D. Hocking

I believe sitting somewhere silently with a single tear of joy rolling down his cheek as he is overcome with pride and emotion -- looking at his autographed Ploufe rookie card that has been carefully laminated .

Comparing Hawk to a child -- you must really hate children.

Maybe some assistance from your uncle to make sure the voodoo worked. My condolences.

Another post that has made me say to myself, wow - we really have had a lot of less than ideal players cycle through the roster the last few years. I can't even remember them all (which I guess is not all bad).

I was not a fan of the Hunter signing -- felt they needed someone better defensively, that the whole club-house thing is overrated in general and overrated for Torii, and that if the season goes south Torii might actually be a negative presence in the club house, but I thought Torii would be better at the plate than Kubel circa 2014. Now I am not so sure. I will say the Hunter signing did help decrease any positive feelings for the front office. It just seemed like the classic veteran move they have made the last few years that have not panned out. I am over-generalizing, but it seems like they cannot veer too far off from their old model. The way they quickly dismissed Torii's defensive metrics in interviews reinforced that. I am getting biased and not looking objectively, but it seems like Ryan quickly goes into defensive mode when asked about how he makes his decisions. I am Terry Ryan, I know how to make decisions. I will admit this is a little tenuous of a theory, but I also feel like part of the Torii signing was to deflect from their previous rosters not working. It is not just because we did not assemble a team talent-wise, it was because our players were too quiet in the clubhouse. It is not playing ability, it is because Joe etc. is too quiet and Torii will change that. Again, not exactly a substantive argument/theory, but I am tired and crabby. As for hope - it is April. It could be that this bad of play is going to force them to think outside the box and make some changes and moves they would not have if we were merely playing mediocre. I do think the hitting will improve, and the pitching has a chance to stabilize. Chances are we were not going to make the play-offs, so this bad first week probably is not going to cause us to lose the wild card spot by one game.

Is he going out to play one of the defensive positions?

Unable to watch or listen to the game and tracking through this game thread - it is posts like these that have added a lot of mystery and suspense to my day.

Is there a new rally animal/creature this year? Although due to the fact we did not exactly play baseball in October last year, I am not sure a rally animal by itself can elevate this team to the top of the division (although maybe a wild card spot).

Yes -- although trying to piece together what is going on by the short, ominous sounding replies on this thread is a bit unsettling. Partial descriptions of some horror you cannot see.

When a team has shown it is capable of consistently playing elite defense, I think they are given the benefit of the doubt when it comes to errors.

When people were throwing out the KC references the first name that popped into my mind was Kevin Correia, which both scared me and made me sad. So many players the last few years that I have tried to repress, but you never really do forget them.

I initially read this as: MOLITOR dangles two year old over railing of a Cheetah Exhibit. . . First thought was managing the Twins have sent him over the edge or alternatively this is some offering to the baseball gods.

I think I was about 4 or 5 when he had that 45 and the song was on the radio. I wondered who Chicago was and thought it was sad that she died. In retrospect, I might not have been that bright as a child - not quite as low as Strib IQ -- but I don't think there were discussions if I should start school early,

My brother had the 45 of The Night Chicago Died -- it was all about the gang violence on the famous east side of Chicago. Hey -- this game is an offensive landslide --- 2!!!!!!!

I'd like to think our IQ in general is double (at least) that of the strib - I would like to think we are at least in the double-digits.

You know there are people commenting on the trib and other places who were saying similar things and not saying it as a joke and probably complaining his hit in the first was only a single.

I suspect, at least for awhile, Mauer might have a few at bats where the pitcher is not going to worry about walking him for fear of who is batting behind him.

Yes -- I flipped on the radio when I heard the news (thanks for putting a damper on my day off Irvin) - Buster O was talking to Ruesse and were saying that there was not much a team could do at this point. It almost sounded like it was something the player's association would have to change. Buster mentioned players hate it when someone who gets caught makes the claim they do not know how they tested positive, so Santana probably did not help himself by not just coming clean - esp since he is not appealing. On one of the newscasts last night, they were saying he had become a big club house presence and how the younger Latin players looked up to him. I don't think we ever really know how the clubhouse is (I think what the media sees and/or reports is an incomplete picture), but it could be interesting when he comes back. It would be nice if he changes his story and just openly accepted responsibility and admitted he screwed up.

You are known as one of the more esteemed baseball minds (and perhaps minds in general, that I don't know) in the upper Midwest, so there could be worse predictions with which to agree.

You forgot where Babe Ruth showed up and told him to clear his head between games with some drinking and carousing and said there was too much damn clean living in baseball these days. Then he took a deep inhale of his cigar and returned to the baseball diamond (or bar) in the sky. I think his season will be somewhere between the predictions of Nick and John. Nick – .315/.410/.445 (.855) with 40 doubles and 10 HR. John – .300/.380/.400 (780 OPS) with 35 doubles, and 8 HR. As a Mauer apologist, I am going to be proactive with my excuses for a slow April -- he is known to have slow starts (2009 withstanding - although I guess he completely missed April there) and I think he will have a period of adjustment where he seeks to find the right balance between his traditional way of hitting and the pulling to right field he has been trying to develop this spring. I think it will take part of the regular season before he gets any adjustments mastered. I know it is hard to judge vets by their spring training, esp. when they are trying to do new things, but I would feel a little more confident if his grapefruit season would have been better.

Probably cost us a Super Bowl. Mauer, not getting drafted by the Twins, would have decided to do the Florida State route; the Vikings would have managed to trade for him when they decided to finally pull the plug on T-Jack; no late game interception by Favre in the Saints game; and then an overtime Super Bowl victory two weeks later.

Is this the rally bunny from last year? - if so, not sure Trix is the way to go -- http://40.media.tumblr.com/195cb6a86ae114692b61d65263bf10a0/tumblr_n1z29sTcIx1rlb49io1_500.png and I suspect this one has gone stale by this point: http://sportzwriters.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/09/Z0021064.jpg

There must have been an earlier tweet where he talks about everything the Twins are doing, which is why they are the only AL central team not mentioned int he first tweet above.

This Lirano talk is crazy. The powers that be do not welcome ex-Twin players back into the fold until they are at least 35. In a couple more years perhaps when he has a veteran presence and can be good for the club house.

It is when they are teens (or even a little younger) that kids start using advanced stats to determine your rating - mercilessly at times.