rogrulz30

Well I get to take a look at two teams that I have a futures bet with a buddy on what team would win more games this year. Of course I took the Twins. Both teams are a futile 5-14. Both teams needed each other at this point, I am glad the Twins get to do it at home, or maybe the Royals are glad to see the Twins on the road since they can't win a game at their own place. 0-10 at home for the Royals to start the season in a season they host the All Star game and a lot of buzz surrounding the team is not a good start for that team. Teaford vs Pavano to start the weekend series and I believe for the 2nd time all season the Twins are favored. YES THE TWINS ARE FAVORED to win a baseball game. I want to say that I really don't like writing bad things about my favorite team. But when the team is 5-14 it is hard to find good things to write about, and to be honest it kind of pisses me off as well. It is what it is. I can say this for sure, it is only April, a lot can happen in a 162 game season. The optimist in me for the season will say that the Twins need to sweep this series and make it a big stepping stone to set up the West Coast Swing and play good baseball. There is nothing more that I want except to play good baseball and win a few series. Looking through the blogs and forums we all have our ideas on where things went wrong, who to blame, why we are sooo bad. The reality of the season is we have 3 quality starts in 19 opportunities. The Twins are batting .192 w/RISP or something close to that which is 28th in MLB. With somewhat of a small sample size those numbers are supposed to avg out for a season, the problem with that is when the numbers avg out in the wrong spots. You could bat .192 w/RISP when you are down by 8 runs or up 8 runs and it doesn't matter, it matters when you are up or down by a couple runs, we haven't had the big hits when we have needed them to win games. We have been in multiple games and haven't gotten the runs home. Blame Joe Mauer, sure, Morneau, absolutely, Valencia, yes, Span, sure-- they have all had AB, where they had the game on the line trying to get runs home, it hasn't worked so far, hopefully that will change. The way the Twins used to win games though was Pitching/Defense, it was never really talked about when you gave your ballclub a chance to win early in the games, we didn't need to score runs all the time in those spots because our pitchers put us in spots where it was easier to win. The boo birds are going to the wrong people at Target Field. The fans are expecting more because "hey we got this great ballpark" we need to spend more money and put a better product on the field. The fans are absolutely right, the fans also have to realize what they have invested in Morneau, Mauer and if they were or were not going to be healthy. This is a tough position for Terry Ryan to be in, of course we could have made moves, but if we were to make moves and those guys couldn't play we would be in the same spot.. The boos are going to Mauer because he is making the most amount of money and he is batting like **** in spots in the 7th inning on, when we need him because our pitching has been really bad. Batters can't be put in these spots consistently and be able to drive in runs on a consistent basis. The fans realistically should be cheering Mauer as he has played every game and is batting over .300, who typically has April be his poorest month. If the fans are going to boo at Target field, they should be booing Danny Valencia, and all the starting pitchers. (yes another Valencia dig) For the time being as well let us think about what Terry Ryan and Gardy have gone through to get to this point. A farm system that was left baren, Scott Baker who needs Tommy John surgery, a Jason Marquis who couldn't really pitch in spring training, and a very talented pitcher who needs a therapist. On top of that knowing or not knowing if their 2 stars would be healthy this year. Reality is the Twins are bad mainly because of the starting pitching. If somehow the 20 minute behind closed doors meeting between catchers and pitchers does anything and the starters are able to get some quality starts in the Twins will win games. WE NEED THAT TO START VS THE LOWLY KC ROYALS.

I have watched the Twins year in and year out, whether they are bad or good. I will say I loved the underdog role in the Dome, low budget lots of enthusiasm, great defense, solid pitching. The "new" Twins have none of that. As much as I didn't like "little Nicky Punto", I kind of wish we had that 16 year old babe ruth style excitement. I will root for the Twins forever, right now it is hard because I am not finding much to root for.

Very real eyes on the game, I will say the Ross homerun was a pretty good pitch from capps. If you saw any of the other valencia at bats u wouldn't put him as a hero, once again fast ball after fastball outside and valencia tries to pull the ball, including an inning ending double play vintage valencia, a horrible mistake by the pitcher on 1-2 count allowed valencia to hit the hr. One more reason gardy needs to consider closer by committee, he can't have capps as a " closer"

