WE NEED TO FORGET THE ’80S ALREADY: THE OFFICIAL SONGS THAT NEED TO BE PLAYED IN THE XCEL NEXT SEASON

I am so sick of fucking ’80s rock. Every time I walk into a bar some asshat always has to stick a dollar into the jukebox and play “Don’t Stop Believing.” Seriously was that song even popular in the fucking ’80s? Did everyone start singing it when it came on the fucking jukebox? Why is my generation taking the worst parts of other generations and claiming it as our own?

That’s pretty much how I feel about hockey arena music in general. Some places have a decent selection of rock. Some places have certain bands (Rush for Canadians) or genres (country music for Nashville, ugh) that fit well into their region’s shared histories. Their arena’s musical tastes extend and expand from the region they exist in. So why do the Wild, in a state with a long history of talented musicians and a fantastic local independent rock and rap scene, have such a horseshit music selection?

It’s that douchetits who plays Journey every time he walks into the bar. He’s up in the sky box picking terrible music and probably hurling his own feces like some wild ape.

It’s time to change it. Here are a bunch of songs, in no particular order, that the Wild and the Xcel Energy Center staff need to start playing because the ’80s just need to die already.

(Just as a note: always remember a good arena song should have a great intro. Most of the time you’ll only hear the first minute or so before a face off or something so the intro must be very appealing and usually have a good build to it. It’s the reason why Hell’s Bells by AC/DC is the prototype of a great “arena song”)

“Perfect Strangers” by Deep Purple

Remember the example of “Hell’s Bells” as a perfect hockey song? This falls under the same category. Classic rock band that everyone likes with a slow build guitar solo at the beginning. Imagine Koivu’s icy stare across from you when that intro riff hits.

I know. I just shit myself, too. This song is just awesome. I wish I could walk through a plume of smoke into a bar while this song played on the jukebox. Then have pyro go off behind me. That would rock.

“Cochise” by Audioslave

Just start watching the video. Wait for it … FUCK YES! Does this song not rock your nuts and then gently caress them with sweet bass? Yes it does. Want proof? PYRO. Pyrotechnics make everything better. This follows the same formula as “Hell’s Bells” yet again. Slow building guitar intro. Perfect for face-offs.

“Subterranean Homesick Blues” by Bob Dylan

I’m sure I don’t even need to write anything here. The fact we don’t hear more Dylan at Wild games would piss any good Minnesotan off.

“Musicology” by Prince

Speaking of great musicians from the great state of Minnesnowta comes the last person to have a good halftime show at the Super Bowl: The Artist Currently Known as Prince. The song starts at about 30 seconds in with a very recognizable OOOoooooooohhh. Prince just kicks ass. This is one of his lesser known pieces but would be a great song to keep people pumped up during commercial breaks. It can’t be all rock all the time, we need a bit of funk as well. Minnesota loves Prince.

“Take Me Home” by Brother Ali

Remember when I said Minnesota had a great independent rap scene? Well this song is pretty fucking awesome. Rap isn’t really my genre of choice so I’m sure there are hundreds of great artists who could play there. This is just a taste.

I’d love to hear this when an opponent is penalized and is skating to to box all of the sudden the beat hits and everyone in the arena is dancing. Hard knock life, yo.

Fuck, I’m so white.

“Lonely Boy” by The Black Keys

We’ll stop the Minnesota love fest for a bit and bring in a couple of tracks that are, like, contemporary. That word is foreign to most music guys in the NHL (excluding the New York and L.A. teams). It means music that was made very recently. Maybe even in the last year or so. Fucking madness, I know. This is a great song with a great intro. Perfect for face-offs.

“Look Around” by Red Hot Chili Peppers

Maybe a personal selection here because I’ve always been a big fan of the Chili Peppers. There’s just something so universal about them. Catchy intro and just a fun song. Added bonus is it gets to the chorus in less than a minute, meaning if you play it at the start of a face-off it’ll likely get to the chorus. I hate when they cut the song just before the chorus. It’s such a cock tease. STOP THAT SHIT.

