"You throw the ball, you catch the ball, you hit the ball. Sometimes you win, sometimes you lose, and sometimes it rains."- Ebby Calvin LaLoosh, Bull Durham The rain came a tumbling down at Target Field on Saturday afternoon and the contest between the Twins and Royals was postponed because of the weather. By mid-afternoon, the skies had cleared up but the game had already been rescheduled as part of a day-night doubleheader on June 30. Even with the rainout at Target Field, there was stil
Original post from North Dakota Twins Fan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Since the last time you joined me for an edition of "Friday Links-N-Thinks," the Twins have only one one game and that was on last Friday. It has been a rough week for Twins fans as the team looked to get back on track against the struggling Red Sox. This didn't happen but the one consolation prize is the fact that the Royals come to town this weekend and they have their own share of problems to deal with this season. Hopefully this means
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-HLsZhcPiKOU/T5jI5YubJyI/AAAAAAAABNk/t1Whequk2Mc/s320/target_field_46.jpg The first two seasons at Target Field have been very fruitful from the Twins perspective when it comes to selling tickets in their beautiful new ballpark. In 2010 and 2011, the Twins capped their season ticket sales and it was tough to find an open seat in any section with your naked eye for most of the season. Before a new stadium was built, the organization said they needed the cash flow involve
Original post from North Dakota Twins Fan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-hj-BLOmvgjU/T5fjG_3qgEI/AAAAAAAABNQ/oj_3fiw0GF4/s320/Duensing.jpg For the second season in a row, the Twins have taken a player who had previously served as a starter and given him a prominent role in the bullpen. Last year the Twins were very pleased with the performance of Glen Perkins as he developed into their most reliable arm in the bullpen. In a lot of tough situations, Ron Gardenhire turned to Perkins to
Original post from North Dakota Twins Fan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Seth Stohs and the other TwinsCentric guys have put together an interesting concept for inclusion on their website, TwinsDaily. Yesterday morning fans were asked to "adopt" a player from the Twins minor league system to follow as that player travels through the farm system. Each player was only allowed to be pick once and it was offered on a first-come, first-serve basis. Once you selected a player the rules became pretty simple. You we
Original post from North Dakota Twins Fan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-_bWFQY5qQ0M/T5VC1GRcBMI/AAAAAAAABM4/o-C_AlqMuUs/s320/LirianoHiding.jpg At the end of spring training, it seemed that Francisco Liriano was posed to have a strong start to the year. After pitching in the Dominican Winter League, Liriano had seemed to have it all together in spring training and he was ready to help the Twins forget about the headaches involved with the 2011 season. But here is a prime example of
Original post from North Dakota Twins Fan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Well the Twins made their series in the Bronx much more enjoyable than was originally anticipated by many fans in Twins Territory. The offense seems to be clicking on all cylinders and the bullpen has been surprisingly good in some tough situations against a very good line-up. Hopefully this positive momentum will carry over into their weekend series with the Rays and the Twins can start the climb back to the .500 mark. The baseball wor
Original post from North Dakota Twins Fan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-UlDvPeGs83o/T493ne6bprI/AAAAAAAABMo/LaBNyIvMhmk/s320/LirianoHeadDown.jpg In the aftermath of a disastrous outing from Francisco Liriano on Tuesday night at Yankee Stadium, there has been plenty written about the lanky left-hander for the Twins. The Twins watched Liriano struggle out of the gate in 2011 and now the same story is playing out at the beginning of 2012. In his first three starts of the year, he has
Original post from North Dakota Twins Fan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-MPHHcivKpws/T46w_ubFOKI/AAAAAAAABMg/06qkEMGOJR8/s320/espnhs_byron_buxton_576x324.jpg There are less than two months left until the MLB Draft and this means clubs are starting to get a picture of who the top prospects are going to be when it comes to selection time. Many of the top baseball writing sites have started to put together their initial lists of who are the best players available in the June draft. Bas
Original post from North Dakota Twins Fan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-y1Eslm6GLr4/T41UsxyEbKI/AAAAAAAABMI/B3xE0G_OVoA/s320/MorneauHR.jpg In the final weeks of spring training, the Twins made a few adjustments to their line-up to align themselves for the start of the 2012 regular season. As part of these moves, Josh Willingham moved from right field to left field, Justin Morneau was going to be the full-time designated hitter, and Chris Parmelee was slated to see time at first bas
Original post from North Dakota Twins Fan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-k1esuYStD6M/T4t0WuGppoI/AAAAAAAABMA/1gDrtrSY07k/s400/GoldenAgeofCatchers.jpg There has been an influx of contract extensions for catchers in recent weeks with Carlos Santana of the Indians being the latest to sign on the dotted line. Some think the Indians might have locked up baseball's top catcher but that title can be debated with players from both leagues coming out on top. The Twins already have Joe Mauer
Original post from North Dakota Twins Fan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The first week of Twins baseball has not been perfect by any means but the team has shown signs of life in the last couple of days. Those games were against two very good pitchers from the Angels, Jared Weaver and Dan Haren, so the team might be moving in the right direction. In a rare occurrence on Thursday afternoon, Joe Mauer hit a home run at Target Field for only the second time since the stadium opened in 2010. Besides glimmers of h
Original post from North Dakota Twins Fan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ Fans of the Twins are well aware of the slow start the club has gotten off to at the start the 2012 season. It seems that a segment of the fan base is worried that the Twins are falling back into the same patterns that lead to a 99-loss season in 2011. Scott Baker and Liam Hendriks have already been forced to the sidelines with injuries, there are still question marks in the bullpen, and the offense has struggled mightily at the plate. Th
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-USOtSqIeF9Q/T4V3GAwFj0I/AAAAAAAABLY/4Hj5SpCkt30/s320/2002TwinsReunion.jpg Original post from North Dakota Twins Fan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ One of highlights of Opening Day at Target Field was the 10-year reunion for the 2002 Minnesota Twins team, the last team from the franchise to play in the ALCS. There were 11 of the 25 members of the team in attendance at the game along with most of the coaching staff. There were plenty of cheers for fan favorites like Torii Hunter, Doug
