TCAnelle

No. Just no.

Shocking no one, MAX! is my choice.

I did. The Twins Guest Services staff took care of it. So I have a picture of him signing the poster, just not the poster I now have in my collection. LOL

Despite my one-more-year campaign, Joe Mauer decided to retire after the 2018 season. After the surprise appearance as a catcher in the final 2018 season game, he packed up all his gear after it had been authenticated and handed the bag to the Twins curator, Clyde Doepner, so it could be shared with fans. Clyde hadn't decided quite what to do with the bag until he found out there would be a special white-glove tour with Joe auctioned off for TwinsFest. Image courtesy of TCAnelle Despite my one-more-year campaign, Joe Mauer decided to retire after the 2018 season. After the surprise appearance as a catcher in the final 2018 season game, he packed up all his gear after it had been authenticated and handed the bag to the Twins curator, Clyde Doepner, so it could be shared with fans. Clyde hadn't decided quite what to do with the bag until he found out there would be a special white-glove tour with Joe auctioned off for TwinsFest. Clyde decided to have Joe unpack the bag and take the group through what each item was and talk about his career. We didn't know this when we bid on the tour and I suspect had folks known, it would have gone higher. This flickr album has all the photos with detailed descriptions. I wasn't supposed to video anything but recorded a few before I was scolded. The lady next to me took a bunch more so if you know her, you can hear more. I recommend looking at the album on a laptop or a tablet since the descriptions are more easily viewed on a full -size browser. They explain many of the markings in or on his equipment and give the details he shared about each piece. The bat and batting gloves are from his 2000th hit. I was at Target Field that night so it was special to get to hold them. He talked through how he chose his bats and explained how he listened to the sound a bat makes when tapped on the barrel. The higher the pitch the better. The 2000th hit bat had a pretty high pitch. After holding the bat and lowering it to tap his shoes, as we've seen him do thousands of times, he explained the pre-at-bat ritual of raking the dirt with his cleats then tapping his shoes. It was so he was able to see precisely where his feet went during a plate appearance. It gave him an immediate visual clue if something was off. He also raked the dirt in front of home plate as a catcher to prevent a bad hop on a ball in the dirt. Same for the semi-circles while waiting on batters at first base. His process was all about doing every little thing he could to prevent as many 1-in-a-1000 events that might negatively impact his ability to make the play or get a hit. Joe has given some less than engaging post-game interviews over the years, but he talked with ease Friday night and seems to be genuinely at peace with deciding to retire. I'm still in denial he won't take the field on Opening Day, but really enjoyed the hour hearing him talk about baseball. I'm so going to miss watching him play. View full article

To clarify on the knee savers, he didn't attribute any injuries to them. He said that his knee injuries were all related to specific plays, not the equipment, but the savers weren't always comfortable when he was trying to get low. To me it brought to mind the catchers we see more and more who are practically sitting their butt on the ground with one leg stuck out or even a knee on the ground in their setup, especially with no runners on. He even used the word guinea pig for the titanium masks. Not sure when they came out, but I can't help but wonder how his catching career may have gone if he'd come along later when better more protective equipment was being developed and more was known about concussions. I mean he had to ask for a catching helmet with more protection to be specially made, it wasn't just something they were doing as the new batting helmets were coming out.