“Heroes” by David Bowie

Have you ever played NHL 99? If you have, you know exactly why this is here. If you don’t, educate yourself:

I still hear “GREAT SAVE JOSEPH” every time this song plays. This is the greatest sports game intro of all time. There is no debate. Great face-off song to boot. Whoever made that intro was obviously fired because EA Sports’ quality has slipped ever since.

“Closing Time” by Semisonic

You know how I despise “Don’t Stop Believing”? Well I don’t hate the idea of it. The idea of a good song everyone can sing together to at the end of a game. “Don’t Stop Believing” is Detroit’s version of that type of song (because of that one fucking “SOUTH DETROIT” lyric) that they can sing in unison at the end of a good victory. Well, after extensive “research” at a bar, “Closing Time” falls under the same category for the Wild but is vastly superior to previous in many ways:

1. It’s a much better song
2. It’s from a Minnesotan band
3. Semisonic were one-hit wonders so they don’t have a decade of shitty music in their back catalog
4. Minnesotans are all alcoholics at heart

Imagine a 4-1 lead over Dallas and this comes on with a minute to go in the 3rd period. GOOSEBUMPS.

The Minnesota Wild Anthem

Another great sing-along song. Unfortunately this has the same stigma that “Skol Vikings” has. It never gets played even though it should be played at EVERY FUCKING GAME.

IN THE STATE, THE STATE OF HOCKEY!

So there we go, 10 songs the Xcel should start playing come October.

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Plenty of fun from me in the coming weeks. We’ll talk about what the Wild need to do in the offseason, probably have a post draft podcast with Rust, check in with B-easy stoned as hell at a Culver’s, have some fun with Jesus “Ricky Rubio” Christ, our lord and basketball savior, and delve deep into the twisted mess that is trying to build an NFL stadium in this state.

PUTTIN’ UP POINTS: WOLVES END ANOTHER CHAPTER IN THEIR DIVINE COMEDY WITH 29-POINT LOSS TO DENVER

NUGGETS (38-28) 131, WOLVES (26-40) 102

BOX SCORE — AP RECAP — STRIB RECAP — ADELMAN’S THOUGHTS — HIGHLIGHTS

Obviously, there’s little reason to recap a 29-point blowout loss in a season finale, so I won’t. I pretty much just want to tell you that I’ll be doing a “season in review” blog post that I will likely be putting out sometime next week. It’ll have a player-by-player critique, team awards, plans for the offseason and maybe some other goodies.

One thing of note from Thursday’s loss: It was Brad Miller’s final NBA game. Remember early last week when the Brad returned to play in his home state for the final time and the Wolves fell behind the Indiana Pacers 64-30 on their way to a 23-point loss? Well, apparently his teammates get a little too worked up when Brad has an emotional game because they totally sucked again Thursday, losing to the Denver Nuggets by 29 and giving up 131 freaking points. Nice send off, guys.

Brad got pretty emotional when he came out of the game for the last time and was embraced by his teammates, then had a bit of a hard time controlling his emotions while answering questions from the media after the game. “I’ve been playing for 30 years, so when it’s time, it’s time. And my body ain’t worth a shit anymore, but I still got heart, and that’s what’s going to make it hard,” Miller said of his retirement.

Another Timberwolf possibly played the final game of his NBA career Thursday. Well, he didn’t actually play because of a “strained right hamstring”, but Thursday was likely the final time Darko Milicic will view a game at Target Center, at least until the night the Wolves retire his jersey. I kid.

In all seriousness, Darko will probably never play another NBA game, but nobody thought twice about giving him a heartwarming sendoff. He’s the anti-Miller in that his body is actually worth a shit, but he’s got no heart. The Divine Comedy: Darko’s Inferno has been a depressing tale, but one that his Timberwolves teammates should take heed of. J.J. Barea called out some of his teammates after the Wolves gave up a 21-point lead and lost to the Warriors Sunday, saying “We’ve got a lot of guys that don’t care. … We’re just going to keep getting L’s until we get players here that care.”

