First Pitch: 11:10 pm CT TV: MLBN :(Radio: Go 96.3 FM, TIBNKnow Thine Enemy: Let's Go Tribe Weather: Mostly Sunny, Humid, 84°F
The Twins (43-64) have taken three games this series and hope to take the fourth and gain another game on their division rivals, the Cleveland Indians (60-45). The Twins have won their last four and are a mere 18 games back in this tight race for the AL Central title.
A couple more things about Hector; first, he's an autograph hound and as such, he likes to sign them too. He is said to have signed more autographs than anybody else in the MLB. And finally, he's a frustrated batter. He likes hitting so much, he wants to build a batting cage with a pitching machine in his house. Santiago: "I'll be hitting all day, especially one of those automatic feeders where I don't have to worry about it. I'll just be out there all night. Honestly, if I had a cage in my house right now, I would've hit for three hours."
Twins will be facing rookie Mike Clevinger (RHP, 0-1, 7.71 ERA). Clevinger was called back up from AAA after Danny Salazar was put on the DL. Terry Francona also decided to push Josh Tomlin's start back so he can pitch against the hated yanquis. Clevinger was 11-1 with a 3.00 ERA in Columbus.
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So while I like jokes about the decaying ruins of America's industrial heartland that was once the envy of the world as much as the next guy, I wanted to post a blurb on something good about Cleveland. I'm sure there are things to write about, like Cuyahoga National Park, and The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (A museum seems like the antithesis of rock 'n roll to me, but what do I know?) but I settled on the local hot dog scene again, owing to my lack of originality.
Many Clevelanders can't wait to sink their teeth into a tasty Polish Boy during a game, which is a sandwich, I'm relieved to report.
The Polish Boy is a grilled (finally someone gets it right) kielbasa, stuffed into an over-sized bun, covered with freshly cooked french fries, slathered in barbecue sauce, and topped with coleslaw. It's usually eaten with a knife and fork and wrapped in tin foil to contain the mess. The french fries remind me of the time Burger King tried to rip off my fries-in-a-burger creation I came up with when I was about eight years old (I'll see you in court, Burger King, if you try to steal my every-flavor-of-pop cocktail). The "Memphis-style" kielbasa dog part sounds intriguing though.
*I wrote this part about Santiago before Bryz posted this article so please excuse the superfluous redundancy. I thought about changing it, but I think there's enough differences to justify being lazy not doing that. Plus there's like two people who'll read this and one of you just scrolled down too far from the lineups anyway.