Final score 1-0. Three hours and forty-seven minutes carved out of a beautiful April afternoon for this?

Up next: the Detroit Tigers. I would say that we're about to embark on a long stretch of meeting tough teams, except that these Twins are making everyone look tough.