Despite my one-more-year campaign Joe Mauer decided to retire after the 2018 season. After the surprise appearance as a catcher in the final 2018 season game, he packed up all his gear after it had been authenticated and handed the bag to the Twins curator, Clyde Doepner, so it could be shared with fans. Clyde hadn't decided quite what to do with the bag until he found out there would be a special white-glove tour with Joe auctioned off for Twinsfest. He decided to have Joe unpack the bag and take the group through what each item was and talk about his career. We didn't know this when we bid on the tour and I suspect had folks known, it would have gone higher. This flickr album has all the photos with detailed descriptions. I wasn't supposed to video anything but recorded a few before I was scolded. The lady next to me took a bunch more so if you know her, you can hear more. I recommend looking at the album on a laptop or a tablet since the descriptions are more easily viewed on a full size browser. They explain many of the markings in or on his equipment and give the details he shared about each piece. The bat and batting gloves are from his 2000th hit. I was at Target Field that night so it was special to get to hold them. He talked through how he chose his bats and explained how he listened to the sound a bat makes when tapped on the barrel. The higher the pitch the better. The 2000th hit bat had a pretty high pitch. After holding the bat and lowering it to tap his shoes, as we've seen him do thousands of times, he explained the pre-at bat ritual of raking the dirt with his cleats then tapping his shoes. It was so he was able to see precisely where his feet went during a plate appearance. It gave him an immediate visual clue if something was off. He also raked the dirt in front of home place as a catcher to prevent a bad hop on a ball in the dirt. Same for the semi-circles while waiting on batters at first base. His process was all about doing every little thing he could to prevent as many 1-in-a-1000 events that might negatively impact his ability to make the play or get a hit. Joe has given some less than engaging post game interviews over the years, but he talked with ease Friday night and seems to be genuinely at peace with deciding to retire. I'm still in denial he won't take the field on opening day, but really enjoyed the hour hearing him talk about baseball. I'm so going to miss watching him play.

Several parks I've been to have CLEAR lanes. They're super fast even with a bag. We also have the issue of how idiotic some of the searches are. Why are they unzipping my flat wallet that is too small to hold any weapon. Others have had them open pill cases and those tiny readers glasses cases. That's why it's so slow. Boston will have someone pre-checking bags prior to gate open and they put on a tag to show it was checked already so the initial rush is faster. There are ways they can improve it and still allow the same bags they always have. There's also the climate issue since we don't have a roof. I have a bag with blankets and extra stuff to stay warm. That stuff isn't going to fit in a small clear bag and I'm not interested in carrying it all loose to comply with a bag policy that isn't needed. Fingers crossed my rep was given good information and we aren't going to be faced with the stupid NFL policy. I mean they had it in place and two people still got in enough stuff to hang from the ceiling and unfurl a banner.

The NFL and now slightly modified NHL policy is discriminatory. It disproportionately affects women and hopefully MLB does not implement it. I went full code-red to my season ticket rep about the absurdity of the security theater and how clear bags won't make it faster and even if it did, they don't have to process 60K fans in two hours. The place holds half that and we haven't seen those levels except for special games. I reiterated my request for a STH lane. The information she sent back to me after she asked internally was this: "Here is the response I received back as of today. Given the nature of our sport and our fan base, we understand the importance of being able to bring a bag, purse, diaper bag, backpack, etc. into the ballpark. We will likely keep encouraging people to avoid bringing bags if possible, but there are no plans to change the bag policy, require clear bags, etc. at this time"

