For Every Hello, There's a Goodbye

So it was fun to see our friend Barty again, but now he and his team are gone. And it wasn't such a bad visit -- at least for the hosts.

Recap:
Monday: Twins 1 - Rays 7
Tuesday: Twins 4 - Rays 3
Wednesday: Twins 8 - Rays 3
Twins take series 2 - 1

I like the Rays; in addition to Barty and Garza, they also have Evan Longoria, who is fun to watch and darned cute. They seem like a great team -- kind of Twins-like I guess. And anyone who can help keep the Yankees and Red Sox out of the World Series is A-ok in my book. So, now that they've left town, I wish them all the best of luck -- especially when they're playing our division rivals and those Yankees and Red Sox.

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Speaking of saying hello, guess who comes back tomorrow. Oh, you know.


Photo from Minnesota Twins website

But, that means we have to say goodbye to someone. And that's not so fun.

We might have to say goodbye to Jose Morales. That would be a bummer because in the short time he's been here, he's managed to wiggle his cute little butt into our hearts, what with all the hitting and the trying really hard to throw out runners and call good games.

Or we might have to say goodbye, at least temporarily, to Red-Dog. That would be a bummer because that would mean putting him on the DL, which is like an insult to him. He's been so good and fun and helpful that no one wants to insult him.

What to do...what to do...?

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Speaking of Red-Dog, he recently had an MRI on his shoulder, and he claims they found a Bud Light in there. I don't doubt it for a second. If anyone has a beer in his shoulder, it's him. In fact, I was able to obtain a peek at his results.



I'm just wondering what they'd find if they scanned his knee. Nachos?

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One more goodbye: the month of April. It wasn't bad; it wasn't great -- in fact, it was .500. Here's hoping saying hello to May leads to much better than that.

Weekend in Cleveland

When they were in Cleveland this weekend, some of the Twins players noticed that the visitors' clubhouse and dugout were very dusty. They graciously offered to sweep things up on Sunday, but the Indians declined. Oh well.

Recap:
Friday: Twins 5 - Cleveland 1
Saturday: Twins 7 - Cleveland 1
Sunday: Twins 2 - Cleveland 4
Twins take series 2 - 1

So we didn't sweep the Indians. It's ok, it was still a pretty fun series. Even the loss wasn't sooo bad -- at least it wasn't a blowout. Thanks to Blackie and K-Slo for pitching gems. It was so fun to watch you guys pitch, so please accept a little gem as a gift ◊ (<-- the closest thing to a gem I can come up with). And thanks to the hitters for, well, hitting...especially Jose Morales on Sunday. Now, our boys are back home for four three with the Rays. I hate even-numbered series, but whatever. [EDIT: Ok, I don't know what I was dreaming when I wrote this; it's only a THREE game series. It probably had to do with the fact that every other weekday series this month was even numbered. While it's true that I don't like even-numbered game series, I don't have to worry about it now. Sorry for the mess up.]

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File It Under "I" For Interesting (or Inane, whichever you like):
(Some random stuff from MLB that's been cluncking around in my head)

• I read in the book The Yankee Years that, according to Mike Mussina (I think it was Mike Mussina...could've been Jason Giambi...the book is way over in the other room and I don't feel like moving my laptop, taking off my groovy Twins blanket, and closing the recliner just to walk over there to get it and flip through all those pages to find it...but ANYHOO...), some Yankees players nicknamed the Disabled List "the Pavano." Yeah, the same Carl Pavano who started for the Indians on Saturday. And after watching that little hissy fit he threw in the dugout after he was taken out of the game on Saturday, I can see why.
• Did you know there was such a thing as a catcher's balk? I didn't until Monday when I heard about it on the radio. The talk-show hosts were saying that during an intentional walk, you see the catcher stand way out of the catcher's box to accept the pitch, but that's a balk. The catcher is supposed to remain in the catcher's box until the ball leaves the pitcher's hand. And they were complaining that it never gets called. It's under rule 4.03 (a). Here's a link.
• This blurb in the today's paper almost made me spew my morning coffee out of laughter:

Gardenhire read a blurb in USA Today that noted a difference of opinion about Scott Baker's struggles.

"I gave him an out," Gardenhire said, clearly amused. "I said it was a mechanical thing, and [Baker] says it's not mechanics. Then the only thing I can say is, 'You just stink.'"

Gardenhire said that's something he learned from Lou Piniella. If a player disagrees with a manager's theory on why he's struggling, "then he stinks."

"You give them an out," Gardenhire said, "they change it up, then OK, he stinks right now. Not all the time. But right now he does. And he needs to un-stink."

Don't we all Gardy, don't we all.

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One More Thing to Share:

Remember a while ago when I was bummed about writer's block and I asked Ms. Muse to pay me a visit? Well she did!

Actually, Ms. Muse is a cool blog by Tina that features some great photography. She also has a personal style blog called The English Muse.

Thanks Tina for stumbling upon my blog. And the next time I need some inspiration, I'll stop by -- or even more often than that.

2009 NL Cool Name Roster

As promised, here is the NL version of my Cool Name Roster. One thing I learned is that I like more NL players' names than AL players' names. Maybe it's because I hear the AL names all the time, so I'm more used to them. Or maybe it's because the NL attracts more players with cool names. Who knows?

