This week, the Twins play Tuesday through Thursday in Anaheim (late-night games!), and Friday through Sunday in Texas.  Despite the Angels poor record, and the fact that Darin Erstad, Troy Glaus, and David Eckstein are out of the lineup, these are big, must-win games for the Twins. And the Twins have not been able to figure out Texas either.  They may not have real solid pitching, but their lineup can still outscore the Twins to win games.  So, the Twins pitching will really need to be on this week.  John Thomson threw a 4 hit shutout against the White Sox yesterday and will probably face the Twins on Friday or Saturday.

The Royals play at home all week. They play three games against the Rangers, followed by 3 games against the Angels.  Hopefully the Twins will be ready for those two teams, and hopefully the Rangers and Angels can be the spoilers of the Royals 2003 season.

The White Sox are playing the extremes this week.  They play 3 games against the Yankees in New York. Then they play the Detroit Tigers over the weekend.  Hopefully the Yankees can help the Twins out again, and maybe the Tigers can win just one of the three games!

Quickly recapping this weekend’s games, the Twins lost two one-run games (Friday and Saturday), after winning a one-run game on Thursday.  Sunday, they got a blow-out win to even the series at two games a piece.

Friday night - In a late-inning RBI situation, with Luis Rivas coming to bat, Ron Gardenhire pinch hit for him. With DENNY HOCKING!  Hocking got out. First, I understand, if Hocking hits a double, it looks like Gardy made a good decision. But the fact is, that move made zero sense! In May, can you imagine people actually being upset about the decision to pinch hit for Rivas? How did Rivas respond?  Well, Saturday night, in his first at bat, Rivas hit a 420-foot homer to center!

Saturday night - Well, the Twins knocked Royals starter, Jose Lima, all over the field, but could only score 3 runs off of him. Leaving runners in scoring position on has been an apparent theme all season.  And because they couldn’t take advantage, it left the Royals in striking distance… And Canadian Aaron Guiel struck, hitting a 3 run homer, giving the Royals a 4-3 lead, which turned into a 4-3 win for the Royals. Interestingly, the Dazzleman, Dan Gladden chose to interview Guiel after the game. (we’ll get back to that)

Sunday’s afternoon - Johan Santana was on the mound, so I think everyone felt good about the Twins chances, probably including the Twins.  Torii Hunter hit a home run to tie the game in the 2nd, and the Twins kept hitting after that.  Matthew Lecroy led with 3 RBI in the Twins 8-1 win.  It’s hard to say anything too negative in a blowout win, but I thought it would have been good to have let Carlos Pulido pitch and Rob Bowen catch in the 9th innings.  Also, following the game, after an interview with Matthew Lecroy, Al Newman would not do his post-game interview with Dan Gladden and John Gordon. Gladden speculated that it was because the day before, they had interviewed Aaron Guiel.  This story should be interesting to follow in the next couple of days!!!

What are the odds of light-hitting Tigers catcher Brandon Inge hitting a game winning, walk-off homer against Angels closer Troy Percival?  I’m thinking… Not good!

People talk about the NL MVP race being between Albert Pujols and Barry Bonds.  Is it really even close?  When Barry Bonds was on bereavement leave a week ago, the team lost six straight games. When he came back for the Braves series, he hit two game-winning, walk off homers, and the Giants won.  It’s really not close!

By the way, Barry Bonds father, Bobby Bonds lost his battle with cancer on Saturday morning. Now, we can completely understand why Barry has taken off games a few times this season. Bobby Bonds was retired before I was born, so I don’t know much about his career first-hand. I know that he was a 30/30 threat before that was in style. Interestingly, Bobby Bonds last major league home run was hit off of Jesse Orosco. Baseball Reference has a stat called Power/Speed Number.  It basically compares home runs and stolen base numbers.  In Bonds 14 season career, he led the majors in that stat NINE times! On the career list, Bobby Bonds ranks 4th all-time.  Who is in front of him?  Well, #1 is his son, Barry. #2 is Rickey Henderson. #3, Barry Bonds’ godfather, Willie Mays.  Pretty impressive company!

