strumdatjag

The curse of the Pine Trees strikes again. Five- Zipperoo today against the blue meanies. We were told that removing them would help the Twins hit better. Joe Mauer himself made this claim. It's done the exact opposite. BRING BACK THE TREES IN CENTER FIELD PRONTO - - Or the Twins will suffer losing season after losing season and heartbreak after heartbreak!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The curse of the Pine Trees strikes again. Five- Zipperoo today against the blue meanies. We were told that removing them would help the Twins hit better. Joe Mauer himself made this claim. It's done the exact opposite. BRING BACK THE TREES IN CENTER FIELD PRONTO - - Or the Twins will suffer losing season after losing season and heartbreak after heartbreak!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I think fans at Target Field can also bring a sign saying "X Me Out Bert".

Simple baseball ineptitude can be explained by a lack of good pitching, fielding and hitting (and maybe even a little bad managing). However, the Twins' current level of ineptitude and misery cannot be explained through tradition baseball analysis. Tom Kelly used to say that a team is certain to win a third of its games and certain to lose a third, but it's how they play in that other third that determines the success of the team. The Twins have not even won that guaranteed one-third. The reason: THE CURSE OF THE PINE TREES. The hitters said they would hit better once the trees were removed from the "batter's eye" at Target Field - they're hitting worse. Look what the curse has done to Daanny Valencia - Did removing the trees improve his "batter's eye"? By chopping down those pine trees, he Twins have insulted Mother Nature herself, and she's ticked off bigtime (notice how even the weather at Target Field has been considerably worse in 2011 and 2012 seasons, since the trees were felled). Replant the pine trees NOW, or Twins Fans will suffer the longterm fate of other cursed clubs like the Cubs (cursed by the Billy Goat) and the Red Sox (the Bambino has returned after a brief heavenly vacation from decades of cursing them). Maybe some local Native American tribes can send in a spiritual specialist to help appease the angry forces of nature, too. Remember, how angry those trees were in the Wizard of Oz? That's nothing compared to the Curse of the Pine Trees on the Twins. Replant those trees!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Simple baseball ineptitude can be explained by a lack of good pitching, fielding and hitting (and maybe even a little bad managing). However, the Twins' current level of ineptitude and misery cannot be explained through tradition baseball analysis. Tom Kelly used to say that a team is certain to win a third of its games and certain to lose a third, but it's how they play in that other third that determines the success of the team. The Twins have not even won that guaranteed one-third. The reason: THE CURSE OF THE PINE TREES. The hitters said they would hit better once the trees were removed from the "batter's eye" at Target Field - they're hitting worse. Look what the curse has done to Daanny Valencia - Did removing the trees improve his "batter's eye"? By chopping down those pine trees, he Twins have insulted Mother Nature herself, and she's ticked off bigtime (notice how even the weather at Target Field has been considerably worse in 2011 and 2012 seasons, since the trees were felled). Replant the pine trees NOW, or Twins Fans will suffer the longterm fate of other cursed clubs like the Cubs (cursed by the Billy Goat) and the Red Sox (the Bambino has returned after a brief heavenly vacation from decades of cursing them). Maybe some local Native American tribes can send in a spiritual specialist to help appease the angry forces of nature, too. Remember, how angry those trees were in the Wizard of Oz? That's nothing compared to the Curse of the Pine Trees on the Twins. Replant those trees!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Fargo Moorhead would be better than Sioux Falls

I've often thought that Liriano should be as closer. Think of all the head-cases who have been effective closers - From the "Mad Hungarian" to a Papfelbon stare to K-Rod to our own Jeff Reardon and more, baseball history is full of headcases who have been successful closers (and even more that couldn't do the job because of being a headcase). Maybe, it's time for Frankie to take his talent to a different role. Have Matt capps move to right-handed set-up guy. Bring up Scott Diamond to be a lefty starter (although I'm not very excited with that) and see what happens. There have to be consequences for bad performance.

The front office was brilliant in letting Nathan, Cuddyer and Kubel go. With a depleted minor league system, the Twins needed the compensatory draft picks to beef up for the future. This year and next year could be tough to watch if you were expecting a division championship. However, the three guys we let go were not going to be the difference to put this team in the playoffs. This is Detroit's time to shine, and the Twins are smart to use it to start building for the future. Read Reusse's column today.

Baseball is nowhere near as interesting when Ozzie Guillen is out of the Central. I'm going to miss him big-time. Saying he "loves Castro" in Miami is worse than if Ron Gardenhire would say he "Loves the Packers".

Some of you have forgotten "A League of their Own" and, going back to the 50s, "Fear Strikes Out". All that aside, I pick "Field of Dreams".

The Twins in the future will have a faster, defensively good outfield (Josh Willingham will be a liablity defensively out in that big left field this year). Joe Benson is waiting in the wings (and Aaron Hicks later) to speed things up out there, moving Denard Span to Right. Ben Revere can hopefully improve his throwing to put himself in the competition for a starting position. I'm more worried about our pitching longterm than I am am about the outfield.

Move to Fargo-Moorhead. The population is similar to the city of Rochester, is wealthier, and is loaded with Twins fans. By the way, I have no connection to anything NoDakian

Last year, there was mucho hype about the prospects coming up for the long-lowly Royals. Is there any conventional wisdom or even unconventional stupidity that they are ready for a breakout season this year?