jjswol

Originally posted at A few odds and ends about the draft | Twinstrivia.com [ATTACH=CONFIG]4353[/ATTACH] The 2013 MLB first-year player draft day has finally arrived and later this evening we will learn who the Twins have selected in a draft that many of the "talking head" experts claim has three sure-fire stars, but the Twins draft fourth. There have been 61,666 players drafted since the draft was instituted in 1965 when the Kansas City Athletics selected Arizona State outfielder Rick Monday with the very first pick. So far, 24 of these players have gone on to become Hall of Fame players. Of these 24 HOF players, eight were selected in round 1 and no first pick overall is on this list. Not to build up hope and put too much pressure on the Twins selection tonight but three HOF players (Carlton Fisk, Dave Winfield, Barry Larkin) have been selected as the fourth pick overall. The Boston Red Sox (Carlton Fisk, Wade Boggs, Jim Rice) and the San Diego Padres (Dave Winfield, Ozzie Smith, Tony Gwynn) lead the list of HOF players drafted with three each, the Minnesota Twins have selected two Hall of Fame players in Bert Blyleven in 1969 and Kirby Puckett in 1982. The latest round that a HOF has been picked? That would be the Philadelphia Phillies 20th round pick in 1978, Ryne Sandberg. Just because a player is drafted does not mean that he will be signed. In 2012, 73.74% of the players drafted were signed, between 2000 and 2011 the percentages varied between 56.56% and 64.85%, so why the huge jump in 2012? Probably due to the fact that the draft was reduced from 50 rounds to 40 rounds for the first time. But percentages can be deceiving, in 2012 there were 913 players signed, the lowest number since there were 895 draftees signed in 2006. Over the years first round picks were often signed to huge ridiculous contracts but now that a slotting system was implemented in 2012, that has changed the landscape for everyone. In addition a bonus pool is assigned to each team limiting them to what they can spend on their first 10 picks. These limits however are only "strong recommendations" and teams can spend more but they have to be prepared to pay a luxury tax and possibly even give up their first rounds selection for next year and/or the year after depending on how much they exceed the slot amount. The Twins bonus pool number for their top 10 picks for this year is $8,264,500 and their fourth overall pick has a slot limit of $4,544,400. It has been reported that some teams are looking to limit what they pay to their top selections so that they have more pool money to spend on their lower top 10 picks. I find that an interesting concept but not one that I think I would pursue if I was the GM. For me, it is all about quality versus quantity. According to MLB, they looked at how the 2012 opening day rosters were structured and here is what they found. 23.36% were round 1 picks 11.37% were round 2 picks 9.03% were round 3 picks 7.76% were round 4 picks 9.35% were round 5 picks 14.80% were selected in rounds 6-10 It will be interesting to see if the Twins find diamonds with their picks or if their picks turns out to be no more than lumps of coal, but either way the Twins will pay big money to add these new prospects to their organization. Draft picks are no different than baseball in general, you never know what you will get each year. I think someone said some thing like this about a box of chocolates once upon a time...

Posted earlier at Twinstrivia.com | TWINS TRIVIA is hopefully a fun and informative site that will help you to better enjoy the Minnesota Twins and their wonderful history. . The Twins played their 50th game of the season last night when they beat the Milwaukee Brewers 4-1 at Target Field and their record now stands at 22-28. Last night they struck out 7 times, the night before they struck out 14 times in 14 innings and the day before that they struck out 7 times. I don't know how many of you have noticed but Twins batters are striking out at a record-breaking pace. The 1997 Twins struck out a team record 1,121 times in 5,634 at-bats. That equates to batters striking out once every 5.03 at-bats which also is a team high. If you spread that out over the 162 games they played that season it comes out to 6.92 strikeouts per game. That 1997 Twins team finished with a 68-94 record under manager Tom Kelly. That team had two hitters strike out more than 100 times, Rich Becker had 130 and Terry Steinbach contributed 106. This years Twins have struck out 418 times in 1,718 at-bats through 50 games. That means that batters are striking out once every 4.11 at-bats, almost a full at-bat worse than they have ever done. If you prorate that over 162 games at their current pace, they will strike out 1,354 times in 5,566 at-bats which blows away their 1997 high water strikeout mark. If you look at it at a strikeouts per game, their current running rate is 8.36 KO's per game. Again blowing away their historic worst 1997 mark of 6.92 KO's per game. Excluding any strike shortened season, the 1978 Twins struck out the fewest times. That group of hitters struck out just 684 times in 5,522 at-bats or once every 8.07 at-bats. That comes out to only 4.22 strikeouts per game. Danny Ford led that team in strikeouts with 88 and no one else had more than 70. The most strikeouts that a Twins batter has had in a single season is 145 and both Harmon Killebrew (1969) and Bobby Darwin (1972) share that honor. Killebrew led the Twins in strikeouts seven times and Gary Gaetti is next on the list having led the team in strikeouts six times. This years team is on pace to have five hitters with 100 or more KO's, Josh Willingham, Aaron Hicks, Joe Mauer, Chris Parmelee and Brian Dozier all have a solid shot. Both Willingham and Hicks are on pace to set a new Twins season high strikeout mark with 159 and 147 respectively. Things can certainly change as some of these young hitters hopefully improve as the year moves along but if their play to date is any indication, you had better hang on to your hat if you are sitting near home plate when the Twins are batting because some of those whiffs may send your hat flying.

Posted earlier at Twinstrivia.com | TWINS TRIVIA is hopefully a fun and informative site that will help you to better enjoy the Minnesota Twins and their wonderful history. . The Twins played their 50th game of the season last night when they beat the Milwaukee Brewers 4-1 at Target Field and their record now stands at 22-28. Last night they struck out 7 times, the night before they struck out 14 times in 14 innings and the day before that they struck out 7 times. I don't know how many of you have noticed but Twins batters are striking out at a record-breaking pace. The 1997 Twins struck out a team record 1,121 times in 5,634 at-bats. That equates to batters striking out once every 5.03 at-bats which also is a team high. If you spread that out over the 162 games they played that season it comes out to 6.92 strikeouts per game. That 1997 Twins team finished with a 68-94 record under manager Tom Kelly. That team had two hitters strike out more than 100 times, Rich Becker had 130 and Terry Steinbach contributed 106. This years Twins have struck out 418 times in 1,718 at-bats through 50 games. That means that batters are striking out once every 4.11 at-bats, almost a full at-bat worse than they have ever done. If you prorate that over 162 games at their current pace, they will strike out 1,354 times in 5,566 at-bats which blows away their 1997 high water strikeout mark. If you look at it at a strikeouts per game, their current running rate is 8.36 KO's per game. Again blowing away their historic worst 1997 mark of 6.92 KO's per game. Excluding any strike shortened season, the 1978 Twins struck out the fewest times. That group of hitters struck out just 684 times in 5,522 at-bats or once every 8.07 at-bats. That comes out to only 4.22 strikeouts per game. Danny Ford led that team in strikeouts with 88 and no one else had more than 70. The most strikeouts that a Twins batter has had in a single season is 145 and both Harmon Killebrew (1969) and Bobby Darwin (1972) share that honor. Killebrew led the Twins in strikeouts seven times and Gary Gaetti is next on the list having led the team in strikeouts six times. This years team is on pace to have five hitters with 100 or more KO's, Josh Willingham, Aaron Hicks, Joe Mauer, Chris Parmelee and Brian Dozier all have a solid shot. Both Willingham and Hicks are on pace to set a new Twins season high strikeout mark with 159 and 147 respectively. Things can certainly change as some of these young hitters hopefully improve as the year moves along but if their play to date is any indication, you had better hang on to your hat if you are sitting near home plate when the Twins are batting because some of those whiffs may send your hat flying.

