TALKING BASEBALL: Last Thursday I attended my first Major League Baseball game of the season, as my Minnesota Twins fell to the New York Mets 3-2 at Shea Stadium, with Mike Piazza and Edgardo Alfonzo homering and the Twins just falling short for the second straight night after scoring two runs and getting two more baserunners in the top of the 9th. The game's other big story was that Mets pitcher Steve Trachsel (the same man who gave up Mark McGwire's 62nd homerun in 1998), took a perfect game into the seventh inning before giving up a one-out single to Christian Guzman. I can't say I was rooting for my team to be no-hit, of course, though it would've been neat to see the first no-hitter in Mets history live and in person. It was not to be, and neither was a Twins victory, although the Twinkies did come back and take two of three from the Phillies over the weekend. I think the best we can hope for is for the Twins to be in first place when the strike hits in September; that way, we get our first division title since '91 and don't suffer the humiliation of a playoff loss to the Yankees, Red Sox, or Mariners.
Of course, the worst baseball news of the weekend was the untimely death of Cardinals pitcher Darryl Kile. Condolences go out to his family and teammates; by all accounts he was a wonderful man who will be missed by all who knew him.