Notes: All Star Voting coming to end

Lone Sassian on final ballot urges fans to vote
By Beth Sass / hereforthesass.blogspot.com

KANSAS CITY -- Here for the Sass catcher A.J. Pierzynski was shocked to hear he was one of the leaders in the final vote for the final spot on the American League All Star ballot. Also on the ballot are Travis Hafner, Ramon Hernandez, Justin Verlander, and Francisco Liriano. Liriano had previously led the voting, but A.J. has crept into the lead.

"What the [censored]?" A.J. said. "People are voting for me over Frisco? That proves it. The voting public is stupid. Don't get me wrong. I'd love to go, and I think I deserve to go. But between me and Frsico? That's a no-brainer. C'mon, people. Get out there and vote for Frisco!"

When asked who he thought should get the final vote for the National League, he responded, "It doesn't really matter. The important thing is to get Frisco in there, and then, if the manager is smart, he’ll get a chance to pitch."

Presently, A.J. has plans to spend with his wife, infant daughter, and young Jimmy Grudzielanek-Meintkiewicz-Pierzynski, whom he adopted with his teammates. If he goes to the All Star game, his wife and daughter will join him, but Jimmy will stay in Minneapolis with his other two fathers.

“I’d like to spend more time with my son, so I’m kinda hoping for the couple of days off,” A.J. said.

Returns to the Team: Beth took Edwin Encarnacion off the DL, perhaps a bit prematurely, after Wednesday's games. In the rehab games, e.e. had a home run and three doubles in 36 at-bats. It’s possible that e.e. will not be playing for the Sass immediately, as his ankle strength is still not completely healed, but the Sass were feeling a shortage of infielders and needed some help at the plate.

"He's been playing well in his rehab assignments. He'll be ready to play very shortly anyway, so we might as well have him with the team and available as soon as he’s ready," Beth said.

To make room on the roster, Beth and Dawn decided to cut Emil Brown from the roster. Emil is somewhat of a network specialist, and the Sass were having troubles with their network server which affected e-mail and the Sass web site, so he has agreed to stay with the team and continue working on the network.

“We’re hoping that with Emil on the situation, we won’t have any more delays in publishing the Sass Notes,” Dawn said. “Because when blogger breaks, it’s just annoying.”

Meanwhile, Beth reported to the Sass late Wednesday night from the Batling Fantasy League Infirmary in Minneapolis. While she is not 100%, it was decided that she was progressing nicely, and a trip to Nice was not necessary.

Bubble wrap! Equipment and Uniform Manager KatHarriet was quite pleased to put in an order for extra bubble wrap on Wednesday. With the Sassians playing on stilts on Tuesday, and no one in the front office available to insist on safety precautions, the entire Sass team took it upon themselves to ensure no injuries occurred, and wrapped an extra layer of bubble wrap around themselves.

“I’m quite pleased that the lessons on proper safety equipment have finally sunk in,” Clubhouse manager Rach said, “Hopefully, we won’t have anymore unnecessary injuries.”

Kat’s order was placed immediately Wednesday morning, and it’s believed that the supplies should be replenished by game time on Thursday.

“It was a bit nerve-wrecking,” Kat said, ”I spent all night Wednesday watching the game nervously, knowing that we were short bubble wrap, but so far, it looks like we survived the evening.”

Dirty tricks require cleaning: Doug Mientkiewicz and Mark Grudzielanek were both put in charge of cleaning the Sass Shower Room Wednesday night. Both men were benched last night, and snuck off to play for the Kansas City Royals. Both men had hits off of Bradke, who holds the title as Beth's Starting Pitching Boyfriend.

"Oops," said Mark, "But it's impossible to keep up with when we're allowed to hit or not, so I don’t know why we’re being punished.”

Dawn explained that getting hits of off any Twins pitcher is cause for punishments to be meted out, which was an acceptable answer to the Sass players.

Tonight:The Sass will send starting pitching Chan Ho Park to the mound tonight, in hopes of stopping the bleeding that's been faced by the Sass this week. With the most strike-outs by any one single pitcher being the 3 by Aaron Harang earlier this week, there is high hopes that Chan Ho will take over team leader in strike-outs. With limited players available, Chan Ho will definitely play without a shortstop with Doug in the utility role. It's uncertain whether e.e. will join the team in time for the game, so there could be a lack of third baseman, as well. Of course, per the BFL agreement with MLB, there is the possibility that the Sass will be short other players as well.