Category Archives: Photos

Don’t let a loss get in the way of a great celebration

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Let’s just pretend the final 2 innings of Saturday’s game with the Rays never happened, shall we? If you’ll join me in that fantasy, I’ll share a couple of pictures from the day, starting with the game ball being delivered by a group of Navy Seals that came in from above.

The Strib’s Joe Christensen tweeted that he thought it was “idiotic”, and that “People came to see baseball, not potential catastrophes.” I dunno… I guess I just think this kind of thing over Independence Day weekend is very appropriate and I applaud the guys.

I also really enjoyed the messages shown on the big scoreboard during play stoppages from Minnesotans currently serving in the Middle East. I can only imagine the pride and emotion felt by their family members.

By the way, I realize not every one of us is as much of a Vikings fan as we are Twins fans, but I read this article over brunch at Hell’s Kitchen and I have to admit that reading about the surprise coach Brad Childress got while on the NFL-USO tour struck a chord. (Yes, it was a bit odd reading the print version of the StarTribune.)

Jim Thome crosses home plate and in to 10th place on the career HR list

As for the game, it was exciting to see JJ Hardy return, of course. Francisco Liriano threw a terrific game as he sat down one Ray hitter after another. But Jim Thome most certainly stole the show today.

Thome lined a home run just inside the LF foul pole (and barely above the wall) in his first at bat, to tie Harmon Killebrew’s mark of 573 home runs… and give the Twins a 1-0 lead in the second inning. But that was just a teaser. In his next plate appearance, Thome launched one in to the Rays’ bullpen for #574 and pass “Killer” in to sole possession of 10th place in the all-time Major League HR list.

Harmon could not be in attendance, but he recorded a message to Thome that was played on the big screen immediately after Thome circled the bases.

Harmon Killebrew delivers a congratulatory message to Thome

In his game story at the Strib, Christensen quoted Killebrew from a telephone conversation after Thome hit #574.

“Good for [Thome]; he’s a good guy,” Killebrew, who hit 559 homers in 21 years with the Twins franchise, said by telephone from Arizona. “I talked to Jim quite a bit when I was in spring training. I told him, ‘Don’t feel bad if you pass me up, because I passed up a lot of guys in my career.’ “

Is that class or what?

Thome and his team mates watch the message from Killebrew

The 23 foot wall in right center field is all that kept Thome from making it a 3-HR day as he doubled in the 9th inning with the ball hitting just below the top of the wall.

So, those of us at the game got to see history, Navy Seal skydivers, another top notch pitching performance by Liriano, the successful return of JJ Hardy (who barely missed a HR of his own when he doubled off the LCF wall in his first AB), another home run by Justin Morneau and a pretty darn good day at the plate by Joe Mauer.

Now, if only they had won the game! – JC

Target Field Fireworks… and a win over the Rays!

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Looks like we didn’t get a GameChat posted and we express our apologies to anyone who showed up hoping to chat. According to my family, my seat at tonight’s game was directly in line behind 1B when they used the camera at the LF foul pole so apparently I was on camera every time someone reached first base. Fortunately, they tell me I wasn’t doing anything embarrassing when the camera caught me.

In any event, I hope a few pictures from the postgame celebration will make up for any disappointment (as if a cool 2-1 win shouldn’t be enough, in itself!). – JC

The Twins and their families came out and sat on the grass to watch the fireworks after the game.
The Countdown before the Fireworks
First Oudoor Fireworks at a Twins Home game since... a long time ago.

Delmon is doing a number on his old team mates.

UPDATE: Thanks, Jamar… for reminding us we need a Boyfriend of the Day. We’ve decided Delmon SHOULD have gotten a BOD last night and he certainly was worthy again tonight. Way to stick it to your old team, DY! Scotty Baker and Danny Valencia  are more than worthy of piles of baked goods, as well!

Robby asks DY to comment about his BOD award.

Snappers & Hermsen get the sweep… and then some

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They say, “You can’t go home again.” Boy are ‘they’ wrong.

The pride of West Delaware (IA) HS, BJ Hermsen

BJ Hermsen returned home (or as close to home as he can get and be playing professional baseball) to Cedar Rapids and took the mound for the Beloit Snappers tonight in front of a near-sellout crowd. If you were inclined to rob a small town bank, picking one in Delaware County Iowa tonight would have been a good idea. Nobody was home. They were filling Memorial Stadium to watch Hermsen face the local Kernels on Perfect Game Field.