No question, gardy must go closer by committee

Is Brandon Webb available???? The Minnesota Twins and Oakland A's would be teams that would look at bringing a guy like Brandon Webb in for the cheap. We have disaster area going on right now. I don't care who you are you aren't going to compete with Pavano, Marquis, Blackburn, Swarzak, Hendriks. This is if Blackburn is healthy, we saw what happened to Baker. I posted that I am giving the Twins some slack for the first 60 games, but something has to happen in the rotation. If Brandon Webb is available, which I think he is, I think the Twins should definitely take a chance on the former Cy Young winner. Our entire pitching staff is weakened by injuries. I don't mind having Hendriks in the rotation, I don't think Swarzak is a starter right now, I think a move like bringing Webb in could be interesting. I have to ask a question to the Twins Community that maybe I will ask in the forums, but if you read this I am asking this. Who do you think is the best manager in the game/worst manager int the game if you think there is? Now put them in the dugout for the Twins last year, this year, how many more wins are we going to have? Or losses for that matter? Let's look at it a different way, if I take LaRussa, who I think is the best manager in the game, and then I take Roenicke, which I think is one of the worst and I put them in the dugout for the Yankees last year, how much of a win differential is it? I am going to say 8 game differential. So lets take the mean of that and LaRussa would be a 4.0 WARM wins above replacement manager, yes I made that up. So, this was just some thoughts on if you really think that the reason we are losing is because of the 2010 Manager of the Year. Managers don't forget how to manage, you have to have things go right, and you are also going to have things fall apart. What I might say though is Vavra and Anderson may have the wrong approaches to hitting based on the personal we have on the team. That may land on the GM Terry Ryan. You have to keep in mind this is his first year taking over a team that lost 99 games last season. I am sure he has plans, look at what he had to deal with putting a team together with pieces he didn't know would be healthy or not. I totally understand cutting payroll if Morneau/Mauer weren't going to be healthy, this wouldn't make sense. I would trust the plan from Ryan for now, give him a 3 year cushion and then make arguments, you can't make haste judgement coming off of a 99 loss season, while having your Ace go down for the year, and not knowing if Morneau/Mauer is goin to be healthy. I am going to go out on a limb this evening and also post that the Twins are going to go 5-1 in the next 6 games, record then 10-12. The conversations in the forums are going to be a bit different if this were to happen. The Twins need to take care of business these next 6 games or it could turn ugly from the fans perspectives.

Is Brandon Webb available???? The Minnesota Twins and Oakland A's would be teams that would look at bringing a guy like Brandon Webb in for the cheap. We have disaster area going on right now. I don't care who you are you aren't going to compete with Pavano, Marquis, Blackburn, Swarzak, Hendriks. This is if Blackburn is healthy, we saw what happened to Baker. I posted that I am giving the Twins some slack for the first 60 games, but something has to happen in the rotation. If Brandon Webb is available, which I think he is, I think the Twins should definitely take a chance on the former Cy Young winner. Our entire pitching staff is weakened by injuries. I don't mind having Hendriks in the rotation, I don't think Swarzak is a starter right now, I think a move like bringing Webb in could be interesting. I have to ask a question to the Twins Community that maybe I will ask in the forums, but if you read this I am asking this. Who do you think is the best manager in the game/worst manager int the game if you think there is? Now put them in the dugout for the Twins last year, this year, how many more wins are we going to have? Or losses for that matter? Let's look at it a different way, if I take LaRussa, who I think is the best manager in the game, and then I take Roenicke, which I think is one of the worst and I put them in the dugout for the Yankees last year, how much of a win differential is it? I am going to say 8 game differential. So lets take the mean of that and LaRussa would be a 4.0 WARM wins above replacement manager, yes I made that up. So, this was just some thoughts on if you really think that the reason we are losing is because of the 2010 Manager of the Year. Managers don't forget how to manage, you have to have things go right, and you are also going to have things fall apart. What I might say though is Vavra and Anderson may have the wrong approaches to hitting based on the personal we have on the team. That may land on the GM Terry Ryan. You have to keep in mind this is his first year taking over a team that lost 99 games last season. I am sure he has plans, look at what he had to deal with putting a team together with pieces he didn't know would be healthy or not. I totally understand cutting payroll if Morneau/Mauer weren't going to be healthy, this wouldn't make sense. I would trust the plan from Ryan for now, give him a 3 year cushion and then make arguments, you can't make haste judgement coming off of a 99 loss season, while having your Ace go down for the year, and not knowing if Morneau/Mauer is goin to be healthy. I am going to go out on a limb this evening and also post that the Twins are going to go 5-1 in the next 6 games, record then 10-12. The conversations in the forums are going to be a bit different if this were to happen. The Twins need to take care of business these next 6 games or it could turn ugly from the fans perspectives.

