Can't Seal the Deal

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!

Slow Ride...Take It Easy

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?

Tough To Swallow

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.

Welcome Back!

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 :-)

And So It Begins

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.

Twinsfest: The 2010 Edition

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.