Originally posted at Twins losing streak reaches eight | Twinstrivia.com [ATTACH=CONFIG]4150[/ATTACH] Today was the first time this season I did not watch a single inning of the Twins game. My modem and router went on the blink and so I spent most of the day troubleshooting that issue and getting a replacement so I could get back on the internet. The Twins lost in Atlanta today 8-3 and it marked their eighth loss in a row. The team is playing really poorly right now and it is hard to find any silver linings or moral victories. Moral victories are meaningless anyway, all that counts is wins and the Twins can't find a win to save their life right now. The Twins starters keep allowing the opposition to score first and it just sucks the life out of the team and to be honest it really makes watching a Twins game a real chore. I love baseball and the Twins and I will keep watching but I want to see a team that is showing some life and making some progress towards being a competitive team and right now this bunch of players wearing the Twins uniform is doing nothing for me. These players realize they are not a very good team and they are playing to their expectations. The Twins management stubbornly hangs on to their statement that the team is doing all it can to win but I think that management is starting to realize that a major rebuild is in order here. The other day they sent starter Pedro Hernandez down and brought up reliever Caleb Thielbar to help with all the extra innings the bullpen has had to throw. Reports are that Samuel Deduno will be brought up to start in Detroit on Friday and he will probably takes Vance Worley's spot on the roster since he was the second starter in the last few days to change his address to Rochester. The Twins will need to make another roster change in a couple of days to get a starter to pitch on Monday in Milwaukee and you have to think that Kyle Gibson might be the guy. Trevor Plouffe took a knee to his head on Tuesday night at second base, reminiscent to Morneau getting hurt in Toronto a couple of years ago and the Twins called up last weeks Twins minor league player of the week 1B/OF Chris Colabello to fill in for Plouffe while he recuperates on the 7 day concussion DL. You can sense that the Twins will be making roster changes frequently as the season approaches the 50 game mark in the next week. I have always liked Ron Gardenhire as a manager and Terry Ryan as the GM but right now it appears to me that they have no plan and the Twins look like a "Chinese fire drill" and the team seems to be in a death spiral. Gardy appears to be grasping at straws and trying to go with who ever was hot the day before and making them a regular part of the line-up. Mr. Ryan seems to be missing in action when he should be leading the charge to make this team better. This team is going nowhere this year! Put the young guys in the line-up day in and day out and let them make their mistakes and learn the game until they get so sick of losing that they start playing the game the right way. Gardy keep pulling players like Chris Parmelee and Brian Dozier and putting them on the bench when they struggle and he would do the same with Aaron Hicks if he had anyone that could play center field. You only hurt the long-term future of the Twins when you don't let these guys play every day. Jamey Carroll is a utility player and a good one but I should not be seeing his name in the line-up 3 or days in a row unless he is filling in for an injury like with Plouffe. You won't hurt fan interest by going with the young guys, everyone knows the team isn't going anywhere so bring us the future and let's see what and who we can look forward to watching in the next few years. I can take short-term pain for long-term gain but if major changes are not made to this team soon we are doomed to watching a team that has no wins, no hope and no future. You kill a fan base by taking away their hope, I hope that is not where the Twins are taking us. No one said that running a baseball team was easy but that is what Gardy and Mr. Ryan signed up for and they get paid the big bucks to make the Twins a winning baseball team. I know these gents are up to the task, but we need to see some results soon boys!

Spycake, the 15 years I looked at is no magic number, I had to cut things off somewhere and I chose 15 years. If you go back to 1965 and do comparisons then you are comparing apples to oranges. I probably should not have used the word "just" in the phrase "just 10 regular position players". I credit the Twins for their position player drafting, it is pitching that has been an issue. Thank you for taking the time to stop over at the site to check out the blog, I appreciate it.

If you are interested in the Twins draft history from 1998-2012 and are curious as to how many players were drafted and signed each year, and how many of these drafted players have made it to the big leagues, then stop by at The road to Minnesota is long and hard | Twinstrivia.com and check out my blog. You might be surprised how long it takes a drafted player to make that big league debut.

I posted the Press Release and a link to the draft order over at www.twinstrivia.com .

You can view the page at http://twinsdaily.com/content.php?r=1616-Twins-Switch-Hitters

Posted earlier at Twinstrivia.com | TWINS TRIVIA is hopefully a fun and informative site that will help you to better enjoy the Minnesota Twins and their wonderful history. In baseball, a switch-hitter is a batter that bats either from the right side or the left side depending on if the pitcher is right or left-handed. Most curveballs break away from batters hitting from the same side as the opposing pitcher making such pitches often harder to hit than those from the other side. History tells us that most right-handed batters hit better against lefty pitchers and left-handed batters hit better against right handers. This so-called platoon benefit is why managers use pinch-hitters and LOOGY's and why some players want to become switch-hitters. Switch-hitting at its best Switch-hitters have been around for ever it seems and yet according to sources that I have researched, only about 6% of baseball batters have been switch-hitters. You have to wonder if switch-hitting is such an advantage, why haven't more of baseball best hitters been switch-hitters? The best career batting average for a switch-hitter is .316 by Frankie Frisch, who currently ranks 71st all-time. Some of the best switch-hitters in our times like Chipper Jones, hit at .306 and Pete Rose hit .303. Detroit Tigers DH Victor Martinez has a career average of .302 making him the highest currently active switch-hitter. Switch-hitters have been around for a long time and there have been some pretty good ones over the years, in addition to the players I just mentioned, you have to add players like Mickey Mantle, Eddie Murray, Roberto Alomar, Bernie Williams, George Davis, Lance Berkman, Tim Raines and Chili Davis to the list of switch-hitting greats. Switch-hitting and the rules A question often asked is can a batter switch for right to left or left to right during an at bat. The only rule that I can find that seemingly applies is 6.06( which states that "A batter is out for illegal action when he steps from one batter’s box to the other while the pitcher is in position ready to pitch." Based on that, it appears you can switch from one batters box to the other as often as you want as long as you do it before the pitcher gets in his pitching position. Twins switch-hitting history The Twins currently have four switch-hitters on their 25 man playing roster, C Ryan Doumit, SS Pedro Florimon, OF Aaron Hicks, and utility man Eduardo Escobar. In the Twins 53 years of existence they had 62 players that were switch-hitters but not all of them actually batted and we will touch more on that later. The Twins very first switch-hitter was actually a pitcher, Pedro Ramos. Ramos pitched and batted (1 for 4 with 2 RBI) in the Twins very first game when Ramos and the Twins shut out the New York Yankees 6-0 on April 11, 1961 at Yankee Stadium. The first Twins switch-hitting position player to appear in a game was SS Marty Martinez when he had an at bat against the Yankees at Met Stadium on May 30, 1962 in game 2 of a doubleheader. Martinez actually appeared in 3 earlier games as a Twins but was used strictly as a pinch-runner by manager Sam Mele. It wasn't until 1976 however; that the Twins actually had a regular position player switch-hitting and that year they had two, rookie catcher Butch Wynegar and SS Roy Smalley. The Twins are playing their 53rd season and there has only been one year, 1973 that they have not had a switch-hitter step into the batters box wearing a Twins uniform. On the other hand, they had nine switch-hitters (Cristian Guzman was the only starter) at one time or another on their 1999 team that finished 63-97. Twins switch-hitting pitchers Looking at the Twins 62 switch-hitters, eleven of them were pitchers and claimed to be switch hitters but only Pedro Ramos, Jim Perry, Dan Serafini, JC Romero, and Joe Mays actually set foot in the batters box. The other six, Stan Perzanowski, Darrell Jackson, Pete Filson, Jason Ryan, Pat Neshek, and Eric Hacker were switch-hitters only on the back of their baseball cards because they never batted in a Twins game. Jim Perry actually hit five home runs as a Twin. Home runs from each side of the plate club The Twins switch-hitter with the most home runs is Roy Smalley and he hit 163 career home runs and 110 of them were when he was a Minnesota Twin. The "home runs from each side of the plate" club is relatively exclusive but three of the members were Twins. Roy Smalley accomplished that rare feat twice, once against the Boston Red Sox at the Metrodome on May 30, 1986 and once earlier in his career as a New York Yankee in 1982. Chili Davis became the second Twin to join the club when he did it against the Royals on October 2, 1992. Ryan Doumit became the third Twin to do so when too joined the exclusive fraternity against the Royals on July 22, 2012. Chili Davis hit a home run from each side of the plate 11 times in his illustrious 19 year playing career. Just for comparisons sake, Mickey Mantle did it on 10 occasions. One oddity that seems to stand out to me is how few of the switch-hitters employed by the Twins over the years actually threw left-handed. If you exclude the 11 switch-hitting pitchers from the list you are left with 51 switch-hitters and only one of the 51 threw left-handed, the other fifty were right-handed. Kind of strange. The lone left-handed position player was John Moses. But keep in mind that John Moses, an outfielder by trade actually pitched in 3 games for the Twins and it gets even stranger. Twins best switch-hitters So let's take a look at the Twins top switch-hitters, there is no good way to rank them so I will list all the Twins switch-hitters that have 1,000 or more plate appearances in a Twins uniform. The chart also shows positions played, games played, home runs and batting average. All the numbers on this chart are their Twins career numbers. Many of these players played for other teams but those numbers are not included here, I am only interested in their numbers as Minnesota Twins for this story. [TABLE=class: easy-table-creator tablesorter mceItemTable, width: 100%] [/TH][TH=align: center]Name [TH=align: center]Positions[/TH] [TH=align: center]PA[/TH] [TH=align: center]Games[/TH] [TH=align: center]HR[/TH] [TH=align: center]AVG[/TH] [TD=align: center]1[/TD] [TD=align: center]Roy Smalley[/TD] [TD=align: center]6,5,3[/TD] [TD=align: center]4676[/TD] [TD=align: center]1148[/TD] [TD=align: center]110[/TD] [TD=align: center].262[/TD] [TD=align: center]2[/TD] [TD=align: center]Cristian Guzman[/TD] [TD=align: center]6[/TD] [TD=align: center]3538[/TD] [TD=align: center]841[/TD] [TD=align: center]39[/TD] [TD=align: center].266[/TD] [TD=align: center]3[/TD] [TD=align: center]Butch Wynegar[/TD] [TD=align: center]2,5[/TD] [TD=align: center]3188[/TD] [TD=align: center]794[/TD] [TD=align: center]37[/TD] [TD=align: center].254[/TD] [TD=align: center]4[/TD] [TD=align: center]Nick Punto[/TD] [TD=align: center]5,4,6,8,3[/TD] [TD=align: center]2707[/TD] [TD=align: center]747[/TD] [TD=align: center]12[/TD] [TD=align: center].248[/TD] [TD=align: center]5[/TD] [TD=align: center]Gene Larkin[/TD] [TD=align: center]3.9.5.4[/TD] [TD=align: center]2670[/TD] [TD=align: center]758[/TD] [TD=align: center]32[/TD] [TD=align: center].266[/TD] [TD=align: center]6[/TD] [TD=align: center]Denny Hocking[/TD] [TD=align: center]4,6,8,5,3[/TD] [TD=align: center]2455[/TD] [TD=align: center]876[/TD] [TD=align: center]25[/TD] [TD=align: center].252[/TD] [TD=align: center]7[/TD] [TD=align: center]Al Newman[/TD] [TD=align: center]6,4,5,8[/TD] [TD=align: center]1876[/TD] [TD=align: center]618[/TD] [TD=align: center]0[/TD] [TD=align: center].231[/TD] [TD=align: center]8[/TD] [TD=align: center]Alexi Casilla[/TD] [TD=align: center]4,6,5,8[/TD] [TD=align: center]1764[/TD] [TD=align: center]515[/TD] [TD=align: center]11[/TD] [TD=align: center].250[/TD] [TD=align: center]9[/TD] [TD=align: center]Chili Davis[/TD] [TD=align: center]DH,9,3[/TD] [TD=align: center]1163[/TD] [TD=align: center]291[/TD] [TD=align: center]41[/TD] [TD=align: center].282[/TD] [TD=align: center]10[/TD] [TD=align: center]Luis Castillo[/TD] [TD=align: center]4[/TD] [TD=align: center]1036[/TD] [TD=align: center]227[/TD] [TD=align: center]3[/TD] [TD=align: center].299[/TD] [TD=align: center]11[/TD] [TD=align: center]Matt Walbeck[/TD] [TD=align: center]2[/TD] [TD=align: center]1008[/TD] [TD=align: center]275[/TD] [TD=align: center]8[/TD] [TD=align: center].230[/TD] [/TABLE] Some interesting numbers and players on this chart, about half the players were starters and half were utility players. No surprise that Smalley is the leader in home runs or that Chili Davis is second on that list but finding that Cristian Guzman is number 3 in the Twins switch-hitter home run list really surprised me.