Snappers 3B Anderson Hidalgo

Some guys tend to press a bit in those situations (how long did it take before Morneau had a good game in Toronto?), but not Hermsen. All he did was shut down the Kernels completely through 7 and 2/3 innings of no-hit ball and finish with a complete game 1-hitter. The Kernels’ Justin Bass lined a solid single to right field with two out and nobody on base in the 8th inning, but that’s the only hit Hermsen gave up as he led the Snappers to a 3 game sweep of the Division leading Kernels. (Cedar Rapids’ magic number is 1, so the loss kept them from clinching the first half Division title.)

Daniel Santana, Snappers LF

He had help. There were no fewer than four extraordinary defensive plays behind him, a fact he was quick to point out in post-game interviews with local media after the game. In addition, Anderson Hidalgo supported Hermsen with three hits while Aaron Hicks and Daniel Santana added two hits each. Hermsen was also treated to the traditional “shaving cream in the face” treatment by team mates during one interview (see video below).

Snappers CF Aaron Hicks held on 1B by the Kernels' Casey Haerther

Memorial Stadium seats a bit over 5,000 fans and just under 4,700 paid their way in tonight. Of course, it didn’t hurt that it was “Thirsty Thursday”, with beers $1.50 all evening (if this post is a bit incoherent, you now know why). I think it’s pretty safe to say the Snappers have never had support like that on the road before as it was probably pretty close to a 50-50 split in terms of fan support between the local Kernels and Hermsen and his Snappers.

The Kernels organization made a call to Beloit after Hermsen was promoted to the Snappers and specifically requested that, if possible, their rotation could be set up to allow for Hermsen to get a start in Cedar Rapids. To their credit, the Snappers obliged. I’d like to hope we’ll get another opportunity to see him pitch in Cedar Rapids when the Snappers return to town in August, but with the way players bounce up and down the organizational ladder, you just never know if that opportunity will present itself. But if this ends up being the only chance that BJ’s family and friends get to watch him pitch locally, at least he gave them a night to remember. – JC

Can you feel a Draft?

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You may or may not be aware, but the MLB First-Year Player Draft is being held Monday – Wednesday this week.

I know, it’s hard to get too fired up over the draft. It’s not like the NFL, where fans have watched most of the top draft picks play several years of College football on Saturdays and can legitimately envision at least the players taken in the top few rounds wearing the uniform of their favorite team during the following season.

Sure, there are exceptional talents that find their way on to MLB rosters in their first full year after being drafted, but it is extremely rare and even rarer if your favorite team manages to avoid being so pitiful that they get awarded one of the top 2-3 spots in the draft. The Twins draft in the 21st position this year and it’s almost impossible to project who (a) might still be available and (b) who the Twins might have their eyes on for that pick. What you CAN bank on is that, whoever they pick, he won’t make his Target Field debut until at least 2012… and more likely closer to 2014 or 2015… if ever.

BJ Hermsen, Twins 6th round draft choice in 2008 (photo JimCrikket)

So why do we bother paying attention? Well, for me, the answer is, “Usually, I don’t. But this year is different.” Why? There are a couple of local kids down here in the Cedar Rapids area that are likely to be drafted in the first few rounds and it would be great to see either or both of them join Iowan BJ Hermsen (now pitching for the Twins Class A affiliate, Beloit) in the Twins organization.

I’m sure it’s no big deal to Minnesotans when a local kid gets drafted, even by the Twins. But the Iowa High School Athletic Union seems to do whatever it possibly can to assure that the best HS athletes in Iowa (a) don’t play baseball, and (b) if they do, they get no attention from professional scouts. You see, unlike schools in the other 49 states, Iowa schools play a summer baseball season, rather than in the spring. This means that Iowa schools are just now getting their seasons in to gear, while HS players all over the country have finished giving scouts a full season to look them over.

Jon Keller hopes to go in the top 5 rounds (photo CR Gazette)

Jon Keller, a pitcher who throws in the low 90s for Cedar Raids Xavier, has committed to play for the University of Nebraska, but if he gets picked in the top five rounds, he’ll be considering going professional.

Kellen Sweeney awaiting draft day call (photo CR Gazette)

Kellen Sweeney, an infielder at Cedar Rapids Jefferson, is projected to be a low second round or high third round pick. He has a spot at the University of San Diego to fall back on if he doesn’t get a contract he likes.