It’s obvious that some guys don’t care. Adelman, his staff and his players who do care need to figure out a way a way to get through to those other guys, and if they can’t, the Wolves will just have to let those guys loose.

Instead of “Puttin’ Up Points” like I usually do, I’ll put up a few questions and you can answer them in the comments section if you’d like.

• Which players do care and should be retained by the team? (Obviously Kevin Love, Ricky Rubio and Nikola Pekovic would be in the mix here, but who else?)

• Which players don’t care, but shouldn’t be given up on just yet?

• Which players don’t care and should be traded, bought out or not offered a new contract?

THE DAY THE VIKINGS ACED THE DRAFT

Yes, I used A Nightmare Before Christmas to show what I thought of the Vikings’ draft. Just like A Nightmare Before Christmas, a great Vikings’ draft is a cult classic that is hard to find.

That video is exactly how I felt about the Vikings’ first day of the NFL Draft. I was shocked and stunned in a great way. What’s this? An actual first round that didn’t end in a groan or wondering “at what cost?” The Vikings actually gained draft picks and enough leverage to move back into the first round to fill…another need.

Needless to say I was happy the Vikings were able to not only snag Matt Kalil, but trick the Browns into giving up late round draft picks to move one spot up. Apparently the Browns thought some teams were hot after Trent Richardson and they wanted him enough to give up a fourth-, fifth- and seventh-round pick.

I do wonder if the Browns were the only team that offered, or just how poor the other offers were because you would think the Vikings would have jumped at a third- or second-round pick to move back from rumored Tampa Bay or the New York Jets. Seems like Rick Spielman might have been playing mind games. Well done.

Plus, that allowed Minnesota to easily select Matt Kalil, a big left tackle the Vikings desperately needed. Having Kalil can help make Christian Ponder more than just a tackling dummy with a weak arm and suspect accuracy. Now he is young quarterback with a weak arm and suspect accuracy. Kalil is also a very good run blocker, something Adrian Peterson and Toby Gerhart did not get to see too much of last year. Kalil fills a big hole right away.

The extra draft picks allow the Vikings to gain some much-needed depth. I am not naive. With the Vikings’ track record of drafting, I do not assume Spielman will keep this up and draft all starters.

Granted, Spielman did trade the team’s second-round pick and one of the four fourth-round picks Minnesota had to move back into the first round to pick up safety Harrison Smith from Notre Dame.

I am not mad at all with what Spielman did to get Smith. I wanted to be, but I just could not be. Smith is basically a second-round pick taken a little early and fills a HUGE hole at safety. Plus, Minnesota still has three more fourth-round picks and a third-round pick.

Smith is an undersized linebacker that can cover, so I really like this pick. He kind of reminds me of Robert Griffith, who was a major fan favorite for years. He can be that good in Minnesota’s system.

Of course, I say all this when I am not even half as enamored with Smith as Spielman is. It is no secret he loves Notre Dame players. He extended center John Sullivan even though he is one of the worst centers in the NFL. He drafted Kyle Rudolph last year, who I hope Minnesota uses a lot this year. The major signing in the offseason has been John Carlson, who was a tight end for Brady Quinn at Notre Dame. I am actually surprised he did not sign Quinn in the offseason to be the third-string or backup quarterback.

Granted, he hit on Rudolph and I am thinking he hit on Smith, so I can not really blame him right now. OK, I can blame him for Sullivan.

Now comes Day 2 and Minnesota just has one pick in the third round, but it was well worth it. Plus the Vikings have enough ammo to move up into the third round or second round to add another potential impact player since there are plenty out there.

CB Janoris Jenkins, WR Alshon Jeffery, CB Trumaine Johnson, WR Ryan Broyles and G Kelechi Osemel (OK, I just wanted to slip an Iowa State player in there) are all out there that could be big-time impact players for Minnesota starting this year.

Looking back at this first round and comparing it to past years, this is the best first round since Minnesota drafted Adrian Peterson in 2007. The last time Minnesota had two draft picks in the first round, the Vikings selected Troy Williamson and Erasmus James in 2005. I can confidently say these were two way better selections than that.

