KC's Baseball Blog

It was fun while it lasted...

2010-08-14T21:52:00.001-05:00

It's been a great run writing on this blog, but work and life are just too crazy to keep up so until further notice this blog will be closed.

Thanks to those that read and commented. You are the reason I kept writing.

MIA

2010-06-13T18:29:00.003-05:00

I know I have been MIA from the blog world for awhile, but life has gotten in the way a bit. Work has picked up quite a bit and with my nephews little league games, I miss at least 2 Twins games a week. Hopefully things will settle down soon and I will return. Until then be sure to check out the other amazing Twins blogs I have in the blog roll on the right hand side of the screen!

To Celebrate or Not To Celebrate

2010-05-24T20:08:00.003-05:00

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!

2010-05-16T15:32:00.005-05:00

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

2010-05-09T21:30:00.012-05:00

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!

2010-05-05T06:18:00.006-05:00

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

2010-05-04T08:57:00.004-05:00

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...

2010-05-02T10:42:00.005-05:00

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.

One Big Crain-Wreck

2010-04-29T08:24:00.005-05:00

I was going to wait and do this after today's game, but I have a few minutes at work before the owner comes in for a meeting so why not do it now?

I have never seen such a blunder of a game in my life. Bad outings by two guys I didn't think would have bad outings, Timmy and Patty. And a shitty outing by Jesse Crain. As soon as he came in last night I made the comment that "this game is over". I don't trust him, never have and never will. Period. I would love to send him back to Rochester and either call up Slama or Manship.

I understand these guys can't win every series, but when you have a lead like we did, it reminds me too much of the Oakland game from last season.

And then we have Denard. It has not been his series. First getting ejected from the game for "dismissively" waving off the home plate umpire and then last nights call *shakes head* I'm sorry but I don't care how many times they have to replay that, that my friends was an out. How long did he have to keep that ball in his glove? 5 minutes?

Apparently the umps still feel bad for Detroit after game 163 last year and felt they needed a "gimmie" win almost cause I think that game would have ended a lot differently if that call had been made correctly.

I do have one highlight from last nights game, well two if you include Cuddy trying to go deep twice last night (he gets a +1 on the skittle count for effort), but Luke Hughes home run was incredible! It wouldn't have happened for a better person. I'm just happy he got the ball back after. I was worried he wouldn't after Ordonez gave it to that kid.

My one question, can we please keep Luke up here? Can't Alexi go back to Rochester??

No Time Like The Present

2010-04-27T21:18:00.005-05:00

IStock Photo 7870014 © Rob Friedman

I want to admit this first and foremost, if this is the Frankie that we are going to get all season, I want to take back every mean thing I have ever said about him. I know a lot of people were wondering if we would ever get the Frankie back from 2006 and from before he had his surgery and I think we have that pitcher and then some this season. I know at the beginning of the season he was the one starting pitcher I was the most concerned with after a few of his outings last season, but watching him this year, I apparently was worried about the wrong one!

I would have loved to have been a fly in the area of home plate tonight to either hear or see what Denard did to get thrown out of the game. I have never seen him get that mad before, he always seems so calm and collected even after a bad call, so I'm not sure what set him off tonight. Denard just doesn't strike me as the type of person that looses his cool easy, so it must of been something major during tonight's game. And of course since MLB is cracking down on the players tweeting, we'll probably never know the answer to that question.

With how well the team has been playing this season I know I shouldn't complain about a single thing, but after tonight's game, I need to complain. They left 12 runners on base tonight and were 1 for 10 with runners in scoring position. That's just horrible! All these games we lost by 1 or even 2 runs could have been won if the guys would have been able to capitalize on the guys left on base. Yeah a few guys need to be swinging the bat better I.E. Jason Kubel and even Denard, but when those guys to and get on base, everyone after them in the line up seems to freeze and forget how to bring everyone else home.

I think if they could get that worked out, this team could really be the team to beat this season. Not that I don't think they already are, but they are just stranding too many guys on base. Perfect example was Denard's triple tonight and they just leave him hanging there looking like a loser. I felt bad for him, after all that and then he just gets left there. Hopefully this is something they can get better at as the season goes on and if they do it's only going to get better from here.

On a final note, hopefully Justin's back isn't too bad and he'll be back after a day off and a little bit of R&R.

Can't Seal the Deal

2010-04-25T16:16:00.005-05:00

It's been such a long weekend, to be 100% honest I don't even really remember what all happened in the game on Friday night. About the only thing I can remember is we won and Nick Punto go put on the disabled list, lol We had a strong start from Pavano with good innings from Matty G and Brian. And I don't care what anyone says the play by Cuddy would have been a home run regardless what would have happened, but that's for a rant that will come at the end of this post, cause I've had enough.

Saturday was a game I thought was never going to end! I'm not sure what Nicky's problem was during that game, but I hope he can figure out whatever it is before his next start which should be on Friday night in Cleveland. I would hate to see him go on the DL, but if there is something wrong with him and they can't figure out what it is perhaps it would be for the best and bring up someone like Manship or even take Duensing out of relief and put him back in as a starter with Manship in the pen. Obviously that will be Gardy and Andy's call and my opinion doesn't mean crap, but I can hope!

I was wondering how many games it would take for Rauch to blow his first save and last night we finally got to see it happen. I realize he did get us out of the jam and did get us the win, but it still doesn't make me a fan. Yes he can pitch, yes he can be good at what he does, but you need a decent personallity to make me like you and Oscar doesn't have it, period. It just makes me miss Joe Nathan even more. Baseball Tonight did a nice piece on Nate that can be seen here.

I thought Kevin seemed a bit off for his start today, but everyone has their off days. Matty G had his the other night and today was Kevin's. It happens, yes it sucks and I wish it wouldn't have happened, but what's done is done and we can't go back and redo the whole game. But this is what I was talking about when I said, the guys must of left their brooms back at the Dome during the move because we seem to have no problem taking the first two games and the series, but we can't seem to seal the deal on that third game to get the sweep.

Now onto my rant and I'm not just bringing this up because of the stuff that happended on Friday night with Cuddy but it does play a big part of this rant. Regardless if they would have replayed that call or not, the ball was out of the park and was a home run for DeJesus, it shouldn't have been ruled an in the park home run. What I'm sick and tired of is people ragging on certain players, but the minute their players get ragged on shit's going to hit the fan. I'll rag on Cuddy, I'll rag on Kevin, I'll rag on every player on the team when they screw up. But you can bet that I will defend them till the end when they get accused of something that was out of their control, ie the play Friday night with Cuddy.

I understand that everyone it entitled to their opinion, but I'm sorry. When game after game after game the same peaple rag on the same player it gets really old and it pisses me off. It just seems to be never ending and it's old. We're all old enough to know to just drop something after the first time, but when it gets drug on and on it makes you look like you are 12 years old. And now that I got that off my chest I will drop this and move onto the next series in Detroit.

No matter what, I still love Cuddy!

Tuesday night we have Frankie (2-0) vs. Justin Verlander (1-1). Enjoy your day off on Monday guys, after the marathon game on Saturday night you guys deserve it!

Short and Sweet

2010-04-23T11:07:00.003-05:00

I think through the hustle and bustle of moving from The Dome to Target Field the Twins forgot to pack something very important. They forgot to pack their brooms so they can sweep another team. We seem to be able to pull out those first two games, but that third game just gets missed. I think it's lack of the brooms from the other side of town.

Yesterday was not the best game for the Twins, but hey, everyone has a bad day. I had one too and was going to take the blame for the game until Seth stepped up and said he would take it since he was at the game.

Tonight we are back to the K, someday I will get back to that beautiful ballpark, but Target Field is doing just perfect for now :-) Tonight it's Carl Pavano (2-1) against Gil Meche (0-1). Guys please remember what you did last fall when I was down there watching you play in person and do it again this weekend!

Chugga, Chugga, Choo, Choo!

2010-04-21T22:42:00.004-05:00

I know it's only the third week of the season, but I don't think I have ever been so proud of this team in my years of watching baseball. To be as good as they are right now, all I can do is hope and pray that this momentum carries us through the entire season. I can taste the playoffs again after last season and I can taste a World Series even more and I'm pretty sure the 25 guys on the team can taste it too. To see this team with this much determination and energy actually makes me excited for the Yankee series next month, it makes me feel like we could potentially beat them! I know, I know, it's too early to say yeah we're going to the playoffs, but if this team keeps playing like they are, we are in for one hell of a season!

Before I get into the pluses from the game, I have to say it was really nice getting to see Red Dog play tonight. He always seemed to bring a positive attitude to the clubhouse and the dugout during the game. He was always one of the first guys to be there to offer up a high five after a good play or there to give advice when needed. I didn't think I would miss him as much as I do, but seeing him in a different uniform tonight, hit me kinda hard. This was a totally unexpected reaction, seeing Torii in a different uniform didn't even hit me like this. Perhaps it's the funny antics that Red pulled that I miss more then anything.

I would like to say a quick thing about our starting rotation. Can I just say LOVE them! Eight innings from Slowey, another eight from Frankie (and a shut out no less). I am seeing the Frankie from before his surgery and Kev from last year before he got hurt. It's defiantly nice for a change since we relied so heavily on the bull pen last year, those guys deserve a bit of a break. I can't complain with how our starting rotation has been so far. Our bull pen could use a little bit of work; i.e. The Crainwreck and The Weeble. But it's nice to have Patty back and Matty's been doing well.

And then we come to my Buddy Cuddy :) I realize he may have his fair share of missed plays and strike outs, but he's still such an amazing player. He tries to come through when it's needed the most, yeah he may not always succeed, but it doesn't mean I don't like him any less. I'll be the first person to rag on him when he sucks and yell at his when he misses a play, don't get me wrong. But you can also bet I'll be the first person to cheer him on loud and proud when he does something spectacular.

Tonight from the comfort of my home (I wish he would have hit that Tuesday night when I was there) I was cheering just like I was at the game, for that matter, so was my mom as Cuddy is her favorite as well. We're just a Cuddy loving family over here, lol

Cuddy skittle count stands at -8 after Tuesday and tonight's games.

Tomorrow we have Timmy (2-1) against Mitch Talbot (1-1). Timmy please follow in the foot steps of Kevin and Frankie and go the distance!

Slow Ride...Take It Easy

2010-04-21T08:28:00.010-05:00

Last night I attended my first night game at Target Field. It was by far one of the best Twins games I have been too only because 1) I got to see Kevin finally pitch a game that counted in person and 2) it was outdoor night baseball! Until the times come when I have to sit in the rain to watch a game or a game is canceled because of rain, I don't think I'm going to miss the Dome. Baseball was meant to be played outdoors and last night couldn't have gotten any better.

Kevin pitched an amazing game last night! He went 8 innings and only gave up 1 run, yes it may have been a home run, but we still won and that's all that matters. We were hoping he would pitch a complete game (which would have made the night even better then it already was) or at least attempted the 9th inning, but alas Duensing came in and shut the door on Cleveland. Which now makes me 3-0 at games in the new park :-)

My buddy Cuddy apparently does not want any skittles this season as last nights two strike outs have now put him back at a -9 (if I'm keeping track right, this is kind of a guess calculation). I realize it's still early in the season, but I know he can swing the bat better then he has been. Perhaps last night both he and JJ were a little jealous that we were paying more attention to Kevin ;-) Boys I promise at my next game I will give you 100% of my attention, please don't be mad at me :-(

All-in-all I had a great time at last night game, the view was amazing, the weather was perfect and our guys were on top of their game. Rumor is tonight the Twins will see a former teammate on the field. I heard this morning that Red will be behind home plate for the Tribe. Welcome back Red (if that's the case)!

Here are a few more pictures:

Denard Span

First Pitch

JJ Hardy

M&M Boys

Buddy Cuddy

Beautiful Sunset from our seats

Seeing Double anyone?

Baseball Unplugged Version 1.0

2010-04-18T22:13:00.004-05:00

So tonight was the first "episode" of Baseball Unplugged for the season. It was announced tonight that instead of the usual 4, they would be doing 6 this season. 4 would be hosted by Cuddy and the other 2 are TBD as of right now. The joke was they were going to ask Red Dog to come back and host them since he did such a good job filling in for Cuddy 2 years ago.

Tonights was at Bunny's in St. Louis Park. It was a good atmosphere and very open which was nice. The doucebags from last years game were at Unplugged tonight (oh joy) and of course sat right in front of us, but I was able to ignore them and had a wonderful time.

Cuddy was wonderful as always, Delmon looks damn good in person (the uniforms just don't work for him) and he is funny as hell, he was having a great time up there tonight joking with his teammates and the crowd, and Drew won the role of my favorite Twins catcher. He seems so down to earth and very humble. You could tell he was a little nervous at first but once the crowd started asking questions, he seemed a little more relaxed.

The questions tonight were a little out there, although the one that stood out was from a little kid asking what SPF they wear, lol. All 3 said they don't wear any, Cuddy said he wanted to look like Delmon so of course he doesn't wear any lol

The highlight of my night, strange as it is, was the autograph line. I had passed along a message to Cuddy from a good friend of mine and Cuddy looked at me dead serious and asked where his skittles were. I told him if he got out of the negative that he would get them at the end of the season, which means I'm actually going to have to pay up again, lol.

Now onto a few pictures. Everyone enjoy the off day! I'll be at the game on Tuesday so don't expect another post until either Wednesday or Thursday :)

Drew Butera

Cuddy

Delmon Young

Four is Sweet

2010-04-17T18:31:00.004-05:00

For the first time in Twins history they have won the first four series! I am loving the way this team is playing so far this season. The bats are swinging, they are racking up the pitch counts against starting pitchers and they are all working together, which is something I love to see. If this team can keep playing like this all season, I strongly feel this is going to be a great year in Twins Territory.

And as much as it pains me to say this, Oscar has actually been going a pretty good job. This no way says that I am on the "Oscar-bandwagon" because he is and never will be my Nate, but as long as he doesn't fuck up I guess I'll live with it. Part of me wonders how many people will think he's so "great" the first time he blows a save? I remember how many people ragged and ragged and ragged on Nate last season when he blew a game here or there. Will it be the same for this one?

In another positive note, we don't have to deal with The Weeble for at least 15 days. I wish he would go in and get his eyes fixed while he's not pitching but that would make sense. I swear, one more blown game from him, and I'm writing the front office and bitching. If they know there is a problem with him, there is no way in hell he should be allowed to pitch until that problem is fixed. You know, kinda like the whole Perkins thing last season?

Today's game sounded like it was an interesting one, too bad I missed more then half of it, but that's okay the radio broadcast worked out well. It was nice to see the guys really rack it up against Zach last night. It was almost like the Cy Young award from last season went to his head and he forgot how to pitch, which was okay with me!

Tomorrow we have Carl Pavano (2-0) going against Luke Hochevar (1-0). Keep plugging away guys!!

What You See...

2010-04-15T14:35:00.005-05:00

I am no doctor, but I have heard/read reports that when Jose Mijares went to the eye doctor towards the end of spring training, it was diagnosed that the problem he was having was due to cataracts. Now I know it is no simple process of getting rid of cataracts, but correct me if I am wrong. If you are in a profession that you have to be able to see, would you not want to keep your eyes healthy and in top shape? When it starts to cost your team wins and leads, it's time to step up and get the shit fixed. It's just frustrating when you hear that "so and so" is coming in to pitch and you cringe. That's what I do when I hear Jose is coming in.

I have to laugh, last night I ragged on 3 guys for their lack-luster performance during yesterdays game and I almost feel as though those guys were online doing some reading of blogs and realized how upset some of us fans were with them. Today you had Punto with 3 hits, Justin with 3 hits, Cuddy with 2 hits (one for a home run), Denard had 2 hits. All around the bats were swinging by all but one guy and that was Joe, but that's for a different post.

By the way these guys were playing today you would think they all got their asses chewed last night after the stuff they pulled yesterday and I think Boston was thinking today's game was going to be a piece of cake. But we pulled the wool over their eyes that's for sure! Everyone loves a shut out! I also just like how the team has been playing as a whole. They have won 3 series in a row and seem to have a pretty positive attitude so far in the season and I for one, love it!