I think Souhan is a lazy writer that likes to stir the pot because it drives clicks and eyeballs to his columns. The Strib isn't going to discipline him for anything unless it crosses legal boundaries that open them up to issues because he drives clicks. Since the Strib is also a team sponsor/advertiser (see the permanent signage at the stadium), the team is also unlikely to say much as long as he doesn't outright lie about the team or expose something they want to keep internal. St Peter even retweeted the link to his column yesterday on the scout around the same time the blog response was posted. As far as access goes, I think it matters. The writers with access who use it appropriately and regularly give me context and make the players human. I want to know what the beat writers hear and what their impressions are of these people that I've chosen to spend many many hours and dollars watching. I like knowing that Escobar apologized for not being there post game because he took his family to dinner. It has nothing to do with play on the field, but it adds to the fun when he knocks one out and you see the smile on his face. I like reading about their families and off-field interests. They are people and without someone with access sharing these things it's sometimes easy to forget. I also appreciate the in-game insights from someone who really doesn't have a dog in the fight other than to tell the story of the game. There are also times these uninterested third parties drive out stories that matter for us to hear. Reporting on domestic violence, DUIs, etc. Those stories are delicate and I'm far more likely to seek a trained journalist for context and understanding of the impact. The beat writers build the relationships with the team and players to have the trust that when something bad happens in a game or off the field, the writer will handle it professionally and truthfully. You don't get to that point if you have no access. For those with some access that Souhan mentioned, I agree that Brandon and Seth are both good resources. Right now I view Brandon as attempting to start a new-media site but with a journalistic approach. I hope it grows and they're able to reach a point to afford to have a true beat-writer follow the team on the road for all the reason mentioned above. Seth, Jeremy, and Cody are unmatched with the prospect coverage, and I've seen Seth many times in March in Fort Myers building the relationships with the players as prospects. I still see Seth as a fan deep down, but that's not a bad thing. Access still matters here, but I don't expect the same type of coverage as a beat writer from Seth. So do I discount anyone without access? Absolutely not. But what I glean from a non-traditional or new media source without access to the team is usually different. I've learned a ton about stats and how useless the pitcher win is or that an RBI is a pretty useless stat and clutch hitting isn't really a thing all from reading non-traditional source writers. I've also enjoyed a ton of fan based writing too. And some is a mix of the two (e.g. Steve in Cedar Rapids). Instead of pushing Souhan to be a better writer, especially when there may have been a valid point to make, this has turned into a pissing match of access vs. non-access and that's so not the point. As a consumer, I need both. And we need the uninterested third party with access, not just the team version. If we don't have that, we're going to end up with a bunch of marketing stories that no matter how many "This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Baseball or its clubs." disclaimers are at the end are whitewashed to ensure the team never looks bad and they control the message entirely.

Woooo!!!

Including terrible video of Seth's first pitch.

I happened to also catch yesterday's Kernels game and took some video of the game. The playlist is posted on YouTube at

. Miracle won 7-0 on strong 10K 0BB outing from Baxendale.

Picture of him from tonight's game:

[video=youtube;87_Pc31EIFQ] He hit this 3 run shot in his first PA tonight. His swing hardly seems to take any effort. (Pardon the specks. I attempted to remove a speck from my lens and apparently only made it worse.)

I had a benefactor for a ticket so that made it even better

Work travel sent me to Wisconsin this week so I decided to go a couple hours out of the way and catch a Kernels game in Cedar Rapids. After seeing several games in Beloit last year, it was easy to see why the Twins were so keen to change their affiliation to the Kernels http://cdn1.sbnation.com/imported_assets/1588357/8703986145_efa125828f_medium.jpg Perfect Game Field at Veterans Memorial Stadium is a much nicer stadium. You enter via a gate in left field and are greeted by a lovely green field with a lawn and party area to the left and standard stadium plastic seats (with cup holders!) around the infield. Bleachers in right field complete the seating. The concourse is open to the field and nice and wide. Concession stands were ample and a big plus over Beloit, they take credit cards. The team store is accessible from inside during games and outside otherwise. http://cdn3.sbnation.com/imported_assets/1588363/8705127510_b13f8576ae_medium.jpg They had a stand setup on the concourse for players to sign for fans before the game. Hudson Boyd and Tyler Duffy were Monday's players. The team had picture sheets for those people who didn't have items to sign or for the kids. I had my Twins Prospect Handbook with me so had each sign their section. Berrios was the starting pitcher. He went 6.2 strong innings with 8 strikeouts. He has some heat and hit the mid 90's with regularity as well as off speed pitches in the 70's and 80's. Buxton was name I'd been hearing constantly since the Midwest League Season got underway. He didn't disappoint. After a strikeout in his first plate appearance, he would later walk, and New to Perfect Game Field this year is a new bright shiny scoreboard. It allows for video segments, player profiles with pictures and the lineup to be shown. And on Monday night show a lovely 9-1 Kernels win. http://cdn1.sbnation.com/imported_assets/1588369/8705147334_8b4338b596_medium.jpg If you like to watch minor league baseball, I highly recommend heading south to Cedar Rapids. And go soon, in case Buxton gets promoted. He's worth the trip. Full picture set is loaded on Flickr.