Posted earlier at Twinstrivia.com | TWINS TRIVIA is hopefully a fun and informative site that will help you to better enjoy the Minnesota Twins and their wonderful history. In baseball, a switch-hitter is a batter that bats either from the right side or the left side depending on if the pitcher is right or left-handed. Most curveballs break away from batters hitting from the same side as the opposing pitcher making such pitches often harder to hit than those from the other side. History tells us that most right-handed batters hit better against lefty pitchers and left-handed batters hit better against right handers. This so-called platoon benefit is why managers use pinch-hitters and LOOGY's and why some players want to become switch-hitters. Switch-hitting at its best Switch-hitters have been around for ever it seems and yet according to sources that I have researched, only about 6% of baseball batters have been switch-hitters. You have to wonder if switch-hitting is such an advantage, why haven't more of baseball best hitters been switch-hitters? The best career batting average for a switch-hitter is .316 by Frankie Frisch, who currently ranks 71st all-time. Some of the best switch-hitters in our times like Chipper Jones, hit at .306 and Pete Rose hit .303. Detroit Tigers DH Victor Martinez has a career average of .302 making him the highest currently active switch-hitter. Switch-hitters have been around for a long time and there have been some pretty good ones over the years, in addition to the players I just mentioned, you have to add players like Mickey Mantle, Eddie Murray, Roberto Alomar, Bernie Williams, George Davis, Lance Berkman, Tim Raines and Chili Davis to the list of switch-hitting greats. Switch-hitting and the rules A question often asked is can a batter switch for right to left or left to right during an at bat. The only rule that I can find that seemingly applies is 6.06( which states that "A batter is out for illegal action when he steps from one batter’s box to the other while the pitcher is in position ready to pitch." Based on that, it appears you can switch from one batters box to the other as often as you want as long as you do it before the pitcher gets in his pitching position. Twins switch-hitting history The Twins currently have four switch-hitters on their 25 man playing roster, C Ryan Doumit, SS Pedro Florimon, OF Aaron Hicks, and utility man Eduardo Escobar. In the Twins 53 years of existence they had 62 players that were switch-hitters but not all of them actually batted and we will touch more on that later. The Twins very first switch-hitter was actually a pitcher, Pedro Ramos. Ramos pitched and batted (1 for 4 with 2 RBI) in the Twins very first game when Ramos and the Twins shut out the New York Yankees 6-0 on April 11, 1961 at Yankee Stadium. The first Twins switch-hitting position player to appear in a game was SS Marty Martinez when he had an at bat against the Yankees at Met Stadium on May 30, 1962 in game 2 of a doubleheader. Martinez actually appeared in 3 earlier games as a Twins but was used strictly as a pinch-runner by manager Sam Mele. It wasn't until 1976 however; that the Twins actually had a regular position player switch-hitting and that year they had two, rookie catcher Butch Wynegar and SS Roy Smalley. The Twins are playing their 53rd season and there has only been one year, 1973 that they have not had a switch-hitter step into the batters box wearing a Twins uniform. On the other hand, they had nine switch-hitters (Cristian Guzman was the only starter) at one time or another on their 1999 team that finished 63-97. Twins switch-hitting pitchers Looking at the Twins 62 switch-hitters, eleven of them were pitchers and claimed to be switch hitters but only Pedro Ramos, Jim Perry, Dan Serafini, JC Romero, and Joe Mays actually set foot in the batters box. The other six, Stan Perzanowski, Darrell Jackson, Pete Filson, Jason Ryan, Pat Neshek, and Eric Hacker were switch-hitters only on the back of their baseball cards because they never batted in a Twins game. Jim Perry actually hit five home runs as a Twin. Home runs from each side of the plate club The Twins switch-hitter with the most home runs is Roy Smalley and he hit 163 career home runs and 110 of them were when he was a Minnesota Twin. The "home runs from each side of the plate" club is relatively exclusive but three of the members were Twins. Roy Smalley accomplished that rare feat twice, once against the Boston Red Sox at the Metrodome on May 30, 1986 and once earlier in his career as a New York Yankee in 1982. Chili Davis became the second Twin to join the club when he did it against the Royals on October 2, 1992. Ryan Doumit became the third Twin to do so when too joined the exclusive fraternity against the Royals on July 22, 2012. Chili Davis hit a home run from each side of the plate 11 times in his illustrious 19 year playing career. Just for comparisons sake, Mickey Mantle did it on 10 occasions. One oddity that seems to stand out to me is how few of the switch-hitters employed by the Twins over the years actually threw left-handed. If you exclude the 11 switch-hitting pitchers from the list you are left with 51 switch-hitters and only one of the 51 threw left-handed, the other fifty were right-handed. Kind of strange. The lone left-handed position player was John Moses. But keep in mind that John Moses, an outfielder by trade actually pitched in 3 games for the Twins and it gets even stranger. Twins best switch-hitters So let's take a look at the Twins top switch-hitters, there is no good way to rank them so I will list all the Twins switch-hitters that have 1,000 or more plate appearances in a Twins uniform. The chart also shows positions played, games played, home runs and batting average. All the numbers on this chart are their Twins career numbers. Many of these players played for other teams but those numbers are not included here, I am only interested in their numbers as Minnesota Twins for this story. [TABLE=class: easy-table-creator tablesorter mceItemTable, width: 100%] [/TH][TH=align: center]Name [TH=align: center]Positions[/TH] [TH=align: center]PA[/TH] [TH=align: center]Games[/TH] [TH=align: center]HR[/TH] [TH=align: center]AVG[/TH] [TD=align: center]1[/TD] [TD=align: center]Roy Smalley[/TD] [TD=align: center]6,5,3[/TD] [TD=align: center]4676[/TD] [TD=align: center]1148[/TD] [TD=align: center]110[/TD] [TD=align: center].262[/TD] [TD=align: center]2[/TD] [TD=align: center]Cristian Guzman[/TD] [TD=align: center]6[/TD] [TD=align: center]3538[/TD] [TD=align: center]841[/TD] [TD=align: center]39[/TD] [TD=align: center].266[/TD] [TD=align: center]3[/TD] [TD=align: center]Butch Wynegar[/TD] [TD=align: center]2,5[/TD] [TD=align: center]3188[/TD] [TD=align: center]794[/TD] [TD=align: center]37[/TD] [TD=align: center].254[/TD] [TD=align: center]4[/TD] [TD=align: center]Nick Punto[/TD] [TD=align: center]5,4,6,8,3[/TD] [TD=align: center]2707[/TD] [TD=align: center]747[/TD] [TD=align: center]12[/TD] [TD=align: center].248[/TD] [TD=align: center]5[/TD] [TD=align: center]Gene Larkin[/TD] [TD=align: center]3.9.5.4[/TD] [TD=align: center]2670[/TD] [TD=align: center]758[/TD] [TD=align: center]32[/TD] [TD=align: center].266[/TD] [TD=align: center]6[/TD] [TD=align: center]Denny Hocking[/TD] [TD=align: center]4,6,8,5,3[/TD] [TD=align: center]2455[/TD] [TD=align: center]876[/TD] [TD=align: center]25[/TD] [TD=align: center].252[/TD] [TD=align: center]7[/TD] [TD=align: center]Al Newman[/TD] [TD=align: center]6,4,5,8[/TD] [TD=align: center]1876[/TD] [TD=align: center]618[/TD] [TD=align: center]0[/TD] [TD=align: center].231[/TD] [TD=align: center]8[/TD] [TD=align: center]Alexi Casilla[/TD] [TD=align: center]4,6,5,8[/TD] [TD=align: center]1764[/TD] [TD=align: center]515[/TD] [TD=align: center]11[/TD] [TD=align: center].250[/TD] [TD=align: center]9[/TD] [TD=align: center]Chili Davis[/TD] [TD=align: center]DH,9,3[/TD] [TD=align: center]1163[/TD] [TD=align: center]291[/TD] [TD=align: center]41[/TD] [TD=align: center].282[/TD] [TD=align: center]10[/TD] [TD=align: center]Luis Castillo[/TD] [TD=align: center]4[/TD] [TD=align: center]1036[/TD] [TD=align: center]227[/TD] [TD=align: center]3[/TD] [TD=align: center].299[/TD] [TD=align: center]11[/TD] [TD=align: center]Matt Walbeck[/TD] [TD=align: center]2[/TD] [TD=align: center]1008[/TD] [TD=align: center]275[/TD] [TD=align: center]8[/TD] [TD=align: center].230[/TD] [/TABLE] Some interesting numbers and players on this chart, about half the players were starters and half were utility players. No surprise that Smalley is the leader in home runs or that Chili Davis is second on that list but finding that Cristian Guzman is number 3 in the Twins switch-hitter home run list really surprised me.