I will add them tonight

AL CENTRAL Detroit 9-4 Cleveland 6-5 Chicago 6-6 Minnesota 5-9 Kansas City 3-9 Any Surprises after 14 games? In my mind this is about exactly where I figured, with the exception of Chicago being lower by a couple games and KC winning a couple more games. Given the Twins schedule I predicted after 35 games 14-21, we will see where that ends up. I wanted to make a couple comments on a few thoughts that have been thrown around with the media, friends. 1. Jamey Carroll, http://mlb.sbnation.com/2012/4/13/2946897/jamey-carroll-shortstop-twins-history. This story was brought up by a buddy who was watching the Twins game on ESPN vs NY, instantly texted me on why Jamey Carroll was batting 2nd in our lineup. His quote " Too many managers look at the second spot as a bunting/throw away spot. Kills so many rallies putting a ****ty hitter in the middle of your best hitters.: Now Jamey Carroll is a lifetime .277 hitter with no power. This is a common thing I guess with putting maybe a 2nd best batting avg/obp guy in the 2nd spot, what if we had Joe Mauer in that spot? Span Mauer Willingham Morneau Doumit Valencia Parmalee Casillia ??? Why not? This would allow Joe Mauer more AB's, (I know that isn't that many, but it is) Mauer doesn't hit for power, he hit for power in the Dome, he isn't hitting HR's to the opposite field in Target Field. He is a gap, OBP, singles hitter. Lets be real, unless he starts hitting for power would it make sense to have him hit in the 2 spot. I am not sure, it is something that had some merit I guess. 2. Trade Span? I was listening to the Common Man today, they were responding to a thread of trading Denard Span. I was fishing this morning on Lake Superior and I just yelled out why would you be talking about trading Span? Yes we need pitching, we don't have OF's. Revere is not a lead off guy, sure he can run fast and cover lots of ground in the outfield, but he has as subpar arm. Everyones tradeable!! I get that, but I don't think trading Span is an option at this point. I think the upcoming draft is the place where we will upgrade pitching, also I think the free agent market, albeit not a huge pitching market next year is where we upgrade pitching, not trading Span. 3. Abolishing Savery? (Joe Sheehan) This article was in SI, and this is something I have thought about for a long time and I totally agree. He talks about how the "save" has changed the way that managers use there bullpen. If I have my best K/BB ratio guy in my bullpen, I am facing the middle of my lineup up 1 with 1 out guys on 2nd and 3rd in the 7th inning, why am I not putting the best bullpen guy in there? I know why, because of the Save stat. This stat really messes with the best way a manager can use his bullpen. I know I can put my best guy out there in the 7th, and in the 9th if I wanted to I could go lefty righty lefty if I need 3 outs if I want to, why not? I think this is one of the biggest overrated stats in the game, the first manager to start getting away from the "save", and use your best players in the best spots I will give a lot of credit to. 4-9, Man 5-8 looks a lot better. The Twins had a very good chance of winning a 4 game series in New York and would have given the Twins a lot of confidence early in the year. Pavano, Marquis pitched very well considering their start. Swarzak and Liriano really, really blew a great chance at a helluva series in NY. Curtis Granderson is really good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am very impressed with him, he is the only person I am impressed with on a team that I can't stand. The bats are coming alive, I look forward to see how many game streak Willingham gets to, I am excited to see Hendriks pitch tonight, we need a lot of help in that rotation, Pavano and Marquis are really going to have to be leaders and step up in a lot of games. Luke Hughes is cut by Minnesota! This was a surprise to me, as I thought Hughes was going to have a year to put pressure on Casilla/Valencia. I am dissapointed with this move, injuries to the pitching staff really hurt Hughes. I was definitely wrong with my thoughts of Hughes making more of an impact on the Twins this year.

