Jason Kubel

Sometimes, the difference is one moment - or in the case of the game between the Twins and White Sox last night, Jason Kubel hitting a solo home run in the 4th inning off of Edwin Jackson. Jackson had a really good game... 6 hits, 1 walk, and 2 strikeouts. Francisco Liriano had a better game. He also had 2 strikeouts, but he went 9 straight zeroes on runs and hits. While he let up a base on balls for every hit that Edwin Jackson had, he still gets the no no and the win while Jackson takes the loss.
In the end, it's the first of the year, and so we continue the decade of the pitcher (even if the Angels dynamic duo just got beaten up on by the Red Sox - the only team that they can tame; well, really, they own the Angels).
And on this rainy Wednesday morning, Liriano is now 2-4 with a 6.61 ERA. His ERA prior to this game was 9.13. His ERA hasn't been better than 7.40 ALL SEASON! In fact, he was so bad, I got rid of him from my fantasy team after 2 games. Sure, last year, he was great again (I turned down a trade to ship him out), something we talked about on this site already, but last year is last year.
At one point, the Yankees drooled over him and thought about getting him. As Phil Hughes turned into mystery arm problem man (0-1, 13.94, and 3Ks in 3 games), things looked really problematic in da Bronx. Then, Bartolo Colon came along and made everything better (2-1, 3.00, and 38 whiffs), which means that he is having a year that made fans remember his Cy Young year (2005). So whether or not the Yankees want him with CC putting 14 batters on base in 7 innings and blowing the game last night to the Tigers remains to be seen, but as long as Ivan Nova isn't great, it's a possibility - unless Freddy Garcia continues to think it's the first half of the decade as well.
Nevertheless, when a player has one good game in a year (albeit a great game), it tends to make all the things that haven't gone well (or at least close to expected) better and leave a permanent highlight as it will be forever immortalized in Cooperstown. That said, it might not be enough to keep a career going (see Len Barker), but yeah... there is upside to being traded or signed to a team that is investing in long since dead players (see Mark Prior) AND that means that said players can end up in the playoffs deep into October (as opposed to getting bounced in the first round because your reliever (uh, former closer) sucks to begin with (and more so after the injury).
So here's to the moment of greatness. Now, let's carry it through to resurrect the rest of the Twins season.

Jesus Monterro

Like Bill O' Reilly, we're always looking out for you, and like his parent company, Fox News, we try to be fair and balanced, so if we say how A-Rod did something good one day (inviting a hero gal to a Yankees game), it's only fair that we mention that he owns a property company called Newport Property Ventures, and because of his inability to fix up the property has some property owners referring to him as a slumlord. So in the spirit of all things Yankees, let's take a look at the Evil Empire and see where they stack up for the year - other than A-Rod who may end up playing with Ricky Vaughn in the California Penal League. First things first, we should see their catcher who is literally older than the dinosaurs. Yes, Jorge Posada will still be catching because Jesus Monterro just wasn't ready to play in the majors - yet - is 39 years old. Looking at some of his other teammates from the Golden Age of Yankees on Fox as slobbered over by Jack Buck, they're not faring much better. Rivera is 41. Jeter is 36. Bernie, Tino, O' Neil, Pettite, Wells, Cone, Stanton, Knoblauch, Justice, Brosius, Spencer, and Nelson are retired. Jason Grimsley is a felon. Jose Canseco and his minimal time in pinstripes isn't far behind him. And that's it... really. There aren't many guys still playing, and there definitely aren't many guys who made up that team. Let's shore up who still is there... Bartolo Colon, who is conservatively weighing in at 185 (they must have given some of his extra girth in years past to CC, who is listed at 290), is there, but this isn't 2002), represents the Yankees' inability to tell time. Hence, Freddy Garcia, Mark Prior, Eric Chavez, and Andruw Jones are all hanging out on the team for opening day. Hell, other than Robinson Cano, there is NO new lifeblood on this team. For that, I'm thankful because I'd like to see the Yankees fall far out of contention quickly this year. An 11-19 start that is never recovered from would be nice. It's time to see some fair weather fans of da Bronx Bombers suffer endlessly that year. But that might just be me. That said, if Joba the Hutt (he of the midge attraction) can't find whatever made him special enough to get his own set of rules, there might only be Phil Hughes and his non-post season upside to spark a youth movement in New York. Imagine that... they'd have to go out and invest in all free agents to have a chance of winning. A second generation Steinbrenner do that? Whoda thunk it?