If the name Sweeney sounds familiar to Twins fans, it’s likely because Kellen’s older brother, Ryan, just finished facing the Twins over the weekend as the right fielder and #3 hitter for the Oakland A’s. Ryan was a second round choice of the White Sox in 2003.

Ryan Sweeney long before claiming RF for the A's (photo Perfect Game)

I saw a lot of Ryan Sweeney during his pre-HS days. He’s a couple of years younger than my own son and Ryan’s dad, Gary, was coaching his son’s amateur teams at the same time I was coaching my son’s teams. Gary liked to schedule games against teams made up of kids that were older than his team’s. In fact, Ryan and my son played on the same team in a fall league run by Perfect Game (one of the largest scouting services in the country and operated out of Cedar Rapids). I recall Ryan as being a good, but not great, pitcher and having excellent fundamentals, both at the plate and in the field.

A while after my son graduated from HS, he and I began doing some umpiring together. We’d work adult and youth amateur leagues around the area. I recall the first time we worked a double header involving Gary Sweeney’s club, which by that time was featuring the young Kellen Sweeney. I’m guessing Kellen was probably 12 or 13 years old. I remember thinking that Kellen looked much more advanced both offensively and defensively than what I recalled his brother Ryan being at the same age.

Kellen is coming off of Tommy John surgery this summer, but it doesn’t seem to be having a negative effect on his scouting evaluations. I’m far from an expert at evaluating talent and you never know whether a kid has the mental strength to go with the physical talent 9not to mention the luck) to make it to the Bigs. However, given that Ryan Sweeney is hitting over .300 for the A’s right now, I wouldn’t be at all disappointed to see Kellen in Ft. Myers with the Twins at their minor league facility next March.

These kids are about to experience the excitement of taking the first step toward realizing the dream of playing Major League Baseball. Do yourself a favor on the Twins off day and check out your local sports pages to find out what local diamond heroes in your area are hoping to be drafted and then keep checking on whether they’ve been selected by the Twins or another organization this week. Who knows… even if they get drafted by the BitchSox or Evil Empire, they could find their way to the Twins eventually!  – JC

Fun with the Yankees… *snort*

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Since the Knuckleballs folk all decided to attend the Yankees/Twins game yesterday, and in an effort to forget about our little “left on base” problems, I thought I would share a few fun photographic moments.

this is the view from JC & CapitalBabs' seats
JC & CapitalBabs in RF stands
CapitalBabs & her brother, Paul, at his first game!

Managed to catch a shot of KL sitting in her season seats directly across the park from us!

KL and her mom keeping score!

and my favorite picture from the day, a shot from Denard Span that came right at us to RF and I caught the ball in mid-air.

And just to narrow down all the pics I took at the game, I settled on a just a couple of great action shots.  The first slideshow is action at the plate and the second is shots on the mound.

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Milwaukee, extra innings & a telephoto lens!!

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KL and I went to the Milwaukee game on Saturday.  What a beautiful day for baseball – especially EXTRA baseball!  I brought my camera along because she has a pretty good view from her seats up in 322 and I thought maybe I would bring the big lens and get some pictures. 

Boy, did I!

see??  She’s got GREAT seats – also right by a bathroom, the escalators AND easy vendors with almost no lines!

But considering I took sooooooo many pictures (700+) during that exceedingly long game (12 innings), I thought I would put together a couple slideshows (75 pics per show) and share the experience of the day with you.  They are in chronological order and the first picture in the second show starts off right where the first one leaves off so put your mouse on the pictures and stop it and send it back to the beginning to keep it in order (or just refresh the window and start again when you get all the way through the first one…).

it’s amazing how much fun you can have watching a game through a telephoto lens!

PS. you can go to my other blog for more Kestral pictures – Babs’ Blotter

Crikket in the Club! (A Day in Target Field’s Legends Club)

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Armed with tickets in Section C of the Legends Club at Target field, I took in my first regular season game of the year on Saturday. Sure, the game kind of sucked, with the Twins losing to the Orioles in game 1 of the split doubleheader, and the weather was on the chilly side (it has to be chilly for it to sleet, right?), but it was still a great time. I thought this off-day would be a good day to share a few pictures.

Walking up to the ballpark, we were greeted by the new Rod Carew statue (I’d seen the Killebrew and Puckett statues, but this was my first look at Carew’s).

The Rod Carew bronze statue outside Target Field

There are three lounges in the Legends Club.

