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Everyone knows these are not the glorified Billy Beane, Money Ball A’s of old but they’re still a major league baseball team (sort of) and the Twins took it to ‘em last night. That friends, is what we refer to in the bidness as an ass-whoopin’!

Not only did Kevin Slowey become the third Twins starter to win 10 games (Glen Perkins and Livan Hernandez) but he did so with a career-high 12 K’s to boot. And Slowey is just one of five that make up an incredibly solid rotation whose average age sits at 25. Scary. Nick Blackburn currently has 9 wins and Scott Baker has 7 so it is quite possible that the Twins could have five starters with double-digit win totals this year, something no Minnesota team has ever done. In fact, the only Twins team with five pitchers winning at least 10 was the 1970 AL West winner that bowed to Baltimore in that year’s ALCS.

And every player that started got at least one knock in an assault that witnessed the Twinkies bat seven men four times. I don’t care who you are — you let a team send nearly their entire line-up to the dish in one inning half the time, you’re going to get plastered.

The real stars with the stick, though were Justin Morneau and Brian Buscher, who both collected three hits apiece. Canuck drove in one and scored three times while Buscher scored twice and lauched his fourth homer of the season on his way to 5 runs batted in.

By the way, let the campaign begin: Johnny Canuck for MVP.

Granted, his numbers aren’t overwhelming and certainly bear no resemblance to his gaudy stats from ‘06 that earned him his first MVP trophy but consider that Morneau has driven in just as many runs as Carlos Quentin coming into today’s action (97) while hitting 16 fewer homers and batting clean-up for a far less powerful team. Now consider that he’s only K’d four more times than he’s walked (69 to 65), ranks 10th in the league for hits and is the best defender at his position not named Yooooooouk.

But what about clutch stats, you ask? Check this out: Canuck is batting .382 with runners in scoring position, .356 with two outs and runners in scoring position, .346 with men on base, .321 from the 7th inning on, an inhuman .538 in extra innings and 39 of his 97 RBI have come with two outs. Wow.

And even though the Twin Cities has the honor of hosting a convention, we have the misfortune that it won’t be Barack Obama stamping through but seeing as there will be placards for as far as the eye can see, join me in raising the Canuck in ‘08 sign!

Scoreboard watching

It appears as though the M’s exhausted all the good baseball they had in them this week while under the Teflon confines because they’re getting hammered once again by the Chicago White Sox. So, it appears as though the Twins will remain a game back in the Central standings heading into their huge weekend series with the Halos. With apologies to Chalk, realistically the Angels are the best team in baseball but the good news for the Twins is that Anaheim has been reeling of late and will have a cross-country flight home late tonight which may throw them a bit. We shall see.

For the Pale Hose the task isn’t any easier, they draw the DEVIL Rays at home beginning Friday and with that I will now unveil a line I never thought I would type in my lifetime: By week’s end I would love to see Tampa own the best record in baseball.

*****

Birthday Time!

Minnesota’s right fielder and fourth member of 1987’s Mount Crushmore attack, Tom Brunasky turns 48 years old today. Happy Birthday, Bruno!

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