With that home run Cuddy's Skittle count is at -3 :-)

Tomorrow we have Timmy against the reigning American League Cy Young winner Zach Grienke, we've bet him once, we can do it again!

Tough To Swallow

2010-04-14T17:52:00.008-05:00

The first loss in a new ballpark is always tough to swallow and today's was no exception. In reality any loss is tough to swallow. I was hoping for a better performance from the guys, but I guess I should take it easy on them, but I feel the need to be a little bitter and a little hard on a couple of the guys after their performances today.

First I have to start with Justin. I realize that players have bad games, but today really seemed to disappoint me. I know he can play better then what he did and since I didn't actually see the game and can only go by what I was told by someone that watched the game, he apparently was out every time he was up to bat. I'm sorry, but that is not acceptable. I know he can play better then what he did today, I've seen it and I would love to see it back.

Then we have Mr. Punto. Now I know we all had Nick Punto day where we discussed how much we love or hate Nicky. And please, do not get me wrong, I love Nicky in the field. He can make some amazing plays like I discussed in my Nick Punto day post, but his bat leaves something to the imagination. Perhaps a bat like this could help him:

And then we have the Train-wreck, I mean the Crainadian, I mean Jesse Crain. Had it not been for him giving up the 3 runs, Cuddy's home run would have made it a tie game and we could have at least stood a chance of winning today's game, but NO, we had to leave that mess in there. Idiot.

I could say something about Kevin because I know 5 innings isn't really considered a "quality" start but I have a hard time talking down on him. I always have. I just hope his next start is better than today's was. Partly because I will be at the game for his next start and it will be the first "official" game I have seen him pitch in person and I want a good "quality" start from him. I wanna see the Kevin we had last year that won 10 games.

P.S. Kevin, please wear the navy again next Tuesday. Thank you!

Now I realize one could talk a little trash about Cuddy today too, but I can't talk trash about him since he got a home run. I'm not sure if he and I are fighting as I was not listening to the broadcast when he hit his home run. I'm not sure if he his jealous that I am spending so much time starring at JJ or what, but Cuddy I am sorry, I promise to pay you more attention.

That brings the Skittle count to negative 5...he may see the light of day soon.

Tomorrow it's Frankie against Tim Wakefield. Go out there and play like you know how guys. Let's take this series! Oh and be sure to welcome back Ron Mahay to the family! I know I'm glad he's back.

Couldn't Ask For More

2010-04-13T10:28:00.007-05:00

For yesterday being my first time at a Twins home opening day, it was way more then I ever could have imagined. I'm sure some of it had to do with the fact that it was Target Field, but it was an experience I will never forget that's for sure. It was another beautiful day at the ballpark, one that was supposed to be plagued by rain, but thankfully that held off till last night. Being 2 for 2 in the new ball park is definitely a plus, now too bad my next game isn't until the 20th lol

As Betsy said, we were unable to get seats together, but the idea of just being at the home opener in the new stadium was enough for me to "take on for the team" and sit by myself until Betsy moved over in the 3rd inning. I can't complain with my seat at all and I kinda hope I get to sit that far over again because the view as amazing (as you can see).

Everyone needs a little TC hug...Even Andy!

It was nice to see the entire 25-man roster out on the field, especially Nate. I can't believe I'm even going to say this, but yes even though Rauch has done a good job as the closer, no one will ever be able to replace Nate. That's his position and always will be.

No one will ever replace Nate, hear that Rauch!

Getting out of Target Field yesterday reminded me a lot of getting out of the Dome. Downtown was insane after that game was over, but you just have to move with the flow and when you see an opening go for it lol Just like our old Dome Sweet Dome.

I know this isn't the longest recap ever, but all-in-all it was a good day at the ballpark. If you have the chance to go to a game at Target Field this season, take it! It's a fantastic ball park and everyone in Twins Territory has been waiting for this moment for a long time.

Now onto a few more pictures!

The picture of Kevin was a must :)

The smile and the Nesheked socks! I was a goner for the whole day!

JJ batting and Cuddy on 3rd (2 of my faves)

JJ...uh...trying to fix something ;-)

So Much For That

2010-04-11T18:46:00.005-05:00

Before I get into the Chicago series and in case you haven't seen it, the list has been put up for the 2010 walk up music for the guys. You can find the list here. There is quite the diverse list of choices this season for a few of the guys.

Okay, onto the game. First things first, not the smartest call by Scotty to send JJ home. We could have potentially tied that game with a single by Punto after, but no, we had to try and show "oh yeah, we can score." As a rule Scotty doesn't do too bad at third, but this time I think he wasn't thinking and I won't lie, it cost us that game. But what done is done and now it is time to focus on the home opener against the Red Sox.

I was impressed with how well our pitching stiff did this series. Timmy redeemed himself from opening day. Obviously he isn't going to be perfect every outting, none of the starters are going to be perfect, they aren't Mark Buehrle and even he isn't perfect every game. Nick also did decent today too, he went seven and two-thirds innings which is a good start for a starting pitcher.

And then we have Frankie. He was the one starting pitcher that I was the most concerned with and even though he may have only gone 6 innings, I thought he did really well. I'm glad he made the starting rotation and I'm glad he went out there and proved that he still has what it takes to be a starter in the majors. I just hope I won't be eating my words as the season goes on.

Oh and let me just say this, I know I said it last year when Joe Crede went back to the South Side, but I'm going to say it again this season. It was nice to see a good reaction from the Chicago fans when Jim Thome came in Friday night.

Tomorrow is the day that everyone in Twins Territory has been waiting for, the official home opener! I will be there along with Betsy from For The Love Of The Game. If you are going and would like to meet up just leave me a comment and we'll figure something out :-)

Tomorrow we have Carl Pavano against Jon Lester. Won't lie, I am excited that I get to see Lester pitch in person, I have always liked him.

Go out there and get it guys. We'll see you there!!

Welcome Back!

2010-04-09T09:45:00.005-05:00

If there is one thing I have missed this off season more then anything it's watching Kevin pitch. If you want to get technical, I've missed that since he went on the DL last summer. So last night I forced myself to stay awake to watch him pitch until he was done and I managed to actually do that (I actually made it to when they brought in The Weeble).

While it may not have been Kevin's best game and he may not have gone as long as Carl and Nick, I'll take what he did last night and smile about it. After not pitching since, what, June of last season, I thought he did a good job last night. I'm happy that he's back on that mound again.

Not everyone wanted to play last night apparently and yes I am talking about Cuddy. In all honesty I have lost count of how far in the hole he is with the skittle count, but if he keeps playing like he has so far, he'd owe me by the seasons end. I know these guys all have off days or whatever, but a whole series? Come on Cuddy...get with it!

And then we have the trio of home run hitters. Last night we saw a new group in Jim Thome, Brendan and Delmon (again!) All I have to say is, welcome to the Minnesota Twins Mr. Thome! You have earned your spot in the lineup, that's for sure. Sure he may not be the speediest runner, but he's giving Jason Kubel a run for his money.

And then we have Delmon! Who is he and what did he do with last seasons Delmon Young?! Whoever he is, I like this version much better then last years. He seems to be more comfortable out in the field and at the plate. Of course last year he did have a lot going on with the death of his mother, which I know was tough on him I'm sure. But I am loving this version of Delmon, let's keep it that way ;-)

Now it's off to the south side to visit our "friends" in Chicago. It will be interesting to see if Thome gets the same kind of reaction from the crowd that Joe Crede got last season when he went "home" for the first game.

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

Short Update

2010-04-08T08:40:00.004-05:00

Since I didn't make it through really more then half of the game last night (tonight I will force myself to stay awake) there really isn't much to comment on, but I do have to comment on this...

Denard, thank you for channeling your inner Torii last night and scaling the wall (even if you didn't catch it). I do miss Torii, especially when he is hitting home runs against us, but you are an amazing center fielder and good at the plate to bat. I love seeing fantastic plays and you seem to be the guy to make them.

Tale of the Blackbeard

2010-04-07T08:22:00.004-05:00

I could start this post with "Once upon a time..." but that's a little too cliche for me. The excitement of getting a ticket to the home opener was enough to keep me awake for the entire game last night (not sure that will happen again tonight, but we shall see). It would have been nice if they would have maybe broken it up a bit with today being a day game, but I am not in charge of scheduling so we just have to make the best of it.

It was nice to see our good friend Nick Blackburn back on the mound for his first game of the season and he seemed to be in fine form. I like to think the beard is still working for him and as long as he keeps it trimmed, we'll be okay. If not he'll end up on the "list" like Matty G did last night. Overall I was impressed with our pitching last night. Still trying to get used to Rauch as the closer and yes I did watch him pitch even though it pained me that it was him and not Nate.

All of my co-workers yesterday were pegging the Twins to lose again last night with Nicks' record against LA, but I was trying to keep a glimmer of hope that he would pull out a win and he did. It was nice coming in this morning and telling everyone "I told you so". I've learned my lesson to never count this time out, especially this early in the season. It's game two people, cut them some slack.

It was a night for the J's last night, with Joe, Justin, and JJ going long for the team. I wasn't home for Joe's and I missed JJ's (and the DVR wouldn't let me rewind to see it) but I was able to see Justin's and it's nice seeing this kind of ball again. I've read a few articles where people have said the Twins can't play the long ball, oh yes we can, they can play both long and small ball. We did it last season and we'll do it again this season.

Oh and before I forget, what is with the BS calls already this season? Cuddy was safe by a mile at second last night when the ump called him out. I know it's only game two, but I thought all the umps took refresher classes or something during the off season after all the screwed up calls last season. It's a little too early for this nonsense if you ask me.

I thought the rally monkey's were silly last season, but last night took the cake with the snuggies. Don't get me wrong, kuddos to them for setting the record and the fans had fun with it, but maybe it's just me. I don't get the whole thing with the snuggie, lol.

Perhaps they need snuggies for the rally monkeys? But then again, please no, that might be a bit too much.

Notes From Game One

2010-04-06T08:32:00.007-05:00

Seeing how I didn't really even stay awake for the whole game (I HATE west coast games), I think it was about the 6th inning when I started to doze off and said "I give up." I can only really comment on what I saw and a little bit on what I heard and maybe everyone can fill me in on what I may have missed?

~Timmy had me a little concerned when the game started off giving up 2 walks right away. That was not what I expected to come from him, maybe Liriano, but not Timmy. When he finally settled down I was feeling a little bit better. I know it was the first game and I'm sure he was nervous, but all I can hope for is his next outing is better.

~Delmon Young, where the heck have you been hiding?! Not only did you lose the weight during the off season you apparently picked up a decent swing and the ability to run like hell! If this is the Delmon we get all season I think I will be a happy camper.

~The more and more I see J.J. Hardy, the hotter he gets. I think it's going to be a LONG season of distractions for me ;-) I think it must the Twins uniform because I didn't find him this attractive before, lol.

I know Timmy doesn't have the best record against the Angels and I know it's the first game and I've heard a lot of people saying it's going to be a long season if this is how we play the first game. But the Angels are a tough team and just because we lose the first game doesn't mean it's going to be a long season.

The road to the World Series has just begun, no need to jump off the bus already.

And So It Begins

2010-04-04T14:53:00.010-05:00

First and foremost I want to wish everyone that reads this a very Happy Easter (if you celebrate it that is).

Secondly, baseball season has begun. The Spank-mes and Boston play tonight (not that we really care about either of those teams in Twins Territory) but tomorrow night our boys take the field in LA for the first official game of the season. Won't lie, it sucks that we have to play at 9 at night for the first 4 games, but I will suck it up and "take one for the team".

But before the season actually starts Betsy (For The Love Of The Game) and I were lucky enough to get tickets for yesterdays exhibition game from a co-worker of my dads. We had beautiful seats and it was a gorgeous day for outside baseball. It was a little chilly sitting down the first base side (where we were) and we sat with sweatshirts on for a good part of the day while a few people we knew that were on the third base side were talking about getting sunburned.

The layout of the field reminds me a lot of Kauffman after last season going to two games down there. It's nice to see how open it is and to me it looks like there really isn't a bad seat in the house, but time will tell since I have seats to different games in different areas of the stadium. The layout is so pretty as you will see from a few of my pictures.

Sneak Peak

As for the game, it was a good game yesterday. There is nothing better then seeing the guys win the first game I was at in a new stadium. Being able to see Kevin finally pitch was the second highlight of my day :) Seeing Joe and Cuddy get a home run was the third highlight of my day. Yes I suppose it is fair to say that Cuddy's skittle count has begun for the season. I would have liked to have seen Pat Neshek pitch, but knowing he pitching Friday night I knew the chances of seeing him would be slim.

Now onto the pictures:

This is the spot where Betsy and I played "tourist" a few months back

The bull pen backpack this season is Chewy from Stars Wars

I was excited that my first game in Target Field was Kevin pitching

Everyone was having a good time with Dinkelman lol

One of my favorite views from the walk around

Yes we had to "stalk" the bullpen

Harmon Killebrew statue

Be sure to check out Betsy's blog at For The Love Of The Game for more pictures and recap of the game.

Good News/Bad News Kind of Day

2010-03-21T17:23:00.002-05:00

The day started out with some bad (but expected) news about Nate. He has decided to go ahead with the Tommy John surgery, which means the hunt is on for a closer that can handle the pressure. I still believe Matty G to be a wonderful candidate for that role, but after listening to yesterday game and hearing Anthony Slama in the 9th, I think he could also be a great candidate for that role. It will be interesting to see in the next two weeks who Gardy and the rest of the coaching staff keep an eye on.

But despite the sad news about our Nate, everyone in Twins Territory finally got the news we've been waiting all off season for. Joe Mauer will be a Twin for another 8 years! Not excited at all if you can't tell. ;-) It will be nice to have one of the hometown boys around for another 8 years. The longer the talks went, the more concerned I became with the whole situation. There was a part of me that was starting to think he may go someplace else if they didn't get something done soon.

But thankfully, all I have to say is, take that Yankees. We got what you wanted and you can't have him :-)

No Joey Brokenness

2010-03-09T08:33:00.004-06:00

So the news came this morning that I think shocked a lot of fans in Twins Territory, there is a chance we could spend the season minus our closer. A whole season without Joe Nathan?! Please say it ain't so!

Many will say yes please, after his performance towards the end of last season. But those of us that are faithful to the players on our team were saddened this morning of the news on Joe. I personally was not expecting it to be this bad or that the dreaded Tommy Johns surgery would be mentioned.

But now that there is a chance that the Twins will be forced to spend the season without their closer. So the Twins are forced with the question: Who will fill Joe Nathan's shoes?

I put my money on Matt Guerrier but a lot of people are saying Pat Neshak and I've even heard a few votes for Jon Rauch (please no!). I think another strong candidate could be Frankie. He's strong for one or two innings which is all we would need out of him as the closer.

The Twins have a tough decision to make before the season starts in a few short weeks. Let's just hope whoever they pick can handle the pressure and not crack.

Happy Nick Punto Day!

2010-02-12T11:14:00.002-06:00

So the big talk in the Twins blog world has been Nick Punto Day, well today is the day. So whether you love him or hate him, today is the day to let those feelings be heard, either in your own blog or you can comment to my post here.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

While I may rag on Nick from time to time with missed plays or poor plate appearances, what he does the rest of the time makes up for it. How many times have we seen him literally launch himself from second base to make a diving catch? Or how many times have we seen him be apart of a wonderful double play? (Most the second half of the season after the Twins obtained OC, but still).

Nick has had some amazing plays in the field this past season and yes, his bat may not be swinging as much as the next guy, does that really mean we should get rid of him? No I don’t think so. He an cover different positions and he does well in both of them .We’ve seen him as a short stop and we’ve seen him as a second baseman and he can cover both of them well.

