After laying a big egg in Baltimore to end the first half, the local nine have been playing much better ball since their return from the All-Star break with a sweep of the Athletics and two wins in three games with Seattle. The Twins will try to seal a series win from the Mariners in a businessman's special this afternoon.
The Twins will send Pablo Lopez (5-5, 4.24 ERA, 145 K) to the mound today, Seattle will counter with sophomore right-hander George Kirby (8-8, 3.43 ERA, 93 K). Let's hope the Twins bats make a lot of noise again today, it sure is entertaining to watch when this team is hitting well.
It was 1995 and Donny Osmond was in town kicking off an engagement of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. It had been a huge hit in Toronto and Chicago, they were taking it on tour and Minneapolis was the first stop. It was a pretty big deal, the governor (Arne Carlson) signed a declaration making it Donny Osmond Day. Donny, who we had lined up to do one segment on our mid-morning show, actually volunteered in the green room to co-host the whole hour if we wanted. And of course we did. After the show Donny and I took a limo ride to the Mall of America where he did a little PR appearance at Planet Hollywood, gave them a pair of purple socks for a display case and did a quick song. When that wrapped up Donny headed to the theater to get ready for opening night of the run and the photographer and I went back to the studio and packaged up a story for the 6:00 p.m. news. My impressions of Donny were simple - he may be a Mormon, but he's a total mensch.
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I met Willie Nelson at the Black Hawk County Fair in Waterloo, Iowa in the early 90s. I got sent up to interview him before his grandstand show. They had us set up the camera outside his dressing room, and when he came out to meet us he was followed by a sizeable cloud of smoke. He squinted a lot and he smiled a lot and seemed like a genuinely nice person. He was still heavily involved in Farm Aid and that's what most of the interview was about. When we wrapped it up and the camera was off I couldn't resist. "Say, Willie." I said, "One last question for you. Is it true that you got high in the White House?" He just gave me that big old smile and said, "Well, that's the story they all tell."
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When I met Jonny Lang he was a skinny little Norwegian kid from Fargo commuting to the Twin Cities on the weekends to play gigs. His dad had to drive him because he didn't have a license yet and they played bars where he wouldn't be of age to get served for another six years. The TV station had done a feature story on him that got a lot of attention and he was in studio to do a live set for a prime-time show taping. Not long after that appearance he got scouted at Bunker's and signed with A&M Records. About a year later he was doing this appearance on Conan to promote his new album. Keep in mind, the kid is still only 16 years old in this video, and had only been playing guitar for four years.
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Alan Parsons was another post-concert autograph line meet and greet at an off-strip casino in Las Vegas. Small but pretty new venue, probably around a thousand seats, and ours were on the front row. I carbon date the show to late September of 2015 since it was the 30th anniversary of the Eye In The Sky release and we were celebrating our wedding anniversary. Anyway, Alan stayed until every last person had their turn (I know because we were almost the end of the line), he signed my CD and my ticket stub for me and we exchanged a few polite words. We've seen them a few times since then and always enjoyed it, but that show set a really high bar.
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I've been a fan of Indigenous and Mato Nanji since their debut CD in 1998. Hard to believe it's been that long. I finally got to see them about four or five years ago. After the show Mato was signing autographs at the merch table. There weren't any lines so I went up and bought a shirt and talked to him for a minute or two about the show and his music and who he listens to. He and the band never got as big as I'd hoped they would, but they did okay for a bunch of reservation kids from Yankton. This is the original band lineup, with Mato's bother Pte on bass, sister Wanbdi on drums, and cousin Horse on other drums.
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If I recall correctly, Marvin Hamlisch was in town doing some sort of engagement with the Minnesota Orchestra when I met him at the TV station during the promo tour. He was alone with no handler so I got to sit and talk with him for five minutes or so in the break room before the show. Nice guy, very polite, said yes please when I offered to get him a beverage and thank you when I brought it to him. His talent is missed.
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Back when I was in the news business I had occasion to rub elbows with celebrities from time to time, so I decide with this go-round I'm going to do videos from people I've personally met. By that I mean we were in immediate physical proximity and had actual conversation, and with some there was physical contact like a handshake. I have just enough to fill out a week, so here goes.
I'll start with Shania Twain, who appeared on our late morning news show when I was a young associate producer in the mid 90s. She was just a little thing in a tee shirt and sweatpants on the way to the guest dressing room for makeup when I met her, but she was pretty enough to steal your breath, had big personality, and was as nice as could be, she totally charmed everyone there. I hear she's had some trouble on her comeback tour, which is too bad and I wish her the best. but this is how I'll always remember her, back when she was on top.
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The Twins pulled off a pretty exciting extra-innings walk-off win last night, despite the combined efforts of the Red Sox and the blue shirts. The Gallo/Baldelli ejections got the crowd pretty worked up, and the out call on MAT at first base on the sacrifice, a bad call upheld by an even worse replay review -- well, let's just say things got fairly raucous and I had to issue a few polite reminders about profanity to nearby fans. At any rate, it was a sorely needed win, it was good to see Rocco get lathered up, and hopefully the win can spark a return to the form we saw early in the season when the pitching and hitting were on the same page in the same book most of the time.
Today the Twins wrap up a long homestand and their 4-game series with Boston with a businessman's special. Young Joe Ryan, 7-4 with a 3.30 ERA and 91 strikeouts, slings for the Minnesota nine with Justin Garza on the hill for the Sox. He's 0-1 and this appears to be his first start of the season, he's thrown 13 innings of relief in 12 games in 2023. Not sure how long he'll go, this could be a bullpen start for Boston and Garza is just the first leg.
Cleveland comes to town to kick off a four-game weekend series tonight, so this is a chance for the Twins to gain some ground head-to-head on a divisional rival. I'm not sure what to make of this team yet since we haven't seen them hitting on all cylinders since April, but I've been duly impressed with the starting rotation. Pablo Lopez has been solid (considering what we gave up I'd like more out of him), Sonny Grey has been phenomenal, but some regression to the mean has to happen eventually, right? The young guys are getting it done, too, we've seen some great starts by Ryan and Varland. The bullpen has been decent, not outstanding but solid enough to keep games winnable in late innings, with some notable exceptions, of course. I don't know what's wrong with Jorge Lopez, for example, the last two outings of his I've seen were horrendous and he simply could not get an out. It's like he's got relief pitcher yips or something, keeps throwing the ball exactly where he doesn't want to. Anyway, tonight we get Pablo Lopez and Tanner Bibee slinging the horsehide. Let's hope the offense we found in Houston made the trip home and shows up for this series.
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