Jimmy Traina is on fi-ya with the awkward music videos from Major League Baseball teams this week, and today's group of ballers on the mic are the Minnesota Twins. While this video doesn't touch yesterday's Oriole Magic! number, it is worth noting that anytime you get to see Boof Bonser sing "I paint cor-ners of the dish", you've already done a good day's work.



I wonder how many times it took to actually take this vid. Because too many cymbal smashings can't be considered good for your elbow.

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups

Chicago Cubs (24-16) vs. San Diego Padres (15-26) - 2:20PM Est.

There are thirteen games on the schedule today in baseball, and nine of them are going to be played under the sun, the way the baseball gods intended it to be. So I figure I may as well feature the team that plays more day games than anybody else in baseball, the Chicago Cubs.

The Cubs offense has been mashing the ball all season long, and now Alfonso Soriano has finally joined in on the fun, as he's homered in three straight games (leading off the last two). Soriano is hitting .487 on the current 10-game homestand for the Cubs, a homestand that Chicago is off to a 5-1 start on.

Today will also mark the debut of Jim Edmonds in a Cubs uniform, as what most Cubs fans would surely consider a sign of the apocalypse becomes reality today. Why the Cubs would need Edmonds, I don't know, but they got him.

It seems like Livan Hernandez has been around forever, as that 1997 World Series MVP award of his seems like an ancient memory. It's just hard to believe that Livan is only 33 years old (at least we're told he is, E:60 is still working on finding out the truth). He's also been a pleasant surprise for the Twins this season, because even though Minnesota knew he would eat up innings, I don't think they were expecting him to get off to a 6-1 start.

I'm not sure Livan was expecting to adapt to the American League so well, either, and he's feeling so good about himself right now that he wants to pitch around eight more years.

"I'm going to try for eight more years," he said.

"And if I get a chance to continue after that, I would like to, if I can still get people out," he said. "My family (in Miami) would kill me, though. Everybody there misses me."

I wouldn't doubt that Livan will have the durability to do exactly that. The last time he made less than 30 starts in a season was that 1997 season, when he didn't join the Marlins rotation until halfway through the year. Of course, I think the Twins would be happy if he just continues to throw the way he has this season for another five months, and they can worry about the future after that.

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing matchups

Cincinnati Reds (15-23) vs. Florida Marlins (23-14) 7:10PM Est.

Quick, without looking it up, who has the best record in baseball right now? Did you say the Diamondbacks? Close, you were right up until yesterday, but getting swept by the Cubs knocked them off the top of the mountain. The Red Sox? Good choice, they are the defending champs after all, but even though they have the best record in the American League, they aren't the best in baseball.

No, that honor somehow belongs to the Florida Marlins, who have managed to win their last 7 games and are currently an MLB-best 23-14.

Just what the hell is going on here?

I was watching the Twins and White Sox last Thursday when Pat Neshek hurt his elbow. It came the way you never want to see a pitcher get hurt (save for maybe a line drive off their head): Just throwing a pitch. Neshek has always had one of the oddest deliveries I've ever seen from a pitcher, and it has the kind of spastic motions where I felt it was only a matter of time before something went wrong.

Well, when Neshek threw a slider during the 8th inning of the game on Thursday, something went wrong. Neshek immediately clutched at his elbow, and was walking off the field shortly after. The injury is as bad as it looked, as Neshek won't be pitching again this season.

Neshek will not be allowed to throw for a minimum of three months, which means the injury has effectively ended his season. But he said he won't need surgery.

The ulnar collateral ligament is the same ligament that pitchers have repaired when they undergo Tommy John replacement surgery.

"Obviously it's really bad, but it's good I can come back and rehab this and not have to go through surgery and sit out for a good year," Neshek said after Friday's game, his arm fully wrapped.

Neshek's loss is a big on for the Twins bullpen, as they'll now need to find somebody else to get the ball to Joe Nathan. Jesse Crain and Matt Guerrier will probably take over Pat's spot in eighth inning.

There was no word on how the injury will affect Pat's blogging.

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups.