In case you were wondering, #’s 5-10 on that list are: Joe Morgan, Andre Dawson, Hank Aaron, Reggie Jackson, Paul Molitor, and Sammy Sosa.

Who are the Top 10 Active players in Career Power/Speed Number?

1.)     Barry Bonds

2.)     Rickey Henderson

3.)     Sammy Sosa

4.)     Roberto Alomar

5.)     Larry Walker

6.)     Craig Biggio

7.)     Ken Griffey Jr.

8.)     Marquis Grissom

9.)     Steve Finley

10.)  Barry Larkin

Griffey’s on that list.  Do you remember a few months ago, it was the in-thing to discuss whose outfield was better, the Braves, or the Reds.  The Braves had Chipper Jones, Andruw Jones and Gary Sheffield.  The Reds had Adam Dunn, Ken Griffey Jr., and Austin Kearns.  Now, all three Reds OF are on the Disabled List, and it turns out their best outfielder was Jose Guillen, who has since been traded to the A’s.

AAA Rochester (LINK) won 6-1 yesterday. Michael Cuddyer was 3-5, Michael Restovich was 2-5.

AA New Britain (LINK) won 10-0, behind a No-Hitter by Horacio Estrada!  He walked 3 batters and struck out 8! He’s new to New Britain, but his ERA dropped a run and a half with the performance.  He’s now 2-0 with a 2.55 ERA. He’s got 4 BB and 16 K.

The Vikings beat the Raiders Friday night 21-16. Randy Moss had a couple of first half TDs. Moss could have a huge year this year, and would be a steal to any fantasy team in the 2nd round! Doug Chapman hurt his ankle and could be out for the season-opener.  Moe Williams will get the start against Green Bay, with Onterrio Smith getting some increased playing time.  From a fantasy perspective, I really don’t think any of the three (four, if you include Michael Bennett) are very good fantasy players for this year.  If you have a keeper league, Michael Bennett should be considered.  Moe Williams would be more valuable in leagues where scoring touchdowns is more important than yards accumulated.  I still think that Onterrio Smith would be their best option.

Another one bites the dust!  Jets QB Chad Pennington had surgery on his left wrist and will be out 12 weeks, probably the whole season.  What does that mean from a fantasy perspective?  Probably not a lot. Pennington is not a top QB option and would just be a backup QB on most teams anyway.  Vinny Testaverde steps in, and probably isn’t worth drafting.

Yesterday, I ran a mock draft, by myself, knowing the rules of the league, just to try to get an idea of what the draft could look like. It was fun, interesting, and a lot more difficult than I thought it would be.

As I’ve mentioned, I have drafts on Tuesday and Wednesday nights this week. I will try to get those drafts on this website shortly thereafter so you can use it as a cheat sheet, if you’d like. Again, if you want to e-mail me your cheat sheets or any strategy, that would be helpful, thanks!

The USA basketball team continues to dominate their opponents in Puerto Rico. They are 4-0, and have won each game by more than 40.  I was impressed that Tim Duncan chose not to play against the US Virgin Islands in the tournament.  Since that is where he is originally from, it wouldn’t have been good for him to dominate, since the tallest player on the Virgin Island roster was just 6-8. The US still won by 58 points!

He may be outspoken. He may be too hands-on. But, Mark Cuban is good for the NBA and he knows what he’s talking about. His outbursts about the NBA refs have meant some changes in the way the officials are graded.  Last year, he made it clear that he was against NBA players representing their countries in international competition.  Now, we know why. Mavericks star, Dirk Nowitzki, hurt his ankle playing for him homeland of Germany in the tournament.  It doesn’t appear to be too bad, but had he torn ligaments and needed surgery, it could have cost the Mavericks big-time.

So, next time you hear Mark Cuban being overly critical and outspoken about any particular issue, don’t turn the channel and say “That’s just that jerk Cuban” talking again!  Take a minute and listen to him. Most of what he says really makes sense.