Sarah

Seems like it kind of defeats the purpose though if you have the home field advantage but the first two games of a five game series are on the road. I hope the Saints win tomorrow because I am supposed to go to the game on Sunday and it looks like it's going to be a beautiful day!

Sometimes I really hate watching the Nationals games when Wilson Ramos is playing. Sure would be nice to have kept him...oh that's right, we traded him for Matt Capps, wherever he is now. Yeah, I'm not still bitter about that one... I like Kurt Suzuki though, hope he turns it around. It was pretty fun last year to see him and Perkins close out the All-Star Game at Target Field.

I will probably be going up north for the weekend but I would encourage everyone to check out CHS Field- it's great!

I can also give my firsthand perspective that CHS Field is great!

Do you mean this upcoming Thursday (April 9)? I would be interested in attending this- let us know how to sign up!

I visited Arizona last weekend and since most of you will be posting about Florida I thought I’d add my thoughts about the “other” spring training. Arizona is nice because all of the teams are within about 20 minutes of Phoenix and if you fly out of MSP you have a few options on airlines. The main thing I didn’t like about the Phoenix area is that you will need to rent a car to get around and their rental car tax is about 18% total. Everything is close yet just far enough that you have to drive but considering it was -6 when I left Minnesota it was awesome to drive around with the windows open. Games generally start at 1 p.m. local time and I went to one game each at Sloan Park (Cubs home), Tempe Diablo Stadium (Angels home) and Salt River Fields (Rockies and Diamondbacks home, I was at the Rockies game). Sloan Park is VERY nice, probably my favorite out of the three. (Okay so I am a little biased since I’m a Cubs fan.) It’s only about two years old and is like a miniature Wrigley Field complete with the red sign and brick wall behind home plate (no manual scoreboard or ivy on the outfield walls though). They all had impressive team shops for merchandise and Salt River Fields had the designated driver program where you could sign up for a free soda (Tempe Diablo didn’t have designated driver and I forgot to ask at Sloan Park so they may have it too). They had great concessions at Sloan Park and Salt River Fields but the concessions at Tempe Diablo Stadium weren’t all that great. There is a Whataburger really close to the Angels stadium so I stopped there because we don’t have that in Minnesota and thought it was pretty good. Tempe Diablo is the oldest of the three (recently renovated though so it’s pretty nice) so that one was probably my least favorite but they do have free on street parking if you get there early enough. Parking at Sloan Park was $5 and there is a huge shopping complex by Salt River Fields called the Pavilions with Target, movie theatre, restaurants, etc. so I parked there for free and walked over to the stadium. If you are infirm there are a lot of bike cabs parked right outside the gate to take you to your car. (Sorry, don’t know how much they are.) There was also a huge classic car show in the parking lot near Salt River Fields after the Rockies game on Saturday afternoon so that was neat too. I also took a tour of Chase Field which is right downtown Phoenix (you really can’t miss it) and it’s only $7. You may want to get reservations in advance as the tour guide said they tend to get full during spring training. I took the first one at 9:30 and it was sold out. Luckily a guy who was a Rockies fan saw me standing there and gave me his extra ticket. Baseball fans are so nice. Since all of the teams are so close, the city is literally crawling with baseball fans. There seemed to be a lot of Giants fans which makes sense since they have won the World Series twice in the past few years. I would recommend getting tickets to the games ahead of time as well because the Saturday Rockies game we went to was sold out. If you go to the Cubs park you can get a free copy of Vineline right when you walk in the main gates where they sell the programs. (The current issue is a good one because it has Ernie Banks on the cover.) This may go without saying but do not forget your sunglasses or sunscreen and drink a lot of water. They even have free sunscreen dispensers at the Rockies/Diamondbacks stadium. The Cubs game I went to ended in a tie after nine innings. They just announce on the loud speaker in the top of the 9th “Ladies and Gentlemen if the game is tied after nine innings the game will end in a tie.” When I was at the Yankees spring training game in Florida the game ended after ten innings so maybe it’s up to the manager’s discretion or something. As I’m sure a lot people do during spring training games, I somewhat paid attention to the actual game. Pujols, Trout and Jered Weaver started in the Angels game I went to, Kris Bryant hit a long home run in the Cubs game I went to and Justin Morneau started in the Rockies game I went to (LaTroy Hawkins also pitched in that game). Since I was there for the first few games it was fun to see everyone so excited to be watching baseball again. For lack of a better term, I’ve found spring training to be super chill – mostly just a great excuse to sit outside in nice weather and watch baseball. I did some sightseeing in Phoenix too- if you have extra time I would recommend either the Wrigley Mansion (yes, that Wrigley), Frank Lloyd Wright’s Taliesin West or the Desert Botanical Garden. They are all pretty easy to find and interesting. I thought Phoenix in general was not terribly hard to navigate (I am directionally challenged so if I can get around, so can you) and the traffic didn’t seem to be any worse than it is in the Twin Cities. I hung out mostly on the east side of Phoenix in the Scottsdale/Tempe/Mesa area so I’ll just to go back someday to watch the teams on the west side. If you’ve never been to spring training I highly recommend it!

Thanks- almost 13 years ago, time flies. Maybe I will ask him about that next week!

Looking forward to it, thanks guys. What year was it that Jacque Jones led off the season (I think it was in Kansas City) with a home run? I'm sure I could look it up but I figured someone on here would know...still remember that obviously. It was a fun opening day jolt like, "Yay, baseball is back."

