Category Archives: Spring Training

Catching Rays

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They say “every picture tells a story.”

I didn’t take a whole lot of pictures at the Twins game up in Port Charlotte against the Rays today, preferring to generally enjoy the game and the company out on the “boardwalk” above right center field. You get a very different perspective out there.

There are observations to be made by the particularly attentive photographer/fan in the cheap seats, though.

For example, this afternoon, I glanced down from my spot above the outfield to notice Nick Punto and Orlando Hudson casually standing deep in the outfield chatting. Now, this might not be unusual if not for the fact that, although both had already been replaced in the Twins lineup, the game was still very much in progress. I wasn’t close enough to hear EXACTLY what was being said, but I’m pretty sure it went something like this…

Punto: I still don’t know why Bill Smith signed you, Hudson. I’m better than you are!

Hudson: What’s your name again? I thought you were the batboy.

Punto: That does it! I’ll show you! We’re gonna race… right here… right now!

Hudson: (Laughing) We can’t do that, there’s a game going on! We shouldn’t even be standing in the outfield.

Punto: It’s OK. As long as you’re with me, Gardy won’t say anything. He likes me.

Hudson: OK, if you say so…

Punto: It’s fine… he won’t even notice. Just stand with your hands on your knees and act like you’re watching the game. Then when Gardy turns his head, we go!

Punto: (puff, puff, puff)

Hudson: Are you sure you aren’t the batboy?

Punto: I win!

Hudson: Wait a minute… you were serious?

Punto: You know, Hudson, you’re alright after all and I suppose there are some things you can do better than I can… but I bet I slide in to first base better than you do!

Hudson: (laughing) Nicky… it’s never even occurred to me to TRY!

********************************************************

One more picture from today’s game… this one’s for you, jamar

Former Nebraska Cornhusker Brian Duensing winds and delivers... "Go Big Red!"

Finally, once again this year, Howard Sinker of the Star Tribune has been gracious enough to post some of my spring training observations on his “A Fan’s View from Section 219” blog. If you’d like to read more about my trip to Ft. Myers, join me there! – JC

P.S. Extra credit for whoever can identify the movie from which, “it never even occurred to me to TRY,” comes from.

GameChat – (ST) Twins @ Rays

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again with the MLB site not having the Twins lineup – makes me wonder who is being slow, the Twins or the MLB computer folk? 

Minnesota @ Tampa Bay
Revere, LF   Rodriguez, S, SS
Hudson, O, 2B   Navarro, C
Young, D, DH   Kapler, CF
Cuddyer, CF   Aybar, W, 1B
Jones, J, RF   Ruggiano, RF
Harris, B, 1B   Shealy, DH
Casilla, A, SS   Johnson, E, 3B
Butera, C   Furmaniak, LF
Punto, 3B   Brignac, R, 2B
  Liriano, P     Price, P

 

Others scheduled to pitch for the Twins: Brian Duensing, Jon Rauch, Jesse Crain, Jeff Manship, Anthony Slama

Others scheduled to pitch for the Rays: Grant Balfour, Lance Cormier, Randy Choate, Rafael Soriano

  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Minnesota 1 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 1 6 15 0
Tampa Bay 0 0 0 0 1 1 0 0 0 2 9 3

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

St. Patty’s day during Spring Training!

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Submitted by fellow reader, Corey, who’s down enjoying Spring Training.
 
So, for my first day of Vacation, I headed over to the Cru Restaurant in Fort Myers to meet my friends Omar and Jeri-Lynn. (I went to art school with Omar in New Jersey back in the day.) The plan was to stay anchored at the bar at Cru and celebrate St. Patty’s Day.
 
I met Jeri at about 5:15 and we proceeded to enjoy the evening. Omar arrived about 30 minutes later and rapidly the bar was filling with other patrons. At about 8:30 or so, the bar was PACKED, shoulder to shoulder and I happened to notice three gentlemen walk (squeeze is a better word) past us all at the same time. I recognized the third one almost immediately, but I wasn’t totally sure (I was fairly “happy” at that point).
 
The three men took up a spot not 20 feet from where I was with my friends, and I just studied the their faces, knowing that I knew who they had to be…and it hit me. They were: Denard Span, Delmon Young, and Orlando Hudson of the Minnesota Twins. So I walked over, quickly introduced myself, shook their hands, gave them their props and politely asked for a photo.
 
About an hour later, three other men squeezed into the bar going the opposite direction. I knew exactly who they were, since they were a foot away: Joe Nathan, Michael Cuddyer, and Nick Punto. I acknowledged each of them, shook each of their hands, gave `em their props and they kept on a movin’, so I had no chance for a photo. They were polite, but curt. Of the three, Nick Punto seemed the one most genuinely happy about meeting a fan from Minnesota.
 