I understand what you are saying, I enjoy watching the young guys work their way up the organization ladder too but I would not like for this site to become more about the Twins minor league system then it is about the Minnesota Twins. Just a personal preference and I am not saying it is right or wrong, I was just curious to see what others out there are thinking.

What does it tell us when there are more blogs about the Twins minor league system and their associated teams on the front page of Twins Daily then there are blogs about the Twins themselves? We are only 2 weeks into the Twins season.....

Originally posted at Twinstrivia.com | TWINS TRIVIA is hopefully a fun and informative site that will help you to better enjoy the Minnesota Twins and their wonderful history. It is too early to tell what kind of team the Twins have for 2013 but from what I have seen in the nine games they have played so far, it is a team that is playing better than what it has the last two seasons. I am not saying they are playoff bound but the team is at least entertaining to watch and I hope they can start to gel as a team over time. Yes, the Twins are 4-5 but you could argue that two of those wins were gifts when outfielders from the Tigers and Orioles let a ball drop between them and gave the Twins gift runs. Everybody was worried about the starting pitching going in to 2013 but it is the hitting so far that has been missing. Hicks has been terrible with the bat but he is not the total reason this team is not hitting well. So far this year the 3-5 hitters have scored 11 runs, hit 2 home runs, and have 9 RBI's. That is just plain terrible, Gardy needs to do something to shake-up this line-up. What scares me is that they are not playing all that well in the field either and they keep making mistakes on the base paths that are just plain embarrassing. The Twins have played just 9 games so the sample size is very small but here are some stats comparing the Twins to the rest of the league in various categories. The Twins are 4-5 and in fourth place in the AL Central 2 games behind the division leading Kansas City Royals. The Twins have lost 3 games in a row. The team is hitting .232 (13th place) and have scored 33 runs. Only the White Sox with 31 and the Rays with 32 have scored less. The Twins and the Oakland A's hitters lead the league in walks with 35. Only the Houston Astros with 101 have struck out more frequently than the Twins 79 strikeouts. Twins pitchers have a 4.09 ERA, good for 6th best and have given up only 4 home runs, the fewest in the league. Who would have thought that could happen, even after just 9 games? Twins pitchers have the fewest strikeouts in the league and opponents are hitting .284 off Twins and Blue Jays pitchers, only the Yankees pitchers who are getting hit at a .306 clip are worse. Twins relievers have a 2.73 ERA (3rd best) and are holding opposing hitters to a .231 average. The Twins and the Indians each have 7 errors and only the Angels, Blue Jays, and White Sox with 8 have committed more miscues. Everyone knows that Aaron Hicks is striking out at a frightening pace of 16 KO's in 35 at bats in the leadoff position. But have you noticed that Josh Willingham has struck out 13 times in 29 at bats and that Joe Mauer has struck out 10 times in 40 at bats. In Willingham's defense he also has 9 walks but Mauer and Hicks have 2 walks apiece. You have to wonder what might be bothering Mauer, his catching seems sub par this year too. Mauer has let a number of balls get by him and his throws to second base shouldn't scare any opposing baserunners. We will get a better feel for how good or bad the Twins really are very soon as they will play at home over the next 2 weeks or so as 12 of their next 15 games will be played at Target Field. We should also know by the time April is over if Aaron Hicks can catch his breath and turn things around before he finds himself in Gardy's doghouse and on his way to Rochester. I sure hope so because the Twins don't currently have a good plan B for center field unless Joe Benson catches fire. Hicks not running out his pop-up on Wednesday was obvious to anyone who watched the game but I didn't like Gardy being so public about how upset he was about the rookie's mistake. The Twins veterans like Morneau, Mauer, or Willingham should be taking care of issues like this, Gardy should have not gone public with his thoughts. The Twins starting pitching is still a huge question mark and it will be interesting to see what Scott Diamond looks like in 2013. Mike Pelfrey has shown less than what most people expected, Hendriks has pitched like.........Hendriks, I think you need to keep sending him out there every five days for a while and see what you get. I have liked Kevin Correia since they signed him but I know he can't keep pitching like he has. Hopefully Cole De Vries can get healthy and fight for a spot again. The biggest disappointment to me so far has been Vance Worley but it is still way too early to determine anything. The Twins drew the short straw from MLB this year from a schedule perspective with all those April home games and Mother Nature has not been as kind to the Twins as it has in the past but it is what it is. Now Dave St. Peter and the Twins find themselves having to make a hard decision in a no win situation today trying to determine if they should play the New York Mets tonight when temperatures are expected to be in the low 30's with snow flurries predicted. It sounds like the Twins had all the 6 inches or so of snow removed from the ballpark yesterday and last night. It is a tough call because the Mets will only make one trip to Minnesota this year and the weather prediction for the rest of the week-end is bad with possible rain on Sunday too. As a matter of fact the temps are not scheduled to get out of the 40's for the next week. So it makes sense to try to get the game in tonight but what about the fans comfort? Heaters or not, it will be miserable at Target Field and today's game is scheduled to be a night game. The Twins are having trouble drawing fans as it is and when you add in cold and or snowy and wet weather you have a perfect scenario for Twins fans staying home and watching the game on TV. No matter what choice the Twins make, lots of Twins fans will be unhappy. It is kind of perfect storm and the Twins seemed doomed to come out on the losing end. As I stated earlier, predicted temperatures for the next week are in the 40's and this entire Twins home stand will not see a temperature above 50 and all three games against the Angels after the Mets leave town are night games. OUCH! You add in the little dust-up the other day about the Twins charging $15 for a group of 60 fans to watch Twins take batting practice and then withdrawing the offer later in the day and you have a rough start to the 2013 season for the Minnesota Twins and their fans.