AL CENTRAL Detroit 9-4 Cleveland 6-5 Chicago 6-6 Minnesota 5-9 Kansas City 3-9 Any Surprises after 14 games? In my mind this is about exactly where I figured, with the exception of Chicago being lower by a couple games and KC winning a couple more games. Given the Twins schedule I predicted after 35 games 14-21, we will see where that ends up. I wanted to make a couple comments on a few thoughts that have been thrown around with the media, friends. 1. Jamey Carroll, http://mlb.sbnation.com/2012/4/13/2946897/jamey-carroll-shortstop-twins-history. This story was brought up by a buddy who was watching the Twins game on ESPN vs NY, instantly texted me on why Jamey Carroll was batting 2nd in our lineup. His quote " Too many managers look at the second spot as a bunting/throw away spot. Kills so many rallies putting a ****ty hitter in the middle of your best hitters.: Now Jamey Carroll is a lifetime .277 hitter with no power. This is a common thing I guess with putting maybe a 2nd best batting avg/obp guy in the 2nd spot, what if we had Joe Mauer in that spot? Span Mauer Willingham Morneau Doumit Valencia Parmalee Casillia ??? Why not? This would allow Joe Mauer more AB's, (I know that isn't that many, but it is) Mauer doesn't hit for power, he hit for power in the Dome, he isn't hitting HR's to the opposite field in Target Field. He is a gap, OBP, singles hitter. Lets be real, unless he starts hitting for power would it make sense to have him hit in the 2 spot. I am not sure, it is something that had some merit I guess. 2. Trade Span? I was listening to the Common Man today, they were responding to a thread of trading Denard Span. I was fishing this morning on Lake Superior and I just yelled out why would you be talking about trading Span? Yes we need pitching, we don't have OF's. Revere is not a lead off guy, sure he can run fast and cover lots of ground in the outfield, but he has as subpar arm. Everyones tradeable!! I get that, but I don't think trading Span is an option at this point. I think the upcoming draft is the place where we will upgrade pitching, also I think the free agent market, albeit not a huge pitching market next year is where we upgrade pitching, not trading Span. 3. Abolishing Savery? (Joe Sheehan) This article was in SI, and this is something I have thought about for a long time and I totally agree. He talks about how the "save" has changed the way that managers use there bullpen. If I have my best K/BB ratio guy in my bullpen, I am facing the middle of my lineup up 1 with 1 out guys on 2nd and 3rd in the 7th inning, why am I not putting the best bullpen guy in there? I know why, because of the Save stat. This stat really messes with the best way a manager can use his bullpen. I know I can put my best guy out there in the 7th, and in the 9th if I wanted to I could go lefty righty lefty if I need 3 outs if I want to, why not? I think this is one of the biggest overrated stats in the game, the first manager to start getting away from the "save", and use your best players in the best spots I will give a lot of credit to. 4-9, Man 5-8 looks a lot better. The Twins had a very good chance of winning a 4 game series in New York and would have given the Twins a lot of confidence early in the year. Pavano, Marquis pitched very well considering their start. Swarzak and Liriano really, really blew a great chance at a helluva series in NY. Curtis Granderson is really good!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I am very impressed with him, he is the only person I am impressed with on a team that I can't stand. The bats are coming alive, I look forward to see how many game streak Willingham gets to, I am excited to see Hendriks pitch tonight, we need a lot of help in that rotation, Pavano and Marquis are really going to have to be leaders and step up in a lot of games. Luke Hughes is cut by Minnesota! This was a surprise to me, as I thought Hughes was going to have a year to put pressure on Casilla/Valencia. I am dissapointed with this move, injuries to the pitching staff really hurt Hughes. I was definitely wrong with my thoughts of Hughes making more of an impact on the Twins this year.

Man what a difference two games can make!!! Difference in one thing, and about 1 thing only, that is hitting. 20 hits, Morneau/Mauer hit a homerun in the same game, not to mention Willingham continues banging the ball over the fence. Baseball is fun!! Minnesota Twins couldn't hit the ball in the first 3 games, they couldn't play defense, they couldn't pitch, nothing was right, they start the season 0-4. One thing has gotten better, hitting. We all knew based on numbers that was going to be the least of the Twins worries. The Twins can't score 7 and 10 runs a game, I thought defensively we were going to be much better than last year, but that was with Revere in the outfield, and Morneau at 1st, without those two in the field the defense looks very wary to say the least. Gardy has some tough choices to make sometimes surrounding putting the best lineup out there all the time, or play better defense. It is inevitable I think the defense will shore up a bit, but it is still going to be problematic. I will be the first to tell you that moving Nathan and signing a different closer to stay on the cheap I was all for, I was even for signing Capps. The entire pitching staff was going to be suspect. That hasn't changed, Baker is out, and we have Capps at the back end which didn't look that great in any of his appearances. It is early and for some closers it takes a couple games to get your movement and location down, I am going to see how far this goes, I am glad we have Perkins available. I am hoping Capps can stay consistent and make it, and stay as our closer. How long is that going to be before Perk takes the closer role. By June? End of July? the entire year? I have some excitement level watching the game tonight to see if we can continue to hit the ball around. It is fun watching Willingham, definitely going to watch tonight going for number 5, or 6? That would be really fun. Span, Carroll, Mauer, Morneau, Willingham, at what point do we split up the lefties? I am really rooting for Swarzak to pull the rotation together. Besides the opener, tonights game I am looking forward to more than any other game this year. I can finally relax and watch and enjoy a friday night game. Go Twins!!!!

