Yes, we all know I’m prone to wordiness here. 1,000+ word posts are pretty much the norm for me. Normally, I could go on for at least that long about everything there is to despise about the Yankees and their dominance over our Twins. Maybe tomorrow, I’ll do just that. But today, I just don’t have it in me.
So, instead, I thought I would just share my favorite Yankee picture of all time. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but for some reason, this picture represents all that I feel toward the Yankees.
Oh… you came here looking for something more insightful? Sorry… try back tomorrow.
In the mean time, you might check out the “new look” of the Star Tribune’s web site. It looks to be well-designed and makes it pretty easy to find what you’re looking for (though now that I think about it, I haven’t found the list of #stribtwins tweets that they used to have… we got quite a few hits from that so I’m hoping it isn’t gone completely).
It’s time for the Twins to step up against the Evil Empire and establish themselves as being equally competitive. This four game series is the only time the Twins will visit Yankee Stadium (at least until October, anyway), so there’s no point in putting this off… as Cuddy’s spring training t-shirts put it, DON’T BE DENIED… WIN!
On the one hand, in many respects this may have been the cleanest performance of the year for the Twins. Delmon made some nice plays in the outfield (yes… I said Delmon) and the infield turned three pretty nifty double plays (with Nishioka doing the turning of all three at 2B). Kevin Slowey and Dusty Hughes out of the bullpen were very solid. Even Scott Baker, once he got out of the first two innings, stuck around and kept battling. He definitely kept his team in the game and gave them a chance to win.
On the other hand, the Twins have not really had a problem playing the Yankees close. They’ve done that real well the last few years. Very few losses to the Evil Empire are lopsided. But they’re all still losses and that’s getting really… really… old. It was great seeing Jim Thome come through with an RBI double to the warning track… but five more feet or so and it’s a home run and the game is tied. I’m tempted to rant a bit about the disparate strike zones (especially the zone given Rivera… Jason Kubel singled on an 0-2 pitch below his knees and never had a ball thrown to him in the strike zone), but that’s so commonplace that at some point you have to just know that’s going to happen and resolve to overcome it.
It’s the whole “overcoming it” thing that is a problem. I think we saw indications that there are enough of the newer guys who haven’t let the Yankees get in their heads (Thome has never cowered, Nishi didn’t seem phased, Hughes definitely went right after the Yankee hitters, for example). Let’s hope it starts rubbing off on Mauer and some of the others. In any event, we’ll line up and try again Tuesday night!
The first series is in the books and while it didn’t go as well as we would hope, the Sunday afternoon win certainly should make everyone feel a bit better. It wasn’t pretty, but a win is a win.
Honestly, I’m not concerned about getting only one win out of three games in Toronto to start the season. That’s hardly devastating.
I’m really more concerned… perhaps a better word is leery… about the way the Twins played than I am about the results themselves. I have no idea what the reason is… season opening nerves, lack of preparation, lack of Spring Training time for some of the star players, or anything in between… but I just felt there were concentration issues out there among a lot of guys.
Carl Pavano pitched like I’d expect him to pitch in Spring Training… kind of out of sync. He had a great spring statistically, though he, himself, commented several times that he didn’t feel he was pitching all that well. For some reason, I’m not optimistic that he’s going to find himself against the Yankees in his next scheduled start.
Francisco Liriano just wasn’t very good, period. He had some issues in Spring Training, too, so it will be worth watching to see how long it takes him to find a rhythm.
Justin Morneau looks like he’s just started swinging a bat after a long offseason… which is pretty much accurate. His bat looks slow to me, so let’s hope get starts seeing the ball and getting around on it more consistently.
The new middle infield hasn’t gotten off to a very good start. Interestingly, though, while most people were nervous about Alexi Casilla and felt confident of Tsuyoshi Nishioka, it’s actually been Nishioka that’s been the poorer performer, so far. Nishioka has two errors already and he’s struck out five times. Casilla was given Sunday off, but he had the only Twins extra base hit in the first two games (his only hit in five ABs, however). Nishioka frankly not only looked tight in the field, but his right handed plate appearances have been particularly ugly. He steps in the bucket on virtually every pitch.