Originally posted at Twinstrivia.com | TWINS TRIVIA is hopefully a fun and informative site that will help you to better enjoy the Minnesota Twins and their wonderful history. It is too early to tell what kind of team the Twins have for 2013 but from what I have seen in the nine games they have played so far, it is a team that is playing better than what it has the last two seasons. I am not saying they are playoff bound but the team is at least entertaining to watch and I hope they can start to gel as a team over time. Yes, the Twins are 4-5 but you could argue that two of those wins were gifts when outfielders from the Tigers and Orioles let a ball drop between them and gave the Twins gift runs. Everybody was worried about the starting pitching going in to 2013 but it is the hitting so far that has been missing. Hicks has been terrible with the bat but he is not the total reason this team is not hitting well. So far this year the 3-5 hitters have scored 11 runs, hit 2 home runs, and have 9 RBI's. That is just plain terrible, Gardy needs to do something to shake-up this line-up. What scares me is that they are not playing all that well in the field either and they keep making mistakes on the base paths that are just plain embarrassing. The Twins have played just 9 games so the sample size is very small but here are some stats comparing the Twins to the rest of the league in various categories. The Twins are 4-5 and in fourth place in the AL Central 2 games behind the division leading Kansas City Royals. The Twins have lost 3 games in a row. The team is hitting .232 (13th place) and have scored 33 runs. Only the White Sox with 31 and the Rays with 32 have scored less. The Twins and the Oakland A's hitters lead the league in walks with 35. Only the Houston Astros with 101 have struck out more frequently than the Twins 79 strikeouts. Twins pitchers have a 4.09 ERA, good for 6th best and have given up only 4 home runs, the fewest in the league. Who would have thought that could happen, even after just 9 games? Twins pitchers have the fewest strikeouts in the league and opponents are hitting .284 off Twins and Blue Jays pitchers, only the Yankees pitchers who are getting hit at a .306 clip are worse. Twins relievers have a 2.73 ERA (3rd best) and are holding opposing hitters to a .231 average. The Twins and the Indians each have 7 errors and only the Angels, Blue Jays, and White Sox with 8 have committed more miscues. Everyone knows that Aaron Hicks is striking out at a frightening pace of 16 KO's in 35 at bats in the leadoff position. But have you noticed that Josh Willingham has struck out 13 times in 29 at bats and that Joe Mauer has struck out 10 times in 40 at bats. In Willingham's defense he also has 9 walks but Mauer and Hicks have 2 walks apiece. You have to wonder what might be bothering Mauer, his catching seems sub par this year too. Mauer has let a number of balls get by him and his throws to second base shouldn't scare any opposing baserunners. We will get a better feel for how good or bad the Twins really are very soon as they will play at home over the next 2 weeks or so as 12 of their next 15 games will be played at Target Field. We should also know by the time April is over if Aaron Hicks can catch his breath and turn things around before he finds himself in Gardy's doghouse and on his way to Rochester. I sure hope so because the Twins don't currently have a good plan B for center field unless Joe Benson catches fire. Hicks not running out his pop-up on Wednesday was obvious to anyone who watched the game but I didn't like Gardy being so public about how upset he was about the rookie's mistake. The Twins veterans like Morneau, Mauer, or Willingham should be taking care of issues like this, Gardy should have not gone public with his thoughts. The Twins starting pitching is still a huge question mark and it will be interesting to see what Scott Diamond looks like in 2013. Mike Pelfrey has shown less than what most people expected, Hendriks has pitched like.........Hendriks, I think you need to keep sending him out there every five days for a while and see what you get. I have liked Kevin Correia since they signed him but I know he can't keep pitching like he has. Hopefully Cole De Vries can get healthy and fight for a spot again. The biggest disappointment to me so far has been Vance Worley but it is still way too early to determine anything. The Twins drew the short straw from MLB this year from a schedule perspective with all those April home games and Mother Nature has not been as kind to the Twins as it has in the past but it is what it is. Now Dave St. Peter and the Twins find themselves having to make a hard decision in a no win situation today trying to determine if they should play the New York Mets tonight when temperatures are expected to be in the low 30's with snow flurries predicted. It sounds like the Twins had all the 6 inches or so of snow removed from the ballpark yesterday and last night. It is a tough call because the Mets will only make one trip to Minnesota this year and the weather prediction for the rest of the week-end is bad with possible rain on Sunday too. As a matter of fact the temps are not scheduled to get out of the 40's for the next week. So it makes sense to try to get the game in tonight but what about the fans comfort? Heaters or not, it will be miserable at Target Field and today's game is scheduled to be a night game. The Twins are having trouble drawing fans as it is and when you add in cold and or snowy and wet weather you have a perfect scenario for Twins fans staying home and watching the game on TV. No matter what choice the Twins make, lots of Twins fans will be unhappy. It is kind of perfect storm and the Twins seemed doomed to come out on the losing end. As I stated earlier, predicted temperatures for the next week are in the 40's and this entire Twins home stand will not see a temperature above 50 and all three games against the Angels after the Mets leave town are night games. OUCH! You add in the little dust-up the other day about the Twins charging $15 for a group of 60 fans to watch Twins take batting practice and then withdrawing the offer later in the day and you have a rough start to the 2013 season for the Minnesota Twins and their fans.