Thrylos, I see that you live in Pennsylvania so you can't attend in person but I attended this last year and I thought Dave St. Peter was candid and engaging with the fans. Do you ever attend fan events for any of the teams on the east coast? I grew up in Minnesota but am always interested to know if other teams have the same level of engagement from team personnel that the Twins do. And a side note, I got my picture taken with Scott Erickson last year and my sister said, "He looks like a Ken doll!"

I agree Jeremy, this is irritating. One of my prized possessions is a Torii Hunter autographed baseball card from when he first came up and his name is perfectly spelled out. Sometimes I forget to write down who signed something and then it's useless to me because I can't remember who it is! Any baseball player who takes the time to spell his name legibly so that it's a great keepsake for that fan definitely gets his gold star in my book.

Thank you- maybe I will meet Pete Bjarkman at the SABR convention next summer, I would love to go to Cuba someday.

While the dark, cold days of winter can be an ideal time to dive into research on baseball history, as a lifelong baseball fan I have to ask...is there ever a bad time to talk about baseball history? I serve as co-chair of the research committee for the local chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research and invite other Twins Daily readers to get involved with our group.One of our projects is called the Origins of Baseball in Minnesota Project, where you can select a city to research. Because my parents have a cabin on Lake Vermilion I am up in the Iron Range area frequently so I chose Chisholm. (Yes, insert obligatory Moonlight Graham reference here...) I visited the Minnesota Historical Society, Iron Range Research Center, St. Louis County Historical Society and contacted many other organizations I haven't had a chance to visit in person. I turned my findings into an article for Lake Superior Magazine and a presentation for the fall regional chapter meeting held recently in Minneapolis. http://www.lakesuper...-american-game/ Is there a game or player you remember and want to highlight to contribute to the ongoing collection of baseball lore? For some reason, this random regular season game two decades ago has always stayed in my mind so it was fun to revisit it through writing an article for the SABR Games Project: http://sabr.org/game...y-goes-distance You can also contribute individual articles through the Bio Project and other areas of interest depending on your time- a plethora of opportunities to get involved exist without a huge commitment. The 2015 SABR Convention is going to be held next summer in Chicago, another American League Central city. I was lucky enough to attend this annual event a couple of years ago when it was in Minneapolis- read my Twins Daily blog recap for an idea of what to expect: http://twinsdaily.co...abr-newbie-r591 As I am neither a math or economics major spending my days crunching stats (I tend more toward the liberal arts of writing and research), I still remember being pleasantly surprised by this other wing of SABR more in line with my background. The Minnesota chapter, appropriately named the Halsey Hall Chapter, has many activities locally and throughout the Upper Midwest including a book club and trips to minor league parks around the area.Visit our website to learn more about how you can join us soon or check out the SABR website for endless possibilities on getting involved with baseball history! Click here to view the article

While the dark, cold days of winter can be an ideal time to dive into research on baseball history, as a lifelong baseball fan I have to ask...is there ever a bad time to talk about baseball history? I serve as co-chair of the research committee for the local chapter of the Society for American Baseball Research and invite other Twins Daily readers to get involved with our group. One of our projects is called the Origins of Baseball in Minnesota Project, where you can select a city to research. Because my parents have a cabin on Lake Vermilion I am up in the Iron Range area frequently so I chose Chisholm. (Yes, insert obligatory Moonlight Graham reference here...) I visited the Minnesota Historical Society, Iron Range Research Center, St. Louis County Historical Society and contacted many other organizations I haven't had a chance to visit in person. I turned my findings into an article for Lake Superior Magazine and a presentation for the fall regional chapter meeting held recently in Minneapolis. http://www.lakesuperior.com/lifestyle/recreation/361-chisholms-love-for-the-all-american-game/ Is there a game or player you remember and want to highlight to contribute to the ongoing annals of baseball lore? For some reason, this random regular season game two decades ago has always stayed in my mind so it was fun to revisit it through writing an article for the SABR Games Project: http://sabr.org/gamesproj/game/july-8-1994-tewksbury-goes-distance You can also contribute individual articles through the Bio Project and other areas of interest depending on your time- a plethora of opportunities to get involved exist without a huge commitment. The 2015 SABR Convention is going to be held next summer in Chicago, another American League Central city. I was lucky enough to attend this annual event a couple of years ago when it was in Minneapolis- read my Twins Daily blog recap for an idea of what to expect: http://twinsdaily.com/articles.html/_/minnesota-twins-news/confessions-of-a-sabr-newbie-r591 As I am neither a math or economics major spending my days crunching stats (I tend more toward the liberal arts of writing and research), I still remember being pleasantly surprised by this other wing of SABR more in line with my background. The Minnesota chapter, appropriately named the Halsey Hall Chapter, has many activities locally and throughout the Upper Midwest including a book club and trips to minor league parks around the area. Visit our website to learn more about how you can join us soon or check out the SABR website for endless possibilities on getting involved with baseball history!

I don't blame him for not pitching an extra inning out of the bullpen- this is baseball, he could blow out his arm or get hit in the head by a line drive. He finished the season without being injured, which is no small feat for pitchers these days. And I agree with those who said he shouldn't be paid the bonus- he had to get to a certain amount of innings and he didn't. Paying the money seems like setting a dangerous precedent- what if they have another player next year who is two outs short of a bonus?

Thanks for the update John- it was fun meeting those guys at TwinsFest last winter!