GameChat – Twins @ Angels, 9:05pm

arrgghh.. the bane of my blogging existence – west coast baseball.

I’m sure that any number of west side knuckleballers are ecstatic with each visit to the left coast because at least then they get prime time baseball instead breakfast games or some such idiocy. So, TallDrinkOfWater and Twink – these games are for you. I gotta figure out how to get teach one of you how to put up the box score when the games are over and I’m passed out in the other room…

ANYWAY.. back to baseball!

So the lineup looks a little different than you’re used to seeing.. that Bernier kid (no clue how to SAY that properly) that no one knows except the minor league geeks is batting second. I don’t know if it’s the start times or the younger and younger kids in the lineup that is making me feel old but.. yeah.

Woohoo!! I’m so glad that TDOW got to see a great game of baseball in which HER team won!! The Twins aren’t always so good at doing that for their fans – especially fans in far flung areas of the country…

That being said, while I really really really TRIED to stay awake for the whole game, I just couldn’t do it. My husband managed to see the end though and TDOW kindly came back to the chat and gave her revelations of game end as well. But from what I’m hearing, (I made it through the 6th inning) things continued to the end much like they were in the first half.

Deduno had a ROUGH first inning that had us all terrified of what the progress of this game was going to be like but we managed to get out of that only giving them 1 run – he owes SOMEONE a steak. But after that, he “settled down” into his ridiculously wild self and had them chasing balls all over. He had 5 BB and 5 Ks in his 7 innings and while I never really appreciate those numbers being the same that way, for him it might be just the way the numbers end up looking but can’t really describe how effective his pitching actually was the way the boxscore does. He’s definitely improved/matured into a SOLID starting pitcher and is likely the one I trust the most these days to give us a good game of baseball – for that he gets a beverage of his choice on us.

Joe Mauer also continued to do his Mauerly thing getting three hits and all the while catching Deduno which is getting to be an art-form. Mind you, they are doing a pretty good job behind the plate of making that art look easy and instinctive. He also gets the beverage of his choice – a tall glass of Land O’Lakes milk perhaps?

I was especially proud of the lineup full of young kids – wow do we have a lot of young guys getting their first taste of big league ball in this batting order. Especially Bernier who made his MLB debut among family and friends because he grew up just a couple hours away. I’m sure he made them very proud with his first hit and a couple really nice plays at short stop! I’m always impressed with solid fielding when a guy comes up. Colabello and Hicks also did well getting solid hits and even a run but the real ‘new kid’ story of tonight was Clete Thomas. This kid is really starting to grow on me! SOLID hitting including the game’s only Homerun, a double, 2 Runs 2 RBI and a couple LOVELY catches that brought a tear to the eye. For that, he was voted the BOD! I believe it’s his first! Congrats Clete Thomas!