I strongly believe that Nick is a great utility player and a great member to the Twins lineup. He’s always there in the dug out to congratulate a team member after a home run or after scoring a run. His bat matters when it counts. Everyone goes through their slumps with missed chances or poor plate appearances he still had a .444 batting average during the post season and a .583 OBP during the post season, both of which were the highest of anyone on the team.

When it comes right down to it, Nick is a good player and at times he just takes a bad wrap. I almost feel as though he could be considered a “band-wagon” player. He seems to have more fans when he’s doing well and when he hits his slump everyone starts to think we should get rid of him.

Let's also not forget...he is the last of the original piranhas!

Twinsfest: The 2010 Edition

2010-01-31T12:02:00.017-06:00

So in all the years that I have watched and supported the Twins, I was never able to attend Twinsfest until this year. I went yesterday along with my nephew, Betsy (For Love of The Game), and a few other friends. I had a wonderful time getting to see and meet some of the players. We were also lucky enough to run into the wonderful K-Bro (k-bro's baseball blog) and Topper from Curve For a Strike.

It was a wonderful experience and even though we were unable to go through any of the autographs lines 1) I was not paying those prices and 2) the lines were WAY too long, we were still able to meet some of the players or get pictures of most of them as you will see.

First we were able to make it through Cuddy's photo line and he was just as nice as always. Everyone should love Cuddyer, hands down the friendliest person on the team. Photo lines this year were $2 per player (they were free last year). According to the sign, all proceeds from that line were going to be sent to Haiti for the earthquake relief fund.

We were also able to meet Justin Morneau, Carl Pavano and Kevin Slowey (even though he didn't have a photo line on Saturday). As you'll be able to tell from the pictures it was a good time had by all and well worth the money.

My nephew Skyler and Cuddy

Denard Span

Jason Kubel and Matt Guerrier

Brian Duensing

JJ Hardy, pretty sure he's going to give Mauer a run in the looks department :)

This is as close to Mauer as you could get

Myself and Justin

Betsy had asked Justin to puff up his cheeks like he does when he bats, cause as you can see, Skyler does it too

Myself and Kevin Slowey :)

Skyler and Carl Pavano

Jon Rauch and Pat Neshek

Credit for this one goes to Betsy, but it's by far my favorite picture from Twinsfest :)

As post will be coming in the next couple of days with my thoughts on the two newest members of the Twins family, JJ Hardy and Jim Thome.

Random Stuff

2009-12-27T13:47:00.002-06:00

So we have 106 days until opening day at Target Field, I for one, after the great Christmas snow storm, can not wait for opening day, although with out Minnesota luck we'll end up with a snow storm that day and opening day will get pushed back. The Twins moved this past week into their new home at 1 Twins Way. You know the old saying as one chapter comes to an end another starts (or something like that). It's time for a new chapter for the Minnesota Twins and as a Twins fan, I can't wait for that chapter to begin after last season.

We've said goodbye to some really great guys this off season, first with Carlos Gomez. That one really did surprise me when the announcement was made saying he was going to the Brewers and we were going to be getting JJ Hardy. Now I can't say anything bad about Hardy because I don't know anything about him. So I'm going to take the same attitude with him that I did with Crede last off season and say he needs to prove himself before I write him off or not.

I, personally, am going to miss GoGo. He was so much fun to watch out in the field and even in the dugout for that matter. I don't think he was given enough credit for what he could do. I was lucky enough to take my nephew to meet Carlos the weekend of the playoffs and even though he doesn't speak the best English, he tried to talk to each person that came through the line.

We also said good bye to Boof. The players that we had to say goodbye to this off season were players that I never thought we would lose. I figured for sure we'd get rid of Keppel before Boof. He never even got to play last year and we're just going to write him off? For what? Bobby Keppel? Mr. "I can't pitch 95% of the time"? Seriously, Smith, pull your head out.

I think it annoys me the most that now that we've made, what 2 trades, Bill Smith is sitting in his office going "Oh watch me go!" Pretty sure no one in Twins Territory will be happy again until Joe Mauer has a new contract that states he'll be here until hell freezes over.

Just remember everyone...baseball is right around the corner :-)

Short, sweet, and right to the point

2009-11-24T12:48:00.003-06:00

That's right folks, our own Mr. Joe Mauer won his well deserved MVP award. With the news of that awards the tri-fecta is complete. The Silver Slugger, Gold Glove and MVP all right here in MN.

It was nice to see the emotion from not only Joe, but from his parents and it was amazing to see Justin there supporting his best friend and teammate.

I think hands down everyone knew that Joe was going to win MVP. His season with missing the first month was on for the record books.

Congrats Joe! You earned this one!

Now a little note to Billy, get this guy signed to a long term deal, now! Before someone snatches him up, like the damn Yankees. Eww!

My thoughts....

2009-11-01T08:32:00.003-06:00

I know this is a few weeks late, but it's been kinda busy so I had to put off doing this. Everyone has done their posts on who should stay and who should go this off season for the Twins. I, personally, thought a lot of this talk stemmed from an article from Patrick Reusse on the Star Tribune's website.

I think to start this off, the first item that I wanted to talk about was the article from Reusse. I think the Twins would be crazy to get rid of Nathan. He is by far the best closer in the Major Leagues and he was a great trade in order to get rid of AJ the ass. Sure he had a rough time during the playoffs, but we can't put the whole blame on him. The umps blew calls, the guys missed plays and in my mind you can't beat a team that uses steroids.

Trading Nathan would be the biggest mistake the Twins could ever make. In all honesty, I think the Twins need to bring back pretty much every single players we had this season. It worked from 2008 to this year forcing yet again another game 163, I think it could work again for 2010.

I even think they need to bring Joe Crede back. I love how I was against him being here to begin with, but he's grown on me and I think he's a real asset to the team. The doctors told the front office that the artificial turf was going to be tough on Crede's back, but I really think by being out on real grass next season, like he's used to playing on, we could really see Crede shine and help this team out all season.

I guess when it all comes down to it, the only person I can think of that needs to go, far, far, far away; is Glen Perkins. To me the guy brought down our pitching staff. He brought down the team. His constant complaining about his elbow, when no one could find anything wrong with him. I personally think it was all in his head, he knew his pitching sucked so he made up every excuse possible to not have to pitch.

All Good Things Must Come To An End

2009-10-12T18:59:00.003-05:00

Last night, sitting in those blue seats of the Metrodome for the very last time, it didn't seem real that the place a generation has grew up with was closing it's doors for it's last Major League Game. I know I have no room to talk, as last season was my first year actually attending a major league baseball game in person, but after how many games I've been to this season, the Dome has pretty much become my home away from home.

I had friends from out of state texting me last night after the game was over, telling me they were pulling for our beloved Twins in hopes of defeating the Yankees at least once and that we, as Twins fans, should hold our heads high because of what the team accomplished in the last month. That we had nothing to hang our heads over.

Three weeks ago, if you would have told me that the guys would have to play game 163, again, and actually make it to the post season, I would have laughed at you because I was one of many that counted them out. But the drive and determination of this team reminded me, you never give up on your team because they will come back and surprise you in ways you never thought possibly.

Fans in Twins Territory, along with the whole team, have nothing to be ashamed of this season. Our team played some amazing games this season, especially these last 3 against the Evil Empire. They didn't just roll over and let the Yankees walk all over them, they made them fight for it, which I am super proud of. We had some major players go down early this season with injuries, even later this season, and the rest of the team stepped up and took over where the "leaders" left off.

I think the perfect example in this, and yes call me bias if you want, was Cuddy. He was the team cheerleader and to watch him take over at first with Justin going down was amazing. He has stepped it up so much this season and I felt so bad for him at the beginning of the season when everyone I talked to would give him crap wondering when he would cave again or get injured and find himself back in Triple A. But he stepped it up and tried to carry this team the later part of the season.

This team has so much to be proud of this season. We've got Joe Mauer with his third batting title, the team brought one last division title to the Dome and a million more memories for everyone to remember for the rest of our lives. I know I will never forget the atmosphere in that Dome for game 163.

Now it's time for us to move to Target Field and make some new memories and enjoy a new ballpark that a whole new generation can get to call home.

Short and Sweet

2009-10-09T21:43:00.003-05:00

Minus a couple crappy calls in tonight's game, they Twins pretty much screwed themselves over tonight. Too many missed opportunities and blown plays. Sloppy baseball at it's best. Yes we didn't just roll over and let the Spank-me's take it from us, but still. You guys play better baseball then this.

I'm not sure what the hell Joe Nathan's problem is again, but I thought we were over whatever little fight we were in, pretty sure after tonight we're fighting again because I'm not very happy with him. I'm not very happy with Jason Kubel either, but he and I haven't been fighting for the last 2 months.

I hate the Yankees, that will never change, but that was pretty much a stolen game for them. They got lucky with that one. I wanna know who paid off the umps.

All I'm saying is this, you guys need to pull your heads out and stop playing scared. Pretend it's game 163 again and go out there with the fire and determination you had on Tuesday damn it.

For Those Who Still Believed...

2009-10-06T23:10:00.004-05:00

Words can not describe how proud I am of this team. I will never forget this game for the rest of my life. Being at the Dome with 54,000+ fans, screaming my lungs out in excitement was worth every penny. To hear that many fans chant MVP at the tops of their lungs when Joe was up to bat. Amazing. To hear that many fans sing along with Journey's "Don't Stop Believin'", amazing.

For all the people that said they'll never do it, screw you. This team has more heart and dedication than any other team I've seen. Cuddy's shirts from last year are perfect right now, 162+ NO excuses.

These guys went into this game with a never surrender attitude. They never gave up. They fought so hard for this, everyone knew how bad they wanted it.

I have to say, part of me says this one was for Heidi. I couldn't help but stand there after the game, watching these guys and thinking "How much would Heidi love this?" I know she's up there watching, but I have never known a bigger Twins fan in my life. So Heidi... this one was for you. Now can you help us out with the Yankees a little? lol

For the first time this season a game has left me speechless. I am so proud of the guys and no matter what happens, you all proved them wrong when they said you couldn't do it.

It Ain't Over Till It's Over

2009-10-05T13:31:00.014-05:00

It's only a matter of time...

To be quite honest, I'm not even really sure where to start the post for this weekends do-or-die series, other than with this. I spent the entire weekend being nice to the Chicago White Sox, even saying thank you when they would do something to help us. I even made the promise that if they swept Detroit, I would never say anything bad about AJ again. So since they didn't sweep the Tigers, I have something I need to get off my chest...

AJ... you suck.

Ah, I feel better now :)

As it was originally planned for the weekend I was only supposed to be attending Sunday's game with Betsy, but as we both watched Friday nights game and knew we were still in this fight we decided to attend Saturday's game as well and boy am I glad I was there. That was a make me sick to my stomach game but it was worth it. I'm not sure who lit the fire under these guys asses, but I'm glad whoever it was did it. It seems to be working and I just pray that it carries over till Tuesday's game.

I think Friday nights game was an amazing way to start off the weekend. As I was watching with my mom during the first inning, she happened to make that comment that Delmon Young reminded her of Kirby Puckett, with a quick glance I could see what she was talking about. So with the bases loaded, I made the comment "channel your inner Kirby, Delmon." and amazingly he must have because the next thing I knew that ball was in the seats giving Delmon his first grand slam.

I did feel bad for Delmon though, he was interviewed after the game was over and was asked if his dad was there to see his grand slam, he responded with, yes his dad was there, but he wished his mom could have been there to see it. Believe me Delmon, she was watching :)

I was just in awe watching these guys this weekend, fighting till the end, knowing what was on the line. Back to Saturday's game... those guys do have a way of stressing us out till the very end. But once again, our rock star Cuddy showed everyone he can make big swings happen when they are needed the most. To see the excitement on his face and the rest of the teams face watching the replay online kinda gave me chills cause you can see how much these guys want this.

Also, Nick Blackburn pitched a beautiful game against Zack Grienke. I'll admit I was worried facing Grienke during a do or die weekend, but again these guys checked fear at the door and wowed a few critics that said we couldn't/wouldn't. Amazing job Blackie :)

Yesterdays game was a mixture of emotions for me. I was excited with knowing what could happen, but at the same time I was kinda sad because I knew there was a chance we could be walking out of the Dome for the last time. Apparently the guys aren't ready to say goodbye to that bubble just yet and we have to play game 163 again, which thankfully this time around I will actually get to be there with Betsy and Krystal. There was no way in hell I wasn't going to be at that game tomorrow so we used every available resource to try and get tickets.

All I could think during the earlier parts of yesterday's game was, "save some runs for Tuesday!". I spent a good portion of the game scoreboard watching until the final score was posted for the Tiger/Sox game, then I focused more on our game. But when Kansas seemed to start rallying, I was glad we had those extra runs, as I'm sure Carl was thinking the same thing.

The post-game ceremony to close out the Dome was really good. Most of the team from the '87 and '91 World Series were there along with most of the All-Metrodome Team, the only ones missing were Torii, Johan, Chuck and of course Kirby. They did a wonderful tribute for Kirby along with having Kirby Jr. take down the last number in the Countdown to Outdoor Baseball over in the home run porch.

But I think Kent Hrbek said it best when he said in his speech, "We've got to come back here on Tuesday and drink some more beer!" And actually, I may just have to have one Tuesday night.

Detroit's sending Rick Porcello to the mound while we're sending Timmy. I've got faith and a whole lot of prayers. Go after it guys, we'll all be there to cheer you on. You've all made it this far, just keep plugging along.

Oh Oh It's Magic You Know

2009-09-30T19:54:00.005-05:00

Most fans, at this time of the year, will sit down to try and figure out their teams "magic number". I, on the other hand, want nothing to do with the "magic number". I'm one of those fans that like to take it day-by-day, game-by-game, out-by-out.

This season is no different. I haven't sat down and tried to figure out our "magic number" nor do I want to. I have spent the whole season going game-by-game, day-by-day, out-by-out. Although I do love it when these guys sweep anytime, but I really love it when they sweep Chicago.

The Twins knew what needed to be done going into Detroit this weekend and that was win 3 of the 4 games against those damn kitties. With the rain out on Monday night our anxiety and nerves had to carry over to the dreaded double header on Tuesday, where to my surprise, our guys pounced on the kitties in game one which resulted in a win and pushed us to one game away from first place.

Game 2 wasn't so pretty, although I have to give the team credit for trying to come from behind and rally to win, it just wasn't enough or it was a little too late. Brian Duensing may not have brought his best stuff, but I look at Tuesday nights game as his game 163 like Nickie's from last year. That one game we gained, we ended up losing again with the loss.

I won't lie, I went into Wednesday nights game with a little bit of a cocky attitude cause I figured this one wouldn't be too bad with Pavano going out there, after all, we got him because he was supposed to be able to pounce on the kitties. I guess he didn't remember that because the kitties pounced all over us.

What I wouldn't have given to be a fly over that mound to hear what Gardy said to him

I know everyone always says, "There's always next season." I know how bad these guys wanted it this season, heck we all did. We came so close last season and the guys wanted to send the Dome out in style. I'm not throwing in the white flag, not yet anyway. It all depends on what happens tomorrow. Tomorrow will be the deciding factor. At least we have Timmy pitching, which hopefully will be enough to tame the Tigers and our offense will get their bats swinging again.

It's your game to lose tomorrow guys. Don't let all this hard work this season just fall to the wayside.

Taking A Break

2009-09-27T07:44:00.004-05:00

So I'm coming into today's blog from a different perspective, the Twins game will come into play later, but when I got online this morning there was an article that caught my attention. Apparently our dear, dear friend Ozzie went on a little rant after the Sox blew a game last night.

Chicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen Slams Players

I can understand Ozzie is pissed because his team blew a lead, but I don't think I have ever heard Gardy go off like that, even when we blew a ten run lead (or if he has at least he's kept it private). I can understand now why the Sux have been playing like they have been. Who would wanna play for Ozzie knowing that if you make one mistake your going to end up strangled or something.

That guy just blows my mind with how he talks to his players, especially to the media.

