Twins Fan From Afar

NESN went out on my tv. Frustrating . . .

Well NESN went out. Thanks, cable!

Chang steals second on a pitch in the dirt. Twins showing some speed so far! Rene Rivera taps it right in front of the plate. 2-3 putout. Beckett done for the day.

Beckett looking a little wild, or showing a lot of respect to Ray Chang. Burroughs caught stealing by a couple steps. Chang walks.

Burroughs apparently given the green light on 3-0, but fouls it off. Guess you can't walk your way to the major league team. Walks on 5 pitches. One out, one on.

Hughes grounds out to short. Beckett using all his pitches, it looks like.

Falls behind Cody Ross. Thrown first pitch balls to all 3 hitters so far. But, strikes out Ross on a down and in slider.

Falls behind #2 hitter, Ellsbury. Sensing a trend? Ellsbury lines into unassisted double play to first base.

Frankie falls behind 3-0, works it to full count, walks Pedroia.

Bates grounds out, Revere is stranded.

Tosoni flies out to right center, medium deep. Revere advances to third.

Revere steals second! Vroom-vroom.

Nishi weakly flies to left after a 6 pitch at-bat.

Revere singles on second pitch on a liner-ground ball to the right side.

Thanks to NESN, I'll be watching at least the first few innings today. Hopefully Liriano can show control and command. I'll update anything that seems worth mentioning.

Thanks to NESN, I'll be watching at least the first few innings today. Hopefully Liriano can show control and command. I'll update anything that seems worth mentioning.

Safeco and PNC.

Honestly, it's hard to really find much negative from this game. Our guys that we need to be healthy all produced a little, and were still healthy at the end of the game; Nishioka was a pleasant surprise (still not holding my breath on him); and Parmelee started out hot. Maybe, best of all, it was live, outdoor baseball!

I have to say, I'm not a big fan of Rocky the Rock Cat. I guess I'm not a big mascot person. But I do like the Rock Cats' Hardware City (the nickname of New Britain) retro logo. http://rockcats.milbstore.com/store_contents.cfm?store_id=123&dept_id=-3&product_id=17169

[Originally posted at Twins Fan From Afar] Whether the 2012 Twins can even be a .500 team largely rests on the ample shoulders of Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau. Let yourself think -- just for a second -- about how fun things could be if our 3-4 hitters were healthy and productive all season long. Thus far -- yes, I know players just showed up a week or so ago -- the early reports are positive. Justin Morneau took Francisco Liriano deep in batting practice, and hasn't had to sit out of any practice or drills. Joe Mauer has caught several bullpen sessions, participated in everything, and looks and sounds completely different than he did last year at this time. Denard Span collided with the center field wall yesterday, but feels OK thus far. For most Twins fans, these few snippets have to be at least a little encouraging. Not to imply that everything else is just details, but at the very least, there's room for optimism this March. Now, onto Friday's links. Jim Crikket over at Knuckleballs had an insightful post on Ryan Braun's issues, and Crikket's conclusion is that a movie must be made about this ordeal. It's hard to disagree. I heard that the role of Braun's urine sample will be played by Pauley Shore. NoDak Twins fan noted that the Twins' early schedule is quite intimidating, featuring several AL East and AL West opponents. I'm glad that I'll see them against the Orioles. Minnesota Twins Musings notes the great payroll debate in New York right now, as GM Brian Cashman has pledged to lower payroll in the next couple years. On the Road with Shawn implores Joel Zumaya not to retire, for fear that Zumaya will end up like the rest of us! The Tenth Inning Stretch had a great recap of yesterday's Twins B Game. The "Twins" (Rochester Redwings, mostly) beat the "Red Sox," (Pawtucket Red Sox, mostly) and new Twin Aaron Bates hit a home run. Michael Cuddyer is up to his old tricks -- literally. Finally, Jim Souhan at the Star Tribune continues to remind me of Walter Matthau in Grumpy Old Men. Jim, your company lets you go to Florida and write about baseball. If you don't want that assignment, I can think of about 100 Twins bloggers who would love it. http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-knzBgxSlnqI/T1Anf6AbfcI/AAAAAAAAALo/7kErE1CBQpk/s1600/Grumpy+Old+Men.jpg

[Originally posted at Twins Fan From Afar] Whether the 2012 Twins can even be a .500 team largely rests on the ample shoulders of Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau. Let yourself think -- just for a second -- about how fun things could be if our 3-4 hitters were healthy and productive all season long. Thus far -- yes, I know players just showed up a week or so ago -- the early reports are positive. Justin Morneau took Francisco Liriano deep in batting practice, and hasn't had to sit out of any practice or drills. Joe Mauer has caught several bullpen sessions, participated in everything, and looks and sounds completely different than he did last year at this time. Denard Span collided with the center field wall yesterday, but feels OK thus far. For most Twins fans, these few snippets have to be at least a little encouraging. Not to imply that everything else is just details, but at the very least, there's room for optimism this March. Now, onto Friday's links. Jim Crikket over at Knuckleballs had an insightful post on Ryan Braun's issues, and Crikket's conclusion is that a movie must be made about this ordeal. It's hard to disagree. I heard that the role of Braun's urine sample will be played by Pauley Shore. NoDak Twins fan noted that the Twins' early schedule is quite intimidating, featuring several AL East and AL West opponents. I'm glad that I'll see them against the Orioles. Minnesota Twins Musings notes the great payroll debate in New York right now, as GM Brian Cashman has pledged to lower payroll in the next couple years. On the Road with Shawn implores Joel Zumaya not to retire, for fear that Zumaya will end up like the rest of us! The Tenth Inning Stretch had a great recap of yesterday's Twins B Game. The "Twins" (Rochester Redwings, mostly) beat the "Red Sox," (Pawtucket Red Sox, mostly) and new Twin Aaron Bates hit a home run. Michael Cuddyer is up to his old tricks -- literally. Finally, Jim Souhan at the Star Tribune continues to remind me of Walter Matthau in Grumpy Old Men. Jim, your company lets you go to Florida and write about baseball. If you don't want that assignment, I can think of about 100 Twins bloggers who would love it. http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-knzBgxSlnqI/T1Anf6AbfcI/AAAAAAAAALo/7kErE1CBQpk/s1600/Grumpy+Old+Men.jpg

Chicago really, really missed the boat on Comiskey (U.S. Cellular now). It opened in 1991 -- just one year before Camden Yards -- and it was as if the White Sox paid no attention at all to what the architects were doing in Baltimore; or perhaps they just didn't realize that Camden was going to be the beginning of the next wave of new, yet classic feeling, stadiums.

Camden Yards is still pretty fantastic. Probably #1 for me.

A healthy Denard Span plays with some pretty good fire. Is Kent Hrbek available to come out of retirement (and plugging Taco Johns fish tacos)???

Good point, Steve. It is true their attitude is certainly more "small market and home-grown" than a true, big market team like the Yankees. I'm not trying to give the organization the benefit of the doubt too much here, but I do think that we'll see them spend more free agent money after the 2012 season, when it's possible that Scott Baker, Francisco Liriano and Carl Pavano will be off the books. We're only a few season into Target Field, so it might be a little premature to judge what they will or won't do with respect to free agency.