This actually has to be the best draft since 1994 when Minnesota drafted Dwayne Washington and Todd Stuessie. Washington could be a headache but he was a decent cornerback, and despite his many, many, many false starts, Stuessie was a Pro-Bowl guard.

Of course, there was the two-draft pick year when Daunte Culpepper got drafted in 1999, but the other pick was Dimitrius Underwood.

Well, for once I have to compliment Spielman on what could potentially be one of the best first rounds in Minnesota history. Hopefully he can keep this momentum rolling because there is a lot of talent in this draft and it is deep.

Granted, if he does too well he could take Minnesota out of the “Blow for Barkley” sweepstakes for next year.

PITCHING THE POINTS: TWINS USING SNOT AND CRISCO AS PITCHING METHODS

It’s official, Eddie Harris from Major League has become the pitching coach of the Minnesota Twins.

Question? How do you revive the Red Sox, who are missing their top two outfielders and feuding with their manager while having trouble pitching?

Answer: The Minnesota Twins bring in their pitchers for batting practice, namely Jason Marquis, Nick Blackburn and Liam Hendriks.

If there are three pitchers that identify with Eddie Harris’ character from Major League, it is these three. They literally have no out pitch, and even the pitches they have are less than mediocre to even get them to two strikes. The Red Sox bats came alive against the Twins’ starters and pounded out 24 total runs against Minnesota’s staff.

The Twins’ pitching history over the past decade is to draft pitchers who have great command but average stuff, and that is biting them hard right. Until the Twins decide to start adding some Wild Things to the rotation or to the pitching staff, they will continue to get knocked around.

Yeah, I realize how short these points were. This series just killed me because the Red Sox pitching staff was ripe for the taking and the Twins got to it. But a late blown game by Matt Capps (shocker right?) and awful starts by Blackburn and Hendriks cost Minnesota. The Twins tried to make a comeback in the final game, but Hendriks just allowed too many runs.

Ugh, just ugh.

• Ben Revere came back up for the Twins with Josh Willingham going on paternity leave. He went 2-for-5 with two runs scored on Wednesday. The Twins have made no commitment to him after Willingham comes back, but with Clete Thomas being awful, I do not know why the Twins would not just stick Revere in right already.

• Alexi Casilla raised his average to .271 after a 3-for-4 game on Wednesday. That might have bought him another week as the starting second baseman. Brian Dozier is batting .290 in Triple-A right now and he is a prototypical Ron Gardenhire player, which means is he a slightly better version of Matt Tolbert.

• Eddie Rosario is being moved to second base. Yes, I realize most of you do not know who Rosario is, but he was formerly the center fielder for the Twins’ low-A team, the Beloit Snappers. He is 20, has a lot of potential and is an athlete. He is the Twins’ second fielder for the future. This is great news.

• Also, Kyle Gibson hopes to return from Tommy John surgery and pitch in the minors by the end of the year. He is the one Twins pitcher in the minors who has more “Wild Thing” stuff than “Eddie Harris” stuff.

The Vikings had a good Day 1 of the NFL draft, so I am less concerned about the Twins right now. The Royals are up next in the battle of two of the worst teams in the majors. Maybe the Twins can get lucky? Or at least out-hit bad pitching?

Always feel free to leave your comments.

VIKINGS DRAFT DAY, A WAY TO GET A MAN TO FAINT

Yeah, I am man enough to admit that I almost fainted when I heard the pick called last year and Christian Ponder’s name was uttered by Commissioner Roger Goodell.

I was stunned and I swear I lost feeling in my legs. I dropped to the ground. I could not believe the team I had followed all my life made one of the worst draft picks in the history of the NFL.

Seriously, look at Jon Gruden. He is LAUGHING at the pick on LIVE television and he is in the MIDDLE of the shot! Granted, he said he loved it, but when has Gruden not loved everything? You know he is just saying that to hurt Vikings fans’ feelings. The whole crowd just screams “NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!” Was I really out of line, because I did what every Vikings fan did.

