Twins fans everywhere rejoiced last night when news came out about the postponement of yesterdays game. Why the excitement? Pushing Silva’s first start back (of course). Silva was skipped in the rotation to make room for Sidney Ponson.

Ponson will be facing off today against Javier Vasquez. I like this match up much more than Silva vs. the Pale Stockings.

The weather forcast for today is…. cold and windy. I’m not convince that the game will be played but if it is we’ll get a up close and personal view of our 1 million dollar man…. Go Twins!

****This just in…. Silva will start today’s game. Bummer*****

The biggest question mark coming into this season was surrounding the Twins ability to patch together a workable starting pitching rotation. All other pieces to the team seamed to be in tact. The rotation however was the one thing that almost every baseball “expert” predicted would be our downfall.

When spring training started one thing was a given. Johan Santana would be our opening day pitcher. The rest of the team however was nothing more than a roll of the dice. Names like Silva, Bonser, Ortiz, Ponson and Garza to name a few were thrown around like ragdolls. Everyone had their opinion as to who should be #2-#5. While today’s rotation is certainly different than I expected (and to be honest hoped for), we do know one thing after the first three games this season. Our first three starters are set!

Monday night Johan had a so-so night and still was able to pull out the win. On Tuesday, Boof looked unhittable for most of the night. The only mistake he made was to Tejada and that ball landed in the left field bleachers. Last night, Ortiz, one of our newest Twins took the mound.

The word around baseball circles was that Ortiz had lost his ability to be a productive piture. He was suffering from something that I like to call “Bradke Disease”. He would eat up bunches of innings but would always suffer from giving up the “big inning”. He had problems keeping the ball in the park. Brad Radke used to give up the first inning blast. For Ortiz, he wasn’t picky on which inning this happened.

Last night Ortiz showed me (and the rest of Minnesota) something. He showed us that he can still be a very good pitcher at this level. He reminded me of the guy who beat us during the ALCS. He reminded me of “pedro-lite” as many people used to call him (in reference to being a smaller almost mini-me version of Pedro Martinez). While early in the season, his performance (along with Santana and Boof) made me believe that we can make some waves in this division and in the American League.

The reason that I think that we’ll prove the so-called “experts” wrong is because what they didn’t realize is that our offensive production is already in mid-season form. Although we took an early exit from the post season last year, we were one of the more productive teams in baseball for the greater part of 3 months last year. The team took some time last year to gel and we saw the outcome. This year, the team has gelled and we’re already scoring runs in bunches. The Piranhas are once again reaking havok on the basepaths. The M&M boys are doing what they are supposed to… get on base and occassionally hit the ball out of the ball park. Rondell White is hitting the ball hard (considering that we got absolutely nothing from him during the first half of last season….i’ll take what I can get!).

Couple all of these factors with our new found pitching staff and I think that we might have something to look forward to this October. While we’re only three games into the season, and still have Ponson and Silva to go, I think that having solidified the first three starters will go along way in making this season one to remember.

If I had to script an opening day game for the Twins, Santana would have gone 8 innings with 10 K’s and only 3 hits allowed. That didn’t happen but Santana was good enough to get the win tonight against the always confusing Baltimore Orioles.

Santana’s line (and ERA) won’t be as impressive as it could have been if the Twins hadn’t decided to put the O’s away during the bottom of the 6th inning. He ended the game with 6IP, 6k, 4R, 4ER and he scattered 7 hits.

In the category of “Things that never happen”, Torii Hunter got off to a GREAT start. He went 2-4 with a opposite field homerun and 2 RBI. Hunter is about as streaky a player as i’ve ever watched. Let’s hope that he’s learned something from Mauer and Morneau about hitting during the offseason. He’s at his best when he sprays the ball all around the field. He looked great tonight and he even tracked down a gapper in deep left center. It’s good to see him running at full speed and ripping the ball.

