Greet Machine

September 8, 2004

Johan

• Barring an incredible and unlikely meltdown, Johan Santana will win the Cy Young award. I would say that he is now the "in" pick with the national media. The ESPN anchors tonight were just gushing about him to the point of embarrassment. However, he really does have the nubmers to back it up. For one, he leads the AL with a 2.85 ERA, and since the All-Star break his ERA is 1.38. That is incredible. He also leads the AL in strikeouts with 233, and among the other Cy Young candidates he has given up the fewest hits and the fewest runs. The only thing Mulder or Schilling have on Santana are more wins, but with tonight's win Santana moves to 17-6 to Schilling's 18-6. If wins are so important then Kenny Rogers should be in the running for the Cy Young. Like I said, it would be shocking if Santana doesn't win the award. Terry Ryan must be saying a few prayers tonight concerning Santana's likely salary when he becomes a free agent. I can't imagine how much he will cost in 3 years.

• While I was watching the game I was surprised with the sparse attendance at Camden Yards. I mean, it looked like an Expos game. However, I said to myself, "I bet they report 30,000 people attended." Well, it wasn't that bad, but they did report 19,358. That is a joke. There is no way there were almost 20,000 at the game. Then I read this in the AP article covering the game:

The Orioles sold 19,358 tickets for the game, but because rain swept through the area during the day and continued into the early evening, only a few thousand fans were on hand...

Is this the way MLB normally reports attendance? I was under the impression that they count actual attendance, meaning how many people passed through the turnstiles. There is no doubt some teams pad their attendance numbers and I think we saw a little bit of that tonight.

• I also think we saw a little of the Twins lineup next year:

Shannon Stewart -- LF
Joe Mauer -- C/DH
Torii Hunter -- CF
Justin Morneau -- 1B
Lew Ford -- RF
Michael Cuddyer -- 2B
Terry Tiffee -- 3B
Jason Kubel -- DH/RF
Cristian Guzman -- SS

That's right: Jones? Gone. Koskie? Gone. Rivas? Gone. Well, definitely Jacque Jones. At most I could see a sign and trade deal with him, but I would be very surprised if he stayed in a Twins uniform next year. And I don't see Ryan keeping both Guzman and Rivas. Of the two Guzman is the lesser of two evils, and I think Gardy is really ticked off with Rivas and this big toe business. If we've learned one thing, you don't want to tick off Gardy. And I think the Twins really like what they are seeing out of Cuddyer at 2nd base. I mean, he was drafted as a shortstop.

• Finally, ESPN played one of my favorite commercials tonight, the Starbucks commerical that parodies Survivor's "Eye of the Tiger." You know the one: Glen! ... Glen! Glen! Glen! ... Glen! Glen! Glen! ... Glen! Glen! Glen! Man, that one is hilarious. Here are the rest of the lyrics:

Glen's the man, going to work
Got his tie, got ambition
Middle management is right in his grasp
It's a dream he will never let die
Glen's the man of the hour, he's the king of his cube
Status call reports have final met their rival
Burning the candle at both ends on his way to the top
He knows one day he just could become ... supervisor!

Roy! ... Roy! Roy! Roy! Man, that just kills me. Simple pleasures people, simple pleasures. If you are interested, you can watch it for yourself. Apparently, that really is Survivor in the commercial too. How the mighty have fallen...

Posted by snackeru at September 8, 2004 9:52 PM | Twins

Comments

I agree on Santana, Pedro and Curt will split votes in Boston. I just want a little credit that 6 Johan starts ago, I told you he had a shot at the Cy. I was there before Peter Gammons. I also love the Survivor commercial, it's hysterical.

Posted by: Cheesehead Craig at September 9, 2004 8:24 AM

I have a vague remembrance of you saying Santana has a shot at the Cy Young. So, the credit is yours. And it isn't hard to beat out Peter Gammons. The man is an idiot. And I think we talked about favorite commercials before. We should list them all out.

Posted by: Shane at September 9, 2004 8:51 AM

I like Gammons, he's been around baseball for a while and I respect his opinion. He speaks his mind and there's no sugarcoating with him.

Some of my favorite commercials: The cat-herding cowboys. The Maddux/Glavine commercial where Heather Locklear asks where McGwire is. Miller Lite catfight (I'm male and unapoligetic on this one). Brett Favre Mastercard.

Posted by: Cheesehead Craig at September 9, 2004 9:39 AM