It was an unbelievable stretch for the Vikings and they went all the way with it. Christian Ponder had no business being drafted in the first round, let alone with the No. 12 pick.

Yes, the Vikings needed a quarterback, but couldn’t they just move back into the late, late first round to get Andy Dalton? Nope, they had to absolutely reach for Ponder.

Let’s put this in perspective. The Vikings drafted Ponder ahead of Nick Farley, a menacing defensive tackle from Auburn. Yes, I realized he had an injury-riddled rookie year, but he would be a great potential guy to stick by Kevin Williams and fill the Pat Williams void.

After Farley, there was offensive tackle Nate Solder from Colorado, who is just massive. He would’ve been a great fit at right tackle for the Vikings last year. Heck, he would have been a lot better at left tackle than Charles Johnson. Solder was just a little raw, but he seemed to be a great fit for the Patriots.

There were other picks, too, that were below Farley and Solder, but I feel both of those picks were SOOOOOOOO much better than Ponder. I could have lived with a year of Matt Hasselbeck over Ponder with those two as one of the picks instead, or especially with Andy Dalton.

But enough with how the Vikings crushed me last year, it is on to this year. Heck, the Vikings are on the clock already since the Colts announced they are drafting Andrew Luck and the Redskins are taking Robert Griffin III. So it is a good thing Minnesota is on the clock because they can not possibly miss the pick again, right?

Really? Really? On the world wide web I cannot find a single video of the Vikings getting berated by that idiot Chris Berman for being skipped for taking too long with the 2003 draft pick. Yes, that does not matter since Kevin Williams was a great pick, but come on.

So, who do the Vikings take with the No. 3 pick? Well, it seems like USC left tackle Matt Kalil would be the obviously choice, but since the Vikings are being led by a crazy man, the choice is not so obvious.

Ok, I get the allure of Morris Claiborne or Justin Blackmon, the LSU cornerback and Oklahoma State wide receiver, respectively. In a move of horrible drafting and just a really bad job in free agency, the Vikings have absolutely glaring needs at each position.

But since the Vikings do have Percy Harvin and the newly-signed Sam Hurd-wannabe Jerome Simpson, the Vikings are actually better at wide receiver than they are at the other two positions, for as pathetic as it sounds. Then with Antoine Winfield and Chris Carr (yeah, I am getting just as depressed as you), Minnesota is better at cornerback than at tackle, which is nobody and Phil Loadholt. Yes, literally a nobody right now with Johnson moving to guard because he was THAT BAD.

Now, the possibility is out there that Minnesota could move down with a trade, and I am absolutely for that. So hey, Miami, feel free to toss up an extra draft pick or three for the services of Christian Ponder..errr..Ryan Tannehill. Actually, Tannehill has a lot more upside than Ponder.

Why do I support the move down? Well, because Kalil could still be there at No. 8 and if not, Riley Reiff is right there. Granted, he might be a bit raw for left tackle, but look how seasoned Johnson was and he got roasted more than a pig with an apple in its mouth.

So, basically the choice is a left tackle, right? I mean, it’s Kalil or trade down and take Kalil, if he is still there, or Reiff? How could this go wrong?

Wait, it is a Minnesota team, so anything can go wrong.

Yes, that is really the only insight I have to this. I am not going to dive deeper other than saying the Vikings have been god-awful in the draft the last few years, especially in the later rounds. Plus, this pick has been talked about so much on ESPN and all of the other non-world wide leaders, I will be rehashing what I hear from Trey Wingo and Bill Polian every day.

Instead of listing safety Harrison Smith, wide receiver Alshon Jeffery or a cornerback in the second round, I will just say plug holes after that.

I will recap the draft when it is all over, as long as I am around and Spielman does not stun me to death.