He's still on the roster I got at today's game but marked as "taxi squad" which are only activated on Wednesday and Saturday. He's still here and was in uniform in the dugout the last two games but didn't play.

http://cdn2.sbnation.com/imported_assets/1270945/8129494285_0937d28151_medium.jpg Peoria at Salt River - 10-26-12 After Thursday's game at one of the older stadiums in the Arizona circuit, Friday's game took me to the newest, Salt River Fields at Talking Stick. Built on the Salt River Pima-Maricopa Indian Community near Scottsdale, Arizona, it's a state of the art facility that opened in the spring of 2011. The Arizona Diamondbacks and the Colorado Rockiesshare the facility for spring training with the Rockies entrance in right field and the Diamondbacks in left. The Twinswould do well to mirror some of the features here with the Hammond remodel, especially the outfield lawn viewing. If you're ever in Arizona for spring training, I'd recommend having it on your agenda. The practice and training areas seem to be designed with fans (or scouts) in mind as there are several observation areas. http://cdn2.sbnation.com/imported_assets/1270951/8129372143_4d205b0608_medium.jpg The only Minnesota Twin in the line-up on Friday was Evan Bigley playing left field batting seventh. I'd seen a few stories on how he'd been performing and seen that his stats weren't stellar, so I wasn't expecting too much, but he had a good day. He went 2-3 with a walk with one of the hits an RBI double. Peoria rallied late but fell short. Final: Rafters 8, Peoria 7. http://cdn0.sbnation.com/imported_assets/1270963/8129506721_efa824e405_medium.jpg Peoria at Surprise 10-27-12 Saturday's game was in the far northwestern part of the valley at Surprise Stadium. Surprise is also a newer facility. Open since 2003, it houses spring training for the Texas Rangers and the Kansas City Royals. The architecture reminded me more of the facilities in Florida than the usual desert designs. They have an outfield lawn area along with nice wide concourses. It's also the first minor or spring training facility I recall being in where the upper level roof/canopy didn't appear to be metal. Foul balls to the roof were not accompanied by the usual metal clang. No auto-glass sponsor needed. There were two Twins players in the starting line-up, Nate Roberts in left field leading off and Evan Bigley in center field batting seventh. Caleb Thielbar would also pitch in relief. While I was happy to see Evan in the line-up again, it meant Billy Hamilton was out,so my dream of seeing him steal a base was over for this trip. Guess I'll have to wait for him to make it to the majors. http://cdn0.sbnation.com/imported_assets/1270969/8129582558_b7fc183733_medium.jpg Nate Roberts (and his stellar mustache) continued with his best Joe Mauer impression with a 2-4 day to bring his AFL average to .522 (two singles). I'm not sure how his arm is supposed to rate but on the defensive side of things, he had a strong throw to the plate for a close play. Unfortunately the runner was safe, but it was closer than I thought it would be initially. http://cdn2.sbnation.com/imported_assets/1270975/8129417697_b7f92de6f1_medium.jpg Evan Bigley was 0-2 on the day with a walk and strikeout. The bottom five hitters in the Peoria line-up went hit-less on the day, so the Surprise pitchers must have eaten their Wheaties Saturday morning. Former St Paul Saint, Caleb Thielbar, replaced the Peoria starter with two outs in the 3rd inning. After a fly out to end the third he pitched a scoreless 4th inning with a fly out, two singles, then a line out double play. In 6.2 AFL innings he has a 10.80 ERA, so it was nice to see him get the double play to keep the inning scoreless. http://cdn1.sbnation.com/imported_assets/1270981/678532560_medium.jpg My uncle deflected a foul ball hit by Didi Gregorius which then landed under our seats. After the game, Michael Tonkin, Caleb, Evan and Nate were kind enough to sign it. I wish I could have stayed one day longer since I'm missing Kyle Gibson by a day, but I enjoyed seeing the rest of the Twins players while I've been here. The crowds are non-existent at these games so if you like watching prospects, head to the AFL. Today's final was Surprise 4, Peoria 1 Full picture sets are available on Flickr - Salt River and Surprise Originally posted at Twinkietown