Here is a Press Release the Minnesota Twins sent out yesterday - Early Entry Program Coming to Target Field Early entry tickets permit entry into the ballpark 45 minutes before gates open allowing fans to watch Twins batting practice MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Minnesota Twins today announced they will offer fans the opportunity to purchase early entry tickets that will allow them into Target Field 45 minutes before gates open to the general public. Only available before evening games, early entry will begin at 4:45 p.m. (Mondays - Thursdays), at 4:15 p.m. (Fridays) and 3:15 p.m. (Saturdays). Those times are designed to allow early entry fans to watch a majority of Twins batting practice. Early entry tickets will be sold on a walk-up basis at the main Target Field Box Office beginning 30 minutes before the early entry time for that game. Tickets will cost $15 dollars, and sales will be limited to the first 60 fans. Fans will also be required to have a normal entry ticket to the game, and will not be allowed to exit and reenter the ballpark after batting practice. In the case of batting practice being canceled, fans will be offered a tour of the Metropolitan Club, Legends Club and Champions Club as a substitute. ........................................Can you believe this? Back on January 16th I did a blog posting on Florida spring training and I wrote about what I thought was a stupid idea by the Detroit Tigers. The Tigers implemented a plan this spring to charge their fans $5 for the privilege of entering Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland early so that you could watch the Tigers take batting practice. Now our Minnesota Twins have proudly announced they have out done the Tigers with a similar plan but they are going to charge $15 for the right to watch Twins batting practice which is held before the gates open to the general public. Holy crap! What mental genius came up with this idea? I have read some comments from Twins fans and every comment thinks it is a greedy and stupid idea. Some of the fans are blaming the Pohlad family for their greed but there is no way in the world that the business savvy Pohlad family is responsible for an idea as silly as this. This Twins boner falls right in the lap of Twins President Dave St. Peter and the Twins wonderful marketing department. How the Twins could come up with a ludicrous plan like this when they have lost 90+ games two years in a row with attendance dropping like a rock and yet some marketing genius thinks they can bring some extra money in with this plan? Don't tell me the Twins are doing this as a favor to the fans because if that had any validity what so ever, they would just open the gates sooner and not charge extra for the privilege. This plan is supposedly in effect only during evening games but even if they did it for every one of their 81 home games they would bring in a whopping $72,900 in revenue. Mr. St. Peter, what the heck are you thinking to approve something like this? The Minnesota Twins have done a number of stupid things over the years both on and off the field but to me this qualifies as the dumbest and most stupid move that the Twins have made since they moved here in 1961. If the Twins need the $72K that badly, maybe we should take up a collection and help them to raise the funds. The idea might be slightly palatable if they said that the money that they collected would go to a charity or something but to charge $15 to watch the Twins take batting practice and pocket the money is just plain wrong and is a sin against baseball in general. I thought the Twins were interested in attracting fans but with moves like this they just shoot themselves in the foot. First off, it has always been stupid not to let fans watch the home team take batting practice but now to say that they are going to charge fans $15 to do this is just plain wrong. Has common sense lost its way at Target Field? Shame on the Minnesota Twins and Dave St. Peter for this ill-advised, nonsensical and shortsighted idea. I love baseball and the Minnesota Twins but ideas like this are what chase people away from the game and keep them from enjoying America's pastime. The Twins should immediately come out with an apology and rescind this moronic blunder stating that the recent cold snap and unusually cold spring has temporarily dulled their thinking and that common sense has prevailed over at Target field after thinking the plan through. I would urge all of you to drop Dave St. Peter a quick e-mail at davestpeter@twinsbaseball.com and let him know what you think of this Twins announcement. If you want to call the Twins instead, you can reach the team at 612-659-3400. It wouldn't hurt to also drop a note to Bud Selig and let him know what you think of MLB teams making moves like this. The baseball commissioner can be reached at bud.selig@mlb.com . UNBELIEVABLE!

Here is a Press Release the Minnesota Twins sent out yesterday - Early Entry Program Coming to Target Field Early entry tickets permit entry into the ballpark 45 minutes before gates open allowing fans to watch Twins batting practice MINNEAPOLIS-ST. PAUL, Minn. - The Minnesota Twins today announced they will offer fans the opportunity to purchase early entry tickets that will allow them into Target Field 45 minutes before gates open to the general public. Only available before evening games, early entry will begin at 4:45 p.m. (Mondays - Thursdays), at 4:15 p.m. (Fridays) and 3:15 p.m. (Saturdays). Those times are designed to allow early entry fans to watch a majority of Twins batting practice. Early entry tickets will be sold on a walk-up basis at the main Target Field Box Office beginning 30 minutes before the early entry time for that game. Tickets will cost $15 dollars, and sales will be limited to the first 60 fans. Fans will also be required to have a normal entry ticket to the game, and will not be allowed to exit and reenter the ballpark after batting practice. In the case of batting practice being canceled, fans will be offered a tour of the Metropolitan Club, Legends Club and Champions Club as a substitute. ........................................Can you believe this? Back on January 16th I did a blog posting on Florida spring training and I wrote about what I thought was a stupid idea by the Detroit Tigers. The Tigers implemented a plan this spring to charge their fans $5 for the privilege of entering Joker Marchant Stadium in Lakeland early so that you could watch the Tigers take batting practice. Now our Minnesota Twins have proudly announced they have out done the Tigers with a similar plan but they are going to charge $15 for the right to watch Twins batting practice which is held before the gates open to the general public. Holy crap! What mental genius came up with this idea? I have read some comments from Twins fans and every comment thinks it is a greedy and stupid idea. Some of the fans are blaming the Pohlad family for their greed but there is no way in the world that the business savvy Pohlad family is responsible for an idea as silly as this. This Twins boner falls right in the lap of Twins President Dave St. Peter and the Twins wonderful marketing department. How the Twins could come up with a ludicrous plan like this when they have lost 90+ games two years in a row with attendance dropping like a rock and yet some marketing genius thinks they can bring some extra money in with this plan? Don't tell me the Twins are doing this as a favor to the fans because if that had any validity what so ever, they would just open the gates sooner and not charge extra for the privilege. This plan is supposedly in effect only during evening games but even if they did it for every one of their 81 home games they would bring in a whopping $72,900 in revenue. Mr. St. Peter, what the heck are you thinking to approve something like this? The Minnesota Twins have done a number of stupid things over the years both on and off the field but to me this qualifies as the dumbest and most stupid move that the Twins have made since they moved here in 1961. If the Twins need the $72K that badly, maybe we should take up a collection and help them to raise the funds. The idea might be slightly palatable if they said that the money that they collected would go to a charity or something but to charge $15 to watch the Twins take batting practice and pocket the money is just plain wrong and is a sin against baseball in general. I thought the Twins were interested in attracting fans but with moves like this they just shoot themselves in the foot. First off, it has always been stupid not to let fans watch the home team take batting practice but now to say that they are going to charge fans $15 to do this is just plain wrong. Has common sense lost its way at Target Field? Shame on the Minnesota Twins and Dave St. Peter for this ill-advised, nonsensical and shortsighted idea. I love baseball and the Minnesota Twins but ideas like this are what chase people away from the game and keep them from enjoying America's pastime. The Twins should immediately come out with an apology and rescind this moronic blunder stating that the recent cold snap and unusually cold spring has temporarily dulled their thinking and that common sense has prevailed over at Target field after thinking the plan through. I would urge all of you to drop Dave St. Peter a quick e-mail at davestpeter@twinsbaseball.com and let him know what you think of this Twins announcement. If you want to call the Twins instead, you can reach the team at 612-659-3400. It wouldn't hurt to also drop a note to Bud Selig and let him know what you think of MLB teams making moves like this. The baseball commissioner can be reached at bud.selig@mlb.com . UNBELIEVABLE!

