RIP, Tony Gwynn. I quit smoking several years ago, and I quit chew about five minutes after my first dip of Skoal. Play ball!
Twins Lineup:
Santana, SS
Dozier, 2B
Mauer, 1B
Willingham, LF
Morales, DH
Arcia, RF
Suzuki, C
Escobar, 3B
Fuld, CF
Red Sox Lineup:
Holt, LF
Bogaerts, 3B
Pedroia, 2B
Ortiz, DH
Napoli, 1B
Nava, RF
Drew, SS
Pierzynski, C
Bradley, CF
On the Mound:
Rubby De La Rosa (1-2, 3.93 ERA)
Kevin Correia (3-7, 5.60 ERA)
Start time at 6:07 p.m.? That better be a cash grab first pitch time like the Pale Hosers 7:11 sponsorship deal, because otherwise it makes no sense. Unless it's a metric thing...
When I was about 8 or 9, my mom dropped me off at the park half an hour early for baseball practice. It was hot and I was tired so I sat down under a tree to chill in the shade for awhile. Turned out I picked a tree with a blue jay nest full of chicks and one aggressive mother of a momma. She was able to dive bomb me half a dozen times before I could clear the area, and I'm sure I looked pretty foolish running from a bird. I've been predisposed to dislike blue jays in any form ever since.
On The Hill:
Nolasco (4-5, 5.65) vs. R.A. Dickey (6-4, 4.25)
Ricky Nolasco gets the start for the Twins tonight while former Twin/Met/Mariner/Ranger R.A Dickey gets the ball for the Jays. The Twins bested Toronto in an early April series by taking both ends of a doubleheader made necessary by a weather postponement. Dickey pitched one of those games, but he gave up five runs on seven hits and five walks in 4 1/3 innings for his shortest outing of the season, that one against Kyle Gibson.
The Blue Jays had won their last six series before losing their weekend series to the Cardinals. The Twins are still trying to get back to .500 after splitting a 4-game home-and-away series with Milwaukee and dropping their weekend series to Houston. Enough, already. Play ball!
Tonight commences an oddity in Milwaukee, the opener of a four-game, home-and-away series to mark the long-ago rivalry that existed when the Twins and Brewers were in the same league but that MLB likes to keep alive for the sake of marketing. I can appreciate that. The Twins send Kyle Gibson (4-4, 4.81) to the mound tonight to face off with Matt Garza (2-4, 4.84). And of course we have the bonus of Carlos Gomez in the game tonight. Fortunately for us, Gomez won't be out for any type of revenge, even the kind that's served cold. In fact, it seems Gomez really enjoyed his time in the Twin Cities. "I don't have any hard feelings with Minnesota," says Gomez. "I'm always watching highlights from Minnesota, because they took care of me well and had beautiful fans."
I'm sure he's talking about us, citizens. Play ball!
When I was growing up, Memorial Day had nothing to do with mattress sales and used car blowouts. My brothers and I would get up in the morning, put on our uniforms and pedal our bikes to Memorial Park, where a 100-foot tall limestone obelisk marks the reburial spot of some 1200 pioneers and soldiers who died defending the village and fort from attack during the American Indian Wars in the 1790s. My older brothers would meet up with their Boy Scout troop and I would go with my Cub Scout pack and we would march in the parade. The women lining the street wore knee-length summer dresses and stylish little hats, and many of the men in shirtsleeves wore neckties. When the parade ended at the Wabash River bridge downtown, the mayor would make a short speech and the honor guard from the American Legion post would lay a memorial wreath in the river and fire a salute with white rifles to those who had sacrificed their lives in duty to country. After the parade it was off to the town park for the Jaycees' barbecue chicken dinner and an afternoon of Legion baseball games. I don't know if it gets any more American than that.
The Twins kick off summer today by opening a four-game series with the Texas Rangers at Target Field (I'll be at game 4 on Thursday celebrating Elder Daughter's 21st birthday). The Twins send Kevin Correia (2-5, 6.52 ERA) to the mound, while Texas counters with sophomore Nick Tepesch (1-0, 3.09 ERA) in just his third start of the season. In a couple of key roster moves, the Twins added Josh Willingham and Oswaldo Arcia back to the active roster and optioned Chris Colabello and Chris Hermmann to AAA Rochester. So we should have seen about all of the infielder-playing-outfield shenanigans we need to see this year. Play ball!
After Opening Day and Home Opener posts last month, I've been sitting the bench so long I nearly forgot it was my turn to do another game log. Tonight the Twins invade Jacobs Progressive a baseball field in Cleveland to commence a 4-game series with the Indians. The Twins enter the series in second place, 4.5 games behind the Tigers, who stole a 3-game march on the rest of the division last week. A win tonight restores the Twins to .500 on the year.
On the hill tonight, the Twins feature Kyle Gibson (3-2, 4.34 ERA) while the Indians send right-hander Zach McAllister (3-2, 8.82 ERA). Mauer may or may not play and Colabella is turning into a pumpkin, but my non-sexual man crush Brian Dozier will be there to pick up the slack. It's been fun watching this team, because it really feels like a team again. When one or two guys struggle, a couple others step up to carry them. Let's hope that carries through for several more months.
Play ball!
Another Monday, another opening day. Today's home opener will inaugurate the fifth season of MLB play at Target Field. I'll be behind home plate somewhere as a guest of a season ticket holder. I'm looking forward to a good game.
So where do the Twins stand? After starting the season with two series on the road in Chicago and Cleveland (and really, who doesn't want to play outdoor baseball in the Rust Belt in early April), the Twins find themselves sporting a .500 record. That seems to be a much better start than we've endured the past couple of years, but I'm not going to check the records to make sure. That's just asking for depression to set in.
Today the Twins send Kevin Correia to the mound while the A's counter with Scott Kazmir (yes, another year of hearing Bert mispronounce a simple name). Let's hope the Twins can ride the Colabello gravy train to one more win. Play ball!
Opening Day. Just remember what A. Bartlett Giamatti said. This game is meant to break your heart.
Today the Minnesota Twins baseball club will challenge the Chicago White Sox team to commence the 2014 Major League Baseball regular season. Leave us not have illusions about what the Twins can reasonably pull off this year, but leave us neither let that temper our enjoyment of the game and the team we love.
Today the Twins send Ricky Nolasco to the mound as their Opening Day starter. The White Sox counter with Chris Sale. Both pitchers enter the season undefeated, so it should be an evenly matched contest.
Play ball!
I'm not usually the first one up. Where do we keep the beans?
Verlander (13-12, 3.66 ERA) vs. Pelfrey (5-13, 5.34 ERA).
This only ends one way.
Play ball!
I was at the store the other day and noticed that, after a bankruptcy forced hiatus, Twinkies are back. I may be late in making this observation as I lead a pretty oblivious life, but I'm taking it as a sign that next year the Twins will rebound and have a great season. Because unreasonable hope has kept me going for about half a century now, and I'm just too old to give it up.
On the hill tonight we have Liam "Hard Luck" Hendriks (1-2, 5.25 ERA) looking to get some run support from the Twins offense, versus Erik "The Winless Wonder" Johnson (0-2, 4.66 ERA) for the White Sox in a completely meaningless game for either team or their fans. So, you know...go Pirates!
Play ball.