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-c_K-DX5eBVo/T4QgMZD4xAI/AAAAAAAABLI/FUQ7vY1Wz6Q/s1600/BrianDozier.jpg At the end of spring training when Brian Doizer was sent down to the minor leagues, he seemed to leave the Twins facility with a chip on his shoulder. His time in the big league camp had been sufficient with him hitting .277/.333/.511 with three home runs and nine RBI in 47 at-bats. With him only having spent part of a season at the Double-A level, it seemed like a very long shot for him to make the
http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-C8edZPZZAcQ/T4LW3dM5TsI/AAAAAAAABLA/lC14MMH8deA/s320/JameyCarrollDefense.jpg Original post from North Dakota Twins Fan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Twins struggled mightily in their first series of the year against a team that is not projected to do very well this season, the Baltimore Orioles. The three starting pitchers for the Orioles looked like Cy Young winners even though each of them came into the contest with ERAs of well over 4.00 for last season. The offense struggled
Original post from North Dakota Twins Fan Baseball is back!!! It was great to get home from work early on Thursday to a ton of action already underway across the baseball universe. I flipped through multiple games because my cable company was nice enough to give me a free preview of MLB Extra Innings. It is very tempting to want to purchase the package for the entire year but I might have to settle for the free pass for the first few days of the season. I checked in on the Nationals with
Original post from North Dakota Twins Fan With Opening Day almost here, it is time for my annual predictions for the 2012 baseball season. It is always fun to sort through all of the teams, players, and divisions to find out who will be the best of the best in the coming year. There are always going to be surprises along the way like the Diamondbacks were in 2011. The edition of the new wild card spots in each league will also add some spice to the race for the playoffs in the 2012 season. O
Original post from North Dakota Twins Fan With Opening Day later in the week, it is time for my annual predictions for the 2012 baseball season. It is always fun to sort through all of the teams, players, and divisions to find out who will be the best of the best in the coming year. There are always going to be surprises along the way like the Diamondbacks were in 2011. The edition of the new wild card spots in each league will also add some spice to the race for the playoffs in the 2012 seaso
With Opening Day later in the week, it is time for my annual predictions for the 2012 baseball season. It is always fun to sort through all of the teams, players, and divisions to find out who will be the best of the best in the coming year. There are always going to be surprises along the way like the Diamondbacks were in 2011. The edition of the new wild card spots in each league will also add some spice to the race for the playoffs in the 2012 season. Over the course of the week, I will re
With Opening Day later in the week, it is time for my annual predictions for the 2012 baseball season. It is always fun to sort through all of the teams, players, and divisions to find out who will be the best of the best in the coming year. There are always going to be surprises along the way like the Diamondbacks were in 2011. The addition of the new wild card spots in each league will also add some spice to the race for the playoffs in the 2012 season. Over the course of the week, I will r
Original post from North Dakota Twins Fan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The first two games of the season have been complete and I can honestly say I have yet to watch a single pitch. One of the problems was that both of the contests were not on any major channel and the other issues was the games were being played very early in the morning. I still don't know how I feel about the first two games of the season being played in Japan. It is great to spread the game to international markets but I love when all o
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-m96du2wPpag/T3PdczZud3I/AAAAAAAABJw/4_LJaqtc3E8/s320/AnthonySwarzak.jpg The Twins went into the start of this spring with a little different feel in regards to their starting rotation. Last season there was a battle between six or seven players to fill the five roles needed to complete the starting rotation at the beginning of the year. This year the Twins seemed set with five players penciled in to occupy the rotation when the team would break camp for the start of th
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-fYU2UP62ZjQ/T3IRQlhgHdI/AAAAAAAABJo/d4cJgdjU23I/s320/KyleGibsonPitching.JPG Original post from North Dakota Twins Fan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The injury to Kyle Gibson's arm last year put a damper on what was suppose to be a big season in his life. At this point last year, there were many who thought Gibson only missed out on a spot in the rotation because the Twins had too many other arms who were already on the big league roster. The overall consensus was that Gibson would b
http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-KZX8EGdYn68/T3EvATxuTVI/AAAAAAAABJg/5My-BrqTyAk/s320/Matt+Capps.jpg Original Post from North Dakota Twins Fan ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The Twins saw their long-time closer Joe Nathan leave the team in free agency this offseason. With his departure to the Texas Rangers, the organization turned to a familiar face to fill the closer role by signing Matt Capps. Before undergoing Tommy John surgery, Nathan had been one of the best closers in the game and he got a lot of guaranteed m
I really hold back what I would like to say about then payroll arguments here. The fact that people don't accept the amount taken in dictates the amount going out requires one of two things. Extreme financial ignorance or fanatical bias that prevents the acceptance of something some basic. I did not change the argument. It's the same idiocy over and over. Do you really want to be on the side that suggests revenues does not determine spending capacity?
At this point in the pre-season, I’m just so happy to be seeing games again, I don’t care about the Twins record in 2023. I think they’ll win it all, unrealistically speaking 🙂
I really hold back what I would like to say about then payroll arguments here. The fact that people don't accept the amount taken in dictates the amount going out requires one of two things. Extreme financial ignorance or fanatical bias that prevents the acceptance of something some basic. I did not change the argument. It's the same idiocy over and over. Do you really want to be on the side that suggests revenues does not determine spending capacity?· 0 replies
