Fun With Ridiculous Stats, Series Recaps, and More Notes

The Twins have completed two series now, and after completely embarrassing themselves from the gate, they've rallied to make their record somewhat more respectable.

I'm going to ignore the Orioles series because, frankly, I was unable to pay a lot of attention to it. I had to watch the three games in bits-and-pieces. Apparently, I didn't miss much.

I was lucky enough to attend the Twins home opener. I was happy to be back at Target Field, even though I didn't partake in any of the new food items (I stuck with a good old reliable brat). I did partake in some delightful hot chocolate. Twice. Because it was damn cold.

Here's a picture I took from our new season ticket seats.

It was fun to see the 2006 Division Champ Twins throwing out the first pitch, especially Brad Radke, but as you can tell from the picture, I didn't really get a good look. I did, however, get enough of a look at the actual game. It wasn't my favorite.

What is my favorite? Twins wins, of course. And, I was beginning to get a nagging feeling that that they didn't remember how to do that. I'm so glad that they didn't forget.

Notes From the Series:

• I'm glad to see Justin and Joey finally hitting. Things are exciting when they're both in the lineup and hitting well.
• I think Josh Willingham wants me to love him; that's why he keeps hitting all those huge homeruns. I'm also not too worried about his defense; I think he'll get better at that.
• I also think that Glen Perkins wants me to love him. Did you see how he made a fool out of Albert Pujols? O...M...G...
• I wish that Matt Capps wanted me to love him. I'm trying as hard as I can to give him a chance, but he's making it really hard. He's serving up way too much interesting.
• I can't think of anything bad to say about Chris Parmelee. Not that I want to or anything, but I just thought I'd note that. Keep it up, rook.

~~~
Jeff Gray Knows How to Win

Right-handed reliever Jeff Gray leads the club in wins. In fact, he has all of them. Well, both of them.

And the amazing fact is that his combined pitch count for his two wins is ... three. He earned the win on Wednesday after recording an out with a single pitch. On Thursday, it took him twice as many pitches to complete the same feat.

Obviously, the Twins batters sitting in the dugout while he's on the mound are so inspired by his efficient pitching that when they finally come to the plate, they are compelled to take the lead and not let go.

Or, it could be that the pitchers' win stat is really dumb.

~~~
Injury Update

Scott Baker announced that he will have surgery to repair his flexor pronator tendon, an injury that has been bothering him since last season.

This is not the same injury that requires Tommy John surgery. That is a ligament replacement. This is a tendon.

Ligaments connect bone to bone; tendons connect bone to muscle. Also, tendons communicate with the brain causing the muscles to react. This particular tendon allows the forearm to rotate while the arm is flexed (imagine flexing your arm, keeping your shoulder and elbow still, and rotating your palm).

The recovery time for this is likely to be six months, so his season is over. And his tenure with the Twins is likely over too. The Twins have a team option on his contract for 2013, but it's for $9.25 million, which is probably too spendy for a guy just coming off a significant injury. So he'll be a free agent trying to convince teams he's fine. Bummer.

I Like the Roster, Even If I Wouldn't Have Predicted It

The Twins 25-man roster has been set, and I'm pretty excited about it. However, there are some surprises (at least for me) on it. Namely:

• There are only two catchers on the roster and neither of them are named Drew Butera. We all know that Gardy loves having three catchers on hand in the miniscule chance that one of them gets hurt while the other one is the DH, or something like that. But no more of that. Joe Mauer needs to stay healthy and Ryan Doumit will get his at bats as a bench catcher, first baseman, and outfielder. The Rochester Red Wings will enjoy the talents of Drew Butera.
• Justin Morneau is not the Opening Day first baseman. After what I'm sure was much thought, reflection, and deliberation, Justin decided that it would be in his and the team's best interests for him to be a full-time designated hitter, at least for awhile. And it looks like Chris Parmelee will be up to the task to be a decent first baseman, jumping up from AA last season and sticking.
• It looks like Jason Marquis will start the season on the Bereavement List (3 to 7 days). He's been away from the team for a couple of weeks to see to his daughter who was seriously hurt in a bicycle accident. Fortunately, her condition is improving and he will be able to rejoin the team in time to break camp. However, since he's been away a pretty long time, he's probably not stretched out enough to start a game for awhile. A combo of adding Liam Hendriks and using a four-man rotation for awhile should allow Marquis enough time to catch up.
• A couple of non-roster invitees actually made the roster: infielder Sean Burroughs and RHP Jared Burton. That had to be cool for them.
• And the Twins have already invoked the Disabled List. Maybe this is a good thing -- last year, the Twins proudly didn't use the DL coming out Spring Training, only to use it eleventy-billion times during the season. Maybe using it a little before the season will be a good sacrifice for the actual season. Or something.

And since I brought up the DL, you know what that means...

RHP Scott Baker has been placed on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to March 26th, with tendonitis of his right elbow.

Baker's elbow has been troublesome for awhile now. He missed 58 days last season with a forearm flexor strain. I don't know if this tendonitis is related, but I wouldn't doubt it.

It sounds like he may back as soon as he is eligible and that the Twins are being cautious. They have the luxury early in the season, with a lot of off days, to do without him for a little while.

RHP Kyle Waldrop has been placed on the 15-day disabled list, retroactive to March 30th, with a right elbow strain.

This must have been crushing news to Waldrop, who was having an excellent Spring Training and was set to break camp in the majors.

His injury doesn't sound serious, and again, it seems as if the Twins are being extra cautious with him.

It's unclear whether he'll be added to the 25-man roster once he's healthy, but there's no reason to believe he won't be.