Minnesota State Fair 2007

Today I bought a T-shirt with the following Garrison Keillor poem on the back which pretty much sums up my afternoon:

You had a bratwurst and corn on the cob
A hot fudge sundae and a shish kebob
You got a bucket of cheese curds in your hand
And yet you're stopping at the hot dog stand

You had a taco four inches thick
And a deep-fried walleye on a stick
You better be careful with that Pronto Pup
'Cause what goes down might come back up

Note: Food consumed today may vary slightly from those listed in the poem.

Also, once I get my camera cable (left in Michigan) I'll post pictures of both the Fair and the 35W bridge (taken from afar).

Twins 1, Rangers 0

The no-hitter that should have been... 17 strikeouts in eight innings... 17.

It was a rainy day in Minneapolis, which of course meant that it was a great day to go to a ball game. (This is the sort of reverse logic we get with an indoor stadium.) Not only was the weather cooperating, but my very first favorite Twin, Gary Gaetti, was inducted into the Twins Hall of Fame, partly because this weekend was the 20 year reunion of the 1987 World Championship team. Adding to the day's potential was the fact that Johan Santana was on the mound. Thus, it made sense that my family opted not to go to the lake and went to the Metrodome instead.

This is the third time I've seen Santana pitch this season. Both of the previous times I thought to myself, perhaps I'll see a no-hitter today. Both of the previous times, nothing close to that happened. But yesterday... yesterday Santana set a team record of 17 strikeouts in a single game (and with Joe Nathan's appearance in the 9th, the Twins pitched a total of 19 strikeouts), and only gave up two hits, both to Sammy Sosa. He mowed down the side in three separate innings and only had one inning in which he didn't strike out a batter. In fact, it was the only inning in which he didn't strikeout at least two batters. So dominant was his performance that it didn't matter that the Twins could only muster a single homerun from Michael Cuddyer.

This is also the first time I've ever seen a Metrodome crowd boo Joe Nathan, the reigning King of Twins Saves. The major league record for strikeouts is 20, done by a few people, including Clemens and Kerry Wood. After mowing down the side in the 8th to bring his total to 17, it seemed to me that the smart move was to bring Santana in in the 9th and let him go for the record. If he gave up a hit or even a non-strikeout out, then sure, bring in Nathan for the save. But at least let him go for the record... the man was on fire yesterday. Luckily for Nathan, the boos died down quickly and he was able to pitch a hitless 9th with two strikeouts of his own to end the game.

756 and Harvey Jones

I'm going to ignore the steroid controversy for a moment and copy-paste the following IM conversation I just had:

Harvey: guess where i was last night?
me: don't tell me AT&T Park
Harvey: ok, talk to you later then

For those not aware, Harvey Jones is currently bumming around the country visiting as many baseball stadiums as he can. We saw one of those games together in Cincinnati after Martine and Dave's wedding (which I never blogged... I really should do that). Apparently he's home (San Francisco) for the week, and was going to every game until Bonds hit it, meaning that he was at last night's game sitting in section 102, row 10.

That kid is living out my dream summer and it is unbelievably unfair.

(As for Bonds and the steroids... when you look at pictures of him from early in his career and then look at pictures of him now, it's really hard not to believe that steroids were involved somewhere. And given that, yes, I think it cheapens the record. The real tragedy is that prior to the suspected steroid use, an argument could have already been made that Bonds was the greatest player of the era, and now that has been tainted forever.)

Winnie Cooper

Danica McKeller, who is the only person to have been in both of my two all time favorite TV shows*, has just written a book about math aimed at pre-teen girls. It's disguised to look like a magazine, complete with quizzes like "Do you hide your smarts (especially around boys)?" Honestly, I doubt I would have picked it up as a 12 year old... I was beyond pre-algebra at that point and I wasn't really into the teen magazines anyway, but I'm glad it exists. I've already e-mailed my uncle and suggested that he look into it for his middle school aged daughter.

For those more mathematically advanced, here's her paper on "Percolation and Gibbs states multiplicity for ferromagnetic Ashkin-Teller models on Z²." If you ever doubted that Winnie Cooper was out of Kevin Arnold's league, this pretty much seals the deal. Also, according to her website, she's done The Vagina Monologues, which just makes her that much more awesome.

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* Winnie Cooper on The Wonder Years and Elsie Snuffin on The West Wing... I half expect someone to correct me on the "only" caveat and tell me that Bradley Whitford once had a guest spot on The Wonder Years as one of Karen's boyfriends or something.

Bridge Collapses

For those who haven't heard, the I-35W bridge over the Mississippi river collapsed this afternoon. For those who have heard, my immediately family is thankfully all accounted for. (And thanks to those who have inquired.) The pictures are terrifying, especially given that my sister used to live only a few blocks from where the collapse happened and I myself have crossed that bridge many a time.

The crash happened right in the middle of rush hour, during bumper to bumper traffic. I don't think they know how long it will be before they pull all the cars out of the river and find out just how many people were involved.