What would you expect from the reigning AL MVP? All you Derek Jeter lovers can take a look at Morneau’s performance tonight. He looked as if he was in mid-season form while going 3-4 with a solo homerun and 2 RBI. My only criticism of Morneau is his questionable baserunning…. Since when did he think that he was fast? He was thrown out twice tonight (once at second and once at the plate). Either he is blowing by the base coaches or they have some misconceptions regarding his speed.

Our batting champion went a measley 1-3 all while scoring a run… Very run of the mill game for Mauer. Rarely does he make noise at the plate. He’s always consistent and silent but deadlly.

One strange note from tonights game. Jeff Cirillo started the game at DH. No idea why Kubel wasn’t in the lineup…. Maybe Gardy has saw something from the veteran that he likes. Keep tabs on this. I assumed that Kubel would be the guy but with his spring batting just a few points below Cirillo he rode the bench tonight. Maybe it was the pitching matchup against Bedard?

In closing… Recently retired Twins pitcher, Brad Radke, threw out the first pitch of tonights game. That ball landed safely in the 10th row of the HomeRun porch. Damn those first inning jitters!

The 2007 Major League Baseball season officially starts tonight.  The Twins will kick off the season by opening at home against the Baltimore Orioles. 

I’ve been trying my best not to get wrapped up in speculation prior to the season starting.  Now that the season officially starts, I thought it time to fire up the old laptop and start writing about my favorite team.

A few things worry me about the 2007 team.  First of all, i’m not sold (yet) on the starting pitching rotation.  It’s been well documented that we have the best pitcher in baseball on our staff (in fact MLB might do well to rename the Cy Young award to pay homage to Johan Santana).  I’m honestly worried about three starters on our team…..  I’m worried about Ponson, Boof and scared to death by Silva. 

I’ll start with Boof.  He’s young and while he has some experience he certainly is not as dependable as I would like.  I like what he does on the mound but I fear that in a pressure situation he’ll find a way to give up a game or make a critical error.  He has all the tools to be a quality pitcher but his inexperience in my eyes is what makes him risky.  I would have no issues with him if he was our 4th or 5th guy but when he’s slotted as 3rd in the rotation my palms get a little sweaty.

Now to Ponson….  He had a shaky start to Spring Training but he has seemed to turn it around.  He’s been fairly solid this spring.  He has a modest 4.29 ERA which isn’t great but the key is that he has yet to give up a homerun in 21 innings.  That makes me believe he could be a solid 4th starter in our rotation.  Let’s hope that his “wine with dinner” doesn’t cause him to make local or national headlines.  That last thing we need in the clubhouse is a guy who could cause a distraction.

Last but not least, the guy i’m most worried about is Carlos Silva.  To say that he’s been bad this spring is an understatement.  In 21 innings he’s given up 21 runs (only 20 earned)…  Somehow he beat out Garza for the last spot in the rotation.  He has been struggling with location on every one of  his pitches.  His slider doesn’t slide.  His changeup isn’t slow enough and he is struggling to be precise with his fastball.  The inability to throw those pitches well will make him nothing more than batting practice on his April 10th start against the Yankees.  A word to the wise for all you Twins fans…. Don’t watch that game in HD.  It will be painful enough.  There is no need to make it worse on ourselves by watching Carlos sweating bullets in HD.

(closed circuit to Ron Gardenhire….  Just because Silva is Santana’s best friend doesn’t mean that he should have taken the 5th spot in the rotation.  If he falters as all make sure and send him down to AAA.)

On to better subjects.  Mauer and Morneau can now officially be called the “M&M boys”.  I figure that once you win  the AL MVP and the batting championship those sort of nicknames are well deserved.

*** On a sad note, the Twins announced yesterday that legendary announcer Herb Carneal died at age 83 from congestive heart failure.  Herb had been fighting CHF for some time and my thoughts and prayers are with his family.  The Twins have dedicated the 2007 season in his name*** 

We all know who will be roaming the outfield this April when the Twins head north from Fort Meyers, FL to the lovely confines of the H.H.H. Metrodome.  Unless something tragic happens during spring training, we can expect Rondell White, Torii Hunter and Michael Cuddyer to be our main guys.

