Today is Jim Thome's 40th birthday. He celebrated last night by tying Jason Kubel and Justin Morneau atop the Twins' home run list with 18 this season. After the bomb to center, Sassbottom texted this -- BREAKING: JIM THOME IS GOOD AT HITTING BASEBALLS. DEVELOPING ... He has reached 18 homers in almost 200 fewer at bats than Kubel, and even almost 70 fewer than the injured Morneau.

Pretty much everything that can be written about Thome, even during his short time with the Twins, has already been done. He has plain and simple been everything the Twins could have asked for ... and more. But here is one thing that cannot be overlooked:

Thome, as of last night, has been confirmed as the RandBall Better Half's favorite Twins player. She really hasn't had a favorite player on the team since the heyday of Eddie Guardado, the lefty closer she treasured so much. Not the biggest baseball fan in the world, the RBBH nevertheless latched onto Thome almost immediately. When she read (per Wiki) that he is said to be putting all 10 of his nieces and nephews through college, that pretty much sealed the deal.

So happy milestone birthday to the young man in the picture -- a player who could be the difference between the Twins and the White Sox this year. If the deal wasn't sealed for you yet, perhaps it is now.