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Okay, now onto the Twins game. It was very important that the Twins pull out a win last night because of said above rant from Ozzie. It kept us two out of first with the dreaded four game series against those silly kitties.

The guys last night went back to a little bit of small ball which was nice to see, especially since we still got 11 runs. This is the Twins baseball that I've been missing all season, I'll admit I wish they were playing like this all season cause then maybe we wouldn't be trying to catch the Tigers, but alas we can't change the whole season so we'll just focus on the now :)

My only real rant from last nights game is the fact that after KC's pitcher hits two of our players and one of our pitchers comes a little bit close to hitting one of the Royals players the teams finally get warned. I'm happy that Gardy came out and tried to defend our guys. It's hard to defend our hitters when you can't even pitch a little close to the batter. You can bet that during today's game that the first person that comes close to getting hit, both teams will get warned without a second thought.

Today we have to deal with the Royals ace, Zach Grienke. I can understand why Gardy took Manship out of the lineup since it would be his turn to pitch, but I'm not going to lie, I'm a little worried with Frankie going up against him today. Grienke's been on some kind of hot streak right now and I'm sure someone in the Royals team would love to spoil us just a little.

One Step At A Time

2009-09-26T10:00:00.007-05:00

Ok as much as it pains me to say it is, thank you to Ozzie and those damn White Sox for beating Detroit last night. I never thought the day would come that I'd actually have to cheer for those damn Sox but if it means a playoff trip for the Twins then that's what I'll do. To me cheering for the Sox is like cheering for the Yankees, I just can't do it. But since it's for the love of our Twins, I'll do it and just bit my tongue lol

Once again Cuddy showed us all what a rock star he really is. He has a thing about the K and hitting home runs there. Cuddy has been a beast lately and I love it! He has really stepped it up lately and it trying so hard to carry this team and remind the guys that we're still in this. We still stand a chance.

I won't lie, I wish I was down there for this series again. It's a beautiful ballpark. I can't wait for the series down there next season, cause plans are already made so I can go down again next season to see my best friend and see some more outdoor baseball at the K.

We can taste it guys. It's within our grasps. If there was ever a time to prove the critics wrong it's now. As Gardy would say, one game at a time, but right now we need every game we can. Which also means we need Detroit to lose every game they can.

Hey Chicago, we know you hate us (or at least hate our bubble), but maybe, just maybe you'll help us out a little and beat Detroit again. And maybe, if you're lucky, if the situation is ever reversed we'll be willing to help you out (that's a pretty big maybe though).

Tonight we have Timmy on the mound. You guys know what you have to do. Go out there and get it done.

Bring Out The Brooms!

2009-09-23T22:33:00.005-05:00

That's right, the Twins swept the Sux, in the South Side no less. We're still 2.5 games back since Cleveland has obviously given up for the season, but I'm holding onto a glimmer of hope that maybe, just maybe the Tribe will pull whatever is stuck up their ass out and figure out how to play baseball again.

I love seeing our guys sweep a team, but there is something special and kinda funny when the guys sweep Chicago. I'm not sure if it's watching AJ piss and moan and complain about everything not going his way or what. I figured for sure after those couple stolen bases, that he would go back in the dug out and whine so he wouldn't have to finish the game. It seems to be AJ's way.

I always find it funny how no matter how many times these teams play the Twins at home and they always play that Walks Will Haunt animation, they still walk our guys and in the end it haunts them. Tonight was the prime example, they walked the White Sux killer and in the end he scored anyway. Not that I'm bitching, keep walking our guys and the runs will continue to come.
I strongly believe that after his performance tonight, Brian Duensing has earned his spot in the starting rotation for next year. So many people or journalist have said he needs more seasoning, really how much more seasoning does he need then what he's getting right now pitching in a race for the division title? I know tonight may have not been his best night on the mound, but he's proven in his last few starts he knows what he's doing and he's got what it takes to be a starter.

Enjoy your day off guys, Denard rest up, we want you back in the lead off spot on Friday. All the fans can taste it guys, as we all know you can too. Go out there and go after it :)

You Got To Fight

2009-09-22T22:09:00.005-05:00

Tonight's game seemed to come down to who's bats were swinging better. Thankfully it came down to the fact that our bats were swinging better. It was a fight to the end and Chicago wasn't going to roll over and play dead, although at time I wish they would, but I don't get that lucky when it comes to stuff like this.

The Twins needed this win tonight, especially with Cleveland failing us and losing to Detroit 3-1. It should not have come down to us hoping, wishing, and/or praying that another team in the division would beat whoever is leading, but that seems to be the case with the Twins. They wait until the last few weeks and then get that second or third wind and make the push for the play offs. Hopefully this year we won't have to have a tie breaker game or else we're going to be in trouble since the NFL has already said they won't move the Packer/Viking game that night.

I felt bad for Jeff Manship tonight, he just wasn't on top of it tonight and it cost him what should have been his game. Part of me wonders if he's really ready to be a major league starter. I could see him possibly making the team as a relief pitcher next season, but as Gardy normally goes, I'm pretty sure he has no faith in Manny. I have faith in him, I would love to see him get one more try at his first major league win, but I doubt he will :(

When the ugly, ugly Sux took the lead, I figured I might want to turn the game off. I was in a bad mood for most of the game. I turned it off for about five minutes and happened to walk in the living room in enough time to see Cuddy be the rock star that he is. Maybe he ate some of my Skittles I gave him before the game ;-) Like I told Betsy, I think Cuddy needs the same kind of contract as Jeter with the Yankees. I could see Cuddy staying a Twin for his whole career, in all seriousness I hope that really happens. I can't see him playing any place else.

I was also in the living room long enough to see an instant replay, that is see Matty T get his second home run of the season in about the same spot as his first home run about 4 months ago. I think maybe he was talking to Cuddy before the game or something. He's got a lot of talent and hopefully he will make the team out of spring training next season and will actually get another chance at it.

Between Cuddy and Matty T, OC and Kubes also decided to help with the HR's tonight. I thought the guys did a good job tonight. The bull pen went out there and did a pretty decent job, Matty G... home runs are not acceptable though, ok? And yet again, I turned Joe Nathan off when he came into pitch the 9th. As much as I want to be able to watch him pitch again this season, if this works I'm just going to run with it. I wanna see this team in the play offs so I'll deal with it.

Tomorrow we have Brian going against Buehrle. One game at a time... as the old saying goes, "Slow and steady wins the race". This race is yours to be won guys.

Piranhas Strike Again

2009-09-21T22:21:00.005-05:00

I'm sure Randy Williams, after tonight, became the most hated pitcher by Twins fans.

I never like to see another teams player get hit in the head by a pitch, but it's even worse when it's one of your players getting hit in the head by a pitch. I'm just thankful that Denard was able to get up and walk off the field on his own. I would have felt better had he gone to the hospital, but he was checked out and is listed as day to day so hopefully we'll be able to finish up the rest of the series.

Now I'm going to say this and then I think I may have to go wash my eyes out with soap or something because these are words you will never see come from me again, but I was pleased that AJ checked on Denard so quick and motioned to the dugout that help was needed. I think out of all the videos I've seen of players getting hit in the head, he responded the quickest in checking on Denard.

The last of the original piranhas was in fine form tonight. Punto went 2 for 2 with 2 walks. He seemed to be on top of this game tonight and remembering that the Sux are afraid of the piranhas ;-) It wasn't the best night for the White Sux Killer, aka, Mo but hopefully that won't hurt his chances for being in the last two games against these guys. Gardy knows what needs to be done and how we're going to get there so we'll see how this one plays out.

Mad props to Nickie on his pitching performance tonight. This is the Blackie I've missed seeing lately. Everyone knows he has it in him to pitch like this, he just left it behind after the all star break apparently and just now finally picked it up again, and might I add, just in time too.

Tomorrow we have Jeff Manship against John Danks. I have faith in Jeff... Gardy may not have faith in him, but I really do think Jeff has what it takes. He just needs our bats swinging and getting a little run support and everything else falls into place.

So Close We Can Taste It...

2009-09-20T21:40:00.013-05:00

As everyone in Twins Territory knew this weekend was a huge weekend for the guys and they went out there and give it their all. I know I sat here and said in this blog that they were out of it, but after watching this team all weekend you can see how badly they want it this year. Yes, they may not have shown just how bad they wanted it today with how the played, but as my mom reminded me, you can't win them all.

We are still 3 games within first with 4 more games to go against Detroit and 3 to go against the evil, evil White Sux. Our six games against Kansas is going to be a toss up cause they can either help us or hurt us, so we'll see how that one goes. I hope they'll help us and we can win against them (sorry Dana, I promise to return the favor when you're in our position).

Cuddy once again reminded me on Friday and Saturday night just how much of a rock star he really is. I don't care how much he's getting paid this season, it's not too much for what he has done for this team this year. I think he would have been able to do this last season too if he wouldn't have spent most of the season hurt. He has really stepped it up this season and showed a lot of people he's got what it take to try and carry this team when it's needed.

The season is coming to an end quick... it doesn't seem real that it could all be done in a little less than two weeks. I hope it's not. I would love to see this team send the Dome out in style and give us all a good reason to be excited for next season :)

The only sad news from the weekend it Joe Crede is for sure done for the season. Back surgery number 3 in 3 years. The report was it was supposed to be this week, but my parents said they made the comment on TV during the game today, that he's going to wait and have it done the first day of the off season so he can travel with the team for the rest of the year. As much as I hate to say it, I really wonder if his back can take another season of baseball. Like I said in my last post, I would love to have him back next season with us going outside and playing on real grass.

Another short recap, I know, but it was a long weekend and I don't remember much from the games so that's what you get... but what you do get now is a few pictures from the Rascal Flatts concert I attended Saturday night and a few pictures from the game today.

Darius Rucker

Rascal Flatts

Baseball Unplugged & More

2009-09-17T18:29:00.013-05:00

I figured I better do this now since 1) it's an off day and 2) I'll be down in the cities all weekend and won't have time to do my Detroit recap until Sunday when I get home from the game.

First and foremost... way to go guys with sweeping the Tribe! We're gaining little by little and Kansas City decided to help us out with taking 2 out of 3 against Detroit putting us 4 games outta first with the Tigers coming to town this weekend. Normally I would say one game at a time, but this is do or die time, meaning wins are a must.

I need to give props to Timmy and Blackie for their good starts the last two games. As our dear friend Bert says "starting pitching is key" which I strongly believe right now. Cuddy was back in his rock star form this past series earning back his Skittles, which were finally paid up last night at Baseball Unplugged. The video can be seen here.

There really isn't much for me to recap from this series other than the sweep, which was already covered so now I'll just show you pictures from the game and Baseball Unplugged.

Strech Kubes, stretch!

Cuddy at first!

Apparently Joe and I are still fighting because I had to sit in my seat with my head down for the last out of the game since he couldn't get it.

Cuddy's little one... He's so cute and did not like it when he couldn't see Daddy.

Giving Everybody That Rock On Sign...

2009-09-14T22:19:00.009-05:00

I was all set to kick back and watch football tonight when the Twins were down 3-0 in the seventh inning, at that point I had already missed a good chunk of the game because of a season premiere of one of my regularly watched shows, but I happened to turn the game on in just enough time to watch Cuddy be a rock star and crank out home run number 25 on the season and 100 for his career. I couldn't help but laugh though when he was giving everyone high fives, at the look on Gardy's face when Mike slapped his hand.

I'm going to wait to see what he does tomorrow and Wed before I figure out if he's worthy of getting Skittle on Wed. night at Unplugged.

It's kinda disappointing though because after that great come from behind win, we get the news that not only have we lost Joe Crede for the rest of the season (which as much as I hate to admit it, I almost saw it coming after going 0-4 yesterday), we've now lost Justin Morneau for the remainder of the season. He apparently has a stress fracture in his back. It's just weird to think that the game on Friday was the last time we got to see Justin play in the Dome in person.

Back to Crede, I would love to see the Twins take a chance on him for next season. Yeah this season has been a struggle, but we all knew this going in, when the doctors all said playing on the artifcial turf was going to be tough on his back. But with us going to Target Field next season and playing on real grass, I think he could prove a lot of people wrong next season. Believe me, I never thought I would see the day I would be defending Crede, but I want him here next season. I wanna see what he can do when we move outside. If it doesn't work out, then fine, get rid of him at the end of next season. But I think the Twins fans have taken a liking to our 3rd basemaen.

Apparently Nathan and I have not completely made up yet. We seem to do really well until he goes for that third out and then it gets rocky. I mute the TV and stop watching and that third out comes seconds later. This little issue needs to be fixed.

It was a great come back win tonight by the guys. With Detroit winning, we had to win this game in order to stay in this race. It's not over yet, but we have to keep winning guys. Or else our off season is going to start really quick.

I Don't Wanna Fight Anymore

2009-09-13T17:20:00.019-05:00

After a disappointing game on Friday night (I don't think the work disappointing covers it, heartbreaking is more like it), today's beautiful performance from Brian Duensing made up for it. I think a few people around us were starting to get nervous when Brian had a couple guys on base, but I knew he could get out of it, I've seen him do it before.

Betsy and I were troopers and actually stayed for the whole game on Friday night in hopes that maybe, just maybe they could rally enough to comeback and win the game, they rallied, just not enough. I'm not sure what's up with Nick, but apparently he didn't like our little tribute that was set up down by the bullpen (I'm letting Betsy fill everyone in on that one). We felt like we were at the home run derby during that game. Last time I checked that was in July... not September.

I don't wanna dwell on the what could/should have been from this weekend; what I wanna focus on is the game today. Like I said, it was a beautiful performance from Duensing. I felt bad for him though because when they were announcing the line-ups before the game, there was maybe only a handful of people that cheered for him :-( of course when he started getting strike outs everyone was cheering for him.

I would like to officially announce that Joe Nathan and I are no longer fighting! I did get a little nervous when he started warming up in the 9th because I didn't wanna see the shutout get thrown out the window for Brian cause he deserved that. When he made it through the first batter, I thought "Okay, this might be ok." And when the batter got the base hit, then made it to second, and then third on the wild pitch, I really got nervous. But when he got the last guy swinging, I figured it was safe to say we're not fighting anymore.

I'm just glad we didn't get swept at home again, I don't think I could have handled that in person.

First I'll start with pictures from Friday night:

"Look I can fly!"

Busted!

Super Span

Bobby Keppel signing autographs for the kids

Duck and cover! Incoming!

Now today's game:

Skyler and I before the game

Skyler thought he needed to fill in for Morneau since he didn't play.

Uh... GoGo, that's kinda inappropriate don't you think?

The Rocket

Justin Huber... the newbie.

Now it's time to face Cleveland... can we please get back on a winning streak guys?

Half Full or Half Empty

2009-09-10T17:35:00.006-05:00

So this series could have ended a whole lot worse than it did today. Today's game was a close one and besides the four walks he gave up, I thought Timmy did a good job. It could have went either way and the cards just didn't fall our way... again. That seems to be happening a lot these last few games. It all comes down to the same thing, blown chances, missed saves, pitchers that don't know what they are supposed to do or bats that just aren't swinging.

In last nights game though, Cuddy, once again, proved what a rock star he is and got a pinch hit double! Time and time again he amazes me with what he can do, now if he can just keep doing that and get some more home runs, he'll get his Skittle count back up there, lol. I also thought Pavano did a good job out pitching Doc, even if Doc did go all 9 innings, our guy still came up with the win. It was also nice to see Justin finally get out of his home run slump and knock number 30 out of the park along with racking up his 100th RBI.

I would also like to give mad props to Kansas City for helping us out a little with walking all over Detroit since Tampa Bay couldn't help us :( It's nice to know someone might be willing to help us out when we can't seem to help ourselves. Next on the docket for Detroit... Toronto. Wanna help us a little guys?