PUTTIN’ UP POINTS: BAREA CALLS OUT T-WOLVES TEAMMATES AFTER MINNESOTA BLOWS BIG LEAD TO GOLDEN STATE’S SCRUBS

WARRIORS (24-41) 93, WOLVES (26-39) 88

BOX SCORE — AP RECAP — STRIB RECAP

Inexperience and injuries have been the Minnesota Timberwolves’ two main excuses for struggling throughout the season. They’re not bad excuses. The team is young and has been hit harder by the injury bug than most other squads. There are, however, no excuses for what transpired Sunday night inside Target Center.

Minnesota built a 21-point lead in the second quarter against a Golden State Warriors team that was missing Stephen Curry, David Lee, Andrew Bogut, Dorell Wright and Nate Robinson. The Wolves were up 55-39 at halftime, then made 10 of 40 shots in the second half and were overtaken by the Warriors’ JV team.

No excuses.

The Warriors’ starting lineup consisted of Richard Jefferson and basically four rookies. And not just rookies, but mostly no-name rookies. Minnesota fans know who Charles Jenkins is because he already torched the team once before, but I’m guessing few other fans in the league know who this guy is. Then we have Mickell Gladness and Jeremy Tyler as the team’s two starting bigs. Tell me where those two guys went to college? Trick question. Tyler didn’t go to college and and Gladness went undrafted out of Alabama A&M (obviously). Klay Thompson, yeah, he’s a stud. Other than him and Brandon Rush off the bench, it’s basically all scrubs.

Normally, it wouldn’t be all too jarring to see the Timberwolves squander and 21-point lead and blow a game, and they weren’t exactly trotting out a bunch of All-Stars either with Kevin Love, Ricky Rubio and Luke Ridnour all done for the season. Still, people have heard of the players on Minnesota’s roster. They haven’t heard a lot of good things about those players, but they have heard of them. The Wolves were coming off a win over Detroit in which they snapped a 27-game losing streak in April. They were looking to continue to build on the positive momentum over their final two games. Instead, they totally embarrassed themselves and possibly caused some locker room strife.

Veteran guard J.J. Barea’s pent up frustration boiled over after the game when he was talking to reporters and he let out probably the only quote I’ve seen from a T-Wolf calling out his teammates this season.

We’ve got problems here. We have a lot of guys that don’t care. On a basketball team, when you have a bunch of guys who don’t care, it’s tough to win games. We’re going to keep getting [losses] here until we get players that care about winning, about the team, about the fans. – J.J. Barea via the STrib game recap.

Barea basically said what most Timberwolves fans have thought for a while. Other than the lack of talent, a lack of fire and passion has seemed to prevent this team from winning games at times. But was it right for Barea to call out his teammates through the media? Part of the reason he was signed in the offseason was to bring in some veteran leadership and his championship experience. Is this what a leader is supposed to do?

Honestly, it doesn’t really matter how his teammates react. The Wolves are going to lose their season finale to the Nuggets on Thursday, then head into an offseason where the organization will likely shed about half of its roster. With a new-look team, hopefully Barea won’t have anything to complain about next season.

Points:

• Martell Webster made 4 of 5 shots in the first quarter, including three three-pointers. He scored seven points the rest of the game, which doesn’t sound like much, but he only averages 6.8 points per game. You can’t complain when you get 18 points from Martell.

• Barea finished with a decent stat line of 14 points and 12 assists, but he missed 13 of his 18 shots. He probably fell a little too in love with the three-point shot, finishing 2 of 9 from long range.

• Nikola Pekovic had a solid game with 19 points and 16 boards, but what I’ll remember about Pek in this game was him getting totally dwarfed by a BIG (7-foot-8) T-Wolves fan in a pregame photo opportunity.

• Hey look, Mikki Moore is back in the league! Since I’m originally from Nebraska and Mikki is one of the few Nebraska Huskers we’ve seen make it in the NBA, I feel I should have known this sooner. He wasn’t on a squad last year and was picked up by the Warriors midway through April to help the team’s depleted roster. He scored three points in 24 minutes off the bench on Sunday, but was a plus-19. Good for him.

• One more game, guys. We’re gonna get through this.

