and I look at the pitch speed on the scoreboard, and say ``100!"

And Sid turns

to me and says, ``I'm not a day over 99, you jerk."

-If LeBron James is the best player in basketball, and the Cavs have surrounded him with a strong supporting cast, and he doesn't win a title this year, is he really the best player in basketball?

All I know is that when I covered Team USA in Beijing, everyone on that team deferred to Kobe Bryant. LeBron could dominate a quarter but Bryant took the big shots.

-I wrote about Wilson Ramos for the Wednesday paper, and it reminded me of a trip I took to the Dominican Republic and Venezuela in 2002. I just happened to wind up traveling with Bill Smith, then the Twins' assistant general manager, who was overseeing the Latin American operations.

I remember Cristian Guzman driving up to his boyhood home in a Cadillac Escalade - and the truck was bigger than the house.

And I remember standing behind a batting cage in Venezuela as a slim kid smashed the ball over the fence. Smith pointed at him and said, ``We thought we had him."

That kid was Miguel Cabrera. The Florida Marlins came in at the last minute and signed him for $1.8 million.

``I almost signed with the Twins, you know," Cabrera told me on Tuesday. ``Then the Marlins came in and I had to take that offer."

Cabrera is close friends with Ramos.

-Before the game, I was standing on the field with a bunch of people, and a bunch of napkins started floating around the stadium.

When the napkins were above home plate, they tended to swirl back toward the stands. Once one got up into the jetstream, they tended to get swept over the leftfield fence, toward the scoreboard.

At one point, the flags in leftfield were blowing straight out and the napkins were circling the seats behind home plate.

That would seem to indicate that you need to elevate the ball if you want to get it to carry into the leftfield stands.

-My take on the tasered Phillies fan: All Philadelphia sports fans should be tasered on the way into their stadiums. They should all be presumed guilty.

-Nice win for the local 9 Tuesday night. J.J. Hardy gets the big hit and makes the big play, and I was in favor of keeping Blackburn in the game in the ninth, even though it didn't work out.

The Twins are 8-3 at Target Field, and I think their only immediate area of concern is bullpen depth, which could be assuaged if the starters keep pitching deep into games.

The Twins have a chance at their first series sweep and a 3 1/2 game lead on Wednesday, when they face the struggling Rick Porcello.

-I can't tell you how many times I've covered or spent time around a sporting figure who was constantly praised and wasn't what he appeared to be.

That was not the case with Ernie Harwell, the Hall of Fame announcer who died on Tuesday.

I spoke with Ernie occasionally, but never got to know him well. Everyone I know who knew him well, though, revered the man.

And, selfishly, we have lost another great announcer, a great announcer who knew and conveyed the nuances of the game in a voice more descriptive than excitable.

The man was a pro.

After the game, Tigers manager Jim Leyland spoke at length about Ernie. Here's that conversation, courtesy of Detroit Free Press writer John Lowe:
"This is one where you rejoice. I hope nobody takes me out of context here. The passing of Ernie is really a celebration of his life. It's not a tragic thing. A wonderful life, and I think we should celebrate that rather than mourn so much.

"We knew it was coming. He had a very fulfilling life."

Leyland's voice began to waver.
"He was the constant cleanup hitter for the Tigers, the constant leadoff man, the ever-ready defensive player, the ever-ready pinch runner. Most announcers aren't like that. This guy was the Tigers. He was the constant cleanup guy, he was the constant leadoff guy, he was the closer. He was truly a huge part (of the team) . . . Very few announcers are looked upon like a player. Ernie was looked upon like a player."
Leyland regained his voice and said:
"We should be rejoicing that he's not going to suffer. Let's celebrate. I think that's the way Ernie would want it."

"Ernie Harwell treated me like I was a major-league Tiger, and I was never a big-league Tiger. I was over there 18 years (in the Tigers farm system as a player, coach and manager), and he treated me like a big leaguer.

"We'll miss him. . . but this should be a celebration in my opinion.

"I want to clap. I don't want to cry."

Leyland said Ernie came in his office after he got the terminal diagnosis.

"I hope we can all be at peace with ourselves as much as Ernie was. That's pretty good. I hope I can be like that."

Leyland loved how Ernie said, "I'll be going on to the next adventure."

"That was great," Leyland said.

Leyland continued: "I don't want to look like I'm not respectful, but I look at it like a celebration. I really do. He had a full life; he did so many things; he was so respected. He had a chance to say his good-byes. That's a blessing. And we all had a chance to say our good-byes.

"Not that many people in our game are that influential. This guy was one of the most influential guys around the Detroit area. That's pretty good.

"When you met him, he was one of those guys that you felt like you knew him all your life, and you felt like he knew you. Ernie never met a stranger, I don't think.

"In that profession sometimes, there can be friction between players and announcers. I can't recall that there was ever any friction with Ernie Harwell and a player, and that's a remarkable feat."
-Wednesday, I"m working for FSN in the pregame and postgame shows. You can follow me on Twitter at Souhanstrib. -One more note on my band's May 20 appearance at O'Gara's - because this is in conjunction with Steve Rushin's book signing, there will be no cover charge. We want people coming and going as they please. The signing will start at 7 p.m., and the band will start later that hour.