Epic Photo: Perhaps they should have just lost to the Tigers

You beat the Detroit Tigers in a thrilling tie-breaker game and then lose the first playoff game to the Yankees 7-2? Surely, you would want to do better than that against the Evil Empire! I'm slightly terrified now.

Twins... Don't give the Yankees any sort of momentum in the playoffs because you've seen the results... large, ham sandwich eating men with XXXXL Derek Jeter jerseys suddenly walking around with a little more pep in their step.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

Photos from last night's epic baseball game

So Minnesota beat Detroit 5-6 in a one-game tiebreaker for the AL Central Division title and a crack at the seemingly invincible New York Yankees. Here are some pictures from that epic battle last night...

I don't mean to be gross here, but I'm pretty sure this is the exact same thing that groupies see at the end of the night.

What do you mean I'm not playing in the World Cup?

"RAWWWRRR!!! Haha scared you! That's what I do. Because I'm big. And scary."

"Man this Riverdance thing really sucks"

"Well now that everyone left, I'll just sprawl out here and take a nap. Times are tough and I just live in the MetroDome now. Has an excellent big screen television"

Many hefty bags were killed in the making of this dome.

"What a minute... you're not Brett Favre... DAMMIT!"

What wasn't caught after this photo was him curling up in a ball, sucking his thumb and refusing to leave the playing field until he was given his orange slices and Capri Sun.

"So I paid this guy 20 bucks to carry me around. Yeah, these unemployed people are all around the place just looking for jobs. They'll do anything."

"Oh Sh**! Hold on guys, I lost a contact. Crap! Nobody move. I lost a contact..."

"Ha! You think you can beat me in this handshake contest. Think again. Your about to give up. You're wincing! You're wincing! Give up? Awww, nooo? Okay we're still going..."

Beuhrle sets major league record, then loses game for White Sox

After pitching a perfect game his last time on the mound, Chicago White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle came out yesterday and retired the first 17 batters for a major league record 45-straight retired batters in a row.

Then the wheels came off.

Buehrle ended up giving up five runs in 6 1/3 innings, and was awarded the pitching loss in a 5-3 defeat to the Twins. And to make matters worse, the setback caused the White Sox to fall into a tie for second place in the AL Central with the Twins.

Talk about a downer.

By the way, Buehrle is only one of 18 pitchers in baseball history to throw a perfect game. More people have orbited the Moon than recorded 27 consecutive outs in a major league baseball game. And they've been keeping stats for over 100 years... making this kind of a big deal.

JustSON the Numbers: Joe Mauer

Even though getting Joe Mauer back from the disabled list has meant a lot of things to the Minnesota Twins, more victories so far hasn't been one of them. Since Mauer has returned to the Twins lineup Minnesota is 12-13 after starting out 11-11.

You can't place much blame on Mauer though. Since his return the Twins are scoring about 6.2 runs per game, compare that with the 4.2 they were scoring when he was out. Obviously since he is the catcher the pitching has suffered right? That would be false, since Mauer's return the Twins have given up 4.8 runs per game, when he was on the disabled list they were giving up 5.3 runs per game.


Mauer made his first appearance of the year on May 1st against Casey's Kansas City Royals. He went 2 for 3 with a double, home run and an RBI. The Twins won the game 7-5. Since that game Mauer hasn't slowed down, he is currently batting .429 with a .519 on base percentage. He has also contributed lots of power with 11 home runs and 31 RBI in just 84 at bats. If his home run total doesn't sound that amazing just remember that this is his 6th year in the Majors and he had only 44 career home runs before this season. Mauer is only 2 home runs shy of tying his single season high of 13 that he set during the 2006 season.

So far this season Mauer has played in 24 games. In 11 of those games he has collected 2 or more hits. Oh yeah and in two of the 24 games he didn't start and came in as a pinch hitter. In those two pinch hitting at bats he went 2 for 2.

I'm hoping for the Twins to get some sort of consistency and start winning some games to put some more pressure on the Royals, just not until Friday when they start a 3 game series against the Tampa Bay Rays in Florida.

Will the jinx continue tonight for Mauer against the Boston Red Sox? Anyone notice what happened to the San Diego Padres last night after I wrote about them and their 10 game winning streak?

If anyone has any requests for this column let us know. I don't discriminate, no matter the sport or the stat.