I'm guessing Nathan and I are still fighting. Last night when he pitched I turned the game off in hopes that he'd have a 1-2-3 inning, seeing how the last time I listened/watched him pitch the whole game came unraveled in one inning. Hopefully he gets over this soon, I know I'm over it, I would like to be able to watch him pitch again before the end of the season! Betsy said it's because I "turn him off" that we're still fighting, I beg to differ :-)

It's time to come home guys. Betsy and I will be there tomorrow night to cheer you on in hopes of a win :)

Time Is Slipping Away

2009-09-08T21:54:00.002-05:00

Before I get into the heart of tonight's post, I want to take a minute and invite everyone to participate in a wonderful thing that K-Bro is doing for the month of September. She is donating 2 items to the local food shelf for every Twins win and 1 item for every Detroit loss. I myself am taking part in it in hopes to help out the local food shelf. Hopefully the Twins will help us out a little and put a few more wins on the board. It's a great idea, so please help out where you can.

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Tonight was just another chapter in the disappointment section of the Twins season this year. You could think that as a Twins fan, one would be used to it after the season that we've had, but it never does seem to get easier. The disappointment/heartbreak section of this seasons yearbook is going to triumph over the happy sections. I was so hoping for the win tonight with Brian on the mound. I'm just happy he didn't take the loss.

There really isn't much to talk about from the last two games other than the fact Justin and Cuddy finally snapped their o-for whatever streaks they were on. Cuddy is well on his way to losing whatever Skittles I promised him. We'll see how he does between now and next Wednesday when I go to Baseball Unplugged.

What I've really wanted to discuss in my blog for the last couple days, but I just haven't gotten around to it, is the whiner, Glen Perkins.

Apparently Glen and his agent are talking about filing a grievance against the Twins because they didn't call him back up today after the Rochester Red Wings season came to an end yesterday. As many know Glen was put on the 15-day DL with an elbow strain. He was recently activated and was told to report to Rochester to do some rehab. Glen said he wanted a third opinion from a different doctor, of course receiving the same results as he received from the other two. But by the time the dye had cleared his system so he could pitch the Wings season was over.

Let him file his grievance. In my opinion he shouldn't be called back up or be let back on the roster because of all the complaining he's done. We need guys up here that are willing to work hard and do what they are told. If he wouldn't even go to Rochester for rehab without whining, what the hell would he do when he got back up to the Majors and just sat on the bench? I was telling Betsy, I never have said I want a player to leave the organization, I didn't even say that with Frankie when he was pitching like crap. But they could say tomorrow Glen had been traded and I'd be fine with it.

I hear the Chicago White Sux are full of whiners... perhaps he'd be a good fit in there.

The End Is In Sight

2009-09-06T19:42:00.005-05:00

First off thanks to Topper for getting me my own Joe Mauer on a stick since 1) I wasn't at the game they were giving them away at and 2) I won't be able to make it to the state fair. He may just be taken into work and put in my office somewhere to freak my manager out ;-)

Since I wasn't home/didn't see much of the games this weekend I don't have much to comment on other than it seemed to be another weekend of missed opportunities. It gets harder and harder to watch a team that you know can play so much better than what they have been sucking game after game after game.

You have Justin, who need to get his ass in gear if he wants another MVP, who during today's game was 0 for 18 and Cuddy who was 0 for 15. Obviously I wonder how much of Justin's issue has to do with the inner ear infection he had earlier and he just came back too soon or if he's in his "September Slump" like he was this time last season.

Cuddy's no different...now is not the time to have a slump. We all know what Cuddy is capable of... hello two home runs in one inning! Could we please do that again Mr. Cuddyer, you're already losing Skittle.

Obviously yes, everyone goes through them, it just seems the guys on our team go through them more than most or they just last longer. Joe Nathan seems to be in his right now as well. It doesn't work to have this happen in September when you have to try and make that push into the post season.

Plus we can't rely on teams to help us out any either, although this weekend I was hoping Jason Bartlett and the Tampa Bay Rays would help us out a little in beating Detriot a couple games, but apparently they didn't wanna help us as Detriot swept them.

The only positive from the entire weekend was Timmy Baker and win number 12 on the season. There is an article on the Twins site about this, but it was announced during the Pittsburg/Cards game today (we are at Buffalo Wild Wings watching the game and they had that game on) that Timmy has now won 11 of his last decisions.

As much as I hate to say it, with only 26 games left and for as tough as the teams are we have coming in or going to... I think any wishes we had of a post season are over.

Fan Friday

2009-09-04T15:34:00.002-05:00

Today I'm changing things up a bit and instead of doing my game recap like normal (partly cause I won't be home for the game tonight) everyone head over to Twins MVB and read the special Fan Friday column I did.

Who Is To Blame?

Again Joe? Seriously?

2009-09-02T16:21:00.010-05:00

Before I get into the game...

The disappointment from today's game, at least for me, became anger after reading a message on Twitter from the Star Tribune's Joe Christensen about Paul Konerko.

"Classic (Konerko). After the game, flipped his cap off as he walked into the clubhouse and said, 'We own this place'.''

Last time I checked the White Sox record in the dome wasn't that great (5-19 in their last 24 to be direct) and they were all crying and ready to leave. And my gosh, they come back and win a game and they own the fucking Dome. As far as I'm concerned I'm glad it's the last time they are going to be here this year because I was getting tired of listening to Ozzie cry about how much he hates the Dome... same goes for AJ.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Onto the game...

It sucks that we lost because I was tasting a sweep of those idiots again like you wouldn't believe. I think today's loss hurt more than the loss did in Oakland earlier this season. I think my heart was in my toes when Nathan gave up the home run to tie the game. Don't get me wrong, I love Joe Nathan, but it hurts when I start thinking I don't want him to come into a game and it's coming to that point. I know I used some language that might not be work appropriate when the game was tied up, and I really know I used language I shouldn't have when the Sox took the lead.

Joe, we still love you... some of us just don't like you very much right now. Just please, please, please figure it out and soon. I miss watching you come out and scare the crap outta the guys at the plate. I wanna be able to use "Fear The Nathan" again and right now the fans are fearing the Nathan instead of the guys at the plate.

I don't wanna spend the whole post this time dwelling on what could have been (more like what should have been) because there was an amazing pitching performance today from Brian Duensing. I strongly feel as though both he and Jeff Manship should be tops candidates for the starting rotation for the 2010 season, I'm sure everyone knows the two that they would replace ;-)

Duensing went 7 shut out innings with 7 strike outs and only 5 hits. He did amazing against the Sox today like he did when he pitched against them in his first major league start back in July. He's been proving time and time again he deserves to be here in the majors. He may have only had 88 pitches in today's game, but 59 of those were strikes. Amazing job today Brian!!

Both he and the White Sox Killer seem to know how to handle Chicago... now if only our closer could take notes.

I know we still have three more games against the Sox this month in the South Side, but all I have to say to them is don't let the door hit you in the ass on the way out.

It's Going To Be A Heartache Tonight

2009-09-01T23:08:00.014-05:00

I heard the song on my radio after the game and figured it'd be appropriate for any White Sox fans after tonight's game, in all reality I was really thinking of the Sux fans that Betsy and I had to sit by tonight. The old lady kept giving us dirty looks every time we would do our "Anti-AJ" cheers. It actually made them more fun :)

Betsy and I also had the chance to meet up with Topper tonight before the game started. It was great to get to meet another reader of my blog and a fellow blogger :) Everyone make sure to check out his blog! Also everyone make sure to check out Betsy's blog when she posts it for more adventures from tonight before the game :-)

I had all intentions of coming home after tonight's game and going on and on about how amazing Jeff Manship pitched tonight and how proud I was of him for doing such a great job. For being his first major league game as a starter, he went out there and to me looked like he was made for that position. To have 4 shut out innings is pretty impressive. Good job Jeff!

All I have to say is this about Michael Cuddyer, he is a freakin' rock star! Cuddy's 2 home runs (bringing his Skittle count so far to 5, I'm buying him like the 5 pound bag to take to Unplugged in two weeks, Betsy dared me to do it so I will) were one of the major highlights of the night. I don't care who wants to say he needs to be gone, I will fully admit right now, the day Michael Cuddyer is no longer a Twin, I will probably cry lol He is by far my favorite player.

Now laugh if you will, but during the bottom of the 9th with two on and two out, Betsy and I were basically yelling for them to bring in Jose, aka, the White Sux Killer! Can I just say, now, for the record, I want him here full time next season. He's incredible and amazing and I really wanna meet him in person. He is earning so many brownie points this season with what he's been able to do again the Sux and other teams too as a pinch hitter. I think a few people left the game tonight with a new appreciation of Mr. Morales, although most of us already know what he's capable of. Way to go out there and get us another fantastic walk-off win!!

Way to keep us all on our toes again tonight guys... you have a way of bringing us all to the edge of our seats!

Betsy being a "tourist" we weren't loitering at all :)

I wasn't photo stalking Jeff Manship at all ;-)

The White Sux Killer!

See? Not at all!

There were a couple of the White Sux players that "got Denarded"

The man of the hour!! Yay Cuddy!!!

It's JGG, the Jolly Green Giant!

The easy distraction... I mean Joe Nathan

Do I Make You Nervous?

2009-08-31T22:08:00.005-05:00

The Grizzly Bear aka Nick Blackburn gets most of the props for tonight. Here's my theory Nick... the beard seems to be working... run with it while you can! Just make sure it doesn't get too unruly please or else you'll be going on "the list" for a trim :)

The rest of the props for tonight's game go to Mauer and Kubes. Both going 2 for 4, but those hits are what got us the win tonight. Also Cuddy has to get honorable mention with that diving catch that he made. I'd like to think Web Gem nod, but you never know with those guys, lol.

I thought the guys played smart ball tonight. They need to go out there and do it again tomorrow. One day at a time, one game at a time. We can't get ahead of ourselves.

Oh, I'd also like to thank Jason Bartlett and the Tampa Bay Rays for helping us out today and beating the Tigers. I was listening to the game today at work and it was nice to see Jason have such a good day. I miss him as a Twin, he was my original Twins crush.

Lastly, I'm beginning to wonder if I make Joe Nathan nervous or something (totally kidding, btw). But tonight when we came in, I muted the TV and turned my back to it and he went 1-2-3, Friday night when he was struggling I turned my radio off and like a minute later he got the last out and we won. He better get over the stage fright cause I'm not leaving early tomorrow night if he comes in, sorry Joe!

Tomorrow: The Twins are sending Jeff Manship to the mound against John Danks (12-8). Betsy and I will be at the game, probably being 2 of a few people that acutally know who Jeff Manship is and will probably have to tell those we're sitting by who he is (seems to be the norm when new guys pitch while we're there).

Run Red Run!

2009-08-30T21:36:00.003-05:00

I didn't have plans on even doing a blog today, but to be honest, as much as I pick on Mike Redmond and say that he needs to retire, he seems to bring a fair amount of fun to the team and the line up. We may not have the best record when he is playing, but I know he at least tries when he's at the plate.

Today was no exception. While he may be only 1 of 3 position players who were with the team at the start of the season to not have a home run, I can officially say I have never see Red Dog run so hard since I started watching the Twins than he did today going for that triple. Plus I think I got a kick out of it mostly because of the reaction Red got from the dug out when he reached, was priceless. It's always nice to see this team acting like a team, especially after the last few weeks when things weren't going right and every one was blaming everyone else.

Of course I wish I could find video to post to go along with this post because it was just too priceless, but of course I can't find one. And there aren't any pictures either. A decent play from Red, that doesn't happen very often and you can't find anything on it. Go figure!

Props to Nicky Punto too with that perfectly placed bunt during today's game too! I've missed seeing Nick being able to drop a bunt down like that, he's tried a little to hard this season to try and make those plays and it usually ends up being strike 3 or an out at first so it was nice to see a little squeeze play today from Punts!

Also since I did this post... Joe Nathan! Stop giving all us Twins fans heart attacks. Most of these games have been stressful enough as it is and then to have to worry if you're going to be able to go out there and get the save. Whatever the issue is, please get it out of your system by Tuesday when I am at the game, k? Perhaps we can even get enough run support to give you a few days off to maybe clear your head or something.

I think we were all breathing a sigh of relief when Joe finally got that last out.

I'd like to think a few of the guys read my blog last night and learned what it meant to capitalize since I was so nice to spell it out for them and give them a few pointers. It still leaves us 4.5 games outta first and a game and a half a head of Chicago, which is key with Chicago coming to town for a 3 game series starting tomorrow. Seriously though, does the Commissioner hate us that much that we have to play the Sox so many times this season? Not that I don't mind playing our rivals, but I'd like to see some other teams more often too, like Tampa Bay!

Class Is In Session

2009-08-29T21:27:00.008-05:00

The one thing that has always bummed me out with the Twins is whenever they are given a free pass, so-to-speak, they always seem to mess it up. Tonight is a prime example. Detroit lost 3 to 1 against Tampa Bay and the Sox were creamed by the Yankees, meaning the Twins had the perfect chance to gain some more ground on Chicago and close that gap between us and Detroit. Did we capitalize on it? Of course we didn't because that seems to be what the Twins do best.

I'm not sure if any of these guys on the team own a calendar or realize what month it's going to be in 2 days, but we're running out of time to do something to get into post season, cause the wild card ain't going to happen.

Boys, let me spell it out for you, everyone take a seat:

Let's start off with this: the definition of capitalize is as follows; "to take advantage of; turn something to one's advantage"

1) When the team you are chasing in the standings loses, you HAVE to capitalize on it. Meaning you HAVE to WIN.

2) When the team you are competing with for 2nd place loses, you HAVE to capitalize on it, again, meaning you HAVE to WIN.

3) When you are giving an opportunity to do something great, you HAVE to WIN.

Do you see a pattern here? All you have to do is win and be consistent with it and the rest will fall into place. I don't understand why it's so hard for everyone to figure out.

Enough about that depressing game and onto today's fun festivities with Betsy and my nephew, Skyler. Joe Crede and Denard span were signing at the two Best Buy locations in Eden Prairie. We hit up Joe Crede first with hopes that we would be able to get over to see Denard when we were done. Denard's signing started at 11 and Joe's was at 11:30. Okay, first off, the TV does not do Joe Crede justice. He is gorgeous in person but very quiet, which we all seemed to know about anyway.

Then we headed out of there and over to see Denard, who is by far the nicest person from the team that I have ever met (Cuddy I'm sorry, but you are a close second!) He is so humble and so friendly it's unreal. He was giving Betsy and I a hard time because we were laughing at something Skyler did. He promptly looked at Skyler and told him to stay strong.

Skyler and Joe Crede (you couldn't tell Skyler was excited to meet him at all waiting in line)

Denard and Skyler (Skyler promptly told my brother when I dropped him off that Denard was his new favorite player)

Hopefully we can do something good during tomorrow's game before Chicago comes back into town.

Tomorrow: Timmy (12-7) against Kevin Millwood (10-8). You know what you need to do tomorrow Timmy. Go out there and DO IT!

Holy Trades Batman!

2009-08-28T22:30:00.006-05:00

So I wasn't home for the game tonight, so I can't comment on much of it other than this:

1) Brian Duensing = amazing performance tonight! 8 strikeouts in 7 innings? Not normal for a guys making only his 3rd major league start. I had to laugh though, Betsy sent me a text while I was out saying that Brian got a hair cut, the only reason I found that funny, had to do with the conversation in the comments of this post. Apparently he listens well and the job isn't even mine yet!

2) Joe Nathan = Damn it man! How many time did I have to scream at my radio that you only had to face 3? And then I turn it off and you get the final out. You're on deck for the hair cut line ;-)

3) I'm sad that Crede is going on the DL (I will make sure and tell him that in the morning when Betsy and I see him) But at the same time, we get our White Sox killer back in time for that series starting Monday!

Welcome back Jose!

So with all that outta the way, apparently the Indians took Yohan Pino from Triple A Rochester to complete that trade. But now we have two more....

Jon Rauch from the Diamondbacks and apparently Ron Mahay from the Royals. I always hate it when trades are done and it's "for a player to be announced later". I'm one of those people that sits on pins and needles hoping it's not one of my guys. More than likely it will be someone from Triple A or even Double A, but you just never know.

