Saturday, July 28, 2007

Big Ups, J-Tyne!

My mother used to tell me that good things came to those who wait. Which I regarded as bullshit. I want my Atari now!

But Jason Tyner, or "j-tyne" clearly believes in my mom's lies. He waited for at bat #1220 before he finally hit a home run. Something not mentioned in any account I've read thus far is that Tyner celebrated his home run with a little homage/satire of Sammy Sosa's homerun celebration, which I found to be a delightful touch.

In turns out that the Twin Clubhouse is a bit like the guys who write here--they are kind of dicks, they will mock you, they will make you accept embarrassing bets, but deep down they maybe kind of rooting for you:

"We had a bet going earlier in the season that I was supposed to hit a homer before him with our Interleague games," Santana said with a laugh. "I was going to have the least chances to hit one, but I was going to try."

Santana's bet wasn't the only one that involved Tyner's drought. A wager took place between Tyner and Gardenhire earlier in the year regarding the elusive homer. Gardenhire, a proud University of Texas alum, had told Tyner, a Texas A&M alum, that he would wear an Aggies shirt should Tyner blast one.

So with Tyner finally hitting a homerun, who has the next longest streak of at-bats without a Homer? Teammate Luis Castillo, who's gone more than 600 plate appearances without a homer.

That is not a 1-2 stat combo you want on your home team, let me tell you.

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