To Celebrate or Not To Celebrate

I know I missed the Toronto and Boston series, but Toronto wasn't exciting and I really didn't wanna talk about Boston so we'll move onto the next series which we all know was the Brewers.

It was a little disappointing that JJ wasn't able to play against his former teammates, it would have been nice to see (I'm just hoping he's back in time for my games on Thursday and Friday). We were able to see our old teammate GoGo.

I know this has been discussed in other blogs, but since I waited till today to do this and don't remember much from the series other than that marathon game from Saturday (did everyone else think that game would never end?) As we all know GoGo hit a home run against Nicky on Friday night and apparently that was a no no according to a few people. Okay the home run may not have been the no no but the celebration after was.

Everyone in Twins Territory knows how GoGo is and I have to admit it's nice to see he hasn't changed any. So he celebrated getting a home run. I'm sitting here watching the Boston/Tampa game and David Oritz hit a home run and pretty much acted the same way. You aren't going to see anyone making a big deal out of that tomorrow morning, so why did GoGo's have to be made into such a big deal?

Apparently people didn't like that his bat hit Mauer and something about his little hand movements after he reached home plate. He apologized after the game, but in my opinion he really didn't have anything to apologize for. He was reacting to hitting a home run just like any other batter would.

So that poses the question, should batters "celebrate" hitting a home run or not?

Finally!

I know I have been MIA in the blog world for a few days, life has just gotten the best of me. Doesn't mean I haven't been watching our boys play. But after today's game against the Yankees, a post is needed.

After the first two days of the series I wasn't holding out most hope for today's game. I didn't even watch most of today's game as I was out cold for most of it with a migraine, but I did tune in just time time to see the bases loaded walk to Thome off of Rivera! Rivera of all people, most people thought this guy was a machine, but today's game proved that he is indeed human.

And when that happened I couldn't change the channel. And with that said:

Jason Kubel I take back everything bad I have ever said about you. Please forgive me :(

I'm beyond excited that we finally beat those damn Yankees! That stadium has owed us for a long as I can remember and it was nice that it finally paid up.

Tomorrow we are off to Toronto to face the Blue Jays. It's Slowey (4-3) vs. Dana Eveland (3-2). Enjoy your well deserved win today guys and let's remember we CAN beat the Yankees when they come here the 25th through the 27th :)

A Tale of Two Days

First and foremost, congrats to Dallas Braden on pitching his perfect game. Only the 2nd in A's history and the 19th in the history of the MLB. Plus seeing him with his grandma on mother's day made me tear up a little. If you haven't seen the video, please go here and watch. It's heart warming and a good way to end your Mother's day.

Secondly, happy Mother's day to all the mom's out there that read my blog. I hope you all had a wonderful day with your loved ones.

I spent a good portion of my weekend at Target Field (which would explain the lack of post since the end of the Detroit series). Don't remember much from the Thursday night game, other than we lost, it sucked, end of story.

Friday night I was supposed to go to the game, thankfully I am able to say I had a ticket to the first rained out game at Target Field. I was no looking forward to having to sit outside in the nasty weather we had on Friday and if I would have had to I would have been so missing the Dome. I think that's the only time I will miss the Dome. So Betsy and I made the trek to Target Field Saturday night to take in the postponed game.

I will say that they really need to work on the whole only opening the gates an hour before the game. When we got downtown at 5:15, they were already lined up out on the plaza past the statues waiting to get in the gate and they didn't open until an hour before the game, which means nothing opened until 6 and once you got inside you got trampled on by all the guys waiting for their fishing lures (yes I did get one and yes I am going to be the nice sister and give it to my brother. He might as well use the thing).

It was a chilly weekend at the ballpark, that's for sure. Blankets, sweatshirts, and mittens were your friends if you were on the first base side in the shade! It may have been chilly, but it was a great weekend at the ball park (at least the two games that I was at). We saw two terrific outings from Timmy and Blackie, some wonderful defensive plays from Punto and Alexi and some not so wonderful plays that won't be discussed in this blog because of who was apart of it (if you know me you should know the play I am talking about if you saw the games or heard the games on the radio).


Today was my mom's first trip to the new field so we went down early so we could walk around and I could show her my new home away from home. She agreed it is a beautiful ball park and can't wait to go back for our mother/daughter game in July!

If you would like to see more pictures I have a whole album on my Facebook located here.

Enjoy your day off tomorrow guys! Tuesday and Wednesday our dear, dear friend Ozzie and the White Sux come to town for their first visit. It will be interesting to see what Ozzie has to say about our new home since he HATED the Dome. We need to give him a reason to hate Target Field too boys!

Oh and by the way, AJ, you still suck :)

What a Win!

I want to start out with this somber note, the baseball community lost a broadcasting icon last night. Ernie Harwell passed away after his battle with cancer. I remember watching his speech last year from Comerica Park thanking all the Tigers fans for all the years of memories he would always remember. RIP Ernie, I know the Detroit Tigers and their fans will miss you dearly.