Man what a difference two games can make!!! Difference in one thing, and about 1 thing only, that is hitting. 20 hits, Morneau/Mauer hit a homerun in the same game, not to mention Willingham continues banging the ball over the fence. Baseball is fun!! Minnesota Twins couldn't hit the ball in the first 3 games, they couldn't play defense, they couldn't pitch, nothing was right, they start the season 0-4. One thing has gotten better, hitting. We all knew based on numbers that was going to be the least of the Twins worries. The Twins can't score 7 and 10 runs a game, I thought defensively we were going to be much better than last year, but that was with Revere in the outfield, and Morneau at 1st, without those two in the field the defense looks very wary to say the least. Gardy has some tough choices to make sometimes surrounding putting the best lineup out there all the time, or play better defense. It is inevitable I think the defense will shore up a bit, but it is still going to be problematic. I will be the first to tell you that moving Nathan and signing a different closer to stay on the cheap I was all for, I was even for signing Capps. The entire pitching staff was going to be suspect. That hasn't changed, Baker is out, and we have Capps at the back end which didn't look that great in any of his appearances. It is early and for some closers it takes a couple games to get your movement and location down, I am going to see how far this goes, I am glad we have Perkins available. I am hoping Capps can stay consistent and make it, and stay as our closer. How long is that going to be before Perk takes the closer role. By June? End of July? the entire year? I have some excitement level watching the game tonight to see if we can continue to hit the ball around. It is fun watching Willingham, definitely going to watch tonight going for number 5, or 6? That would be really fun. Span, Carroll, Mauer, Morneau, Willingham, at what point do we split up the lefties? I am really rooting for Swarzak to pull the rotation together. Besides the opener, tonights game I am looking forward to more than any other game this year. I can finally relax and watch and enjoy a friday night game. Go Twins!!!!

Looks like Marquis pitched well too, 2 Runs 8 IP, that is a good sign.

Just bought a sweet Hicks autographed hat on ebay the other day for $6.00, hopefully he can fulfill what some people have called a pretty talented player.

Why, when you play 162 games in a year does someone who loves baseball as much as I do, who knows that slumps can happen, but when only 2 Twins teams ever started 0-4, then they face 5 of the toughest pitchers in the game to follow, don't you have to be nervous that this is going to be a real long season. I just wrote about starting 0-3, not worrying yet, but today watching as much of the game as I could due to work I am nervous that this is going to be a long summer of boring baseball. I was excited for the Twins to prove people wrong, that they would be better than everyone thought, or better than the 73 wins vegas predicted. Was I so naive, and such a big homer, that I didn't see anything in front of me. YES, YES it is 4 games in, at some point I have to rant a little bit. I thought the defense would be better, I thought the offense would be a lot better with Span, Mauer, Morneau healthy, and the pitching would be suspect, but Liriano, Pavano, and Baker are in contract years, I thought they would be better. This could all still happen obviously, but is there anything to take after the first four games to be optimistic? Carroll 0/13 Valencia 1/11 not surprising to me Doumit 1/10 Parmalee 1/8 Casilla 1/8 Mauer 2/14 Revere 1/6 Span 4/15 Morneau 4/13 Willingham 5/13 2 HR's in 4 games, I guess not surprising, 5 extra base hits in 4 games is a bit surprising. It is hard to go 4 games and get 5 extra base hits. I personally am done with Valencia, between his not improving defense, and his non ability to drive the ball to anywhere except easy double play balls and strikeouts, give him the heave ho early please, I was done w/ him half way through last year, if it wasn't for everyones injuries I don't think he would have played nearly as often as he did. Do I see 0-9 in the early future? Jered Weaver: 235.2 IP, 2.41 ERA, 198/56 K/BB, 1.01 WHIP Dan Haren: 238.1 IP, 3.17 ERA, 192/33 K/BB, 1.02 WHIP Matt Harrison: 185.2 IP, 3.39 ERA, 126/57 K/BB, 1.28 WHIP Yu Darvish (NPB): 232 IP, 1.44 ERA, 276/36 K/BB, 0.83 WHIP Neftali Feliz: 62.1 IP, 2.74 ERA, 32 SV, 54/30 K/BB, 1.16 WHIP (thanks Nick Nelson) These guys are really good, especially comparing them to what they saw in Baltimore. I guess we will see, but it doesn't look good for the Twins. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1134597-minnesota-twins-why-getting-off-to-a-fast-start-to-the-2012-season-is-important, This didn't happen The 1988 Baltimore Orioles who lost the first 21 games of the season. Is this out of the realms of possibility? I think it is, but if we hit the 0-9, which is definitely in the realms of possibilities. 4 games in and I am ranting probably because we have the Wild out, Wolves out, Gophers done in NIT fashion, Vikings are in limbo, don't know what is going to happen with them, my one glimmer of sports hope was the Twins and my excitement level has been crushed quickly!! Not giving up hope by any means as I know the seasons are long, but when you can't get excited about your favorite team at all it is depressing, the only thing I get to look forward to if the Twins are going to be horrid for the next month is opener of fishing. I hope this is my only depressing blog for awhile, but I don't know if it will.