Cincinnati Reds (14-21) at New York Mets (17-15) - 1:10 PM ET and 7:30 PM ET

Yesterday, we brought you the news that the Mets might be re-evaluating Willie Randolph's job status very closely over the next month. Well let the re-evaluating start today, with a doubleheader against the Cincinnati Reds. The Mets just came from a road trip against N.L. West powerhouses Arizona and Los Angeles and broke even on the six game trip. That's impressive. But the Mets under Randolph have historically been the type of team that could break even or better against the good teams on the road, then turn around to a seemingly easier homestand and do no better than break even there too. The Mets now have seven at home against the Reds and Nationals starting today, and anything less than five wins will more than likely turn the heat up on Randolph ... especially going into the series against the Yankees immediately following, where everything is magnified to the hilt anyway. So let the Willie Watch begin.

As I mentioned in a post here at FanHouse last week, Carlos Gomez is quickly becoming one of my favorite players in all of baseball to watch. Even when he's tearing my favorite team up, as he did last night against the White Sox, I still enjoy just watching him play baseball.

On Wednesday night, Carlos became the first Minnesota Twin to hit for the cycle since Kirby Puckett did it in 1986, which is fitting since Carlos may be the most exciting Twin since Kirby. Not to mention, he's also incredibly considerate.

After leading off the game with a home run off of Mark Buehrle, Gomez's home run trot around the bases was faster than half the players in the league can sprint full speed. Why'd he do it? Well, after a nearly two-hour rain delay before the game started he didn't want to waste any more time. "The game today started too late. I say, 'Let me run the bases quick so the game goes fast.' "

Gomez completed his cycle in reverse order, following that first inning homer by tripling in the fifth, doubling in the sixth, and finishing it all off with an infield-single in the ninth. He also managed to score two runs and drive in three others.

He's doing all of this, and his coaches will tell you that at 22-years old, he's still learning the game. Imagine what he's going to be capable of once he actually knows what he's doing.

When you hear about a guy going 8 1/3 innings without giving up a single hit, it's usually safe to assume he had a pretty good night, right? Maybe most of the time, but not always. Here's Twins beat reporter La Velle E Neal III in his blog for the Star Tribune on what he saw:

If Gavin Floyd had pulled off a no-no against the Twins on Tuesday it would have been the sloppiest, most unjust no-hitter that I can remember.

Floyd was far from overpowering. In fact, I sent Joe C. a text message around the fourth inning remarking how Floyd couldn't get ANY breaking pitches or his change up, over for strikes. I was convinced that the Twins would sit on the fastball and start pounding him. [...] The Twins should have hit this guy. I know its easy for me to write that from my position but geez....

(Joe C., for those non-Twins fans reading this, is Joe Christensen, a fellow reporter for the Star Tribune.) Looking at the box score, Floyd walked only three guys while throwing 62 strikes in 105 pitches, so either he was getting more of the plate than Neal is giving him credit for or the Twins will swing at anything (which is more or less an organizational philosophy).

In any case, even if Floyd doesn't have complete command of his pitches, it's hard to deny that he's at least been (very) effectively wild. This is the second time that he's thrown at least 7 1/3 innings without a hit, and on the year he has a paltry 2.50 ERA while allowing batters to hit just .149.

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups

Toronto Blue Jays (16-17) vs. Tampa Bay Rays (16-15) - 7:07PM Est.

It's been a few weeks since the Blue Jays cut themselves loose of slugger Frank Thomas because he just wasn't contributing anything on offense for them. Since that move, the Blue Jays still haven't scored very many runs, pushing only 37 runners across the plate in the 14 post-Thomas era games. Generally when you're only scoring 2.6 runs a game, you aren't going to win much, and the Blue Jays haven't going 6-8 in those games.

Over the last few days, though, Toronto has figured out how to win without scoring runs, and that's just not letting your opponent score any either.

It's pretty much become a fact of life when it comes to baseball. Every spring as the country prepares for the new baseball season to start, there's word that this will finally be the year that the Minnesota Twins crash back to earth, and finish towards the bottom of the AL Central. I know I've been guilty of it a few times, as I think I've predicted the Twins downfall the last three or four seasons.

Then they usually end up finishing on top of the AL Central, or near it, and are generally always in contention for a playoff spot come September. After finishing last season with a 79-83 record, their first sub-.500 mark in eight years, they lost their ace pitcher and their gold glove centerfielder. Surely 2008 would see the Twins plummet even further below .500, and have them competing with the Royals for fourth place, right?

Nope. After finishing a sweep of the Tigers on Sunday, the Twins completed a five-game homestand against division rivals Detroit and the White Sox with a 5-0 record. As a result, they now find themselves alone on top of the Central, 1.5 games ahead of the White Sox, and are currently the only team in the division who have won more games than they've lost. All this despite the fact they've allowed more runs than they've scored.