Game XCVII: Twins @ Red Sox

Time: 6:10 (23:10 GMT) Vegas Line: -240 BOS / MIN +220

Weather: Around 82, Maybe Stormies

Opponent SB site: Over The Monster

TV: FSN. Radio: Now Steve Lillywhite's Drunken Mix

Well, as you know, our friends in Boston are proud of their Irish heritage. As well they should be. And every culture has its own traditions for beverage sharing. For people in the Middle East, it's often tea. (Alcohol can actually dehydrate you, not a good idea in water-scarce regions.) For French or Italians, it's wine. For Mormons, lemonade. In Scandinavia, it's a weird thing that tastes like kerosene called "aquavit." Etc., etc.

And for the Irish, it's beer or whiskey. Do they serve whiskey at Fenway?

Grain alcohol is clear. It gets its color, and much of its flavor, from being aged in oak casks (so does brandy.) While the methods of distilling and aging have been perfected for centuries, the science of HOW exactly the oak transmits flavor to your beverage is not 100% known, even today.

So, to better understand it, a distillery sent samples of grain alcohol, with oak, to age for two years. On the International Space Station. BOOZE IN SPACE!

It came back, the distillery's master tasters had a few sips, and it was NASTY. Something about near-zero-gravity screwed up the normal aging process. The whiskey tasted too much like, well, liquid wood.

All interesting data for distillers and chemistry researchers to ponder and pore over. Science and hooch, hand-in-hand. BOOZE IN SPACE!

Gives new meaning to the term "moonshine" ...

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You'll remember David Price as that flamethrowing rookie who helped Tampa Bay make the World Series in 2008 (along with Jason Bartlett, Grant Balfour, Matt Garza, and a timely homer from little-used Coon Rapids native Matt Johnson.) He doesn't near 100 on the gun anymore, and his first few games with the BoSawx were underwhelming, but he's still a crafty devil and can still bring heat. Digits:

Lineups: