The Twins acquired Delmon Young from the Tampa Bay base ball club in a trade, giving up Matt Garza and some other dudes.
<--- As Photoshop hats go, that's not a bad one.
Delmon was born in Alabama and played some college ball in Arizona. In honor of Mr. Young's joining the Twins, I was all prepared to write something about the food in Alabama or Arizona (to continue uninterrupted the "Food and Place" series). Then I realized that I don't know anything about the food in Alabama or Arizona. Never been to Arizona. Been to Alabama just once but don't remember anything about eating there.
Dothan, Alabama, is the county seat of Houston County, which is in the southeasternmost corner of the state. (Hey, Houston County, Minnesota, is also in the southeasternmost corner of the state! Strange.) I visited the Houston County, Alabama, jail one day on a consulting job. I recall the red clay of the countryside, the extreme quiet of Dothan, and little else. The small group I was with was supposed to help Houston County decide whether to build a new jail (they'd asked for some federal money for a new jail) and, if so, how big it shoud be. I have no idea what, if anything, Houston County did with our report or your federal tax dollars.
Anyway, I hope Delmon enjoys being a Twin and I hope he can contribute lots of extra-base hits to what is a pretty anemic offense. And remember, Delmon, umpires are people, too.
Matty Garza was fun to watch and gave us Twins fans an excuse to drink Sierra Nevada ale (brewed in Matty's home town of Chico, CA). Jason Bartlett was also included in the trade. I never got excited about Mr. Bartlett. In fact, his nickname in our house was Yawn.
Torii Hunter goofed around with a Rally Monkey at his news conference in LA yesterday. Take the money, Torii, and enjoy life with the Greater Los Angeles Metropolitan Area Angels, but please do not adopt a Rally Monkey. They're creepy.