The Killebrew Lounge is directly behind home plate…

The Killebrew mural inside the Killebrew Lounge

… the Carew lounge is on one side…

The wooden Carew mural above the bar

… and the Puckett Lounge is down the other side.

The wood mural behind the bar in the Puckett Lounge

A few pictures from inside the Legends Club:

Inside the Legends Club looking out toward the field
One of the Legends Club hallways
Inside the Legends Club
The Tony Oliva mural along one wall of the Legends Club
The Hot Chocolate line (mmmm with a little something added) and Hrbek mural
Nice pic above the condiments. (How many can you name?)

In the Puckett, Carew and Killebrew Lounges, there are several display cases filled with each player’s memorabilia (jerseys, shoes, bats and a number of more personal items, including various awards such as gold gloves, silver sluggers and even Puckett’s MVP and World Series rings). The picture of one of the Killebrew display cases below is just one example.

One of the display cases in the Killebrew Lounge (includes his contract below)

Yes, I did actually go sit outside and watch the game. To prove it, I’ll include a couple of pictures from Section C.

The view from row 6 of Section C
Cuddyer thought it was cold, too. Note the earflaps.
Morneau's HR was just about the only Twins highlight of the day.

Finally… can you identify all of these Twins Legends from their lifesize pictures adorning the Legends Club walls?

This Twins Legend served two tours with the club and is still hanging around
This lefty was a cornerstone of the Twins rotation in the 60s
This Twins Legend won an AL MVP award.
The Twins player who "exemplifies determination, hustle, tenacity, competitive spirit and leadership both on and off the field" wins an award named for this Twins Legend

I hope this helped feed your baseball addiction on the second off-day of the week. Tomorrow, the Twins take on the Evil Empire (aka the F’ing Yankees) on the road at the Death Star (aka F’ing Yankee Stadium). Let’s kick some F’ing Yankee butt! – JC

Twins Home Opener Photographic Review

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My many many thanks go to my buddy Corey for thinking of me while his poor brother was stuck in a meeting.  Oh, and thanks to Chad too!  🙂 

There are really no more words that can be said that will be in any way unique after all the rest of the amazing reviews of this place and this game.  I’ll just let the photos say the rest.

Knuckleballs go to Target Field

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All three of the Knuckleballs, KL, JimCrikket, and CapitalBabs (left-to-right above), attended Saturday’s exhibition game against the Cardinals and rather than going on and on about how great it was, we’re inviting you to view our slideshows.

KL an CapitalBabs viewed the game from the bright sunshine in the dugout boxes alone the third base line while JimCrikket decided to take advantage of the opportunity (most likely the once-in-his-lifetime opportunity) to watch the game from one of the Skyline Suites, also on the third base side.

We hope you enjoy.

Here’s JC’s slideshow:


 

Here’s CapitalBabs’ pics – she took the family and didn’t do as much touring – but got some great pics from her seat:

A lot of my pics seem a little washed out due to the FABULOUS BRIGHT SUNSHINE!!  but I’m sure we’ll all take many more pictures of the field in months to come!

GameChat – Exhibition – Cardinals @ Twins

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I haven’t quite figured out where Babs copies the lineups with links from, so for the moment, lineups grabbed from Kelly’s Corner. Come join me/us in the GameChat channel!

Here’s the chart!

St. Louis @ Minnesota
Schumaker, 2B   Span, CF
Ryan, Br, SS   Hudson, O, 2B
Pujols, 1B   Mauer, C
Holliday, LF   Morneau, 1B
Rasmus, CF   Cuddyer, RF
Ludwick, RF   Kubel, DH
Lopez, F, DH   Young, D, LF
Freese, 3B   Hardy, SS
Pagnozzi, C   Punto, 3B
Lohse, P   Pavano, P
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
St. Louis 0 0 0 3 0 0 0 5 0 8 13 2
Minnesota 1 0 1 0 0 0 0 2 0 4 4 1

But the boxscore just really can’t accurately describe what it was like for those of us here watching the game from the live chat.  From Span kicking tail and getting the first  HR in Target Field, seeing random friends enjoying the amenities, or even seeing Jacque Jones back in Minnesota!!  What a fantastic day for baseball in this state!

Because it wasn’t enough for Span to have the first triple at Target Field, he also had to smash the first home run.

span040210

It’s always nice to see someone you know, Seth Stohs, on TV. Eating a cheese-covered nacho chip.

seth040210

It was great to see that the fans at the ballpark remember Jacque Jones fondly too.

jones040210