Denard Span has gotten off to a good start at the plate, but even he got caught losing track of the number of outs when he was a baserunner at 1B early in Sunday’s game.
The bullpen has had mixed results, at best. Sunday saw solid performances by Matt Capps, Jose Mijares and Glen Perkins, but otherwise you have to look pretty hard to find a member of the pen to praise. I know Joe Nathan got a save Sunday, but that was by no means a good performance by Twitchy.
In all, the best thing you can really say about this first series of the season is that it’s over and the Twins managed to salvage one win. That’s one more than the Red Sox or Rays managed to come up with against the Rangers and Orioles, respectively. Those two teams, along with the Brewers and Astros in the National League, could still go 0-162. That’s a joke of course… though if I were an Astros fan, I might feel like it’s not so far-fetched. They could be really bad. Fans in Boston, Tampa Bay and Milwaukee, however, all have some reasonable playoff expectations and I doubt being winless at this point dampens those expectations too much.
Home of the Evil Empire
Monday night, the Twins will start a four-game road series in the Bronx against the Evil Empire. The Twins have the talent to match up with the Yankees, but we all know that doesn’t seem to matter when they go in to New York and routinely seem to play with one hand wrapped around their collective throats. I’d be pretty happy with a split of those four games.
Finally, in case anyone is inclined to put a lot of emphasis on the results of the first series of the season, allow me to just point out that the Kansas City Royals currently lead the AL Central standings after taking three of four games from the Angels in their opening series.
UPDATE: It’s not often I update a post just to link to another blog, but Jon Marthaler over at Twinkie Town posted a beaut over there this morning. Go check it out… he tells us all exactly how the rest of the season is going to play out!
Several people have found one way or another to express support for my rant on the subject of the bizarre MLB blackout rules, which prevent those of us in Iowa from watching Twins games (and Royals games… and Brewers games… and Cardinal games… and Cubs games… and even WhiteSox games, for that matter) on mlb.tv.
I want to express my appreciation for all the moral support.
A common theme, however, has been to question what we can do. I’ve given that question some thought. Obviously, a few isolated blog posts and even traditional media articles about the topic haven’t influenced the Twins or MLB to make changes.
I’m pretty discouraged, but your support brought to mind my favorite 18 minute and 34 second song… Arlo Guthrie’s classic “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree”.
Now, I realize many of you have no idea about Alice’s Restaurant (or even Arlo Guthrie, for that matter… and shame on you for that). It is, after all, a song from the 1960s, years or even decades before a lot of you were born. But it was an important song to a lot of us who grew up in the Vietnam era. If you want to read the lyrics, click here and if you’re really ambitious, you can watch/listen to a 2005 Guthrie performance of the song on YouTube here. But do it when you have some spare time because I wasn’t kidding about it being an 18 minute, 34 second song. They made a movie based on the song. You know how movies based on books often have to cut good stuff out to make it down to a two hour movie? Alice’s Restaurant very nearly had to do the same thing… with a song.
But I digress… the point is, your kind expressions of support brought Arlo’s classic to mind.
While my fight with MLB and the Twins over blackouts doesn’t quite rise to the level of seriousness of conscription during the Vietnam conflict (which was the topic of Alice’s Restaurant), I feel much like Arlo.
If just one person (like me for instance) continues to scream at the powers about this issue, they’ll probably think I’m really sick. If two of us do it… in harmony… well, I’m not sure what they’ll think. And if three of us rant on and on about blackouts, they may think it’s an organization. And can you imagine 50 people a day blogging, tweeting and otherwise hassling @TwinsPrez and @MLB about the blackout madness!? Friends, they may think it’s a movement.
And that’s what this is… the JimCrikket Anti-MLBBlackout Movement and to join, all you have to do is sing along.
All you bloggers, tweeters, facebookers, and old fashioned letter writers (you know who you are)… contact @MLB and @TwinsPrez and anyone else you know inside the Twins organization or MLB baseball… or write about this issue in your blogs occasionally… and include this refrain from the song…
You can get anything you want, at Alice’s Restaurant You can get anything you want, at Alice’s Restaurant Walk right in it’s around the back Just a half a mile from the railroad track You can get anything you want, at Alice’s Restaurant
Of course, if you’re tweeting or otherwise limited in terms of character length, just go with…
~You can get anything you want at Alice’s Restaurant~
…and, in any event, link back to my little rants here at Knuckleballs. If you follow @Knuckleballs and/or @JimCrikket on Twitter, you’ll be seeing a tweet you can simply re-tweet to show your support.