I just find it funny that Smith is trying to make all these changes now. Where were they months ago? At the rate he's going we're going to be playing ball in September with a totally new starting rotation and bull pen. I heard there is one more trade in the works, but nothing has really been said about it online anywhere.

Here's to hoping all this actually helps and doesn't hurt us in the end.

He's Back

2009-08-26T22:18:00.007-05:00

I didn't say what I was thinking in last nights post due to my lovely superstition, but I guess I could have said it because it really didn't matter this time around. Blackie just wasn't on top of it tonight... again. Our bats were lacking, but we had some beautiful plays from our defense. My nephews reasoning for Blackburn sucking so bad, "He must be drunk." This is coming from a 8 year old, mind you. Perhaps he could have used a few drinks to calm his nerves or something.

As much as I don't wanna say it, you have Frankie who's pitching sucked ended up on the DL, same with Glen... my friend asked me tonight what kind of excuse the Twins were going to use to put Blackburn on the DL. I don't think they can afford to put him on the DL. Who the hell is left in Rochester that can come up? Dickey could come back, but that would make sense and we all know the Twins GM isn't smart. I just wish this team could capitalize every once and awhile. Tonight would have been the prime opportunity to gain some ground on Detroit and be above Chicago, but no, we let it slip right through our fingers.

Our biggest downfall tonight and who I blame the entire game on, just because I can and I want to... the home plate umpire just so happened to be Todd Tichenor. For those that don't know or don't remember (which I'm sure everyone does) he is the idiot that kicked both Gardy and Red Dog out of the game against Boston one inning and than kicked Varitek and Francona out an inning later.

Just for those that need a little reminder of what the idiot looks like.

Tonight's game was just bullshit with him behind home plate and apparently last night at 1st base as well. Tonight was more missed calls and then he kicked OC out for slamming his bat on the ground. I'm sorry, I didn't know it was a crime to show some emotion after a MISSED call. I've watched quite a few games that I've seen players slam their batting helmets on the ground or throw their bats and I haven't seen them get kicked out. I wanna know what the Twins did to Tichenor that he hates us so freaking much.

I'm giving Alexi props for his amazing plays tonight out in the field. That flip to OC was amazing! Number 1 Web Gem for sure on that one. Great job Alexi. This is the Alexi Casilla I have missed lately. It's nice to see him getting back to his old self and showing us all what we saw last season when we needed it the most. His bats been moving pretty good lately too, which is always a plus.

Biggest props of the night though have to go to Cuddy. He has been such an asset to the team this season. Filling in at 1st, making amazing plays in right and then filling in at 2nd tonight with OC being ejected. He's an all around amazing player and the Twins are really lucky that we have him here for a few more years. Since he has put those injuries aside from last season he's turned into the Cuddy I have always loved.

A couple last minute items: Joe Crede get better! I wanna see you play more this year and I wanna see you in Eden Prairie on Saturday :)

Lastly, every one make sure you check out Besty's blog for our adventures from Tuesday night's game. It's complete with pictures!

How Do You Like That One?

2009-08-25T23:53:00.006-05:00

So I was all set to leave the game tonight after the 9th inning even if the Twins didn't get a walk off hit. I know, I know, before some starts yelling, you never leave a Twins game early, but I'm seriously still trying to catch up from sleep from this past weekend in Kansas City. This game seemed to take forever tonight, perhaps it was just because Betsy *thanks again Betsy* and I were at the game. Who knows.

What I do know is a lot of fans were getting a little restless with out sucky pitching. Does it surprise me, no, cause I was getting pissed off with it. I don't wanna say anything bad quite yet about the new guy. Could it have been nerves, yes, but I doubt it. Humber should have never been brought back up here. Way to walk in runs, you loser.

Luckie Strike (Sarah) asked me when I was going to pay up on the Skittles I've promised Cuddy... I was thinking the next Unplugged. That way he has time to add to his collection or I can take some away when he sucks lol Someone needs to hold me to this so I don't chicken out!

Now for the real star of the game.... get ready for it.... ready.... am I really going there??

Yes I am.

Delmon Young!

That's right. After all the shit I have talked about him through the season, tonight I am loving him (partly because with his walk off base hit I could go home). I wanted them to win so bad that I was fighting with myself if I was going to stay for the extra innings or not so thank you Delmon for letting me come home knowing that the game was over and that we won!

Keep the momentum going guys. We're tied for 2nd with Chicago... you CAN do this! Nickie... remember how to throw strikes and we shouldn't have a problem, k?

Sitting On Pins And Needles

2009-08-24T21:55:00.006-05:00

So I've noticed this lately and Betsy has pointed it out too, the guys have a tendency so make us sit on pins and needles and then come out in the 6th or 7th innings, rally and win the game when it's all said and done. Which, I don't care how we win them as long as we win them so we still stand a chance of making it to October. As many times as I've said I've given up on this team, I just can't do it.

I think a lot can go back to last season when we were in the run for the title, yes Gardy did tell the team they needed to sweep Chicago, but at the same time they needed to take it game by game and that's what they did. I honestly believe they need to do that this season too. Yes we are further back this season than last, but we need to capitalize when we have runners in scoring position, etc.

We just need to take it one step at a time and this past weekend and tonight's game are steps in the right direction.

Span-man was on top of his game tonight in left field. That catch was amazing and while on one hand I think it's hilarious he ended up in the bull pen, I did not think it was funny that he literally ran into Jesse. LOL We have enough of our pitchers on the DL, we don't need to add to it. Although that could have made for a great article on the Twins site, "Crain on DL with concussion from Span"

For those that missed the play or just wanna see it again go here: Span runs it down

Tomorrow we get to see what the newbie can bring to the table... remember the only game that is accepted is your A game so you better bring it :-)

A Fantastic Weekend

2009-08-24T00:08:00.022-05:00

So my fun filled weekend in Kansas with our beloved Twins (and my best friend) is coming to a close as I am making the nine hour car ride back to Minnesota in about 6 hours. It was nice getting to see them play ball like they are supposed to play, although I was a little worried about Saturday's game only because our pitching staff seemed to be coming apart at the seems, but all in all it was a fantastic weekend filled with outdoor baseball.

Believe me folks, for those that have never been to Kauffman Stadium, I suggest if you want to take a vacation to watch our boys play ball, I suggest Kansas City. It was a beautiful weekend for outdoor baseball and if Target Field is half as good at Kauffman is we'll be in for a treat when our new stadium opens up next season.

The view from our seats both Saturday and Sunday were amazing, the people were super friendly (not rude at all considering we swept their team) and the Twins fans that showed up were unreal! Lot's of cheers for Mauer at every at bat and those of us that were there on Sunday gave Cuddy a nice standing ovation for his home runs (I owe him 3 bags of skittles after my two games).

I know a lot of fans were saying Cuddy couldn't play first, but I think he did an amazing job filling in for Justin during his absence. Between his fielding and his homeruns... it was almost like Justin was there instead of back home in Minneapolis trying to get better.

It was a great weekend filled with good friends, good baseball and all around, it was just what the doctor ordered (sorry my team beat your team D)

Now onto pictures :-) These are from Day 1:

Day 2:

Hope everyone enjoyed!

Doctor's Orders

2009-08-19T22:45:00.005-05:00

Justin, get over that inner ear infection you have quick! I wanna see you play this weekend :-) I'll bring you some chicken soup or something when I come down, lol. I wanna see the normal crew this weekend, k?

Thanks to Betsy and every one's tweets I was able to keep up with the game since I was gone for a good chunk of it. I was a little concerned when I heard that they were warming up Manship so early again, but I was pleased when I got home and found out that Timmy was able to make it 6 innings and leave with the lead, plus also win number 11 on the season. Good job Timmy! And another fine comeback lead I might add, those guys do have a way of keeping us on our toes lately, don't they?

I also heard our favorite Weeble did very well tonight against those darn Rangers. A nice solid 2+ innings! And LaVelle said it was his best outing this season, very nice Jose!! I did manage to catch the 9th and see Nathan get save number 31 on the season, I do love watching that man pitch!

Tomorrow night we have Swarzy pitching. Remember your A game Anthony! I wanna see you pitch like you did the first night I saw you against the Brewers.

Friday I am making the long car ride to Emporia, Kansas (I'm starting there to see a friend and than back up to KC Saturday morning) to watch our guys take on the Royals in beautiful Kauffman Stadium. I'll be there both Saturday and Sunday, I promise to do all the Twins Blog girls proud while I am there!

Short and Sweet

2009-08-18T22:53:00.003-05:00

That was probably the most nerve-wracking game I have watched yet this season. It was nice to see the team come back and rally after losing our DH in the first inning (I'm more concerned about Kubes only because that was the same knee he's already had surgery on) and seeing GoGo get hit twice, um hello?! I'm pretty sure he should have been able to go to first after getting hit for the 2nd time.

Anyway onto the positives from the game:

1) Nathan getting to do with Nathan does best :)
2) Joe having a multi home run game
3) Denard going deep
4) Cuddy proving Bert wrong yet again!
5) Seeing a pretty good rally by the guys

Lastly...

Joe Mauer for MVP... enough said :-)

Sending Out An S.O.S

2009-08-17T21:42:00.003-05:00

I never wanted to give up on the Twins, but at this point it's a game by game type thing. I mean when you have a team that can't even win against a team that's 16 games outta first place, the white flags should be waving. I think K-Bro put it best when she said the Twins were CTD. I keep hoping for a miracle, like perhaps the Tigers and the Sox just roll over and play dead and let us take the division lead, but that will never happen. Even when those two teams have an off day and lose, we can't seem to capitalize on it.

I keep hearing all this talk about Mauer and his 14 game hitting streak, which I think is awesome don't get me wrong, but one guy can't carry this team, it's not fair to him. For the longest time it was Justin that seemed to have to take that roll and now it's Joe. This is a team effort starting with our starting pitchers, which at this point leave a lot to the imagination. You can't expect guys that are only used to working one maybe two innings a night to have to pitch pretty much the whole game because our starters don't want to do their jobs.

What happened to the team from last season? I hate watching this team fall apart before my own eyes, but that's exactly what's happening.

WTF Was That?

2009-08-15T20:19:00.011-05:00

The luck of the Cuddy shirt has officially ran out. It is now 4 for 5 =( I also think it had to do with my mom going, whenever she goes to the games we lose. I'm not letting her go anymore this season! I however will be making the trip to Kansas City next weekend when the guys are down there. I am leaving Friday morning (early) and will be going to the games on Saturday and Sunday. I hope I can bring them some luck on the road. But first they need to win tomorrow and win the series against the Tribe and then we're off to Texas to take on the Rangers.

All I have to say about today's game is; what happened to the team from last night that shut the Tribe out 7-0? What happened to the wonderful pitcher I saw in his first major league start against the Brewers? It's really frustrating when they had such a great game last night and then crapsville today. Ugh.

With that said... onto the pictures:

Look, no hands!

"Look Mom, I can fly!"

Duensing, Krappel, and the newbie Jeff Manship :)

Everyone else is so serious and you have Duensing, blowing a bubble.

Just for you Betsy ;-)

Zip, Zero, Zilch

2009-08-14T22:49:00.004-05:00

Timothy Scott Baker way to remember what the hell the A game was tonight! That was a beautiful performance tonight, the shut out what just an added plus. I was so nervous watching the 9th inning, all I wanted was the shut out at that point since Nicky has been so close before and lost it. I'm just glad Timmy managed to get it tonight and hopefully give the team the confidence they need to go out there and do it again tomorrow afternoon.

Everyone during tonight's game kept saying it's Swarzy tomorrow, but the Twins site says TBD, is it wrong of me to hope I get to see Duensing pitch in person again tomorrow? He seems to know what he's doing, I know Swarzy does too, so it's tough to figure out who I wanna see. I was trying to figure out who would be pitching when I'm down in Kansas City next weekend, but with everything TBD because our rotation is so screwed up, I have no idea who I'll see and probably won't until Friday night when I get down there!

Oh, random, I had to laugh during the argument between Wedge and the home plate Ump tonight. Seeing how I only started watching games on a pretty regular basis half way through last season, I haven't seen an argument get that heated during a game before. I was waiting for the fists to start flying! That was unreal to be honest, I think I lost count on how many times someone used the "F" word, lol.

I wonder if that will get Wedge suspended for a couple games?

Can We End The Misery Soon?

2009-08-13T21:11:00.007-05:00

Seriously, I love Jason Kubel as the DH, but as an outfielder, not so much. He doesn't run. Everyone knows this, why can't Gardy see it?! We have perfectly good people to play in the outfield, why can't we just have a DH and be done with it? Jason's good at getting big hits when we need him too during this DH days, but maybe it's just me, but when he actually plays in the field he doesn't seem to do as well. Yes, today he did go 2 for 4, which is good, but he just seems to do better as DH. Jason has his best power at the plate, not out on the field.

The power out in the field belongs to Cuddy. I'm sorry, I don't care what anyone else has to say about him, he is the best right fielder I have seen in a long time. He has an arm on him like I have never seen before. It's not very often that I have seen him try and throw someone out from right field and have his throw be off. I'm pretty sure that throw from today's game should get a Web Gem nod or something.

You don't run on Cuddy cause 99.9% of the time you will get thrown out.

A group of us were talking today at work about our ideal starting line up; from the starting pitcher to a reliever and closer. Really my lineup wouldn't be much different then what we have right now, it consists of current Twins players.

Starting pitcher: Slowey
Catcher: Mauer
1B: Morneau
2B: Punto
3B: Crede
DH: Kubel
SS: Harris
RF: Cuddy
CF: GoGo
LF: Span

Reliever: Matty G
Closer: Nathan

Always remember to Fear the Nathan :)

Grandma Was Slow...

2009-08-11T21:26:00.003-05:00

My 100-year-old Great-Grandmother could pitch better then the crap we have for starters, she may have to sit in order to do it, but she could probably do a better job. It's enough to make you sick to your stomach when you sit down to watch a game and you wonder if your starting pitcher will make it 2 innings.

I wanna know what the fuck happened? I really didn't want to give up on this team, but I have because they aren't going to amount to shit with the pitching we have. We have one pitcher who whines because his shoulder is bugging him, yet was golfing yesterday. We have another one who gets nervous and "forgets" what he's supposed to do. We have a rookie that hasn't faced half of these teams and seems to forget what the strike zone is. Don't ask me what Nick's problem is and the same goes for Timmy.

I'm going to get them all walkers or Binky's or something and tell them to grow the fuck up.

I'm not even going to watch tomorrow nights game, considering who's pitching.

Well, Well, Wasn't That A Surprise?

2009-08-09T17:42:00.005-05:00

I'm not going to look at the negatives from today's game because I'm tired of doing that since that's all that seems to happen lately. With that said...

Way to support the team today Cuddy. A triple away from the cycle, for what would have been his second cycle this season. Without looking at the stats and all that jazz, I would have to think this was his biggest game of the season. I, personally, would love to think that it had to do with the "Nesheked" socks! It's almost as if he felt he needed to step up and wear them since we have no R.A. to rock them anymore and both Joe and Brendan didn't play today. Either way, way to rock it Cuddy! ;-)

Onto the big surprise of the game... who the hell was our second basemen today? That wasn't Alexi, no way in hell! Even last night for that matter, that wasn't Alexi, at least that wasn't the Alexi we've seen so far this season. I almost wonder if some sort of weight has been lifted off his shoulders and his head is a little clearer so he can focus more on playing.

I was thinking about that during the game. During the first part of the season he was trying too hard to prove he deserved to stay here and that's when he was always screwing up. But now that the trade deadline has come and gone and he's still here is he finally starting to relax and possibly returning to the Alexi we all knew and loved that last two months of last season?

Also I think OC is playing a big roll in how he and GoGo have been doing. I'm sure those two appreciate having another player on the team that can speak to them in their language so they understand exactly what is expected of them.

