I drove to Stout's on Snelling and Larpenteur with the pre-game on the radio. Dazzle was introducing the national anthem as I parked. I walked to the doors with my brother, who had arrived separately. "We could be missing a diving catch," he said. We hustled up a step entering the bar, scouring the rooms for the best TV spot. None, NONE, of the TVs had the Twins game on. We sat at the bar. I can't count how many times I've gone into a bar this season and had to ask the bartender to put on the Twins game. They did have the Mets-Braves game on though, and the X-games. I wasn't too concerned about missing anything though, since Buxton was batting ninth and we were away. Should've; by the time they changed the channel, we were watching Mauer bat with one out and a run on the board, and postulating whether it were Dozier or Rosario responsible. If anyone out there in TD-land has recommendations for Twins game bar viewing in Hamline-Midway, let me know. If only there was somewhere within five minutes walking and three dollar premiums on tap...

No matter, I drove to the bar to see Byron Buxton's debut, and see it I did. If I have grandchildren, I will be able to tell them all about it. And in case I forget, here is the written account.

Byron Buxton is skinny. I knew that. I thought maybe the promotion would've added some bulk. Nope. It did somehow convince him to wear his pants long. Barry Bonds was pretty skinny for his debut, as was Junior. I wonder whether Buxton will stick with number 25. I don't know, I just don't feel as confident as I should about buying a jersey.

On Buxton's at-bats: okay, could someone punch Nick Martinez in the face and tell him to throw the kid one, ONE, stinking fastball! Jeez. I feel like the first three ABs could be boiled down into one AB: curveball over, taken, strike one; curveball over, taken, strike two; curveball over, taken, strike three. What a mind-eff. What are the rules of batting here, Ted Williams Science of Hitting style? By the time you get to that third AB, after two called first pitch curveball strikes and two 0-2 counts, are you thinking, 'no way he does it again; he'll throw the curve, but way off the plate to see if I chase' or 'no way I let him beat me on that s@#t first pitch again.'?

On the Rangers' young, speedy hotshot, outfielder, Delino Deshields Jr: What was he doing there five feet away from second base to end the inning after a terrific bunt for a base hit? What was he doing running into the left field wall when he could've stopped five feet before it?

What a wild game. With Fielder, Moreland, and Gallo all batting in a row, my brother said, "sheesh, how many first basemen do the Rangers have?" And we thought Leonys Martin's homer was a replay of Gallo's. I think they landed in the same damn seat. It was good to see Hughes keep it together, and keep the team in the game, but he was definitely hit hard and was bailed out by some defense- Dozier's leaping snag and DP for one; Mauer picking Deshields off 2nd after the run scored as well. As disappointing as Mauer has been at the plate since his move to first, he's been pretty good at first.

Who would have thought that in Byron Buxton's debut, the Twins would hit four triples and none would be by Buxton. I thought I heard a blurb that only once before in history has a team hit three triples in one inning and only scored one run. I thought I also heard a blurb that maybe Escobar missed a safety squeeze sign and that's why Robinson was picked off third by Robinson. It's too bad if that's the case. A safety/suicide squeeze is such an exciting and rare play, especially for the go-ahead run.

The sound was off on the TV broadcast in the bar, so I only got to see the interview with Buxton's fiancee... I think these guys are getting married waaaaayyyy too young...

I was going to say something about Suzuki facing Keone Kela and it being Hawaiian vs Hawaiian, and that being rare and cool, but I just double checked Kela's profile page and he was born in California.

Casey Fien pitched really, really well.

I didn't think there was any way anyone would wrench the award for worst AB of the game away from Buxton's third AB, but then Justin Smolinski whiffed on a bunt, bunted foul, and swung wild and missed, tying him fwith probably hundreds of guys for the worst AB of all time. Personally, I hate sacrifice bunting; and I know Buck Weaver and maybe Bill James have my back. So even if Smolinski had been successful, I would've thanked him for the free out. He should've gone back to the dugout after strike two. He should've just stayed in the dugout in the first place.

When Buxton squared around in his fourth AB, I'm hoping he was inspired not so much by Smolinski, but rather by Deshields' sac bunt turned bunt single. Somehow it ended up somewhere in the middle; a pretty god-awful bunt, but in fair play at least. They did get the lead runner which makes the free out look pretty terrible, but Buxton on first is probably just as good as anybody else on second. I know that it seems like a good idea to give up an out to move a runner from second to third when you only need one run late in the game, and I think this is one of the only situations in which sac bunting is maybe acceptable- especially if the bunter has a pretty decent shot of getting on with a decent bunt- but I think you have as good of a chance getting a hit in three at bats as you do getting a sac fly or hit in two.

But, as you know, all ended well. Eddie Rosario murdered that ball to center, and Buxton scored standing from first. Probably any of our usual nine hole hitters (Santana, Hicks, Robinson, etc) would've scored, but Buxton definitely made it a no-doubter, and it was a perfect ending to the game. He's definitely the spark the Twins needed to keep things from spiraling out of control. Hopefully he can make a quick adjustment in his approach at the plate coming into a tough series against St. Louis. They are coming after you, dude, and not with fat fastballs. If only Arcia was around to tell him, "Just try to pull it every time." or Delmon to tell him, "Just go up there and try to hit the foul pole." or maybe Hicks should tell him, "hey, you're not up here to work the count; put that first pitch hanging curveball in the seats."

One last thing, "let it Sano", please.