Anaheim at Twins. Angels 1, Twins 0.

Recently, the Minnesota Twins official site posted a press release with the header:

Brad and Heather Radke Family Foundation to award $35,000 to underwrite local children's musical

The foundation will provide money for the esteemed Youth Performance Company ‘s final show of their 15th season-- Marlo Thomas’s Free to Be…You and Me. As the press release says:

The musical is a creation of Marlo Thomas that, instead of telling children who they should be, would open them up to the possibilities of whom they could be.

Well, I wonder if Brad Radke’s taken this idea a wee far. Radke has all of these nasty people telling him he should be a great pitcher, the staff ace of a championship team--when in fact he’d like to explore his identity a little more, really take time to figure out who he wants to be. It’s a beautiful thing, watching a young boy’s mind opened up like that. And any time Radke is slated to start, well, he’s open to the possibility of being any one of three people; there’s Bad Brad, Mediocre Brad, or Rad Brad. And no matter how hard we try to make him stick to just one identity, well, sister, you just can't pin Brad Radke down.

Tonight, for instance, he was Rad Brad, in all his Rad Brad glory. Not perfect—five hits and two walks—but whatever jams he pitched himself into he got right out of again, just like the ace he’s been about 1/3 of this season. And if we had just known, if he had only told us he was going to throw a seven-inning shutout, maybe we could have brought it a little more against Anaheim’s replacement starter Aaron “Thanks for Demoting Me to the Bullpen, Bitch” Sele, who four-hit the Twins.

Ah well. Variety is the spice of life, and no one can fence in our #1 starter. Next time, Brad could be someone else entirely. But a guy’s gotta be free.

Posted by Batgirl at May 1, 2004 11:10 PM