Oh and my ideal starting rotation:

1) Timmy
2) Nicky
3) Carl
4) Papa Perk
5) Brian

Frankie and Swarzy need to go to the bull pen. Frankie for obvious reasons and Swarzy, well, I just don't know if he's ready to be a starter for a major league team, reliever yes. It'll give him a chance to actually see the teams and see what they are about, but not have to try and tie down a game in the first few innings.

Mom, He Followed Me Home, Can I Keep Him?

2009-08-08T21:19:00.005-05:00

Welcome to the Twins Carl!

Not only is he good looking (always a plus) but I was very impressed with how he pitched tonight. I knew nothing about him going in, but I like what I saw! I knew he was tough against Detroit, but that performance tonight was beautiful! It was nice to see a starting pitcher go deep into the ball game and give our bull pen a rest, although it was weird seeing Papa Perk warm up in the 8th and actually pitch the 9th.

I hope that the rest of our starting pitchers paid attention to Pavano's performance tonight and took notes. Of course the one that really needs it isn't even with the team right now, but we'll see how he does during his next start... if he actually gets it.

Not only was the pitching amazing tonight, the bats were blazing and the defense was on the top of their game. The 5-4-3 double play in the 5th inning was probably the best double play I have seen all season. For some reason I figured for sure Casilla would screw it up somehow, but I was pleased that he actually pulled it off and got the ball over to Justin cleanly.

I just hope and pray that by the Twins getting an ace like Pavano that this is the turn around and the boost that the team needs to push us into post-season. There was an interesting fact on Twitter this afternoon from TwinsNow that at this point in 2006 the Twins were 9.5 games outta first place... this season we are (as of right now) only 4.5 games outta first.

If any team can do it, it's the Twins. They just need a good kick in the ass to figure it all out.

A Hodge Podge of Crap

2009-08-07T18:57:00.006-05:00

Tonight's game was so bad even Gardy couldn't stand to watch it and got himself kicked out. Gardy, I think I should have joined you on that one!

Okay quick little beef with the game, these fucking Umps need glasses. That was the biggest bullshit call I have ever seen in my life. Do these umps have it out for the Twins or something? Do we have a big target over our heads that says "Pick on this team!"

So apparently someone from the front office is listening somewhere because we got the pitching help we needed, at least I think. Apparently he's going to start tomorrow night in place of Papa Perk, which kinda bums me out because it's like they are writing him off, but we've got to squeeze Carl Pavano in the rotation. I don't know much about him, I have to do some research, but we'll see how it does tomorrow night against Verlander. And with us getting a new starter apparently Frankie will finally make his way to the bullpen, at least that's the report that was given during the news. We'll see how accurate they are.

Oh and while I'm on the new pitcher, did they seriously have to give him #48? They couldn't come up with a different number? 48 will always be Torii's number just like 18 will always be Jason's number.

But with that move we had to say goodbye to a pitcher and who did they get rid of? R.A. Seriously? What the fuck are you doing getting rid of a guy that can pitch every game. What does that leave us with? Bobby Keppel who SUCKS! Why the hell couldn't they have sent him to Rochester? Everyone is saying they sent Dickey back because he apparently lost his ability to throw his knuckle ball. I don't think he lost it, I think it's tough for him to throw it because Mauer can't catch it and he's admitted he can't catch it.

Just when you think maybe, maybe the front office is getting shit figured out someone fucks up and screws us over again. I realize that in a month we get extra roster spots, but by that time it's going to be too late to do anything. At this point the guys on the team are already turning against each other and when that happens you might as well forget any chance of making it anywhere for the rest of the season. You've got one player blaming another, one blaming the ump and a coach blaming two of the players (for those that read the article on the Star Trib this morning you know who I'm talking about).

We can't afford anymore injuries. We're already down 3 of our better pitchers, we've got a third basemen that will miss the entire series. Don't get me wrong, I love Crede and think he's a good addition to the team when he can actually play. As much as I would love to see him here next season I think Danny Valencia will be getting the start next season at third base.

Seriously, why is this team always getting fucked over?

We Need A Pitcher, Not A Belly Itcher!

2009-08-05T21:05:00.008-05:00

I'd like to give a big eff you to the front office in this post.

Seriously? What gives? How is it that every other person in the state can see that this team needs a pitcher but the front office can't seem to figure it out? For the love of Pete, even the beat writers are making fun of the Twins because of their poor pitching. It just blows my mind. I don't understand it.

How many times have we all said Liriano has to go or he needs to go to the bullpen, something ANYTHING but start another game. It would be nice if Bill Smith would wake up and see what's going on because with pitching performances like tonight's, this team won't make it to post season and won't be anything more than a .500 team which I hate because they are better than that.

I'm not worried about Timmy or Nicky, they seem to be holding their own. Glen has his good days and bad, but what pitcher doesn't? Joe Nathan doesn't get every save when he goes out there. Frankie seems to be consistently bad every game he pitches. Dickey, Matty G, Jose, Brian hold their own, Jesse can be hit or miss and then you have Bobby (rolls eyes) I'm not even going to start on him because I could be here all night.

At least Tuesday nights game was a positive, it would have been nice if they would have saved some of those runs for tonight, but we don't always get what we want. I loved GoGo's little bat flip when he launched that home run (I missed it originally but watched online when I got home). I, personally, along with a few other people I'm sure, would love to see what happened Tuesday night happen more often.

Something needs to be done now or during the off season to fix the issue, that issue being mostly Frankie. If it means getting rid of him for someone different then so be it.

It's Really Getting Old

2009-08-02T16:09:00.008-05:00

I'm pretty sure there is nothing worse then being swept at home after you sweep a team at home. What happened to the team that swept Chicago? Where did those guys disappear to? I just LOVE a weekend filled with missed plays, poor pitching, overall sloppy baseball by a team that knows better and can play better. Apparently tough love doesn't work anymore on this team, so I'm out of options on what to try.

It was brought to my attention by Erin this morning before the game started that apparently Gardy didn't want to send Buscher to Triple A. So it wasn't Gardy that was pissed at Morneau for the comments he made, it was the front office. Thank you Bill Smith. I don't understand why the managers don't have a say in who gets sent down? Apparently Gardy wanted Casilla (I agree 100%) or GoGo, which I'm not sure what the reasoning behind that one was, but whatever.

So that got me to thinking, if the front office doesn't listen to Gardy or Andy, how long will it be before Gardy or Andy gets fed up with everything, looks at the front office and says "see ya!". You can tell just by looking at both of them in the dug out or listening to Gardy during the post game conference he's getting pissed with how this team is playing, I think everyone in Twins Territory is getting sick of it.

It was also talked about by Joe C from the Star Tribune that the team is putting out an S.O.S. for pitching help. Uh, pretty sure we needed that a LONG time ago. I have a few in mind that we could get rid of to get some help in here. Number one on that list belongs to Bobby Keppel. Something needs to be done in that department if the team has any hope of making it to the post season this year or any year from here on out for that matter.
Tonight's gold star of the game has got to be Denard Span. I missed the play when it originally happened, but believe me as soon as I got home I found it online so I could watch it. So for those that missed it, GO HERE. I feel bad for Denard because so many people were saying he'd slump this season after last year, but I love how he has proven everyone wrong and had an absolutely fantastic season :-)

Now onto Cleveland... at least we don't have to deal with Cliff Lee anymore.

How Can We Screw it Up More?

2009-07-31T22:42:00.009-05:00

Pretty sure Orlando Cabrera isn't going to be the hero that Billy Smith thinks he's going to be. I don't think one guy can win a ball game and after tonight's piss poor performance, I feel bad that Cabrera has to come here and deal with this. If I am not mistaken, I thought we had a pretty good set up with Nick Punto at 2nd and Brendan Harris at short, but apparently someone didn't like that so we'll just say f*ck you both and bring in the new guy.

After watching Bobby Keppels performance tonight (if that's what you wanna call it) it's pretty clear what the Twins needed and I'm pretty sure the fans have been asking for it all season and that's pitchers. Whether it be relief or starters, we need better pitching. Plain and simple.

Here's a suggestion for next years trading season, can we trade for different GM's? I'd really like a new one. It was funny cause while at the game Wednesday night, we actually saw Bill Smith walking out from somewhere trying to make his way to his area where he watches the games and I really wanted to yell something at him, but didn't.

I'd like to have a little conversation with our favorite center fielder, GoGo. How many times does Gardy have to yell at you before you understand you have to hit the cut off man?! You don't have a bionic arm that can throw that far without it being off somewhere along the line. Blackie was ready for it... next time hit the cut off and we might stand a chance, got it?

The only positives I found in tonight's game were the diving catches by Punto and Morneau. Otherwise it was just a sucky baseball game all around.

Now the guessing game begins until they announce who is getting sent back to Rochester. My money is on Casilla, but after reading an article before the game started, they hinted towards Buscher. Young was also brought up in the talk, but with Cuddy leaving the game in the 10th inning, does that secure Young's spot on the 25-man roster? We almost need him here for cases like that.

But now after watching Twins Live, apparently Cuddy has a strained lower back, so who knows what's going to happen. Do they put him on the DL if it's bad enough and leave the roster alone or do they still send someone down? It was originally said that the roster move would happen tonight if someone didn't get hurt, coincidence? I'd like to hope not. Or are they buying time to figure out who to kick out?

This game was way too similar to the games played in the series in LA, shape up boys... cause this crap doesn't cut it.

What's That I Smell??

2009-07-29T23:15:00.018-05:00

That's right a SWEEP!!!

I love a good sweep, but I love it even more when it's the White Sux that we sweep! Pretty sure out of the 9 games I have been to this season, that was the BEST game I have been to!

Part of my superstition was actually saying, or in this case typing, the word sweep before it actually happened. I learned my lesson last season when I would say it before it would actually happened and I vowed to not do that again. The other one is still in tact with tonight's win which I will tell everyone about (make fun if you want) but the last 4 times I have worn my Cuddy shirt to games, we have won. So that shirt seems to be lucky for whatever reason.

I am super proud of Brian Duensing for his performance tonight. Going into the game on, what, 3 hours notice? Giving up only 3 hits, I know two of those were home runs, but still. He had two strikeouts, Betsy and I were yelling for him so loud, we think we pissed the people off in front of us. Oh well, get over it :)

I won't lie, I was a little nervous when Beckham got the base hit off Nathan and then he walked Konerko, we said he only had to face 3, but eh, he still got the save and we won so all is forgiven :)

I would have to say the biggest surprise of the game had to be Casilla. It was nice to see him step up and make big plays when we needed it the most, IE the go ahead run on the bloop single to center, I never saw that one coming, but than again he has a habit of making big plays against Chicago when we need it. I want the Alexi back from last year... let's work on that, k?

Highlights of the game:
1) Seeing Brian get the start.
2) Having amazing seats behind home plate again (thanks Amanda!)
3) Pissing the people off in front of us.
4) Watching Joe Nathan get the save (again).
5) Yelling really loud at AJ when he came into the game in the 8th, and applauding him when he got out. :)

Enjoy your day off guys, you have definitely earned it! Just remember your A game when LA comes into town this weekend!

Justin, Cuddy, GoGo and Nickie during infield

Swing Justin, swing!

His facial expressions just kill me!

Why does he have to be growing on me?!

Jason Kubel

My "baseball boyfriend" who didn't do shit tonight...

And a little Mauer for good measure (don't mind the blur in the corner, the bitch in front of me kept getting in the way.)

Back Into The Swing of Things

2009-07-28T22:21:00.005-05:00

First and foremost... kudos to the Twins fans for the standing O for Buehrle when he came off the field tonight. Way to be a class act (even if it is our rivals). I won't lie, on the one hand I was pleased we broke up the no hitter, but going 45 at bats without a hit... that's pretty good.

There are so many things I could say, but I'm going to bit my tongue and not say it because I'm becoming some what superstitious. So moving on... once one of them is broken I will share with the class.

While sitting in the Dome Monday night watching the guys play, I was a little worried with Glen pitching, but he surprised me along with the entire team and pulled out a great victory. Tonight's game was no different, I think Timmy pitched a good game, I'm sad that he wasn't able to get the win, but congrats to my favorite Weeble on his first major league win.

I'm proud of the guys for playing smart baseball, I guess I could say. They are taking one game at a time, focusing on what's happen here and now and not about what's going to happen tomorrow. In my opinion this is what it takes to make it into post season, yes you have to have the constancy, but they have to play smart baseball. Make smart plays, no screw ups.

And they are doing it without our White Sox killer, Mr. Jose Morales. Won't lie, I miss him. I've always liked Jose and I hope he's called back up September 1st, when we get our extra roster spots, right along with Matty Tolbert.

"Home plate umpire Chris Guccione, back, uses two paper cups to scoop up a mouse off the turf during a baseball game between the Chicago White Sox and the Minnesota Twins on Monday, July 27, 2009, in Minneapolis. Guccione got a little help from third base coach Jeff Cox. Minnesota won 4-3."

I totally don't remember that from last night... I must not have been paying as close of attention as I thought!

Weebles Wobble

2009-07-26T17:46:00.008-05:00

So apparently our favorite Webble, Jose Mijares, ended up going to the hospital during the game because he felt ill. My first thought after hearing that... Swine Flu. Yup, that's right, even though I hope I am not right. And really, the only reason I though that was because apparently someone from the Rangers was diagnosed with the piggy flu right after we left there. It's a little un-nerving. But like I said hopefully I am wrong.

I don't think they team needs to be dealing with that right now, especially considering the fact we're already short enough guys with injuries and some claiming to have injuries that really don't exists, but whatever.

At least we managed to get off the west coast with two wins, Swarzy picked up yet another win and believe it or not Jesse Crain actually managed to get out of an inning without giving up a run! It's a miracle!

It's time to come home guys, that and I'm tired of sitting up till midnight every night hoping and praying we can pull off a win. Everyone better bring their A game tomorrow cause there's a large group of us coming and a few of us will hunt you don't if you don't!

Who Would We Lose?

2009-07-25T16:34:00.005-05:00

With the trade deadline coming up and all the talk surrounding all the teams and who to get rid of and who to keep, the Twins have been keeping a pretty low profile...until lately.

With Kevin possibly being done for the season it was said that the Twins were going to hold off on trading anyone. My question is, who were they thinking of trading? Apparently it was one of our starters, my hopes would be that it wasn't Nick, Timmy or Kevin. I think we could do without Frankie and after his last few outings I think we could do without Glen.

But now that it seems our starting rotation will be safe so where does that leave us? Outfield? Infield? All of this talk has come up about Orlando Cabrera, yes another White Sox, we seemed to do okay with Crede so... But that also leaves the question, who do we lose?

Nick Punto?

Alexi Casilla?

Delmon Young?

Or someone from the farm system?

The only one in that list that I would be upset if we lost was Punto. He's the last of the original piranha's. He's a great defensive player, yes he is lacking in the offense side, but the guy can make great plays at short and 2nd.

Delmon has been hit or miss since we got him from Tampa and Alexi, while he did fine last season, has done nothing to help the team this year, except for hurt his with his sloppy defense and 0 for whatever at the plate.

Each guy on that list can have their moments of brilliance and their moments that leave you wondering what the hell just happened.

And who knows, the deadline may come and go and we could have the exact same team we have right now.

Again? Seriously?

2009-07-25T09:08:00.004-05:00

I really wasn't even going to write a blog about last nights game cause what else can you say when we lose? You can't give them anymore excuses and I'm sure they all know how thin things are wearing when it comes to the end of the season. I knew LA was on a hot streak going into this weekends series, but I figured maybe we would stand a chance and catch them on an off day... yeah not so much apparently.

Plus with now possibly the biggest blow to our starting rotation this season... this team has A LOT of work to do. I was shocked when I originally read that Slowey was going to have to have surgery, but I wasn't surprised. I figured something was more wrong then just a strain, but I was really surprised yesterday when it was announced he was shut down out in Rochester and was on his way back to MN.

Pretty sure I'd like to give a big eff you to Juan Uribe for that line drive off Kevin's wrist last fall.