If you REALLY want to get in to this and if you who have a voice that doesn’t send dogs and cats in to the river to drown themselves, you might even consider making a phone call to the Twins/MLB offices and singing the Alice’s Restaurant refrain.
… with feeling, of course. Arlo would demand it be done that way.
I’m opening up the GameChat, but I probably won’t be around much, if at all, myself. The MLB Blackout Rules prevent me from seeing the game on mlb.tv, so I’ll be going to a bar to watch the game (and there will be a significant rant forthcoming about the idiotic, moronic, absolutely screwed up to death blackout policy… and I’m seriously considering not attending a single Twins game in Target Field this season). Dave St. Peter may regret opening a Twitter account by the time I’m done with him.
It’s exhibition baseball (not to be confused with Spring Training baseball)!
Tonight the Twins visit the Braves in Hotlanta. Both teams appear to be using the DH, to that’s something the Braves fans don’t see a lot of!
The game is on the radio in the Twin Cities, but I don’t think it’s on FSN. I believe it may be on the MLB Network, but it’s also apparently going to be on MLB.tv online (I hope).
This one still doesn’t “count”, but we’re getting closer Twins fans!
Going to put up a GameChat for the game tonight, too, for anyone inclined to stop by.
Not a good way to end this game, but at least it doesn’t count. I wouldn’t mind seeing a bit more offense out of this lineup that’s supposed to be so good, too. Nice few innings by Blackie (4 IP, 1H, 1BB), facing the minimum number of hitters thanks to a couple of double plays.
Now that Spring Training is wrapping up, it’s time to turn our focus to the regular season.
I’m tired of debating who the last member of the bullpen should be and who the last reserve on the bench should be. In the grand scheme of things, it just doesn’t matter. The things that do matter start happening at the end of this week!
That means it’s time for all of us to consult our Zoltar machines.
I’m sure there will be no shortage of other Twins blogs who will be giving all of us opportunities to offer our predictions concerning how the Twins, collectively and individually, will perform in 2011. We will be able to proudly predict another AL Central Championship or share our thoughts concerning which Twins will lead the team in various statistical categories.
Here at Knuckleballs, we’re not going to let you off that easy.
We want to stretch those imaginations and predictive powers that lie deep within the grey matter that fills that lump three feet above your ass (I promise… that’s my last Tom Hanks movie reference in this post) and make everyone go out a bit on a limb with their prognostications.
We want to know what sort of crazy stuff you expect to happen this season. To that end, here are some questions we want you to give careful, considered thought to (or just throw out the first response that comes to mind… we really don’t care). The key is… tell us something you expect to happen that we aren’t going to hear from many (if any) others over the next week or two.
1. A prediction specifically related to the performance of a Twins player.
2. A prediction specifically related to the unexpected (in a positive or negative way) performance of a non-Twins player.
3. A prediction related to the unexpected (positive or negative) performance of a team other than the Twins.
Finally, let us know what you expect from the Twins this season.
4. Fill in the blanks: The Twins will win ___ games and finish in ___ place in the AL Central Division. They will (choose one):
___ not make the playoffs
___ be eliminated in the first round of the playoffs (again!)
___ be eliminated in the AL Championship Series
___ lose to the NL Champion in the World Series
___ WORLD SERIES CHAMPIONS BABY!
To get everyone started, here are my predictions:
Future ROY: Tsuyoshi Nishioka
1. Tsuyoshi Nishioka is going to win the AL Rookie of the Year award.
2. If he gets healthy enough to pitch this season, Johan Santana will finish the season in the NY Yankees’ rotation.
3. The Baltimore Orioles will finish 2nd in the AL East and challenge for the Wild Card playoff spot.
4. Twins will win 97 games, finishing 1st in the AL Central and get ready to hoist a new banner, boys and girls, because our guys are gonna win it all in 2011!
So… what about you? Use the comment section to dazzle us with your predictive powers!
