Written by TWINS BASBEALL!!!!!
The time is finally here for baseball in Twins Territory for 2012!
And lest we forget the day (like he’d let us), Happy Birthday to Bert Blyleven. It is becoming near kitsch-level as celebrations go but you have to know he enjoys his birthdays more than most of us so good for him.
At any rate, for all those making predictions about what the first lineup was going to be probably didn’t expect this one. However, I think most of the players are pretty close and I actually like the idea of Doumit in RF instead of DH’ing if we need to move him to catcher for any reason. Do I like the idea that Morneau still prefers to DH right now instead of field a position? Not so much. However! He gets major points from me from being willing to admit that physically he’s still not on par with where he was a couple years ago. His weight alone says that for me and being willing to play and still do things to give his team the best chance they can get says a lot to me about his character and matches my concern about 50/50 with hope that his recovery is on track. That’s way better than where I was last season.
In other news, I haven’t heard any update yet on Scott Baker who left his start yesterday with what appears to be a pretty big setback in his return to health. There does come a point where you start to wonder if health is actually possible for some guys no matter how hard they try to do rehab right. Here’s hoping…
In general though, most of you know I’m an optimist or I would have given up on watching Twins baseball a long time ago! It’s a new season. All that happened last year that crushed my heart is gone away and a new roster and a new season has begun. Go Twins!
| Minnesota |
@ |
Baltimore |
| Span, CF | Reimold, LF | |
| Carroll, SS | Hardy, SS | |
| Mauer, C | Markakis, RF | |
| Morneau, DH | Jones, Ad, CF | |
| Willingham, LF | Wieters, C | |
| Doumit, RF | Betemit, DH | |
| Valencia, 3B | Reynolds, Ma, 3B | |
| Parmelee, 1B | Davis, C, 1B | |
| Casilla, A, 2B | Andino, 2B | |
| Pavano, P | Arrieta, P |
|
|
1 |
2 |
3 |
4 |
5 |
6 |
7 |
8 |
9 |
R |
H |
E |
| Minnesota |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
0 |
2 |
2 |
6 |
0 |
| Baltimore |
2 |
0 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
1 |
0 |
0 |
x |
4 |
6 |
0 |
Well that’s certainly not what you want to see on Opening Day for your team. What I will say is that there were some really fun moments within the game and they all seemed to come from the new guys! Doumit, Willingham & Carroll all seemed to be more on par for what regular season baseball should mean than the rest of our guys seemed to have – including Pavano. (we will not forget that fielding lapse, however, Doumit) And the 9th inning finally got the Twins on the board and even some excitement about whether they could get the game back going when the tying runner made it to 1B… and sadly, that’s where it ended. My suggestion for the team is this – if they want to make a come-from-behind victory, they should start BEFORE the 9th inning. Just saying.
In the having-more-fun-than-me category of course was JC & Eric (our newest author) who got together for a mini-gathering of Knuckleballers!
Cheers! And here’s to planning a few more like gatherings this season! See y’all tomorrow!
