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 Stephen Strasburg on the mound and Wilson Ramos behind the plate. Jose Valverde was a perfect 49 out of 49 in save opportunites last season but his first chance this year was unsuccessful. The Marlins had a short turn around after they opened their new stadium on Wednesday night in Miami and they had to be in Cincinnati for an afternoon game the next day. I ended the night by listening to the best announcer in the game, Vin Scully.

Opening Day is the greatest time of the year. The Twins start their 2012 campaign in Baltimore tonight and they have their home opener on Monday afternoon. It's just a wonderful time to be a baseball fan. Here are some of the top stories I enjoyed from the past week. Have a great weekend with baseball back in our lives.

• Ron Gardenhire announced the Opening Day lineup for the Twins and the outfield defense could be scary.
  
• The Twins didn't have a game on Thursday but Scott Baker pitched for the Miracle and the news was not good.
  
• MLB released their annual list of the top 20 jerseys sold and there is one member of the Twins who made the list.
  
• Seth Stohs asked for a few writers (including myself) to project the top hitters and the top pitchers for the start of the Twins minor league season.
  
• Torii Hunter went from sitting on his couch one evening to having the police draw their guns on him.
  
• Have you ever wondered where walkup music came from?
  
• Andrew at Twins Fan From Afar got to spend an evening with Twins pitching prospect Alex Wimmers.
  
• Target Field unveiled their new food selections for the year and John Bonnes got to test out some of the new items.
  
• There are many reasons to be excited for the start of the new year but here are 100 different reasons to start your own list.
  
• There are a lot of tough jobs in the sports world but catching might be at the top of the list.
  
• This photo was floating around different websites on Thursday and I found it amusing.
  

• After one of the worst seasons in baseball history, Adam Dunn will start the year as the number three hitter in the White Sox lineup.
  
• Jim Crikkett from Knuckelballs blog got his call up to the big leagues by getting to write a post on the Star Tribune website about his time in Florida.
  
• What do you get when you mix Bert Blyleven and singing animal puppets? It's a little scary...
  
• Rod Carew makes this list of top 10 baseball legends and humanitarians.
  
• Former Twins ace Johan Santana returned to the mound for the Mets. If his results continue to look good, could the Mets try to trade him to a contender?
  
• Justin Verlander eats a lot of Taco Bell before each of his starts.
  
• Ramon Ortiz pitched 28 ineffective games for the Twins in 2007 and the Yankees just signed him this week.
  

My Weekly Rundown (Predictions Week):

• Sunday: A season of what could be
  
• Monday: 2012 American League Predictions
  
• Tuesday: 2012 National League Predictions
  
• Wednesday: 2012 Twins Award Predictions
  
• Thursday: 2012 Twins Minor League Projections
  

Video of the Week: The Twins have released some very clever commercials over the years and this newest one fits into that mold. In this Big Lebowski-themed spot, Kent Hrbek is asked to take on the title role of the "Big Hrbowski." Span leaves the team in a tough spot with the 7/10 split but Hrbek is called on to make the impossible shot.