PITCHING THE POINTS: RAYS USE MAJOR LEAGUE ROTATION TO BEAT TWINS’ TRIPLE-A STAFF

OK, OK, I missed the points for the Twins’ series against New York. They split, which surprised me, but what did not surprise me was C.C. Sabathia was the best pitcher in the series with Carl Pavano coming in a distant second. The Yankees’ staff is still just above average, as well. However, Granderson is a monster. The Twins hit Freddy Garcia, who sucks, and Hideki Kuroda, who did not hit is spots, and got wins because of it. So a positive 2-2 split.

Now on to the Rays for the weekend as the Twins, now 5-11, dropped two games out of three, and that did not surprise me. The only surprising thing is that Matt Moore has not pitched well this season and did not pitch well against the Twins and they took advantage. That is how they won their only game of the series.

After that, James Shields and Jeff Niemann owned the Twins. Shields had a great year last year and looks like he is on his way to it again. I saw him during a series in the opening season at Target Field. He struggled that year but still owned the Twins like he did on Saturday. The Twins struggled to hit Shields then, and they are still struggling.

Niemann has his moments and has a low WHIP for the year despite an ERA that worked its way down closer to 4.00 after the game against the Twins. Niemann is not a strikeout guy, though but he owned the Twins. So while Niemann is not awful, the Twins’ offense did him a lot of favors, especially Clete Thomas.

Even if Niemann is not a strikeout artist, he would still be the No. 1 or No. 2 pitcher for the Twins. Pavano is really all the Twins have right now and he is showing his age a bit. Granted he is doing all he can for the Twins, the offense just did nothing to help him out. After Pavano, it is a bunch of pitchers who are just not major league-caliber pitchers, including Francisco Liriano.

This comes on a weekend when Philip Humber, who was part of the Johan Santana trade, threw his perfect game and is having another successful season with the Chicago White Sox. Then Kyle Lohse improved to 2-0 for the Cardinals and Matt Garza is the only bright spot for the Cubs. Grant Balfour is closing for the Oakland A’s, while the Twins struggle to find any consistency pitching.

I think this shows it is time for Rick Anderson to go. Pitchers are not improving under him, they only continue to get worse and he has lost his touch. Liriano has basically been the most hittable Twins’ pitcher since LaTroy Hawkins was brought up to the rotation as a rookie. Nick Blackburn is a No. 5 guy at best that somehow gets the No. 3 spot for the Twins every year. Liam Hendriks was the 2011 Twins’ minor league pitcher of the year in a system that was void of any talent after Kyle Gibson went down with Tommy John surgery. The Twins have even mostly given up on Anthony Swarzak, and Jason Marquis is just a veteran version of a batting practice pitcher.

Anderson has not been able to work with a rotation in at least three years as the cracks have continued to get worse. His system is outdated and while most pitching staffs get better in the post-steroids era, the Twins’ staff only gets worse.

• Liriano continues to just be awful. He threw a no-hitter last year and mid-way through the season I think he announced his retirement, or at least he has been pitching that way.
• Nick Blackburn will start this week and Swarzak will go back to the bullpen. This should make the bullpen better? I’m Ron Burgundy?

• I know this happened in the Yankees series, but I like Josh Willingham splitting up Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau with a leftie-rightie-leftie line-up in the middle now. Morneau has been up and down and Willingham has been the hotter bat lately, but it is nice to have two sluggers in the lineup
• Clete Thomas, the hero once the Twins got him, is batting a mighty .190 after striking out THREE times on Sunday. He had one hit, which actually raised his average. I have no idea how he is in the majors and Ben Revere is in the minors.

I am too frustrated by Minnesota sports to go on. The Vikings are closer to moving, I am becoming more and more worried about the draft and the Wolves, who have just totally blown to end the year because of injuries.

At least Boston is coming to town. Wonder if Bobby Valentine still thinks the Japan League is just as talented as the MLB since he can’t mix and match a lineup like in Japan and is getting killed by it. Yeah, let’s make Alfredo Aceves the backup closer with Andrew Bailey going down. Just wow, he is not a good evaluator of MLB talent.

Maybe the Twins can catch a break here and win the series against the reeling Red Sox.