Good morning to everyone! More internet problems and much sleep needed so today will be very short. Hopefully all will understand.

First, I have received the file with my Blogger's Moment audio from this past Saturday. It was a few random ramblings regarding Joe Mauer, Juan Castro, JD Durbin, Kevin Slowey and more. It lasts about two minutes, and the audio will take several seconds to start. If you have dial-up, I don't know how long it will work. On my cable connection, it takes 15-25 seconds to start. So, be patient.

Rochester got a complete game shutout win from veteran Peter Munro last night. A second inning Garrett Jones home run, his 9th of the season was the game's lone run.

New Britain fell to Akron last night. It was a tough outing for Errol Simonitsch who allowed four runs in three innings, including three homers. Denard Span went 3-5.

Ft. Myers won an 8-7 decision over Tampa last night. Luke Hughes led the way with a 3-4 night that included his sixth double and three RBI. The other important thing to note was that Danny Powers made his first start, replacing the injured Kyle Aselton in the rotation.

And, Beloit also got a win, 9-5 over Clinton. Kyle Waldrop has been excellent of late and appears ready to jump to Ft. Myers. He gave up only one run in seven innings. He left with a 9-1 lead. Alexander Smit then gave up four unearned runs in just 2/3 of an inning. Caleb Moore and Paul Kelly each had two hits.

Saturday will mark the first Twins Autograph Party that I will miss in three years. It will take place on the Metrodome Plaza starting at 11:30 on Saturday. Current players (with the exception of that night's starting pitcher) will sign for 90 minutes and later former Twins players will sign. Now, I have never purchased the autograph card, which is $25 and necessary to obtain as many autographs as you like. However, the Twins Community Fund gets the money and they do a great job of allocating funds to the right places. There are plenty of activities to do even without the autographs, so if you have a chance, be sure to go especially if you have some kids. The lone negative about the events are the adults that are obviously there to profit from it. That is the reason I have no problem with players getting paid to sign.

In his last start, Boof Bonser gave up four runs on three homers. Last night, he gave up five runs on three homers in the first two innings. He went three more innings without allowing a run. Now, it is a concern, but hopefully it is something that can be corrected because it appears that he has enough solid pitches to be a good pitcher.

Is it just me or is Joe Mauer good? Seriously, how many superlatives can we come up with to describe him?

I listened to several rounds of the MLB Draft online the last two days. I actually find it quite interesting although most would find it incredibly boring. It is literally just a moderator saying which team is scheduled to pick and a representative for that time gives a player number, says the last name, then the first name, the high school or college and sometimes another quick tidbit. For example, there were several sons of former big leaguers drafted, or sons of coaches or others in the organization. It was fun to follow the Twins picks. On Day 2, they draft rounds 19-50. In reality, if one or more of the players drafted on Day 2 by a team ever get to the big leagues, it is great. However, you can still find good players. Ft. Myers Miracle 1B Brock Peterson was drafted in the 48th round. Kent Hrbek and Denny Hocking were players drafted well into Day 2.

Again, I find it interesting because I enjoy following the Twins minor leaguers and want to recognize players and their names right away. Most of the high round picks will start at Elizabethton. Several other college picks will start there as well as will several from the extended spring training. Most of the high school picks will start for the GCL Twins. Those games start in the next few weeks.

Relief Pitcher Jason Grimsley had his home raided by FBI officials for six hours yesterday. They found out that he was taking several performance enhancing jobs over the years including steroids, amphetamnes and Human Growth Hormone (or HGH). Now, in watching SportsCenter, they seemed so surprised that HGH was being used. But, having we known that for years? It is not detectable through urine tests, only through blood tests which they do not do. Grimsley worked with officials and even gave out names of several players that he had first-hand knowledge of using HGH. The belief is that those names will eventually come out and could number as many as ten. Of course, it is interesting to think about all of Grimsley's former teammates and guess, but in reality, it is all just sad. Grimsley said he used the PEDs to help recovery from injury.

Again, I know everything is Barry Bonds' fault, and I am not naive to really believe that he has not taken anything. However, I am also not naive enough to believe that he wasn't still playing on an even playing field. More and more names will come out and there will be some more big ones. However, it won't be just power hitters. It won't be just hitters. I think that relief pitchers could be the most likely to use these things because of their need for quick recovery so that they can pitch again the next day.

Dennys Reyes just gave up the Raul Ibanez home run in the bottom of the 6th to give the Mariners a 9-4 lead. I don't think I'll be up much longer, so I am going to end this.

That is it for today. Please feel free to add to the Comments throughout the day. The Twins and M's play this afternoon, so be sure to Comment throughout the game if you like.

Have a great day!  

UPDATE - OK, so I only moved away from the computer and decided that I wanted to watch one more Joe Mauer at bat. But when he walked in a run, the team was only down by four. Of course, Torii Hunter popped up in the infield for the second out. However, Michael Cuddyer came on and on a 1-2 pitch, Cuddyer drilled a hanging slider into the left field bleachers for a grand slam to tie the score at nine a piece. Juan Rincon is now in for the bottom of the 8th.