Before last night’s game between the Minnesota Twins and New York Mets, Twins announcer and former pitching great Bert Blyleven made one of the greatest dumbest bets ever.? Blyleven made a wager with Johan Santana that, if Santana threw a shutout, Blyleven would shave his head.

Even Michael Jordan thinks Blyleven sucks at gambling.? What a bad idea.? Blyleven has had his share of blunders in the announcing booth, but this may top them all.? Whether its him dropping f-bombs on air, saying bless you after fellow announcer Dick Bremer announced pinch-hitter Shin-Soo Choo, commenting on the size of Randy Johnson’s wang, saying reliever Mike Myers throws like a midget, or asking a former American Idol contestant on air if he ever hooked up with Paula Abdul, Blyleven has done it all.? Betting that Santana couldn’t throw a shut out, however, is just flat out dumb.

I have an idea; let’s bet the reigning Cy Young winner that he can’t throw a shutout.? After that, let’s bet Joe Mauer that he can’t get a hit.? Or, how about we wager our left nut on Joel Zumaya not being able to throw 100 mph.? It’d be one thing if Blyleven approached Carlos Silva or Boof Bonser, two guys who aren’t capable of slinging a shutout on any night.? Wagering with Santana, a guy who can and will shut a team out on any given night, is just dumb.? And, oh yeah, the final score of the game was Twins 9, Mets 0.? Santana threw a four hitter.

While other famous people have shaved their heads for publicity stunts, I don’t think that was the route Blyleven was going with this.? Regardless, I want a picture of his bald head.? Stat.

To most people, Jason Tyner isn’t exactly a household name. In fact, most people don’t even know what team he plays for. Tyner, who started his career with the Mets and also spent time with the Devil Rays, is currently playing as a reserve outfielder for the Minnesota Twins. You may be asking yourself Why in the hell are we talking about Jason Tyner? Every baseball player, pitchers included, remembers their first big league home run. Everyone except Jason Tyner. Tyner, who has 1165 career at bats, has not hit a single major league home run. Remarkable.

Lets put this in perspective. Steve Traschel, human rain delay pitcher for the Baltimore Orioles, has 642 career at bats. Traschel has three home runs. Carlos Zambrano has 12 career home runs. Randy freaking Johnson has gone deep once in his career for Arizona in 2003. Tyner…hasn’t. It’s almost unfathomable to me that a guy like Tyner can hang around for this long, play as much as he has (105 games for Tampa in 2001), and has yet to square up on a ball for a round tripper. How is that possible? Doesn’t everyone get lucky once and a while? Apparently not.

Personally, I’m pulling for Tyner to go deep. And when I talk about going yard, I want his shot to be epic. He needs to eye hump the shit out of it and soak up the moment. Take some notes from Man-Ram about walking halfway down the first base line before going into the trot. Okay so that might be a little bit excessive. When Tyner actually does go yard, he better get a hold of that ball. People always hold on to their first jack, and for Tyner his first will most likely be his last.

As you probably know, Major League Baseball is planning a very big weekend to honor the late Jackie Robinson, the first player to break baseball’s color barrier. Because his courage is so incredible, we’ve done our best to honor him with his picture on the right side of our page. Torii Hunter thinks this is all too much.

“This is supposed to be an honor,” Hunter told USA Today, “and just a handful of guys wearing the number. Now you’ve got entire teams doing it. I think we’re killing the meaning.

In an interview on ESPNews, Hunter made himself appear ignorant and foolish. He explained Jackie Robinson would be “turning over in his grave,” due to the countless players honoring him. He even went as far to say more black players were around in Robinson’s day than there are now. That’s odd, I could have sworn there weren’t any black players when Jackie Robinson first started.

He then made an obvious suggestion about who should be able to wear #42. When asked what should be the determining factor about wearing #42, Hunter said “I’m not even going to say it, just think about it.” Translation: White people shouldn’t wear Jackie Robinson’s number. If Robinson is really turning over in his grave like Hunter said, it’s over this moronic comment. While Robinson sought to eliminate discrimination, Hunter is doing the discriminating.

Jackie Robinson’s accomplishments go far beyond baseball and I don’t think Hunter realizes it. Regardless of race, people honor Robinson because of his courage to make things right in society. If a non-black player wants to honor Jackie Robinson, what’s wrong with that? He was an early pioneer to the Civil Rights Movement, not just baseball. Should we stop honoring Martin Luther King Jr. as well? Stick to diving catches Torii, you probably shouldn’t talk for the rest of the week.

For the entire month of March, the Sportable Staff will look at one Major League Baseball team a day. We?ll look at their lineups and pitching and in the end, assess their playoff chances. Previews will be done by division, starting with the American League East. Each new division will also feature a new podcast devoted entirely to that division.

Tommy John pays the Twin Cities a visit. Arguably the biggest surprise for fans outside of Minnesota last season was the success of Francisco Liriano. Twins fans sure knew what they were getting when they stole Liriano from the Giants, but the rest of the baseball world wasn’t prepared for him to take the league on by storm. Before going down on August 11, Liriano was 12-3, had picked up two Rookie of the Month honors, and led baseball with a ridiculous 2.13 ERA. Because of his injury, however, he required Tommy John surgery and effectively put him out of action for the entire 2007 season.

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Hosts: Sonny, Ryan, Kevin, and Rich: This episode focused solely on the American League Central. A division with four teams that have a realistic shot at the playoffs made for an interesting debate. But we all agreed on one thing: The Kansas City Royals will finish 5th. Also, if A.J. Pierzynski listens to this, Sonny can kick your ass. Contact us and we’ll make the arrangements for a cage match.

You can snag Episode 14 here.

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The Twins continued their offseason of resignings by giving reliever Jesse Crain a three year. Crain, who has been with the Twins for the duration of his three year career, has been an integral part of the Twins bullpen for the past few seasons.

Keeping a guy like Crain provides an instant boost for the Twins bullpen. In 2005, Crain was flat out filthy. Appearing in 75 games, he posted a 2.71 era for the Twinkies and won an astounding 12 games out of the bullpen. In 2006, Crain appeared in 68 games, posting a 3.52 era. This is yet another great signing by the Twins, who have already resigned catcher Joe Mauer and MVP first baseman Justin Morneau.

Next on the list for the Twins, Cy Young pitcher Johan Santana. Santana, who says that he wants to stay with the Twins, warns that the price for his return will only get higher as time progresses.