Randomization: 08/02/06

Mauer becomes Cover Boy. I don't know that I'd make a big deal out of this if I were the Twins, but Joe Mauer is on the cover of next week's Sports Illustrated. Good for him, but I'd keep him away from black cats, ladders, and mirrors for a little while.

What I found interesting was the note in the Star Tribune article linked above. Apparently, there have now been 22 instances where a Minnesota Twin has appeared on the cover of Sports Illustrated, compared with 18 Minnesota Vikings. I don't know why I find this interesting, but I do.

By the way, Mauer is hitting .367 entering play today. Don't blame me if that average goes into a nosedive in the next couple weeks. Just remember that I warned you about the possibility.

Now, Twins fans might have a real reason to panic. Seems that Francisco Liriano is going to miss his start Wednesday afternoon because of "inflammation in his elbow". The Twins are saying it's a muscle issue, and Liriano would likely be okay to pitch. And I just hope they're not lying about it in a similar fashion to how the Brewers are always lying about injuries.

If the truth is that Liriano's issue is with the forearm muscle, then he will be fine, and he should be able to make his next start without a problem. The Star Tribune says an MRI showed no damage to Liriano's elbow.

I hope this is all accurate. If it isn't, the Twins are in serious trouble.

Someone check his hotel room. I mentioned on Friday that our Blog Buddy Brian Cook, the man behind the MGoBlog and the BlogPoll, was playing in the landmine-laden WSOP Main Event.

What is a "landmine" in poker? Well, I'm using it to describe the pleothora of people playing in the Main Event even though they have no earthly idea how to play poker.

Poor Brian ran into two landmines yesterday, while playing at a table with well-respected pro Annie Duke.

As chronicled on the the Poker News website, Cook ended up busting out on a couple of bad beats.

Cook, who had earlier admitted to being "a little intimidated" by Duke when his own smallish starting stack grew large enough to allow for more creative play, lost his last $25,000 when his pocket aces were cracked by another player who called his pre-flop raise with 10-7, then put Cook all-in after a K-7-7 flop. This came only moments after Cook had lost a sizeable hand with pocket kings in a similar manner...And as Duke offered, in the wake of Cook's departure, "He did nothing wrong."

Ouch.

First off, someone better go to Brian's hotel room. I half-expect him to be passed out in a sea of ripped-up sevens that came out of the decks of cards he bought at the souvenir shop. It's bad enough when you get crippled by a bad beat (and if you watched what happened to 2005 Main Event champ Joseph Hachem in the Bally's WSOP Circuit Event that was televised on ESPN last night, you know what I mean about getting "crippled by a bad beat").

It's another to have bad beats on back-to-back hands, with the knowledge that the moron who called your pre-flop raise when all he had was 10-7 is probably still playing in the tournament.

(And don't get me wrong. That's what that guy is. A moron. It's one thing to bluff at a pot pre-flop by raising with, say, 10-7. A player well-known for being tight at the table can probably pull that off, and a very aggressive player might be able to get away with it. It's another to call a raise when you have nothing. That guy, if he's still alive in the tournament, should be beaten repeatedly over the head with Norman Chad's hairpiece.)