Grant Balfour has a terrible name for a pitcher. About the only good thing about his last name is that it only features one L. He definitely has the worst name for a pitcher since Bob Walk retired in 1993. Only time will tell if Balfour can harness his control and change his nickname from "Hopefully an Oxymoron" to "Definitely an Oxymoron". I'll be cheering for him all the way.
I attended the game on July 5 in which Balfour pitched two innings, struck out four batters and allowed a homerun to Casey Blake. His stuff looked electric. Although he served up a homerun to Blake, the other six batters were not taking good swings at all. Plus, Blake was hitting everyone and everything that night as he went 5-for-5. Balfour and Blake were teammates last year in Edmondton for most of the season, so maybe Casey knows something about his patterns that helped him hit is homer. Anyway, if Balfour can continue to pitch as dominantly as he did on Saturday, he should become the effective eleventh member of the bullpen where Mike Fetters, Tony Fiore, and Micheal Nakamura have all struggled or been hurt.
Balfour was born in Sydney, Australia and replaced another Australian, Micheal Nakamura on the roster. The Twins have Brad Thomas injured in the minors and probably a few other Australians about whom I know very little, but it seems that they have really done an excellent job in scouting that country and finding some pitchers. It only took fifty years, but the Twins may have finally found a region in which they possess the advantage that they once had (as both the Twins and Senators) in Cuba before Fidel Castro rose to power.
Finally, I highly recommend visiting Balfour's Rochester Red Wings page. If I had not visited that page, I would not have known that his favorite movie is, you guessed it, Crocodile Dundee.
Updated July 9, 2003
Last night Balfour pitched three more innings in a loss to the Rangers. He struck out two, walked one, and did not allow any hits. While I really liked the way Micheal Nakamura's funky delivery, I cannot argue with the results after Balfour's promotion. True it has only been three games, but he has pitched extremely effectively and I am very optomistic that I will not be disappointed with one role on the Twins.
Updated September 12, 2003
I was hopeful that Balfour would be able to continue to pitch well down the stretch. Unfortunately, in his past two appearances he has bombed miserably and looked scared and overwhelmed. Hopefully, he can regain his composure these final weeks of the season. Even if not, he seems to be the front-runner for the 5th starter position on next year's team unless a veteran is pursued (or The Gambler is retained).