Why, when you play 162 games in a year does someone who loves baseball as much as I do, who knows that slumps can happen, but when only 2 Twins teams ever started 0-4, then they face 5 of the toughest pitchers in the game to follow, don't you have to be nervous that this is going to be a real long season. I just wrote about starting 0-3, not worrying yet, but today watching as much of the game as I could due to work I am nervous that this is going to be a long summer of boring baseball. I was excited for the Twins to prove people wrong, that they would be better than everyone thought, or better than the 73 wins vegas predicted. Was I so naive, and such a big homer, that I didn't see anything in front of me. YES, YES it is 4 games in, at some point I have to rant a little bit. I thought the defense would be better, I thought the offense would be a lot better with Span, Mauer, Morneau healthy, and the pitching would be suspect, but Liriano, Pavano, and Baker are in contract years, I thought they would be better. This could all still happen obviously, but is there anything to take after the first four games to be optimistic? Carroll 0/13 Valencia 1/11 not surprising to me Doumit 1/10 Parmalee 1/8 Casilla 1/8 Mauer 2/14 Revere 1/6 Span 4/15 Morneau 4/13 Willingham 5/13 2 HR's in 4 games, I guess not surprising, 5 extra base hits in 4 games is a bit surprising. It is hard to go 4 games and get 5 extra base hits. I personally am done with Valencia, between his not improving defense, and his non ability to drive the ball to anywhere except easy double play balls and strikeouts, give him the heave ho early please, I was done w/ him half way through last year, if it wasn't for everyones injuries I don't think he would have played nearly as often as he did. Do I see 0-9 in the early future? Jered Weaver: 235.2 IP, 2.41 ERA, 198/56 K/BB, 1.01 WHIP Dan Haren: 238.1 IP, 3.17 ERA, 192/33 K/BB, 1.02 WHIP Matt Harrison: 185.2 IP, 3.39 ERA, 126/57 K/BB, 1.28 WHIP Yu Darvish (NPB): 232 IP, 1.44 ERA, 276/36 K/BB, 0.83 WHIP Neftali Feliz: 62.1 IP, 2.74 ERA, 32 SV, 54/30 K/BB, 1.16 WHIP (thanks Nick Nelson) These guys are really good, especially comparing them to what they saw in Baltimore. I guess we will see, but it doesn't look good for the Twins. http://bleacherreport.com/articles/1134597-minnesota-twins-why-getting-off-to-a-fast-start-to-the-2012-season-is-important, This didn't happen The 1988 Baltimore Orioles who lost the first 21 games of the season. Is this out of the realms of possibility? I think it is, but if we hit the 0-9, which is definitely in the realms of possibilities. 4 games in and I am ranting probably because we have the Wild out, Wolves out, Gophers done in NIT fashion, Vikings are in limbo, don't know what is going to happen with them, my one glimmer of sports hope was the Twins and my excitement level has been crushed quickly!! Not giving up hope by any means as I know the seasons are long, but when you can't get excited about your favorite team at all it is depressing, the only thing I get to look forward to if the Twins are going to be horrid for the next month is opener of fishing. I hope this is my only depressing blog for awhile, but I don't know if it will.

