Tonight we commence a three-game set against the Astros and we get something old and something new. The something old is Joe Mauer, returning to the team after a minor league rehab assignment in Cedar Rapids stemming from an injury to his right oblique. Mauer had a 12-game hitting streak going before the injury.
The something new is starting pitcher Tommy Milone, acquired from Oakland for Sam Fuld just before the non-waiver trade deadline. Milone this year sports a 3.55 ERA and is giving up just 8.5 hits per 9 innings, which are career high marks in both categories. Unfortunately, his strikeout rate has declined from 7.3 to 5.7/9 innings, but he is still posting a 1.215 WHIP, the lowest of his career so far. Houston counters with Brad Peacock, who has amassed a 16.00 ERA in his last three games. That compares to a 3.71 ERA over his first 11 starts this year for the 26-year old righthander. Play ball!
RIP, Tony Gwynn. I quit smoking several years ago, and I quit chew about five minutes after my first dip of Skoal. Play ball!
Start time at 6:07 p.m.? That better be a cash grab first pitch time like the Pale Hosers 7:11 sponsorship deal, because otherwise it makes no sense. Unless it's a metric thing...
When I was growing up, Memorial Day had nothing to do with mattress sales and used car blowouts. My brothers and I would get up in the morning, put on our uniforms and pedal our bikes to Memorial Park, where a 100-foot tall limestone obelisk marks the reburial spot of some 1200 pioneers and soldiers who died defending the village and fort from attack during the American Indian Wars in the 1790s. My older brothers would meet up with their Boy Scout troop and I would go with my Cub Scout pack and we would march in the parade. The women lining the street wore knee-length summer dresses and stylish little hats, and many of the men in shirtsleeves wore neckties. When the parade ended at the Wabash River bridge downtown, the mayor would make a short speech and the honor guard from the American Legion post would lay a memorial wreath in the river and fire a salute with white rifles to those who had sacrificed their lives in duty to country. After the parade it was off to the town park for the Jaycees' barbecue chicken dinner and an afternoon of Legion baseball games. I don't know if it gets any more American than that.