While it seems very likely that we should have some outfield stability this year, I am wondering how Gardy will man the bench.  This year, unlike previous years, our question mark coming out of spring training will be the pitching staff.  We have grown accustomed to having a very consistent pitching rotation and bullpen.  In the past, we had the luxury of filling out the rest of our roster with guys that could fill in when needed.

In Joe Christensen’s Star Tribune blog he stated that he believe that both Lew Ford and Jason Tyner will make the opening day roster.  That is an interesting thought but one that I find to be somewhat unlikely for several reasons.  When heading back to Minnesota Gardy must determine which 25 players he wants to bring with him.  Typically there are between 10-12 pitchers on staff and the rest of the lineup is filled out with position players.

Pitchers guaranteed to make the roster:
Santana
Bonser
Silva
Nathan
Rincon
Crain
Guerrier
Neshak
Reyes

That leave 2 more starting pitchers (at minimum) to be placed.  Counting the two additional starting pitchers, the number of pitchers comes to 11.  If the Twins only take 11 (which I personally think that they will bring at least one more) that would leave 14 players left.

Position players to make the roster:
Morneau
Mauer
Castillo
Bartlett
Punto
White
Hunter
Cuddyer
Kubel
Cirillo
Redmond

This leave us with 3 more players.  I feel that Gardy will be forced to bring up the youngster Alexi Castilla.  He is very athletic and can fill in at second or short.  Gardy has said publicly that he does NOT want to use Punto at short or second to replace Bartlett or Castillo.  Two other players are left.  This is where Joe Christensen believes that both Ford and Tyner will make their mark.

I personally believe that they will only take one more position player.  This is due to the Twins taking an additional starting pitcher.  I think that Gardy will end up going with Ponson, Ortiz and either Garza or Perkins/Durbin.

So, who will be the lone remaining outfielder?  I think that it will be Tyner.  Tyner was part of the famed Piranha’s last season.  He  compiled a .312 batting average and had a .345 OPS in 218 at bats.  The Twins feel that they can bring Ford back to his 2004 but unforuntately I think that the AL pitchers have figured out how to pitch to him.  He’ll have to change his approach and I’m not sure that he’ll be capable of doing that.  If the Twins do not decide to keep Ford on the 25-man roster it makes me wonder why they didn’t cut him instead of filing for arbitration.  After all, his salary went from 425,000 to just over 900,000.

In a few short weeks we’ll find out who makes the Trip north.  It will be an exciting Spring Training.

Check out a new blog that i’m co-authoring.  Myself and 4 buddies have decided to join our collective blogging powers to offer the most dynamic Minnesota sports blog around.  I think that this blog has great potential to discuss the hot issues surrounding all Minnesota sports.  We’ll be dishing our thoughts on everything from the Gophers to the Twins.  Check us out.  I think that you’ll stay awhile.

It’s been a while since I updated my blog. To be honest, I’ve been spending most of my energy getting irritated by the Vikings. I could rant for hours about the Vikes but i’ll refrain for today.

I have been trying my best to understand why the Twins haven’t jumped (even slightly) into the mix. Although I hear that we are the “front runners for Sidney Ponson” (which even if we did sign him is far from filling Radke’s cleats) the Twins have done nothing outside of signing a few of our own guys. While all of this non-activity has been going on there have been many stories about free agency over the past few weeks since the signing period began. Most of them were only slightly interesting. Last night’s announcement that Barry Zito signed a 126-million dollar deal to cross the bridge from Oakland to San Fran was by far the MOST interesting (and upsetting) to me.

In a time where baseball salaries have been inflating quicker than that of our national debt one group of players has been somewhat undervalued. That group…. Pitchers. While the Twins would never be able to sign the likes of A-Rod or Manny we always knew that we could win games with pitching and defense. The strategy was to have better pitchers (as a whole) than the batters in the American League. We have been benefitted by having some good home-grown players and a little luck on our side (rule 5 pickup Santana).