OK 0-3?!?! Probably what was supposed to be the "easiest series" of the first 11 we somehow find the Twins scoring 5 runs in 3 games. We get to see we have defensive struggles in left and right. We see Liriano get eaten up by the Orioles. We see Justin Morneau able to hit the ball around. What does this all mean? Nothing really. Now if we go 0-6, then we can start talking troubles. I am sure we are going to see the taglines about being the same where we left off last year, how we are going to lose another 99 games, look for Gardy to be on the hot seat. These, I think would be ridiculous things to say 3 days into the season. I will say the Tigers offense could be as good as advertised. They, on the other hand are clicking on all cylinders. Another thing to mention is the injury bug has started, Hendricks/Baker are already missing time, I really hope Bakers meeting with the doctors is positive, and I think Hendricks will be fine, just saying that that part of the Twins we don't need. It was a really bad holiday weekend for us Twins fans, the good thing about it is that there are 159 games to go, we see the 3 people we were worried about most healthy, Willingham has looked solid. I do want to point out that my prediction with Valencia has started really early, I know it is coincidence and early but seeing Valencia having a horrible at bat, then making an error is something that is still going to be a problem. Luke Hughes could have made an impression in a big at bat today, but of course he has to strikeout in a big spot, still thinking by the end of the year Hughes will take over for Valencia. I know this is a lot of random thoughts that everyone probably knows, the thing I wanted to point out is Twins fans are going to get really restless, Souhan and Reusse are going to be all over Mauer and his leadership, what Gardy could have done to prevent this, and how we are already going to be shopping Morneau, Pavano, and Liriano. It is going to be funny reading these, if they are as bad as advertised that is to be determined, but to over blow things so early is ridiculous. After seeing the first 3 games, Does your predictions change on the amount of games the Twins will win this season?????? For me no!! What are your thoughts????

I think Pavano will pitch better than predicted, I think he could be in the high 3's, 3.89, and, you have Scott Baker really high, this is a big year for him, I think he will be pretty good this year if healthy. You have him at 3.4 walks per nine, if he has that he won't even be in the rotation. Valencia you have way higher than last year, I am going to say Valencia .260, 15HR. I think Valencia starts getting frustrated and goes downhill, maybe Hughes finishes the season for him.

May as well jump on the Parmalee bandwagon, I really want to hope he is for real this year.

Opening day is only 2 days away, we know who is starting, we know who we are starting against. We have done our projections on the team. We have done our projections on players like Liriano, Mauer, Morneau, Capps. It is about time to start the season. I get excited every year for Twins baseball. As I started this blog I always remembered games, players, and just watching baseball on WGN in the day, listening to Haray Carey and Steve Stone, or watching MSC/ Fox Sports Net at night when the Twins were on. I thought about my favortie twins moments, or what I remember most about watching the Twins in general. I am 31 years old, I can't count anything before 1991 I don't think. I remember a few things before that, but I can't put them in my most memorable. This list keep in mind is my personal list, I may miss some of great events for the Twins, but these are what I remember most. 10. The announcement of the new baseball stadium called Target Field, I saw a lot of baseball games at the dome, I still believe if it wasn't for the environment and the weird intricacies of the Dome, we wouldn't have won 2 World Series. I have to say after I left, "what would have been the last game at the dome", (because of game 163, I wasn't) I told myself I would miss the dome, and in some cases I still do, Target Field is amazing, and it is really cool to have a new outdoor stadium 9. I have to put this in this list because as a little leaguer I copied everything this pitcher did. I couldn't wait til he pitched and when I threw the ball against the garage day after day imagining I was in a real game I was this pitcher. Scott Erickson, black glove, pulled up black socks. 8. The evening that I was at the Reef in Duluth, MN watching the announcement from Bud Selig in 2002 that they would hold off contraction, thinking the worst a big group was watching the announcement, the Montreal Expos were finally announced to be contracted and the Minnesota Twins were going to stay at Metrodome. This was a very scary night to watch sports 7. October 6th, 2009, Game 163- We all seen it, but this is a fun link to go back to that ridiculous game, every inning had you on the edge of your seat. http://sports.espn.go.com/espn/columns/story?columnist=wojciechowski_gene&id=4538157&sportCat=mlb 6. Johan Santanas 17 Strikeout performance vs the Rangers. The end of the 7th inning of this game, going into the 8th was really fun baseball to watch. Santana was literally unhittable, you knew, absolutely knew he was striking out the next batter, I had goose bumps watching the game at home. Seeing the 36,000 fans on there feet watching him mow down Rangers in the 8th was really fun to see. 5. This is a weird one, but once again one of my favorite Twins players ever. Brad Radke's retirement speech in 2006 really made me think about what a leader he was in MN, he went through the worst years the Twins had, could have made big money leaving the Twins, but stayed and helped the Twins win the division in 2002, then go on and beat the A's, which were heavily favored. He ended up helping the Twins win the division in 2003, 2004, and 2006. 4. Chuck Knoblauch, Greg Gagne. We all know the play, Terry Pendleton hits the ball in the gap, on a hit and run with Lonnie Smith on first, Knobby fakes the pitch to Gagne, Smith could have scored on the play, he ended up getting stranded, the Twins would score two innings later to hold on to a Twins World Series Victory. 3. There is a sweet bobble head doll that depicts Kent Hrbek "pulling" Ron Gant off the base in the 1991 World Series. ( Again this got moved up a little due to Hrbek being one of my favorite all time Twins players) 2. Kirby Puckett's performance in Game 6 of the 1991 World Series. I mean, the speech, the performance, game saving catches at the fence, along with a walk off HR, really!! "And we will see you tomorrow night" it never gets old, every time I hear Jack Buck say it I get the goose bumps. 1. Jack Morris performance in Game 7 of the 1991 World Series. http://www.nytimes.com/2011/05/08/sports/08series.html?pagewanted=all I like hearing what the players had to say after a performance, ranked #2 game in the last 50 years. I have the game on my DVR, it was an unbelievable game. Thursday is coming fast, I hope I can add a memory into the top 10 this year. I know I probably may have forgot key things that I would get scrutinized for, but thinking about it all, I think these are about right. It will be funny when I see some obvious ones in the comments, but again these are what came to my mind thinking about it today.