There was a report in LaVelle E. Neal’s Strib blog that today’s game is being televised by FSN, but I haven’t seen that anywhere else, so I suspect it will just be radio today. Guess we’ll find out at game time. I’m going to go ahead and put up a GameChat anyway for anyone who’s interested.
Twins top prospect Aaron Hicks, who’s likely going to be starting the season at High Class A Ft. Myers this season, is getting a start in center field for the Twins. I saw Hicks play several games for Beloit last year and he’s definitely got a great deal of potential. Hope he does well. The Yankees have brought their top prospect, catcher Jesus Montero, to the game, as well.
Always good to pick up a win over the Yankees, regardless of who’s wearing the uniforms. ‘Stache wasn’t real sharp, but it’s good to see Cuddyer and Thome both going yard. Matt Capps had another very good inning (note to Gardy…. are you absolutely POSITIVE about that Closer decision?).
Monday at noon, the Twins wrap up their Spring Training season by hosting the Pirates and yes, FSN will continue with their bizarre “let’s just televise Monday noon games” media strategy.
Let’s be clear about one thing… the Twins’ ultimate success or failure is not going to be determined by who they leave Ft. Myers with as their last bench player or their last arm in the bullpen. That said, I think Ron Gardenhire’s decisions on those two spots were bad choices and he’s going to regret them at some point pretty soon.
This morning, reports from Ft. Myers are that Matt Tolbert has won the utility infield position and Luke Hughes has been optioned to Rochester. In addition, Jim Hoey has been sent down, so assuming Scott Diamond is either returned to Atlanta or kept via a trade of some sort, Glen Perkins, Jeff Manship and Dusty Hughes will fill out the bullpen.
Jim Hoey
I really don’t want to make too much of these final cuts because, as I said, the choices for the last cuts seldom play a major role in deciding a team’s ultimate fortunes. But I think not having Hoey and Luke Hughes around is going to cost a couple of ballgames.
Neither of those guys is destined for the Hall of Fame. There are reasons they were competing for the last roster spots and not headlining some team’s lineup. Hughes demonstrated he can hit big league fastballs very, very hard. He also demonstrated he can strike out a lot. Hoey showed he can throw a baseball harder than anyone in the Twins organization and maybe as hard as anyone in Major League Baseball. He also demonstrated he doesn’t always throw it exactly where it needs to be thrown. He’s not a prototypical Twins pitcher.
Luke Hughes
But think back to when everyone was assuming Jim Thome may be signing elsewhere and people thought the Twins should be looking for a right handed hitter with some pop in his bat. The guys people were writing about didn’t profile a whole lot differently than Luke Hughes. The first time a situation arises late in a game when a right handed pinch hitter with power would be nice to have and the best Gardy can do is send Matt Tolbert to the plate, people will be writing about how he could have had Luke Hughes available. I know they will, because I’ll be one of the people writing exactly that.
Same with Hoey. I know the Twins like to promote from within and there’s a lot of sentiment that it’s Jeff Manship’s “turn”. That’s fine. But there are going to be situations… probably many of them… when you want someone with high-90s velocity to take the mound. When you look to the bullpen and see a batch of middle relief arms that all throw the same low-mid 90s fastball, remember there WAS another option and he didn’t get the gig because he’s not the kind of pitcher Gardy and Rick Anderson “like”.
I hope both Hughes and Hoey take their demotions in stride, work their butts off and show the organization they made a couple of mistakes. Then when someone, hopefully, realizes they made those mistakes and brings those guys up, they take advantage the way Denard Span did when he was among the last cuts a couple of years ago. Hughes and Hoey could both still prove to be important cogs in the Twins machine if they go to work to improve their games… and the Twins braintrust wakes the hell up.
I’ve already posted several photos taken during my trip to Ft. Myers, but I thought the weekend would be a good time to put up a couple of slideshows.
So here they are… old friends like Tom Kelly, Harmon Killebrew, Tony Oliva, Paul Molitor, and Tom Brunansky… future Twins like Aaron Hicks, Joe Benson, Max Kepler and James Beresford… along with all of the current Twins we’re going to be watching at Target Field all summer long. Most you will recognize instantly… others you’ll have to learn to get to know.