Let's review the rules:

• This roster is based solely on the coolness of the player's name. Actual baseball ability, attractiveness, personality, or personal-hygiene have nothing to do with it.


• The player was listed on his team's active roster at the listed position (on mlb.com) as of whenever it was I looked it up (a couple days ago). The player doesn't have to be a starter for that position.


• Fun to say trumps fun to spell. Extra consideration if it's fun to say while you're pretending to be a ballpark PA announcer.


• If a certain position's choice seems to be lame, it's because that's as good as it gets (it was kind of hard to find a cool name for a couple of positions).

So here is the NL Cool Name Roster

C - Yorvit Torrealba (COL)
1B - Micah Hoffpauir (CHC)
2B - Alfredo Amezaga (FLA)
3B - Emilio Bonifacio (FLA)
SS - Troy Tulowitzki (COL)
LF - Jeremy Hermida (FLA)
CF - Kosuke Fukudome (CHC)
RF - Hunter Pence (HOU)
SP - Jair Jurrjens (ATL)
RP (up to 5) - Kiko Calero (FLA), Carlos Villanueva (MIL), Scott Schoeneweis (ARI), Yusmeiro Petit (ARI)
CL - Francisco Cordero (CIN)

Notable Mention: 3D Kevin Kouzmanoff (SD) [just because it's cool to say Kooooooooooooouzmanoff]

Short Series Makes for a Long Day

Sorry, I'm kinda tired, so I'm gonna keep this short. Why do I bother? As much as I'd like to forget this series even happened, I should take the good with the bad -- I do want to keep track.

Recap:
Wednesday Game 1: Twins 1 - Red Sox 10 (7)
Wednesday Game 2: Twins 3 - Red Sox 7
Twins earn the dustbunny.

Huh. A whole series in one day...a really long day.

And one more thing...I'm into Earth Day and recycling as much as the next girl, but seriously, do the Red Sox really have to recycle their stupid green St. Patrick's Day Spring Training jerseys to celebrate it? I know they're St. Patty's day jerseys; the shamrocks are still on the left sleeves.

2009 AL Cool Name Roster

It's that time of year again...the first couple of off-days of the season, I compile my roster of Major Leaguers with the names I think are the coolest. This year's version is slightly different than last year's -- guys switch leagues, rookies are called up, and I change my mind.

Let's review the rules:

• This roster is based solely on the coolness of the player's name. Actual baseball ability, attractiveness, personality, or personal-hygiene have nothing to do with it.


• The player was listed on his team's active roster at the listed position (on mlb.com) as of whenever it was I looked it up (a couple days ago). The player doesn't have to be a starter for that position.


• Fun to say trumps fun to spell. Extra consideration if it's fun to say while you're pretending to be a ballpark PA announcer.


• If a certain position's choice seems to be lame, it's because that's as good as it gets (it was kind of hard to find a cool name for a couple of positions).

So here is the AL Cool Name Roster

C - Jarrod Saltalamacchia (TEX) [I was mad last year because he was stuck in the minors at the beginning of the season and couldn't make the list. He gets extra double consideration because his name is fun to say AND fun to spell]
1B - Wilson Betemit (CWS)
2B - Marco Scutaro (TOR)
3B - Matt Tuiasosopo (SEA)
SS - Mike Aviles (KC)
LF - Rocco Baldelli (BOS)
CF - Coco Crisp (KC)
RF - Shin-Soo Choo (CLE)

DH - Ty Wigginton (BAL)

SP - Armando Galarraga (DET) [gotta roll the Rs -- Arrrrrmando Galarrrrrrrraga]
RP (up to 5) - Jonathan Albaladejo (NYY), Ron Mahay (KC), Chris Jakubauskas (SEA)
CL - Joakim Soria (KC)

Notable Mention: P Josh Outman (OAK) [a pitcher named Outman -- Out-man -- har har]

These are my favorites; what are yours?

I'll do the NL Roster next off-day

When Baseball And Bad Spelling Collide -- Special Edition

Sewing names on jerseys must be a difficult job, I mean with all those letters and all. And we've seen it before when the name on the front of a guy's jersey isn't spelled right -- remember last season when Adam "Adam" Everett had to do a last minute switch because "Minnesota" was spelled wrong on his jersey?

But it's pretty bad when multiple players have a big old spelling error across their chests for everyone to see.



And it happened to the poor Nationals too. Don't they have enough problems?

Hat tips:
http://www.totalprosports.com/blog/index.php/2009/04/the-washington-natinals-jersey-fail/ for the photo

http://redpeninc.blogspot.com/2009/04/misspelling-monday-for-april-20-2009.html for being the first to tell me about it

First Sweep of 2009

Well, that's better. A lot better.

Recap:
Friday: Twins 11 - LAA 9
Saturday: Twins 9 - LAA 2
Sunday: Twins 3 - LAA 1

You know what that means, don't you? That's right, the Twins swept the Angels. And because it's the first sweep of the year, it's time I dusted off my super blinged-out broom to celebrate. (That is, if one really can dust off a broom.)



Very exciting. Only special sweeps get the blinged-out broom; I'm hoping for many more reasons to use this.