Game 1 (Opening Day!!!) - at Baltimore

The Twins announced their lineup yesterday.

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1. Denard Span, CF
2. Jamey Carroll, SS
3. Joe Mauer, C
4. Justin Morneau, DH
5. Josh Willingham, LF
6. Ryan Doumit, RF
7. Danny Valencia, 3B
8. Chris Parmelee, 1B
9. Alexi Casilla, 2B
Starting pitcher: RH Carl Pavano

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While the O's will trot this out:

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#OpeningDay lineup vs MIN: Reimold LF, Hardy SS, Markakis RF, Jones CF, Wieters C, Betemit DH, Davis 1B, Andino 2B, Arrieta P

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The Twins haven't seen much of Arrieta, with Alexi Casilla's five plate appearances being the most among Minnesota's hitters. Arrieta has a four-pitch arsenal - fastball, slider, curve and change - and had been very inconsistent against left-handed opponents, walking 14.6% of all lefties faced. This should bode well for the Twins port-siders.

By the way, stop by the "Pick 2 Cliq" contest, select which Twins hitter you think will perform the best today and win $50 in free liquor.

It's like the first day of school. Excited and scared at the same time. What's going to happen? Granted it's only one game, but I remember how bad the opening game was last year and look what happened...

Leaving work at noon... I haven't worked on the afternoon of Opening Day in my X years of being employed... Nothing better!

This was the aftermath of last year's opening day:

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Parker, you are missing Baltimore's 3B (Reynolds) who will be batting between Wieters and Betemit

That's a priceless screencap Parker

Hopefully there will be no nose picking today.

Unlike yesterday, I think we will see lots of runs scored today. Like the rest of the season, the question will be "can we score enough runs to overcome our inconsistant pitching"?

Game Score picks? I've got the Twins winning 6-4

Twins 9, Orioles 1

Pavano the true athlete! Him and his huge hands...

Is Pavano throwing all changeups, or is 83 his 2012 fastball?

Meet the new Twins, same as the old Twins!

Well maybe we'll only lose 98 games instead of 99 this year!!

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Originally Posted by USAFChief

Is Pavano throwing all changeups, or is 83 his 2012 fastball?

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His FB was that 86 that went to the stands

Pavano's lack of velocity is... troubling. He's throwing 10 MPH slower than Arrieta.

Went up to 87 with that last looking strike... I think last season he was 89ish so he is getting there.

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Originally Posted by shanewahl

Twins 9, Orioles 1

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Quickly ruined prediction.

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Originally Posted by thrylos98

Went up to 87 with that last looking strike... I think last season he was 89ish so he is getting there.

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You say that like it's a good thing.

Carroll's had a couple of gems so far. Nice to see solid defense at the SS.