Twins in DC

[markos]

The Twins are playing two exhibition games against the Nationals in DC this weekend: tonight (4/1) at 6:05pm and tomorrow (4/2) at 12:05pm. Weather permitting, I'll be at both games and would love to meet up with any DC-based Twins fans. 

[jimmer]

 

The Twins are playing two exhibition games against the Nationals in DC this weekend: tonight (4/1) at 6:05pm and tomorrow (4/2) at 12:05pm. Weather permitting, I'll be at both games and would love to meet up with any DC-based Twins fans. 

Quick question.  If you chose to meet a Twins fan in DC at a bar or something, if they yelled out 'Markos' when first showing up, would you reply 'Polo' so they knew you were there:-)

[markos]

 

Quick question.  If you chose to meet a Twins fan in DC at a bar or something, if they yelled out 'Markos' when first showing up, would you reply 'Polo' so they knew you were there:-)

My original plan was to exchange real-life info (name/phone #/email) with anyone interested, but your method sounds a lot simpler.

[markos]

A few quick thoughts from the games (mostly from Saturday's game. Friday's game was mostly spent chasing my toddler around the stadium):

 

DISCLAIMER: Take these thoughts with an extremely large block of salt. I am not a scout, it was just a couple games, exhibition games, and the final exhibition games at that.

 

- Park did not look good at all. Saturday he saw 11 pitches in 3 plate appearances, and he struck out in all three. He swung and missed at 7 pitches, and only fouled off one. All 7 were against off-speed stuff. 

 

- Sano didn't get many chances in right field, so it was hard to judge anything there. The only things of interest was one play where  ball went into the right-field corner. He was kind of slow/tentative when going after it. It might be worth watching during the season to see how he learns about playing the balls in the corner at a bunch of new stadiums. Not a giant issue, but definitely something that will prevent a few extra bases over the course of the season if he can be more efficient with that play.

 

- Trevor May mostly sat 92-93 on the stadium gun on Saturday, and he appears to be working on an offspeed pitch of some sort. I didn't have the best angle, but he was throwing something in the low-80s (probably changeup) that he wasn't able to get across for strikes.

 

- Danny Santana played some 3rd-base on Saturday. It was a good example of some of the issues with him (beyond batting). First, he had to charge a ball and ended up bobbling/double-clutching and the runner was safe with no throw. Then a couple innings later Trea Turner (who is really fast) tried to bunt for a hit, and Santana made a fantastic bare-hand grab and throw for the out. It was a great defensive play. Another play involved baserunning. He was on first and Arcia was on second. There was a ball in the dirt and Arcia tried to advance to third but was thrown out. Santana stayed at first. Now, I'm not 100% what should have happened there, but I was very surprised that he didn't advance to second when he saw Arcia going to third. Or maybe he wasn't paying attention. Long story short, he showed off his defensive tools as well as his inconsistency and (maybe?) mental errors.

 

- Eddie Rosario hit the ball really hard a couple times on Saturday. I have to admit that I've been very bearish on him for this seasons. But I will gladly eat crow if he continue to perform. He had a bases-loaded triple and also was thrown out trying to stretch a double into a triple. 

 

- Nolasco was not good. He gave up 4 home runs. I think there might be a "he's in mid-season form" joke in here somewhere.

 

- Arcia has a beautiful swing.