Day: March 19, 2010

Twins’ prospects rip former Cy Young winner!

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I confess. I’m not a fan of the former Twin starting pitcher that started for the Mets in their spring training game against the Twins today. It’s fine with me if my fellow Twins fans want to continue to worship him, even if I don’t agree with it. Just don’t expect me to fawn over his greedy, overpaid, New York loving, butt. 🙂

So, having said that, you might imagine that I rather enjoyed watching the game today in Port St. Lucie (is there really a St. Lucie?)  You would be right.

I don’t wish any sort of serious life-threatening evil to befall this particular former Cy Young winner. I’m not that kind of person. Do I hope he wins more Cy Young awards? No. Do I hope he ever reaches the playoffs with the Mets? No. Do I hope the investment the Mets made in him turns out to be the biggest waste of money since Barry Zito? Absolutely. I wish him and the Mets all the luck in the world… all the really, really BAD luck. And given the length of the Mets’ DL the last year or so, my wishes seem to be right on the mark.

But back to today’s game. Yes, I realize it’s only spring training. Yes, I realize this pitcher seldom pitches real well in spring training (and as Twins fans came to realize over the years, “spring training” generally runs through April and in to May for this particular pitcher).

So, here are some pictures from some of my favorite moments during the Twins’ win over the Mets on Friday:


Mets’ pitcher #57 delivers a pitch to Brendan Harris as Denard Span taunts him from 1B.


Too much of a stud to be DH’d for, this former Twin Cy Young pitcher grounds out meekly.


Twins 3B prospect Danny Valencia strolls toward home plate after taking the Mets’ multi-bajillion dollar pitcher “yard.” Manager Ron Gardenhire punished Valencia for homering off of the former Cy Young winner by demoting him to Rochester after the game.


Twins Prospect Wilson Ramos rounds 3B after launching a HR off of a former Twin Cy Young winner


The “best pitcher in baseball” delivers with Twins Delmon Young and Danny Valencia at the corners. Both would eventually score.


The official line was worse than the scoreboard showed as #57 left the mound… 2 more runners he left on base would score.

So Desperate for Baseball!!

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I’m not going to do a gamechat for this Twins @ Mets game because it’s not on any local media here in MN.. but I’m literally so desperate for baseball – to watch Santana pitch – and to see what the guys do in an NL park that I have gone to great lengths to catch a little this afternoon.

I have MLB.tv up on my laptop but the sound is so bad that I have the accompanying audio from gameday playing on my desktop.  It means I got to see Santana give up a HR to Ramos and then die laughing as the announcer called Santana “the best athelete on the field” during a fantastic fielding move on his part.  Bert would be proud…

Anyway, I’m sure there will be another Spring Training post in bit from one of the many people down there..  which is not me.  *sniff*

Followup:

  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Minnesota 0 2 0 4 0 0 0 0 1 7 13 0
NY Mets 0 1 0 1 1 0 0 0 0 3 9 1

 

it was surprisingly sad to hear Jason Pridie’s name and then realize he was playing for the METS!!  *sigh* 

But, MTRR, I look forward to seeing more Twins/Mets games because, wow, the Mets have a surprisingly good-looking lineup for the most part!!  NICE!  (and I don’t mean a good swing!)

Fun in the Ft. Myers sun!

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There’s really no excuse for how I feel tonight (Thursday) as I write this. I’m 53 years old. I know better. I’ve been hibernating in Iowa for 5 cold months. I’m in Florida to catch some of the Twins’ spring training for something like the fourth straight year. I knew it even as I stood in the cloudy chill of the mid morning watching Twins prospects going through drills on the minor league complex adjacent to Hammond Stadium.

“You should have stopped to pick up sunscreen, dummy.”

Ah well. It’s not like it’s the only dumb thing I’ve done in the years I’ve been coming down here (and some dumb things, I’ve done more than once), so if I’ve gotten it out of the way early this year, I can live with it (although not particularly comfortably).

But you didn’t come here to read about my pain. You came to read about the Twins’ spring training game vs. the Pirates, so here goes…

The Twins won.

I could tell you about how Carl Pavano struck out former Twin and current Pirate Garrett Jones. I could tell you about Jim Thome hitting his first home run of the spring. I could tell you about so much more. But I’m tired and I’m in some pain. So, instead of writing about what I saw, I’ll show you instead. (Yes, the downside of having a seat 2 rows up and just to the side of home plate is that pictures are taken through the netting of the backstop. I can live with it and I hope you can, too.)

Carl Pavano went five strong innings
Garrett Jones goes down swinging
Jason Jaramillo bows to Ben Revere (ok, not really)
Doc's HR swing! (ok, so he grounded out to 2B... but it looks good!)
Jim Thome and Jason Jaramillo knew this one was gone.
Trevor Plouffe scores around the tag on a SAC fly by Chris Parmalee (background)

That’s it for Thursday. Friday is a trip across the state to Port St. Lucie. It’s a couple of hours away, but with the Twins facing the Mets and a certain former Twins left-handed starting pitcher, I’m sure it will be worth the time! – JC