Update: The Twins have acquired reliever Brian Fuentes from the Los Angeles Angels, claiming the 35-year-old left-handed closer off waivers for a player to be named by October 15... hopefully one who won't be missed. Pretty sweet that the bullpen can rest a bit easier now with a southpaw set-up man ahead of Matt Capps. Plus, Fuentes crushes left-handed batters, which is great. To make room on the 25-man roster, either our pal Jeff Manship or Glen Perkins will be off to Rochester after Friday night's game in Seattle.

I'm gonna keep this one short and sweet today, with lots of awesome links to make up for it.

The Twins (finally) beat the Texas Rangers 6-4 Thursday night behind a solid outing by Francisco Liriano: the Frankkkkkkie we know and love and hope for every time he takes the mound. You know, the one with the sneaky changeup, commanding slider and heat that could blow the pants off a batter. In short, he was pretty fantastic.

Delmon Young, who is like a different person this season, provided some offense with a three-run shot and Jim Thome hit his 582nd career homer and 18th of the season. Any calls on when Jim Jam will nail no. 583 to tie Mark McGwire? I have a baker's dozen of delicious muffins for the winner, that is, the first commenter to correctly call the date on which he mashes said tater.

Maybe he'll do it tonight, in celebration of his 40th birthday, off Mariners starter Jason Vargas, who will throw the first pitch at 9:10pm.

Also, last night's game shut the door completely on any woulda' shoulda' coulda's from that possible Cliff Lee acquisition back before the trade deadline. He was like the pony I wanted for my birthday when I was a kid, but never got because I grew up in a residential neighborhood with a small yard and, being six, had no idea how to care for a horse anyway. I'm sure that pony enjoyed a happy life on some farm, while I ended up with an awesome cat who lived to be like 14. It was just better for everyone.

Getty Images, Star Tribune

Cliff Lee is the pony and [insert Twins pitcher here] is the cat... in case you're not picking up what I'm putting down.

And links.

This is your final invitation to come see the Twins play the Seattle Mariners at Howie's Sports Bar & Grill in St. Cloud, MN for the TwinsCentric & Sooze Viewing Party, this Saturday (August 28) at 2:30pm. Not only will there be great drink and appetizer specials, but also some awesome raffle prizes, including two Twins tickets. For more information on the event, check out and RSVP on the Facebook page, or email me for more details.

After your belly is full and the Twins have had their way with the Mariners, we can head on down to Joe Faber Field (home of the St. Cloud RiverBats) at 7:00pm for the Twins Alumni game, featuring Corey Koskie, Jim Eisenreich, Juan Berenguer, Jarvis Brown, Al Newman, Brian Raabe, Greg Thayer and Ron Davis. Find out more info on that shindig here.