Posted at Twinkietown is my write up with pictures and videos from Thursday's AFL game between Peoria and Mesa. There's apparently a limit of one embedded video per post so please see TT post for the videos or follow the links to Youtube. http://cdn2.sbnation.com/imported_assets/1267951/8123995304_7bd008b6c7_medium.jpg Panorama of field at Hohokam Stadium After a disappointing Twins season I decided to book a trip to visit some family in Phoenix and catch some Arizona Fall League games. The Twins prospects play for the Peoria Javelinas and today they were facing the Mesa Solar Sox at Hohokam Stadium, the spring training home of the Chicago Cubs. The stadium is one of the older facilities in the Arizona spring training circuit. It's still a decent stadium and seems comparable to the Twins facility in Fort Myers (at least for the main stadium). Tickets are $7 at the gate (cash only) and parking was free. There were maybe 50 people at the game and that's likely a generous count. The temp at game time was 82 degrees with not a cloud in the sky so it was a perfect day for baseball. Five major league teams feed each of the six AFL teams. The Javelinas consists of prospects from the Reds, Twins, Phillies, Padres and Mariners. The base stealing wonder, Billy Hamilton, lead off for Peoria today but unfortunately went 0-6 so I didn't get to see any of his record breaking speed. His OBP is only .289, but he does have six stolen bases in 9 AFL games so maybe I'll see it tomorrow. Four Twins prospects saw time in today's game. Dan Rohlfing started at catcher and Nate Roberts covered left field. Michael Tonkin and Logan Darnell pitched in relief. http://cdn3.sbnation.com/imported_assets/1268011/8123547597_393ba3630d_medium.jpg Rohlfing made his AFL debut today, taking Chris Herrmann's place after Chris injured his shoulder. Dan was 1-3 with 2 RBI (one on a bases loaded HBP). He seemed comfortable catching the non-Twins catchers and combined with Peoria starter Tim Crabbe (Reds) to not allow a hit through the first four innings. http://cdn2.sbnation.com/imported_assets/1268023/8123548645_cf0e0645a3_medium.jpg Nate Roberts continued his torrid AFL run with a 1-2 day with 2 HBP and a BB. His triple slash is now .526/.667/.684. Small sample size applies since that's in only 7 games but in 76 games in Beloit his line was .299/.433/.427. Michael Tonkin continued his scoreless streak (no runs, earned or unearned in 6.1 innings). He struck out the first batter faced. The second batter reached on an error, but a fly out and line out to Hamilton in CF preserved his scoreless streak. He's allowed three hits, walked one and struck out five so far on the AFL season. Logan Darnell followed Tonkin with a scoreless 8th. The first two batters he faced reach with a single and a double, but he was then able to induce a ground out, followed by a strike out and a fly out to CF. He's allowed two runs (both earned), nine hits, two walks, and gotten six strikeouts in 7.2 AFL innings. The final was Peoria over Mesa 8-2. Tomorrow Peoria plays Salt River at Salt River Fields at Talking Stick. Full picture set from today is available on Flickr

Posted at Twinkietown is my write up with pictures and videos from Thursday's AFL game between Peoria and Mesa.

Posted at Twinkietown is my write up with pictures and videos from Thursday's AFL game between Peoria and Mesa.

[ATTACH=CONFIG]2261[/ATTACH] If anyone wants to see what KC's Kauffman Stadium looks like or just wants to see more baseball pics, I've posted my pics from game two from Saturday and the afternoon game on Sunday.