Originally posted at Twinstrivia.com | TWINS TRIVIA is hopefully a fun and informative site that will help you to better enjoy the Minnesota Twins and their wonderful history. 4/6/1951 - Twins pitching great and MLB Hall of Famer Rik Aalbert "Bert" Blyleven was born on this day in Zeist, Netherlands. Blyleven, now a Twins TV color commentator makes a big deal about his birthday and seems to mention his birthday on every Twins telecast and can tell you on any day of the year how many days it is until his next birthday. Bert is famous for using his "telestrator" for circling Twins fans in the crowd who have brought their "Circle me Bert" signs to the ball game. 4/6/1966 - The Twins swing a deal with the Red Sox and acquire catcher Russ Nixon and 2B Chuck Schilling and give up pitcher Dick Stigman and 1B Jose Calero. 4/6/1972 - For the first time in history, the major leagues failed to open because of a player strike, which started on April 1. The traditional season opener between Houston and Cincinnati was canceled and 86 games were lost before the strike was settled. 4/6/1973 - Tony Oliva hits the first home run ever by a designated hitter in AL history when he cranks one out against "Catfish" Hunter in Oakland in the Twins 8-3 victory. 4/6/1978 - In only the second game of the season while playing in the Kingdome, Twins 2B Rob Wilfong is hit by a pitch thrown by Mariners reliever Shane Rawley in the sixth inning and suffers a broken bone in his hand which sidelines him for a month. 4/6/1982 - A huge crowd of 52,279 turns out for the inaugural game at the brand-new Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. Twins rookie 3B Gary Gaetti goes 4-for-4 with a pair of home runs, but Seattle wins 11-7. By the way, the temperature outside that day was 28 degrees. 4/6/2004 - Playing in just his second major league game, Twins star rookie catcher Joe Mauer hears something "pop" as he slides and tries to catch a foul pop-up in a game against the Cleveland Indians at the Metrodome. The Twins actually ended up winning the game 7-6 in 15 innings. A few days later, April 8th, Joe ends up having surgery to repair a medial meniscus tear in his left knee. Mauer returns to the line-up on June 2 but continues to have trouble off and on with the knee swelling and he plays in his final 2004 game on July 15 and his first season as a Twin ends after just 35 games but in that short period he showed all of us what kind of bat he had as he hit .308 in 107 at bats. 4/6/2005 - The Twins are leading the Seattle Mariners 3-1 in the top of the 8th inning at Safeco Field when Ron Villone is brought in to face Twins 1B Justin Morneau. Villone beans Morneau and in the process Morneau suffers a mild concussion. According to a Star Tribune article in 2005, "Contributing to the concern is Morneau's history of concussions. This was his fifth, although the first involving baseball. He suffered others playing basketball and hockey and, in the worst one, running backward in 2000 during a workout. He fell and hit the back of his head on the ground." Morneau saw the pitch coming toward his head - a frightening recollection. "A heat-seeking missile," Morneau called it. After a 2 week stint on the DL, Morneau returned to the line-up on April 22. 4/6/2009 - The Twins open their 28th and final season at the Metrodome with a 6-1 loss to the Seattle Mariners. The Twins opponent in the first regular season game at the Metrodome on April 6, 1982 was also the Mariners and the Twins lost that game 11-7. By the way, I just set up a new page that I call Twins Audio and Video clips, check it out if you have a few minutes.

Originally posted at Twinstrivia.com | TWINS TRIVIA is hopefully a fun and informative site that will help you to better enjoy the Minnesota Twins and their wonderful history. 4/6/1951 - Twins pitching great and MLB Hall of Famer Rik Aalbert "Bert" Blyleven was born on this day in Zeist, Netherlands. Blyleven, now a Twins TV color commentator makes a big deal about his birthday and seems to mention his birthday on every Twins telecast and can tell you on any day of the year how many days it is until his next birthday. Bert is famous for using his "telestrator" for circling Twins fans in the crowd who have brought their "Circle me Bert" signs to the ball game. 4/6/1966 - The Twins swing a deal with the Red Sox and acquire catcher Russ Nixon and 2B Chuck Schilling and give up pitcher Dick Stigman and 1B Jose Calero. 4/6/1972 - For the first time in history, the major leagues failed to open because of a player strike, which started on April 1. The traditional season opener between Houston and Cincinnati was canceled and 86 games were lost before the strike was settled. 4/6/1973 - Tony Oliva hits the first home run ever by a designated hitter in AL history when he cranks one out against "Catfish" Hunter in Oakland in the Twins 8-3 victory. 4/6/1978 - In only the second game of the season while playing in the Kingdome, Twins 2B Rob Wilfong is hit by a pitch thrown by Mariners reliever Shane Rawley in the sixth inning and suffers a broken bone in his hand which sidelines him for a month. 4/6/1982 - A huge crowd of 52,279 turns out for the inaugural game at the brand-new Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome. Twins rookie 3B Gary Gaetti goes 4-for-4 with a pair of home runs, but Seattle wins 11-7. By the way, the temperature outside that day was 28 degrees. 4/6/2004 - Playing in just his second major league game, Twins star rookie catcher Joe Mauer hears something "pop" as he slides and tries to catch a foul pop-up in a game against the Cleveland Indians at the Metrodome. The Twins actually ended up winning the game 7-6 in 15 innings. A few days later, April 8th, Joe ends up having surgery to repair a medial meniscus tear in his left knee. Mauer returns to the line-up on June 2 but continues to have trouble off and on with the knee swelling and he plays in his final 2004 game on July 15 and his first season as a Twin ends after just 35 games but in that short period he showed all of us what kind of bat he had as he hit .308 in 107 at bats. 4/6/2005 - The Twins are leading the Seattle Mariners 3-1 in the top of the 8th inning at Safeco Field when Ron Villone is brought in to face Twins 1B Justin Morneau. Villone beans Morneau and in the process Morneau suffers a mild concussion. According to a Star Tribune article in 2005, "Contributing to the concern is Morneau's history of concussions. This was his fifth, although the first involving baseball. He suffered others playing basketball and hockey and, in the worst one, running backward in 2000 during a workout. He fell and hit the back of his head on the ground." Morneau saw the pitch coming toward his head - a frightening recollection. "A heat-seeking missile," Morneau called it. After a 2 week stint on the DL, Morneau returned to the line-up on April 22. 4/6/2009 - The Twins open their 28th and final season at the Metrodome with a 6-1 loss to the Seattle Mariners. The Twins opponent in the first regular season game at the Metrodome on April 6, 1982 was also the Mariners and the Twins lost that game 11-7. By the way, I just set up a new page that I call Twins Audio and Video clips, check it out if you have a few minutes.

Originally posted at www.twinstrivia.com [ATTACH=CONFIG]3635[/ATTACH] The long cold winter still has a hold on the area as most of the grassy areas are still covered with snow, you can still walk across most of the lakes in Minnesota because ice still covers the shimmering blue waters, there is still snow and ice on the roof of our home and the wind blowing from Canada can still take your breath away but according to the calendar, spring arrived a week or so ago. We heard a robin the other day and until the recent cold spell the snow was starting to give way to the grass that is showing signs of turning green while puddles were forming in the yard and I had hopes of the ice actually leaving our backyard pond later in the week. All signs of spring but there is no better sign of spring than baseball. The Minnesota Twins arrived at Target field yesterday and an umpire will officially announce that spring has arrived when he yells out "Play Ball" this afternoon about 3:10 P.M. at Target Field with Joe Mauer behind the plate and Vance Worley on the mound. Everyone is off to a fresh start, the memories of lost games and bad seasons have faded in our minds as we all look forward to the promises a new season of baseball can bring. You don't believe that? You better check todays sports page and the baseball box scores because even the Houston Astros won last night. We are all excited to see players like Aaron Hicks begin what we all hope are All-Star careers in a Twins uniform and a sparkling new starting pitching staff that hopefully leads the Twins to more wins than they were able to muster last year or the year before for that matter. Some Minnesota Twins may be participating in their last Twins opening day while others that missed making the team look forward to having the opportunity to participate in a Target Field opening day. I won't be at today's opening day but I have attended a number of opening days over the years and no matter how many times you have witnessed it, it is always something special. Even though I don't expect the Twins to make the playoffs, heck, I don't even think they can play .500 ball, but I am hoping that the team is competitive, fun to watch and keeps improving as the season progresses. Twins fans are a hardy bunch and they have supported the team when it good and when it was bad and so it begins one more time. Enjoy the good days and file the bad days away as learning experiences and cheer for your Minnesota Twins. April 1st has arrived and the cold weather is a cruel April Fool's joke with the game time temperature expected to be about 33 degrees and the cold beer may be replaced with a hot cup of chocolate or coffee but it is time for the Minnesota Twins to play ball. I will finish with a quote from one of my favorite movies of all time, the Field of Dreams. "The one constant through all the years, Ray, has been baseball. America has rolled by like an army of steamrollers. It has been erased like a blackboard, rebuilt and erased again. But baseball has marked the time. This field, this game: it's a part of our past, Ray. It reminds of us of all that once was good and it could be again. Oh... people will come Ray. People will most definitely come. "

