Middle Vegan Relief

Pat Neshek, the young sidearm/submarine pitcher for the Twins, announced that he's adopted a vegan diet and a new workout regimen. He thinks it will give him more stamina over the long season.

I have been plumbing the depths my musty memory to come up with the name of the Minnesota North Star hockey player who stopped eating red meat. It was in 1982, I think (the year after the North Stars went to the Stanley Cup finals). I recall that he faded badly and his coaches and teammates were angry because they were sure his goofy no-meat diet was to blame. Who was that player?

Anyway, I hope Neshek's new diet is a smashing success and becomes the next big thing in major league clubhouses and training rooms. No syringes or underworld liaisons needed.

Witness to History (Twins Baseball edition)

Yesterday, about 30,000 people were in the Dome to witness Johan Santana strike out 17 Texas batters in eight innings. Probably 20,000 of them have blogs and will write a breathless entry about it. I am one of them.

That was indeed something to see. I was there with my oldest son, who is a bigger Twins fan than me and who was keeping score. You can see the score sheet here. We started getting excited after the second inning. Even from our crappy seats (front row by the Twins bullpen -- they are crappy because it's hard to see the plate from there), we could tell Johan was dealing and the Texas batters had no idea how to handle those pitches (except -- damn you, Sammy Sosa). Redmond behind the plate was like a craps player who could do no wrong. Fastball, change-up. Change-up, fastball. Up. Down. In. Out. Simple.

After Cuddyer's solo homer in the second inning, I said to my son "That's probably all the run support Santana will get today." He said "That's probably all he'll need."

The crowd was getting into it, too. In the eighth, Neshek started warming up in the Twins 'pen. My son yelled "Sit down, Neshek!" Santana struck out the side in the eighth, sitting Neshek down.

For you non-Twins fans, you should know that no pitcher in Twins history, not even Aaron Fultz, had struck out more than 15 in a game. That it came in a one-run game made it all the more special.

Wow, Johan. Just wow.