I always say when the Twins bring in a new player from an opposing team that they have to earn my respect, so JJ Hardy was no exception. Don't get me wrong he had already earned it but last nights performance earned him a ton of respect from me. From the plays in the field to the bat in his hand, that guy was on point last night! I know a lot of fans were concerned with him coming over to the organization after the seasons he's had in the past, but with how he has been playing so far this season he has really left us no reason to not trust him with this team. Yeah he may have an off day here or there, but what guy on the team doesn't? Mauer's not perfect, Cuddy's not perfect, neither is Thome and Morneau, but when he's on, he's on just like everyone else.

Plus he's pretty easy on the eyes :-)

Plus that gave Dick and Bert their exciting walk off win that they had been talking about an inning before. It's like whatever comes outta their mouth jinx's us in some way, shape, or form. They should just call the game and not say anything else, lol.

Welcome back Nick Blackburn, a well deserved complete game (his 4th in his career). I know a lot of people said putting Nick back in for the ninth was going to be a bad idea, yeah he may have gave up the game tying home run, but you know what? It was his game to lose. He went out there and pitched a smart game and I think it was only fair that he got to pitch the ninth. I know it all comes down to pitch count and what not, but when you have a pitcher who pitches a game like Nick did and then Gardy pulls them and someone else goes out there and blows it, I can't help but feel bad for whoever started that game.

I think k-bro said it best in her tweet last night "Seriously y'all? If Blackie *hadn't* gone out for the ninth, everyone would be complaining about it with him only having 85 pitches."

I'm super proud of Blackie and how he pitched last night. He went 9 innings with only 95 pitches of which 67 were strikes. He had 18 groundouts and 5 flyouts. I was really pleased with what I saw from Nick last night. He looked relaxed and fresh. Maybe we need to send a few more pitchers to Oklahoma!

So I decided after watching Cuddy last night that he's getting a couple extra in the skittle count. He's getting a plus one for that throw to first trying to get Ordonez out and he's also getting a plus one for being 5 feet short of a home run. He needs a little extra help getting out of the negative, although I have thought about wiping his slate clean and starting fresh and really keep track this time, lol.

Today we have Kevin Slowey (3-2) against Rick Porcello (2-2). Follow in Blackie's footsteps Kev, please!

Taste The Rainbow

I have to laugh for just a second. For something that started off just as a joke and a dare between a few of us in the blog community last season, it has turned into a big deal this season. Most of you will be able to guess what I'm talking about by the title of today's blog, but last night after Cuddy's 3 run blast to left field, I got 5 text messages from friends all saying the same thing: "Skittles!". I do feel bad because I'm not even sure the exact number in the Skittle count and I'm sure that even if he did end up in the negatives at the end of the season, I'm sure I'll give him something anyway (maybe).

My mom has even been joking with it saying "Forget M&M's it's all about the Skittles". I'm glad everyone is having a good time with this whole thing. Seems to make the season a little more fun :)

I will admit last nights game combined with the game from Sunday pretty much made me go "Joe who?" Wilson Ramos is on fire right now. I realize it's only been two games, but to be on point like he has in only two starts is not something you see every day. I understand Joe is still our number one guy and I do still have a soft spot for Drew (meeting him only seemed to help that a little). I'm starting to wonder why they didn't bring Ramos up with the team out of camp? Even Justin said he seemed to be on point during spring training.

There are just some things this team does that I will never begin to understand.

Also I would like to wish Kevin Slowey a very happy 26th birthday :)

Tonight we welcome back Nick Blackburn (1-1) from the bereavement list as he faces Dontrelle Willis (1-1) and the Detroit Tigers.

What A Drag...

So since I won't be around for much of the game today I figured I would do a random post now with some highlights and low-lights from the weekend.

"Fancy meeting you here"

Highlights from Friday and Saturday:

~Denard got his first home run of the season

~ Justin came back into the lineup with a bang with a 2 run home run plus a mysterious home run that I don't even remember seeing on Saturday. Did anyone else see it?

~Jeff Manship pitched what I thought was a flawless 6 innings in his first start of the season.

~Drew Butera was on fire with his defensive skills (only to get screwed over that's for later)

~We finished the month of April 15 -8!


Low-lighs from Friday and Saturday

~We lost Nick Blackburn for at least 3 days due to being placed on the bereavement list. I really hope that everything is okay.

~We lost Luke Hughes to AAA Rochester with Punto coming back off the DL

~We lost Patty Neshek to the DL with what they are saying is "inflammation of the middle finger" I wonder how true it really is.

~We lost Joe Mauer with a bruised heel and he could end up on the DL

~News came in that Jose Morales may be out longer then expected with another injury to his catching wrist.

It also was announced today that if Mauer goes on the DL that Wilson Ramos would be the starting catcher. I don't agree with that at all. Yeah Drew may not have the best bat in the world, but he rates right up there with Mauer in being a good defensive catcher. My opinion is one player can't carry the weight of the team on his shoulders and one bat isn't going to make or break this team. There are 9 guys that bat on this team, if one can't do it, there are 8 other guys that can swing to.

Obviously I don't know enough about Ramos to judge him and I need to see him play first, but I feel bad for Drew. He's the one that made the camp outta spring training and he's still getting
screwed in the end.

Today we have Crisco (3-0) against Huff (1-3). I have faith in Frankie to go out there and get this series and for this team to get back on track.