Originally posted at Twinstrivia.com | TWINS TRIVIA is hopefully a fun and informative site that will help you to better enjoy the Minnesota Twins and their wonderful history. [ATTACH=CONFIG]3619[/ATTACH] The Minnesota Twins are playing their final spring training game today and I am sure they are hoping for a quick non extra inning game so they can grab a quick shower and board the plane for their flight to Minneapolis where they look to get settled in before they open the season against the Detroit Tigers on Monday, April 1. It seems that the baseball gods are having a good laugh and are playing an April Fool's joke on both the Twins and the Tigers by making them play ball on day that the weather prognosticators say will be a windy 31 degrees at game time with wind chills in the 20's. When the Twins first moved here from Washington they played outdoors in Metropolitan Stadium from 1961 through the 1981 season. In-door baseball was just at the starting gate about this time as Roy Hofheinz was in the process of building the "Eighth Wonder of the World" in Houston in what would open in April 1965 as the Harris County Domed Stadium but was later called simply as the Astrodome. Let's take a look at some of the interesting facts about the Twins home openers. The Twins called the "Met" home for 21 years and their record in their Met Stadium home openers was 21-9 including winning 10 out of 11 between 1964-1974. The first Twins pitcher to get credited with a win in a Twins home opener was Bill Pleis in 1964. Of those 21 Met home openers, only 5 of the games were actual season openers as the Twins started their season on the road most of the time. The Twins were 2-3 in season openers at the Met. During the Met Stadium years the Twins opened the season 6 times against the A's, five times as Oakland and once as Kansas City and they won four and lost two. Between 1961 and 1981 they opened the home season as early as April 6 (1971) and as late as April 23 (1972). The average temperature at the start of a Twins home opener at Met Stadium was 56.48 degrees. The coldest start to a Twins home opener occurred on April 14, 1962 when it was 33 degrees at game time and the Twins ended up losing to the Los Angeles Angels 12-5 in front of 8,363 hardcore Twins fans. The coldest start ever to a game at Met Stadium took place against the New York Yankees in May 2, 1967 when the temperature stood at 32 degrees and the Twins trounced the Yankees 13-4. The warmest start to a Twins home opener took place on April 22, 1980 when the California Angels and Rod Carew were in town to take a 8-1 pasting at the hands of the Twins who were as hot as the 89 degree temperature that day. Geoff Zahn pitched a complete game and Hosken Powell, Ron Jackson and Roy Smalley all hit home runs. The Twins moved indoors in 1982 and played in the HHH Metrodome through the 2009 season so the out-door temperatures mattered little as it was always between about 66-72 degrees inside. Of the 28 seasons that the Twins played dome ball, they opened the season at home 15 times and their record in these season opening games was 7-8. The Twins were 9-4 when their first game of the season at the Dome was not a season opener. Many of the Twins openers at the Dome were night games, something not done at any out-door venue in Minnesota. Between 1982 and 2009 they opened the home season as early as March 31 (2008) and as late as April 27 (1995). Since the Twins have called Target Field home in 2010 they have never played a season opening game there until this year. The earliest game they have played there was April 8, 2011. The Twins are 2-1 in Target Field home openers. The average temperature at a Target field home opener so far has been 57.67 degrees but even if the temperature is only 31 degrees on Monday, the average temperature for a Target field home opener will still be about 51 degrees. Here is a chart showing the Twins outdoor home openers. [TABLE=class: easy-table-creator tablesorter mceItemTable, width: 100%] [TH=align: center]YEAR [/TH] [TH=align: center]Date [/TH] [TH=align: center]Temperature [/TH] [TH=align: center]Result [/TH] [TH=align: center]Season opener [/TH] [TD=align: center]1961 [/TD] [TD=align: center]4/21 [/TD] [TD=align: center]63 [/TD] [TD=align: center]lost 5-3 [/TD] [TD=align: center]no [/TD] [TD=align: center]1962 [/TD] [TD=align: center]4/14 [/TD] [TD=align: center]33 [/TD] [TD=align: center]lost 12-5 [/TD] [TD=align: center]no [/TD] [TD=align: center]1963 [/TD] [TD=align: center]4/9 [/TD] [TD=align: center]49 [/TD] [TD=align: center]lost 5-4 [/TD] [TD=align: center]yes [/TD] [TD=align: center]1964 [/TD] [TD=align: center]4/22 [/TD] [TD=align: center]56 [/TD] [TD=align: center]won 7-6 [/TD] [TD=align: center]no [/TD] [TD=align: center]1965 [/TD] [TD=align: center]4/12 [/TD] [TD=align: center]44 [/TD] [TD=align: center]won 5-4 [/TD] [TD=align: center]yes [/TD] [TD=align: center]1966 [/TD] [TD=align: center]4/12 [/TD] [TD=align: center]52 [/TD] [TD=align: center]won 2-1 [/TD] [TD=align: center]yes [/TD] [TD=align: center]1967 [/TD] [TD=align: center]4/14 [/TD] [TD=align: center]51 [/TD] [TD=align: center]won 5-3 [/TD] [TD=align: center]no [/TD] [TD=align: center]1968 [/TD] [TD=align: center]4/17 [/TD] [TD=align: center]62 [/TD] [TD=align: center]won 13-1 [/TD] [TD=align: center]no [/TD] [TD=align: center]1969 [/TD] [TD=align: center]4/18 [/TD] [TD=align: center]59 [/TD] [TD=align: center]won 6-0 [/TD] [TD=align: center]no [/TD] [TD=align: center]1970 [/TD] [TD=align: center]4/11 [/TD] [TD=align: center]49 [/TD] [TD=align: center]won 8-2 [/TD] [TD=align: center]no [/TD] [TD=align: center]1971 [/TD] [TD=align: center]4/6 [/TD] [TD=align: center]53 [/TD] [TD=align: center]lost 7-2 [/TD] [TD=align: center]yes [/TD] [TD=align: center]1972 [/TD] [TD=align: center]4/23 [/TD] [TD=align: center]44 [/TD] [TD=align: center]won 8-4 [/TD] [TD=align: center]no [/TD] [TD=align: center]1973 [/TD] [TD=align: center]4/13 [/TD] [TD=align: center]51 [/TD] [TD=align: center]won 8-4 [/TD] [TD=align: center]no [/TD] [TD=align: center]1974 [/TD] [TD=align: center]4/9 [/TD] [TD=align: center]53 [/TD] [TD=align: center]won 3-1 [/TD] [TD=align: center]no [/TD] [TD=align: center]1975 [/TD] [TD=align: center]4/15 [/TD] [TD=align: center]48 [/TD] [TD=align: center]lost 7-3 [/TD] [TD=align: center]no [/TD] [TD=align: center]1976 [/TD] [TD=align: center]4/13 [/TD] [TD=align: center]75 [/TD] [TD=align: center]lost 4-1 [/TD] [TD=align: center]no [/TD] [TD=align: center]1977 [/TD] [TD=align: center]4/15 [/TD] [TD=align: center]77 [/TD] [TD=align: center]lost 3-2 [/TD] [TD=align: center]no [/TD] [TD=align: center]1978 [/TD] [TD=align: center]4/14 [/TD] [TD=align: center]50 [/TD] [TD=align: center]won 14-5 [/TD] [TD=align: center]no [/TD] [TD=align: center]1979 [/TD] [TD=align: center]4/17 [/TD] [TD=align: center]63 [/TD] [TD=align: center]lost 6-0 [/TD] [TD=align: center]no [/TD] [TD=align: center]1980 [/TD] [TD=align: center]4/22 [/TD] [TD=align: center]89 [/TD] [TD=align: center]won 8-1 [/TD] [TD=align: center]no [/TD] [TD=align: center]1981 [/TD] [TD=align: center]4/9 [/TD] [TD=align: center]65 [/TD] [TD=align: center]lost 5-1 [/TD] [TD=align: center]yes [/TD] [TD=align: center][/TD] [TD=align: center][/TD] [TD=align: center][/TD] [TD=align: center][/TD] [TD=align: center][/TD] [TD=align: center]2010 [/TD] [TD=align: center]4/12 [/TD] [TD=align: center]65 [/TD] [TD=align: center]won 5-2 [/TD] [TD=align: center]no [/TD] [TD=align: center]2011 [/TD] [TD=align: center]4/8 [/TD] [TD=align: center]63 [/TD] [TD=align: center]won 2-1 [/TD] [TD=align: center]no [/TD] [TD=align: center]2012 [/TD] [TD=align: center]4/9 [/TD] [TD=align: center]45 [/TD] [TD=align: center]lost 5-1 [/TD] [TD=align: center]no [/TD] [TD=align: center]2013 [/TD] [TD=align: center]4/1 [/TD] [TD=align: center]? [/TD] [TD=align: center]? [/TD] [TD=align: center]yes [/TD] [/TABLE]