This is so cool! Before she left town, Batgirl left a set of keys to the blog under the side doormat and gave ol' RD a 10-day gift card for free postings. There was something on the back, in reallllllllly tiny print, about not mentioning Doug Mientkiew... so we'll live within the spirit of said guideline. DID YOU SEE JUSTIN CREDIBLE SMACK THAT THING OVER THE WALL IN THE FIRST INNING!?! (And did you hear Blyleven's speech afterward? For a hot moment, I thought I could close my eyes and see Sen. McCain.)

RD likes three things from tonight's 8-to-5'er over the Rangers:

1. Boo picked up Joe Closer after the VP-to-be got that 11th-inning boo-boo on his finger. Didja see that, Adam Kennedy?
2. Torii Hunter's walk-off homer. (I've never said 'walk-off homer' before and it feels good.) Those are the at-bats when some cynics expect Torii to go wand-waving at sliders in the dirt. For some darn reason, his swing selection has certainly improved since being moved to the No. 3 spot in Gardy's "let's-try-THIS-to-break-the-damn-losing-streak batting order" he created on Mulholland Day back in Cleveland.
3. Augie Ojeda. It's just a cool name. RD knew a guy named Augie once, whose distinguishing characteristic was that he frequently wore an orange sportcoat.

RD also likes catcher Pat Borders coming to town. It's nice to have another Borders in town and not have it take away from the remaining independent booksellers. As Twins fans, we liked Borders during the 1991 playoffs against the Jays, where he was their catcher, because he seemed to have a problem with blocking the plate -- and the Twins exploited that several times. Then, in 1992, those of us who like Things Canadian liked Borders because he batted .996 or something in the World Series and was the MVP. So what if he's 82 years old. We're only renting him.

One final question: Didja think it was worth it for the Clevelanders to keep pace with the Twins since the 'Toons did it by beating the Yankees 22-nil? (For the record, YoungRD played in a soccer game over the weekend in which the final score was 16-nil.)

Enjoy!