Red Dog

I don't know if that's the best caption, but Red's face is priceless.

Well that was...

...somewhat of a let down.

I don't know what I was expecting, but it was a little bit more than 8-3, Sox. Granted, the Sox are the WS Champs, and they do have an exceptional team who were all together all of last year... but still.

I was very (happily) surprised at Skinny Boof. Really surprised. I actually think he's cute now! And, even though he only pitched 2 innings, looked pretty good. Kevin Slowey was shaky, but I still love him. What was up with Joe Nathan though??? The two Sox announcers referred to him as "Joe Nathan, The Very Good Closer", which I am definitely going to start using. They also complimented Nick Punto when he made nice plays, which I appreciated. They were really annoying last year, I guess they've toned it down.

They really enjoyed using the phrase "A different looking Twins team", and mentioned Johan at least 5 times. I guess that really can't be helped though, especially since one of them was very much for Johan going to Boston.

Things I Enjoyed:
- Delmon Young. Good start. I like him a lot, and I'm glad he is Good At Baseball.
- Carlos Gomez and his amazing throw from CF to Mike Redmond to get Dustin Pedroia out at home. It was beautiful. He was very quick, too. I say give him the job.
- The fact that, based on the pre-game show about the Sox down in Ft. Meyers, it looks like the Twins are better golfers. Dustin Pedroia was pretty funny, and had trouble choosing clubs: "I don't even know what to use here...pitching wedge? I'll use the 'P'."
- Hideki Okajima, even though he is a Red Sock. Apparently his splitter is called the 'Oki Doki', and now he has a new, very secretive pitch called the 'Doki Doki'. You can bet I will be following that one. I liked him a lot last year and definitely felt that no one expected anything of him when he came over-- he seemed sort of like an add-on to Daisuke Matsuzaka. But he made the All-Star Team, and has proven reliable. He's pretty adorable, too.
- Brian Buscher. Nice HR, it was a pick up we needed. He made some good plays at 3rd too, which are always appreciated.

Lastly, in the 9th, when I admit I wasn't really paying attention anymore, someone who I do not know knocked in two runs. I apologize to him, and also tell him: "Good job."

All in all... the game was pretty disappointing. Here's hoping we can just own them on Saturday.

Game MVP: Brian Buscher. Because really... we don't have anyone else...and I don't know who the other guy was...

FINALLY!

As of yesterday, the Twins officially started Spring Training with a 6-1 loss to the Reds.

So it goes...

As it was only the first game, in the SPRING no less, I'm doing my best not to freak out. Individually, I think all the boys did pretty well. I didn't hear all of the game, as GameDay Audio had some serious beef against me yesterday, but I will be able to watch tonights game out here since the Twins are playing the Red Sox. I really dislike the NESN announcers, but sometimes they show Dick and Bert, so I guess I'll be alright. I'm a little too excited for this game.

I am eagerly awaiting this new and improved Skinny Boof, as well as Kevin Slowey. AND MIKE REDMOND. He has always been a favorite of mine (seriously, how can you NOT love Mike Redmond?!) and he's always so fun to watch. I feel like he could do anything. For a long time, Moneypenny and I thought he should be our new CF-- he would totally climb the baggy and steal HR's from unsuspecting opponents. His undying support of Nick Punto is beyond adorable, and really, any man who takes BP naked is just awesome by definition.

Also, everyone, check out the new and improved Twins Territory site! They have a lot of cool new features, not all of which I've messed around with, but I've created a user/blogger profile. Hopefully once school calms down later this week I'll be able to fiddle with it all.

Not ANOTHER one...

Since I don't have any free time at the moment, my posts have been reduced to mostly loltwins only. But I think that's okay. I will say though that I am VERY GLAD that Frankie will soon be in Florida.

Hopefully, the man is still prodigy material...

In somewhat Twins-related news, I took a nap the other day and had a dream that Michael Cuddyer was my Calculus TA.

He was a really good TA, patient and everything. In Dream Land, I understand multivariable calculus. Cuddy's amazing.

Gee, think I'm ready for baseball to start?

In honor of such a pleasant dream, today's loltwin is none other than Cuddy Bear himself:




As you should, Cuddy.

Watch Your Back loltwin

Couldn't resist.

Brownie Points, and a loltwin

I would really like to say that as the days pass, I am becoming a huge fan of Delmon Young.

I get the distinct impression that Carl Crawford (who I have a decidedly negative impression of) wants to throw down (little does he know not to mess with Minnesota), and Delmon is doing a spectacular job of brushing the whole thing off with dignity and professionalism.

"I'm not worried about anyone else's comments," Young said. "They've got their own stuff in [Rays camp] and we've got our own stuff down here. All I can worry about is these 25 guys and the front office over here."

Carl didn't like that much, and responded (partly) with this:

"...And second of all, I have no problem with coming directly to his face and telling him whatever it is he needs to know. Nobody’s waiting till he leaves. Nobody cares about him leaving. For him to say we want to act like Toby Hall and leave, nobody’s doing that. Trust me. Me personally? Tell him this is a direct statement from me; I will come say it directly to his face. If he wants to know, if he is not sure about anything, I’ll say it directly to his face. I’d be more than happy to say it to his face. Make sure he gets that.'’

The fact that Delmon just smiled and shook his head at this makes me proud. For a player who everyone says still needs to mature, I think he is doing a very good job of showing us he is trying very hard to be the grown-up, professional player we're expecting.

Delmon, you get massive Brownie Points for this.

Also, Gardy gets points for his comment about the Indians signing Jason Tyner (who I miss almost as much as Johan and Torii): "They must've been one home run shy of their quota."

Here's hoping that Jason knocks another out of the park this year.

And also, a loltwin.



I made fun of Joe(s) for long enough, it was time to cover another J. Kubes should probably be next.

Spring Training loltwin

Rick Anderson is my hero.