Today's feature presentation is titled, "Carl, Interrupted."

Or, "How I Learned to Embrace Pavano Without Either of Us Getting Hurt - Yet."

I mean, I hadn't thought about Carl Pavano in months. When I discussed him with a local baseball fan last season, I wasn't kind.

My friend suggested that his New York Yankees would gladly give the oft-injured right-hander to the Minnesota Twins. I said there's no way they acquire a guy making $11 million for collecting dust. It would be baseball's cash for clunker plan.

Then came a Friday morning in August. I was watching ESPN and reading the crawl across the bottom of the screen.

It said something like, "The Minnesota Twins have acquired RHP Carl Pavano from the Cleveland Indians for a player to be named later."

It took a second for that piece of news to register.

Carl Pavano?

The same Carl Pavano I dismissed in October of 2008?

The pitcher who had compiled a whopping 45.2 innings in his final two years as a Yankee? Who had injured his right arm, his right elbow, his ribs and his buttocks? The 33-year-old who should trade in his Barcalounger for a gurney? That Carl Pavano?

Yes, that Carl Pavano. Carl Pavano was now a Minnesota Twin.

I could almost see the baseball gods elbowing one another in the ribs.

None of them, of course, had to go on the disabled list.

I could almost hear the cackling from Yankee fans (and you know who you are) upon getting the news that their free-agent flop had flipped to the Metrodome.

What's next, Hawk Harrelson rooting for the Cubbies? Almost, but not quite.

Lately, other Minnesota pitchers had been allowing runs at a rate of about two touchdowns per nine innings. Naturally, Pavano shut out the Detroit Tigers in his first start as a Twin. Of course he would. I anticipated that about as much as I expect Harmon Killebrew to make a comeback.

Yes, yes, it was only one start. And Pavano owns the Tigers in 2009. Today, he is scheduled to pitch against the mighty Kansas City Royals, who scored 14 in the Dome Tuesday. Certainly, he'll remain in the Twins' rotation for the rest of the year.

Will Pavano get celebratory shaving cream pies in the face? Or will he follow the forlorn parade of starting pitchers who have stumbled into the dugout after another two-inning effort?

Who knows? That's the point. No one can truly foresee everything that's going to happen in sports. Ask all the experts who swore on a stack of Minnesota Viking media guides that Brett Favre would be sharing a huddle with Adrian Peterson this season.

In baseball, late-season deals are a mixed bag. Some work, some don't. Not long ago, for instance, the Twins signed veteran infielder Mark Grudzielanek to a minor-league deal. It meant nothing. Grudzielanek was released, meaning he wasn't good enough to replace Alexi Casilla at second base. Casilla, by the way, is hitting my son's weight - at birth, that is.

Then there was Steve Carlton. Twenty-one years ago, the Twins acquired the aging Hall of Famer from (listen to the baseball gods chuckling) the Cleveland Indians. Carlton won exactly one game in 1987 for Minnesota, but he beat Oakland in a critical August series that helped the Twins win the American League West and then the World Series.

Could Carl Pavano do the same thing, some way or somehow, in the 21st century?

If he does, don't interrupt me. I'll be cheering for him - until it hurts.