Thirty minutes later…former Twin (and current non-roster invitee to Spring Training) Jacque Jones walked in with another person I did not know. Again, I introduced myself as being a fan from Minny and gave Jacque his props and unfortunately again, no chance for a photo.
 
To randomly meet SEVEN Twins players in one hip bar in Fort Myers on St. Patty’s Day was quite unusual. But, memorable!!
Corey with Orlando Hudson, Delmon Young and Denard Span

GameChat – (ST) Pirates @ Twins

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Pittsburgh @ Minnesota
Cedeno, SS   Revere, CF
Young, De, 2B   Hudson, O, 2B
Jones, G, RF   Mauer, C
Clement, 1B   Morneau, 1B
Milledge, LF   Thome, DH
Moss, DH   Cuddyer, RF
Alvarez, 3B   Jones, J, LF
Raynor, CF   Harris, B, 3B
Jaramillo, J, C   Tolbert, SS
  Ohlendorf, P     Pavano, P

 

  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Pittsburgh 0 0 1 0 0 3 0 0 0 4 4 1
Minnesota 0 1 0 1 0 0 1 1 1 5 9 2

YAY!!!  Luke Hughes, you beautiful boy!!  Finally, after far too long a hiaitus, the Twins got a spring training win!

 

PS.  let us know if this chat program doesn’t work for you or is blocked by where ever you are accessing the posts.  We’re searching out a few other applications to try due to some issues with complicated access! 

GameChat – (ST) Twins @ Rays, 12:05pm

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Minnesota @ Tampa Bay
Span, CF   Rodriguez, S, CF
Punto, 3B   Kapler, RF
Kubel, DH   Longoria, 3B
Cuddyer, RF   Blalock, DH
Young, D, LF   Shoppach, C
Ramos, W, C   Ruggiano, LF
Hughes, L, 2B   Brignac, R, 2B
Peterson, Br, 1B   Shealy, 1B
Casilla, A, SS   Johnson, E, SS
  Perkins, P     Shields, J, P

 

I’m sorting out some issues with flat tire, so if I’m not here when you arrive, hold on until I can join you!

Followup:

good news – I have two new (used) tires on the drive tires, the old fronts rotated to the back and my spare back in the trunk…  if you care.  Oh, and Jesse Crain sounded pretty good and rather like he’s taking the possibility of an open closer role seriously.  We’ll see.

bad news – Twins lost AGAIN.. *grumble*  they aren’t caring at all about my general case of baseball grumpiness.  And Perkins sounded like crap.  Apparently, he not only doesn’t really want the 5th starter position, he doesn’t really care if he’s included in our bullpen in the long run either.  You’d think with his history, he’d be trying a little harder.

  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Minnesota 0 0 0 0 1 0 0 0 1 2 9 0
Tampa Bay 1 0 1 0 0 0 3 0 x 5 10 0

(click anywhere in the boxscore for further game details)

GameChat – (ST) Twins @ Marlins

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I told myself it wasn’t worth doing posts on days like today since I’m not sure how many people are actually going to be catching this game on a Monday afternoon when it’s not on the radio but just in case anyone is bored and has their mlb.tv or mlb.audio handy, here you go!

Minnesota @ Florida
Span, CF   Bonifacio, CF
Punto, 3B   Jimenez, 3B
Kubel, RF   Stanton, LF
Peterson, Br, 1B   Uggla, 2B
Young, D, LF   Ross, C, RF
Ramos, W, C   Sanchez, G, 1B
Tolbert, SS   Paulino, R, C
Casilla, A, 2B   Murphy, D, SS
Liriano, P   Volstad, P

 

  1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 R H E
Minnesota 0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 4 7 1
Florida 0 1 2 0 1 1 0 0 x 5 8 1

 (click anywhere in the boxscore for more detailed game information)

GameChat – (ST) Boston @ Minnesota, 12:05 pm

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For all those who are looking around trying to find the game on MLBN – yeah, it’s on a tape delay and will be shown at 8 pm.  So we’ll be going with game time and the radio.  For those of you who joined us on time, congrats on getting your clocks set properly!

The news before today’s game is that the roster cuts have begun – no suprises today though. 

Per Kelly Thesier: three players were optioned to Double-A New Britain: right-handers Deolis Guerra and Loek Van Mil and infielder Estarlin De Los Santos.

Five others were reassinged to Minor League camp: left-hander Jose Lugo, catchers Jair Fernandez and Danny Rams, infielder Steve Singleton, and outfielder Rene Tosoni.

Boston @ Minnesota
Ellsbury, CF   Casilla, A, SS
Pedroia, 2B   Hudson, O, 2B
Youkilis, 1B   Cuddyer, CF
Ortiz, D, DH   Kubel, DH
Hermida, RF   Harris, B, 3B
Scutaro, SS   Peterson, Br, 1B
Varitek, C   Jones, J, RF
Hall, 3B   Portes, LF
Reddick, LF   Butera, C
  Miller, Ry, P     Slowey, P

 

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