BLOG IN YOUR FACE

In the hustle and bustle of moving into my new house, I have managed to almost completely miss the first 7 games of the regular season. March Madness going on doesn’t help either. Jaci’s bracket will win our pool (and a lot of money) if Kansas beats Memphis tomorrow night and because I filled out Jaci’s bracket for her, I have been particularly interested in the Final Four games as of late. So what has been going on with my Twinkie Dinkies??? Well, for starters, we are 3-4 to start off the season. It could be worse (i.e. Detroit Tigers) and we have had worse starts in the past so I can’t complain. I just have sort of resigned to the fact that this is probably just a rebuilding year. Our young pitching staff already looks great, and I can imagine that in 2 or 3 years we are going to have one of the best hurling staffs on the planet. However, the bats this year are a completely different story though. I think Morneau had the only home run this year so far and that was after he went 1 for 16 to start off the regular season. I was horrified to see Cuddyer dislocate his finger sliding into third base Superman style, however, I was glad to see them finally call up Denard Span from the minors to take his place. He was the Twins first round pick in ‘02 and I was very glad to see him get his chance. He is an extremely hard worker from what I have read about him in the minors. Unfortunately, he hasn’t played right field since his high school days. He is a center fielder by trade, but he has so much enthusiasm and hard work ethic that I don’t think he will have a problem making the transition. The press reported that he came out of Gardenhire’s office with bloodshot eyes and tears rolling down his face. I like that. He’s excited to be here. That’s what I like about our young roster this year.

The greatest part of my day today was watching BASEBALL TONIGHT and this season they are letting the fans vote on the week’s top “web gems.” There were 5 nominees and of those 5 nominees, the Twins defense had two spots!!! One was Nick Punto bare-handing a ball at 3rd base and he jumped up and went parallel with the ground and sort of threw it sidearm to 1st base getting the guy out. The other one was Justin Morneau at first base when he got a hard chopper whacked right at him. He bobbled it and it went clear out into foul territory. So he runs after it, grabs it and in true March Madness style he flips it backwards behind his back not even looking to see if the bag was covered by the pitcher (thank God it was) and he got the guy out.

Thank God for baseball and the start of the regular season. I am loving life right now.