I'm not worried about Nicky and Timmy, they can hold their own. Swarzy, I'm not writing him off because he's so new and I've seen him pitch amazing games (hello? his first major league start!) However, I've been worried about Frankie since opening day and if Glen is going to claim he has some sort of injury after every sucky start, we're going to have a problem.

Really the only positive from last nights game was Joe's two home runs. I was thinking he forgot how to hit those and two in one game pretty much made up for it.

And have I mentioned I hate when we have to play on national TV?

A Blown Save? Say it Ain't so Joe!

2009-07-24T08:51:00.004-05:00

Coming from me, I'm getting tired of all these walk off wins after us having the lead, even though I didn't last the whole game. I somewhat heard what was going on as I did leave my TV on, but I totally missed Nathan's blown save, which is probably a good thing because it quite possibly could have done me in for the day.

He's not perfect. He's not going to get the save every time he goes out there, but does it make the pain any less bearable, no not really because it's Nathan, so many people expect when he goes out there it's game over. But after 20 consecutive saves, as much as I hate to admit it, I knew there was going to be a game in there that didn't go his way and last night was it.

We had been doing so well on the road lately and the last thing I wanna see is this team fall back into the "hole" we were in on the road at the beginning of the season, but all these walk-offs and late inning rally's from teams are going to hurt us in the long run.

I have to agree with Sarah though, can we get some sushi for the Angels for tonight's game? Buscher knows of a great place to get it! How about a rule boys? No sushi on games days... less chance of food poisoning! I'll admit I did have to laugh a little when the reports started coming in that he was thinking it was bad sushi, but at the same time I know it's not a laughing matter because it's no fun. Thankfully we had Harris to play at 3rd or it could have been a more interesting game then it already was!

It's no secret that I don't like Jesse Crain, so I had to chuckle a little this morning when I found out he had to take the loss. Welcome back Jesse. But you know it has to be bad when Gardy even comes out and says that we need pitchers. I've got at least one outfielder and a 2nd basemen we can trade! Perhaps even a pitcher or two from Triple A.

If tonight's game goes like last night I'm going to take all their little rally monkeys and throw them in the Pacific Ocean :-)

A game guys. Where is your freakin' A game?! That's all I'm asking for. You had it going for awhile, did you leave it in Texas with the gray uniforms or something?

Kudos for perfection

2009-07-23T17:54:00.004-05:00

While I have never liked the White Sox or Mark Buehrle for that matter and will probably never like them (maybe Mark when he retires), I must give him props and a congratulations for this perfect game today. While I wasn't able to see it, I was listening to the game for Tampa Bay and managed to listen to a part of history. I can not say congrats however to the Sox on their win, that will never come outta my mouth.

So, Mark, congrats on your perfect game. And congrats on being apart of MLB history, I think you've earned it.

And this picture has to be the cutest thing I have seen in a long time:

Oh it Gets Worse

2009-07-22T18:07:00.007-05:00

You know, I didn't think things could get any worse after the Monday night debacle, but oh was I mistaken. Today's game, hands down, put Monday's to shame, it made Monday's look good. It was a crappy day at work and then to listen to the bullshit going on in California was enough to pretty much put me over the edge.

I will never understand how this team can go from having a good game one day and forgetting how to play the next. Missed defensive plays, poor pitching, again all around sloppy baseball. Our first two pitchers had a problem hitting the strike zone for whatever reason and in the end it ended up getting Mulvey sent back to Rochester and we get Crain back. I'm not sure how I'm liking that idea, but right now I think I'll take just about anything as long as it can hit the damn strike zone.

Apparently the reports are Perkins had a sore shoulder going into today and that's why he couldn't pitch. You know, my theory is excuses don't work, I understand if they are hurt issues are going to happen, IE Slowey, but lately this seems to be an every game thing with someone. I'm starting to feel like the Padres and Mets with as many people as we have hurt with some sort of injury.

Kudos to Justin on his home run, at least we had hope for a half inning and run to make it a little less embarrassing.

When this season started the only pitcher in our starting rotation I was worried about was Frankie, the bullpen was the least of my worries. Turns out I should have been worried about Perkins and 95% of the bullpen instead. I'm just hoping when Kevin comes back off the DL, he falls back into place right along with Nicky and gives our bullpen a break.

While I love this team and I always will... it's hard to stomach games like today and still hold hope that the playoffs will happen. Every Twins fan knows they can play better baseball then this, we all saw it last year.

Rest up guys cause LAA is on a hot streak and I don't think they are going to roll over and just let us win.

For the love of the navy...

2009-07-22T06:22:00.004-05:00

So before I really get into last nights "recap" I just wanna say, Cuddy wanted that triple just to get to third base to give a big eff you to Mike Muchlinski for that blown call Monday night. Did anyone else notice it took him a while to actually call Cuddy safe? I think if he would have called him out, Michael would have gone postal.

Reading articles yesterday online while I was at work, I was reading the article about Gardy wanting instant replays and after the play, I have to agree with what he said. I know the questions are out there about "Where would you draw the line of when to use it?" but I think it should be left up to the manager to decide when to draw the line.

Gardy made the comment if the call is against you, your flag is taken away for the remainder of the game, which I think is fair because then it will stop the manager from making silly mistakes, so to speak.

Who knows, it may have helped us the other night or it may still would have worked against us, we'll never know.

I did have to laugh though, during the game when they showed the fan with the sign that said "Cuddyer was safe". Every news broadcast or radio station that I have listened to said the same thing, but that game is over... moving on.

I do love his smile :-)

It was discussed tonight that the starting pitching rotation is either sending a big get well soon message to Kevin or they left the grey uniforms in Texas or sent them ahead to LA, because the guys that never wear the navy uniforms have been wearing them a lot lately, IE Swarzy, not that I care because the navy uniforms are my favorites.

I don't think I have ever drove so quick in my life during the top of the 10th just because I wanted to actually be able to see the bottom of the 10th in person in hopes they would be able to pull out the win.

In ending, the Twins played better ball tonight, they brought their A-game (for the most part) and went out there and won which is what I expected. This was true Twins baseball, a pitching duel, small ball, and running smart. Now let's do it again tomorrow, alright guys?

All I know, is I'm thankful tomorrow is a day game... these west coast games are killing me!

That one hurt...

2009-07-21T05:43:00.004-05:00

I really don't know what the hell to say about last nights game other than that was the most disgusting game I have seen in a long time. I was all set to come on here and have an exciting post full of "Wow did you see all those home runs?" (keep in mind that 3 run homer by Kubes was the 100 this season already) and "What a great game and a way to start the series!" That's going to be replaced with the following:

"What was that bullshit call at home?" (even though I went to bed when Oakland got the go ahead homer, I watched it this morning, even though I said I wasn't going to cause I knew it would piss me off again.)

"What the hell happened to our bullpen?"

"Where was Nicky's A-game?" He had 10 days off (too much rest?)

Overall we just played sloppy baseball. Our defense wasn't there, I think they were back at the hotel still sleeping. Sure the offense was there with an amazing amount of home runs, which had me smiling from ear to ear, but that smile seemed to shrink every time the A's managed to rally back and get runs the next time at bat.

Could it be blamed on lack of sleep? Yes. Could we blame that call at home by an Ump who clearly needs glasses? Yes (I have an extra pair that I will gladly loan him so he makes the correct calls tonight). But we are capable of losing a game with a lead like that all on our own, so I'm not going to give them any excuses.

The team blew this one on their own. Do I like the fact we lost, hell no, but did we deserve to lose? Yes. That wasn't clean Twins baseball last night, at least it wasn't after all the homeruns.

And to think, at the beginning of the game I felt bad for Oakland with their lack of fans and those ugly white shoes (seriously? White shoes?). But once Holliday tied it up and then the go ahead homerun as I turned off my TV, any sympathy I had went out the window.

It's game on now, take no prisoners, and all I know is the guys better ALL bring their A-game tonight because apparently Oakland means business and anything less than a win, after last night, is unacceptable.

Another winning road series...

2009-07-19T22:58:00.004-05:00

I was hoping we'd be able to get the sweep, but with Frankie pitching I knew that was going to be tough and with Kinsler getting a lead off home run, I knew we were really going to have to fight. I was talking with Erin during the game about how we needed a new pitcher and she told me that the Pirates are interested in him. My comment, they can have him. I'll go for a trade so we can get Garrett back.

I want Frankie gone or at least to the bullpen. He does fine for a couple innings but then it all seems to go to shit and he forgets what he's supposed to do. It's time something is done with him because we're not going to get far without having all 5 of our starters doing what they are supposed to be doing.

LNP had to have been the top player of the game tonight. First with his home run (amazing!) and then his unassisted double play in the sixth inning. This is the parahna I like to see. He did so well tonight. I hope we continue to see this from him again and again.

I'm sad that Dunesing got the loss tonight, I really thought he had a strong outting especially going 1-2-3 in his first inning out there. He has so much potential and I hope he's up here for the rest of the season that's for sure.

Oh and Mauer and I are officially fighting...this 0 for 6 crap needs to come to a sudden hault. What happened to the Joe from June? I miss him.

Stats Time

2009-07-17T22:18:00.005-05:00

Kudos to Kubes on his 3 run homer! Nice going Jason :-) And what's with all the guys getting hair cuts? Everyone leaves for 4 days and we have guys coming back with no hair!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

So while I was watching tonight's game, I decided to do a little comparison of a couple of our players. It's nothing too in-depth or nothing too complicated, it's basically just comparing numbers for 4 players:

	AB	H	SO	R	RBI	AVG
Young	192	51	59	20	25	.266
Casilla	111	20	21	8	5	.180
Morales	67	23	10	10	4	.343
Redmond	89	21	10	5	4	.236

I had thought about doing this after I heard that Jose had yet again been sent back to Rochester, but then after seeing Casilla's piss-poor performance tonight I knew I needed to do this post. It didn't surprise me that he went 0 for 4, it really didn't because I didn't expect him to do any better, that and Bert did pick him for Pick the Stick so Betsy's theory still stands true!

I understand that Bill Smith says we need a 12-man pitching staff and Gardy has said the same thing. I can see that we need a bigger pitching staff considering some of our starting pitchers have struggled lately. And Smith says having the third catcher is a luxury, fine whatever, but from what I have read Jose can be used in other areas in the infield and his batting average is so much better than Alexi.

Now I know this is probably going to set a few people off, but my opinion on the whole Redmond/Morales thing is this. While I have nothing but respect for Redmond and think he's a wonderful catcher, I strongly believe that Morales needs to be in the majors. He has nothing but proven himself while he's been up here doing everything that's been asked of him plus he knows how to kill the White Sox when we need it the most.

Delmon is a totally different area. He can be on the top of this game one day, making great plays, hitting the ball all over the place and then there are days where I can sit down and watch a game and wonder why is he still here? There are other people that deserve a chance. I know he went through the rough period with his mother dying and that's understandable, but lately I just don't know.

We need strong defense and strong offense and I'm a little iffy if we can get that from the line up we have right now.

Champs yet again

2009-07-14T22:38:00.007-05:00

Post derby celebration? Or pre-all star game celebration?

Even though Joe was knocked out of the home run derby in the first round it looked like he still had fun it with and I thought it was really nice of him to ask Jimmy O'Neil to do the pitching for him. Once Joe was out, I was personally pulling for Cruz, but I knew going up against Fielder it was going to be tough.

Joe, didn't your mother teach you it's not nice to stick your tongue out at people?

I will admit that I was a little concerned going into tonight's All Star game considering who the National League had in their lineup, but once I found out that our Joe Nathan was getting the 8th and Mariano Rivera was getting the 9th, I knew if we could manage to make it to the 8th with a lead we stood a really good chance of taking yet another All Star game away from the National League.

Congrats to our three all star guys, Joe, Joe, and Justin for a well played game along with the entire American league team! It was nice to see Jason and Justin on the field at the same time again playing together. I miss Barty. I wish he was still here.

I'm giving Carl Crawford a gold star for that catch he made in the 7th inning. That right there was a game saver and he totally deserved MVP for that.

I had to laugh though when Buehrle was out for his inning and they said it was a typical inning for him, when I saw him on Sunday, he was anything but typical!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Since we're at the half way point in the season, I know a few people (my bosses and my dad) are counting the Twins out of the post season already. I, being the true fan I am, say bullshit. There is still a lot of season left and I strongly think with the right attitude and the right motivation (Justin and Joe, take note in this) this team can be so much more than a .500 team, we came so close last year and I, personally, would love to see the Dome go out in style and what a better way to do that than with another division title and a trip to the World Series (plus I'm saving some vacation time for a reason guys).

Just little minor things from the weekend I forgot:

~ Alexi Casilla will be rejoining the team for our trip to Texas meaning we had to say goodbye to someone. Matty Tolbert got the "kick in the pants" as my brother puts it. I personally like Matty better then Alexi, but I'm willing to give him one more try to prove he can put all these little mental mistakes past him.

~ Gardy has also said the team will have a 12-man pitching staff when they go to Texas this weekend. Now my question is, who gets sent back to Rochester or do they put Boof on the 60-day DL and open a spot on the roster? Really the only person we have that can go down is Jose Morales and I may just cry if he gets sent back. We need him up here!

Enjoy the rest of your time off guys and bring your A-game when we get to Texas on Friday!

Who hates AJ...?

2009-07-12T20:24:00.008-05:00

My what a weekend! I do love it when the White Sox come into town and for once I finally got to see the Twins play them in person (twice in the same series no less!) Today's post is going to be a little bit different cause I'm going to try (key word: try) to break this down into each game. We'll see how well it works!

Friday:

Positives:
1) Getting 4 runs in the first inning in thanks to Danks forgetting what the strike zone was.
2) Going easy on the bull pen after the Yankees series.

As far as negatives go... after this weekend I don't remember much of the game, so we'll go with the two positives.

Saturday:

Betsy, Erin, and myself cheap seated it for this game as it was KTIS's Faith and Family night with a post game concert by Jars of Clay. It was also my first time seeing the Twins play Chicago in person.

Positives:
1) Seeing Joe Crede get 2 home runs against his former team.
2) Booing AJ in person
3) Seeing Brian Duensing pitch in person (finally) and getting to meet him earlier in the day.
4) Watching the guys come from behind and fight till the end.
5) Seeing Jose Morales come out and do what he does best again the White Sox... get base hits and score runs!

Negatives:
1) Watching the White Sox win.
2) Watching Papa Perk do whatever that was supposed to be cause that wasn't pitching.
3) Seeing our guys play some sloppy baseball at times.
4) Dealing with the ass holes in the cheap seats. I'm sure Betsy will fill everyone in on that story.

Thoughts on the post game concert:
*~* It was awesome getting to hear Denard, R.A. and Kevin's faith stories after the game was over. They all earned extra points in my book, especially R.A. It was just an amazing experience.
*~* Jars of Clay were amazing! It has been a long, long time since I had listened to anything of their songs (for personal reasons) but listening to their stuff reminded me of what's really important.

Sunday:

Even though I was (still am) exhausted. It was a GREAT game :)

Positives:
1) Denard Span lead off home run!
2) GoGo's 3 run home run!
3) Brendan's 2 run home run!
4) Watching AJ be the last out of the game :-)
5) Seeing our All-Star guys receiving their All-star game jerseys.

Negatives:
1) Watching Joe Mauer go 0 for 4.
2) Seeing Justin struggle (this was all weekend).

I'm not sure what is going on with those two, but the need to get out of the slump they are in. They are our all stars, they are suppose to play better then they are.

Here are a few pictures from Saturday and a couple from Sunday (for some reason my camera didn't wanna focus this weekend so most of them came out blurry):

Our view from the cheap seats

Justin and Nick during infield practice

Kevin and R.A. during Faith Night

R.A. telling us his Faith story

Kevin and R.A.'s oldest daughter

Kevin attempting to dance

Kevin out dancing with the kids

I just loved his facial expression in this picture :)

Jars of Clay

Denard telling us his Faith story

R.A.'s youngest. He was so cute and he looks just like Daddy :)

Michael Cuddyer aka "The Thinker"