This was the first game of the season during which ol' RD found himself cursin' and mutterin' and stutterin' and stammerin' and cursin' s'more. He fussed and he cussed when JustIncredible fouled out with the bases loaded and none out in the ninth and again when T-Phat! struck out on three pitches and again when Lewwwwwwwww went from 2-and-0 to 2-and-2 ... and then he tried to take all them dirty words back when Lewwwwwww drewwwwwww that walk to tie the game at 10. (That's 10-10 and 10 o'clock.)

And then RD knew everything was gonna be all right. All it took was hearing, "Number 33, J.C. Romero, now pitching for the Angels."

Tie game, 10th inning, top of the order coming up. Geezola, game over! The only question to be answered was, "Who's the hero gonna be?"

Shannon Stewart struck out and cussed the called third strike so vividly that a blind man could lipread and Luuuuuuuuuuuuuuis Castilllllllllllllo walked.

And then Romero must have forgotten that stealing bases is legal in the major leagues because he seemed not to pay a whit of attention to Castillo, who stole second and took third when the Birthday Boy grounded out.

At that point, RD turned to Sweet-N-Sassy and said with a straight face, knowing that LNPunto was the scheduled hitter, "I think Gardy's gonna pinch-hit Rondell, don't you?"

RD will check his bruised ribs in the morning.

And he'll ask himself whether S-n-S bruised those ribs in response to his question ... or whether they were bruised when he jumped KG-high when Michael Cuddyer, Twin-in-exile, thumped JC's lame offering over the wall for the game-winning homer ... or whether they were bruised by laughing so hard at the Angels defense ... or whether they were bruised in an act of self-flagellation for thinking that Kyle Lohse had grown up and turned a corner after that last start against Oakland.

Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me 20 times, I must be stewwwwwpid.

Yes, it would be nice to do nothing but celebrate, celebrate, celebrate tonight, but RD needs to take a stand: GROW UP, KYLE! The tantrum/pout/sullen boy routine you pulled after your truncated night's work (8 earned runs, 7 hits 3 1/3 innings) was worthy of the rec-ballers RD used to coach in his youth basketball days. But those were 3d and 4th graders and, if things got bad enough, CoachRD could always have a talk with their parents.

You should know better. Nothing you did in your little dugout demonstration was anything more than a big, fat pity-party. You turned a 4-2 lead into an 8-4 deficit with fat pitches and bad command. Maybe this is a bit ol' fashioned, but RD thinks you should have sucked it up, patted some teammates on the a$$ when they came into the dugout at the end of that inning and led cheers for the rest of the night. At the very least, if you were gonna act out, you should have gone into the clubhouse and broken something.

Or, after last season, don't they allow you in the clubhouse unescorted?

Now, back to feeling good. It's so cool to see a team build chemistry by picking up for comrades who don't come through. RD'll bet you his Canterbury fund that the '05Twins would have melted after Justin and T-Phat! didn't come through in the bottom of the ninth. But Lewwwwwwwwwww came through in the way that JustIncredible did on Saturday night against Rivera and the Yankees. Another top closer, another blown save.

And wasn't that a sweet two-out rally in the sixth that brought the score from 9-4 to 9-8? And wasn't it sweet after Francisco Liriano, a/k/a Dominican Thunder, actually gave up a run, to see S. Cheeks Hunter get it back with a homer in the bottom of the inning? And wasn't it sweet to see WillieEyre, PosseLatino and the Vice President hold the Angels to 1 run after the Kyle/Guerrier implosion?

A win today and it's a 7-2 homestand heading into Chicago for three against the Bitch Sox. RD ain't looking past Thursday's game, but El Presidente against Buerhle on Friday night sounds like a reason to stay home.

For now, though, RD needs Advil. His ribs hurt kinda good.