The whole pitching free agent landscape has officially changed forever. Barry Zito is now the highest payed pitcher of all time. Generally TwinsNation has always had this idea that Johan would stay around. After all he is a “team” guy. Up until yesterday we had hopes of resigning him to a long term contract that would get him into our brand new stadium.

Well Twins fans… Those days are over. When Santana becomes a free agent he will leave. There will be no more Cy-Young winners on our team. He will likely be the first 200-million dollar pitcher in the history of the MLB. After all…. If Barry Zito (who is good but not always dominant) can get 18-million/year then certainly Santana can get WAY more than that.

We will be forced to do what we have always done in the past. We’ll have to hope that Pohlad will spend a few million extra and use our farm system to get the guys that make us successful. If our farm system fails us? Well, the we might slip back into what I like to call the “dark years”.

In a rather unexpected move today, Justin Morneau won the American League MVP award.  He is the first Twin to win this award since Rod Carew did it in 1970.  Of the 28 votes, Morneau received 15 of the first place votes. 

In what must make Rob Neyer and all the Yankees fans nothing less than irritated, I believe that the sportswriters understood that this years MVP should not be awarded to Jeter just because he’s Jeter.  There were many arguments why Jeter should win.  Those in favor of him insisted that his high average and run totals were enough to put him at the top of the list.  While Jeter’s numbers were great, his numbers and inability to use a glove made most of the voters lean towards Morneau.  After all, the MVP award is NOT a lifetime achievement award.  Just because Jeter is going to the Hall Of Fame doesn’t meant that he’s guaranteed three letters behind his name….  M. V. P.

I haven’t posted in a while (due to PPD or Post Playoff Depression) but I am hoping to periodically post during this offseason. 

Oh, and for those of you who are keeping score at home…

Morneau = MVP

Mauer = Batting Champion

Santana = Cy Young

Mauer and Morneau = Silver Slugger Award Winners

All that being said, we should be prowd of our ballclub and more excited than ever to watch our team next year.

I can’t believe it. I’m honestly in shock. How could the team that was 25-33 on June 7th possibly be in contention for the AL Central crown, let alone win the crown? To be honest, I’m not sure how they did it. The only reason that I can think of is summed up in one word: Toughness

The Twins had the toughness to fight through a season full of adversity. When most teams would have thrown in the towel, these Twins believed. They believed that they could do the impossible. They believed that a 12 1/2 game deficit was not too big of an obstacle. They believed that behind good hitting, defense and the occasional win by people not named Santana - they could go far.

Most people see adversity as something bad. These Twins saw adversity as something to survive. They see adversity as that thing that gives them the drive to win.

In a season that saw it’s ups and downs these Twins persevered. All of their hard work and teamwork came to fruition today when the Royals swept the Tigers. When all was said and done the Tigers lost their last 5 games. All they needed was 1 win. Just 1. On behalf of the state of Minnesota to the state of Michigan let me be the first to say that I’m sorry. All the wonderful Tiger baseball fans must have a collective upset stomach over what has transpired. We know too well what that feels like… Don’t know? Just think 1998 Vikings vs. Falcons. Enough said.

After the Royals finished off the Tigers, the 30,000 or so fans left at the Metrodome erupted with joy! The Twins did their victory lap and off it was to the clubhouse to have fun with champagne.

I don’t know how far the Twins will get in the post season. I do know this. I know that 2006 will go down as one of those years that all Twins fans talk about. In 30 years, we’ll be talking about the Twins like we talk about Killebrew, Allison and Kaat. We’ll be throwing out memories that include Morneau’s homerun against Zumaya in Detroit. We’ll be talking about Hunter and his second half. We’ll be talking about the sweet swing of a kid named Mauer.

Don’t let these moments pass you by. This Twins team will forever go down in history as one of the most beloved teams in our history. Just sit back, relax and for goodness sake… Wave that Homer Hanky!!!!