So the first series of the season has come to a close, with a split against the Mariners of Seattle. Seattle!!! What did we ever do to you? We already gave you the Moirs. What more do you want?
There are couple of things that I've noted in the first couple days of the season. Dramatic comebacks are still fun, Jose Morales might not be the long term solution at catcher, Perkins has continued his Perkolator ways from last year, and the ass bats are still very prevalent in our lineup. All of these are discouraging signs from the team, especially at the onset of the season. But, let me remind everyone, there are many, many games left on the schedule.
There is no need to panic. The season is not lost. I will occasionally scan through the comments that are left on the Strib's Twins stories, and there are some irrate fans in the Twinsphere right now. People aren't happy with the players, the management, and with life in general. They are ready to fire-bomb the Dome. I will post some of the comments that I've found and write a brief response to each (reader comments in italics).
Another mediocre pitcher shuts down the Twins, deja vue and all of that. Washburn will probably get hammered his next start and often during the season. Twins are about the same as last year and have the potential to finish 10-12 games above .500. The club appears to have the same hitting in the clutch trouble along with average pitching that they had last year. So more of the same again from the twins in 2009 but fun to watch for the most part.
I will agree that the Twins seem to have trouble with some mediocre pitchers, but so do all clubs. Jarrod Washburn was the pitcher in this game. He's a leftie, which we typically struggle against. He may not be the best pitcher in the game, but he still is prone to throwing well from time to time. Washburn is 34, and was born in....La Crosse, Wisconsin?!?!
That's why he does so well against us. He's a Wisconsinite! It's part of their evil plan to continue to demorolize the great state of Minnesota. He's from Wisconsin, and he pitches for Seattle. There was no way that we could have competed against that.
Also, I wanted to note that the reader's comment on the Twin's clutch hitting struggles from last year are completely unaccurate. The Twins set a record for their batting average with runners in scoring position last season. Ohhh, Face!!! Stats coming at ya!
Here's another:
Seattle Better than Twins???
...or is it more bad management? Once again, two men on, less than two outs, SPAN CANNOT BUNT!!!!
I said it all last year and will continue this year (along with "OMG, i'm so happy we didn't get Beltre, because what's-his-name at 3rd is so much better" Lmao!), THE TWINS WON'T WIN UNLESS MORE GUYS (including Frosty) BUY INTO SMALL BALL. Span should be beating out bunts and purposeful chops (not like the lucky one in game 2). Why am I better than a big league manager? Hmmmm.... maybe it's the steroids.
Every part of this post is confusing to me. The first sentence doesn't make sense. Does the reader want Denard Span to bunt, is he saying that he shouldn't bunt, or is he saying that Span is unable to bunt properly?
The confusion continues into the second paragraph, when he says that the Twins need to buy into small ball. Isn't that all the Twins play? I don't see our hitters lining up to go deep every time. I think that our reputation is generally that of a scrappy, speedy, slap-hitting team. We hit 111 home runs last season, for worst in our division. Worse than the White Sox (235), the Tigers (200), the Indians (171), and the Royals (120). Look at me. I did some research. Stats times 2 bitches!
A couple of other general notes. I think that the reader's "Frosty" is a reference to manager Ron Gardenhire. See comparison below:
It's close, and I kind of like the nickname, however, I think that it would be far more apt to attach this moniker to Don Zimmer.
I'm not even going to address the steriods thing at the close of the comment. Does that make any sense? Is the reader implying that Gardenhire has taken steriods, making him less intelligent, or is the reader implying that he or she has taken steriods, making him or her better at managing a big league club? My brain has melted a bit.
One more:
Bring on those bullies...Im referring to those bullies from chicago the white Sox of course...
Yes!!! Agreed! Bring on the Bitch Sox. Nothing says summertime like getting fired up for a little beat-down in the Cell. Last year at this time, I could watch the Twins on tv, even though I would have to listen to the inane ramblings of Hawk. Unfortunately, San Diego will not be providing any Twins television coverage this season. I'm not entirely sure that I can make it through a season of exclusively following Twins action through ESPN's gamecast, but I'm going to give it a try.
A season opening sweep of the Mariners would have been amazing, but I'm still happy with a split. We're just getting started on this long and wonderful journey that is 2009. Let's look up and have a little fun with it.
-Sota
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