I can't wait for the first time I hear the clutch hitting term thrown out by announcers, I just wish they would have a different verbage around the situation. I also love great timing and "making of a player" (David Freese) those create stories and something really fun to watch.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]472[/ATTACH] I will never forget the 1991 World Series game 6 or 7!! I was 12 years old, I remember watching it at home, I have game 6 and 7 on my DVR, when I watch it I still get goose bumps. Game 6 Kirby Puckett specifically said "I went to the clubhouse, and I gathered [everyone] up. I said, 'Everybody together, we're going to have a short meeting,'" Puckett said, retelling the story years later. "Everybody comes in, and I said, 'Guys, I just have one announcement to make: You guys should jump on my back tonight. I'm going to carry us.'" He said this, and literally he performed at the highest level in the biggest moments. Kirby Puckett had a lot of great games, but when you do it on the national stage, in the biggest games of your life, the "clutch" word comes out. Good players are "clutch" more often then not, because they are better players and it is mormal for them to perform at higher levels. I was never bought into "clutch". Relying on stats shows that the only 2 players that had the "clutch gene" were Paul Molitor and Tony Fernandez. Paul Molitor RISP .349 overall avg. .316, Tony Fernandez .286 overall RISP .326. I don't think the AB's weren't large enough to overcome the odds, just like if someone wins the Powerball 2 times in a lifetime, obviously in the super long run, it doesn't bode well for this person. The point being is I get sick of announcers and experts talking about clutch. Every player that plays professional baseball overcame the odds of even making a major league team, .1% or less make the major leagues, in every way they have been clutch. I don't think anybody performs better, but I do think players break down under pressure. When I thought about this one thing that came to my mind that I don't think I will forget either is Santanas 17 Strikeout performance on Aug. 19th 2007. I watched the 8th inning in that game in awe at the way that the hitters couldn't touch his pitches. 36,000 people on their feet cheering for the best pitcher in the game that year feeds your adrenaline. Is adrenaline and clutch part of the same thing? I played baseball, I would consider myself a good pitcher in Babe Ruth. I remember the times when my adrenaline would raise when I would face Garrett Lamppa, the one time in Virginia, MN I faced Garrett for the first time and struck him out 4 times that game, he was considered the best player on their team, and now I could throw pitches other than a changeup and fast ball. That day wasn't clutch, it was adrenaline. Some players thrive off of adrenaline, basketball players continuously make shots when they are in the "zone" "He's heating up", "He's on fire" ( NBA JAM) but the truth is there. I see the best come out in individual performances, such as golf, basketball, and pitchers. It is really more difficult for a batter to get into that type of a rhythm. (One sidenote on the Johan Performance that hopefully Liriano can figure out, is that 17 strikeout night he threw only 4 sliders out of 112 pitches) Anyway I heard the word "clutch" again, and I am going to hear it a lot this season in baseball, and I just can't buy into it. Curious to hear thoughts on clutch in baseball or any other sport.

I can agree with this, but I get his point in the fact of what happens if we spend another 20 million and Morneau and Mauer aren't healthy? I think if we keep it in check, find out the health factor, we would have money to spend at the trade deadline/ or free agents next year. I am worried about what the market looks like for good starting pitchers. It would be great to see Baker healthy all year, pitch to his age/potential, along with Liriano putting a complete season together, putting their talent and age together this would be the year they perform.