Twins at Red Sox -- The Shapeshifting Strike Zone

Recap:

Wednesday -- Twins 2 - Red Sox 3
Thursday -- Twins 2 - Red Sox 6

Twins dustbunny series 0-2
Record: 24 -17

~~~

We could have figured that the Twins would get swept in Fenway. Boston is a good team, especially at home. I'm not really upset about the losses; simply put, the Twins were beat by good pitching and good hitting.

But part of me wonders if the Twins would've had better pitching and better hitting if they could trust the strike zone. Both home plate umpires were not only inconsistent with the strike zone location, but they were also inconsistent with the pitchers. It really seemed like Sawx pitchers were getting calls that Twins pitchers weren't. It was worse Wednesday than Thursday, but I'd really prefer to never notice it.

So perhaps if Baker and Liriano didn't have to throw their pitches down the middle of plate, and if Morneau, Thome, and Cuddy didn't have to swing at absolutely every pitch, well ... who knows?

I'm not going to say that the umpiring was blatantly unfair. And I'm not going to say it cost the Twins the games. But everyone would just be happier with a consistent, fair, and predictable strike zone.

And maybe I'm just being cranky. In fact, that's entirely possible.

By the way, I think Youk has surpassed Manny as my least favorite player.

Red Sox at Twins -- Busting Myths

Recap:
Monday -- Red Sox 2 - Twins 5
Wednesday -- Red Sox 6 - Twins 3
Thursday -- Red Sox 0 - Twins 8

Twins take series 2-1
The Twins are 2-0 in games I attend. I hope the Twins organization remembers that with a gift of free tickets if there is a late-season push for wins.

~~~

So the Twins are all nice and cozy in their new home. For the first time that I can remember, I went to two home games in one week -- usually the only time I do that is if I'm traveling (so they're away games). So, since I'm all expert-y now about the ins and outs of Target Field and the Twins, I thought I'd review some myths and determine their validity.

1. The Northstar Commuter Train is a great way to get from the northwest suburbs to Target Field. Well, in theory, it's a great idea. I mean, it goes from Big Lake; stops at Elk River, Anoka, Coon Rapids, and Fridley; and drops you right at the Target Field station. How great is that? Well, it's ok. I boarded in Elk River, and when we left the station, all the seats were full and some people were standing. By the time we left Coon Rapids, the train was stuffed. They needed to call in some buses to take the folks from Fridley. Oh, and because there were so many people boarding, we arrived at the ballpark late. Also, the "Family Pass" ticket is a great deal -- if you qualify. It's $13 (from Elk River) for two adults and up to three kids 6-12 (5 and under free) round-trip. Hmm. That's less than parking. However, my kids are older than 12. So for 4 adults, it's $22 one way. Not a deal at all. (Shhh...we bought the Family Pass ticket anyway.) And then leaving was an adventure. We couldn't fit on the first train out, so we had to wait 30 minutes for the next one. What a waste of time. And not all games will have trains coming back, so you have to be careful, or you're paying a lot for cab fare. So, while I'd love to take the commuter line to the park, it's not completely practical. This myth is busted.[Important Update: scroll down]
2. The concourses of Target Field are wider and less crowded than the ones at the Dome. Well, Target Field's concourses may measure wider, and they are less crowded -- during the game. However, before the game starts and after it ends, it's just as bad as before. They do, however, do a good job getting everyone out of the building, so that experience is a little better. But, man, before the game, when all the concession stand lines block the walking lanes, it's tough to get through. Now, in their defense, if I had arrived earlier, I may have been able to avoid a lot of the crowding. This is what public transportation does for me. So, if you allow that the concourses will be stuffed both before and after the game, the rest of the time they're all right. This myth is plausible, but not likely.
3. The cupholders at Target Field aren't tilted like they are at the Dome. Back in January, when the Twins front office employees first moved into Target Field, the person behind the official Twins Twitter account asked fans if they have any questions. So I asked him/her if the cupholders were tilted like they are at the Dome, and he/she replied that no, they were not. Happy news; I really hate to have to drink half my beer/pop before I can set it down. For Monday's game, my tickets were in a wheelchair row (I had a folding chair), and the cupholder was perfectly level. However, today, much to my horror (ok, not really horror, but certainly surprise), my cupholder was, indeed, tilted. Here's photographic proof.

Umm, that looks tilted to me. This myth is busted.
4. The Twins have a hard time beating AL East teams. Well, at least for this one particular AL East team for this one particular series, it ain't so. The Twins sure looked good -- for game 1 and 3 anyway. Game 2 was a little sloppy (11 men left base?!), and Slowey and Crain were kind of shaky, but it wasn't totally depressing. I'd say this series was a success. This myth is busted.
5. Jason Kubel has bad knees, is slow, and has no defense. Did you see his baserunning today? Did you see that great catch in left? I think he's all right. This myth is busted.
6. We should be worried about Jose Mijares. I watched him today, and I wasn't impressed. I don't know if it's his eyes (he's battling some kind of eye problem that causes blurred vision), his control, his confidence, or what, but he didn't look good. He gave up a couple of hits, and he wasn't at all dominating. Of his five appearances, I've only been satisfied with two of them. This myth is confirmed.
7. Joe Mauer is perfect. Nope. He 0-fer'ed today. So, he's merely super-human. This myth is busted, but not badly.

Update:
Apparently, Metro Transit heard my complaints (and probably other people's too) about the commuter line, because they sent me the following email Friday afternoon:

Schedules for the Northstar Commuter Rail Line will change this Saturday (April 17). Based on current ridership patterns and customer requests, Metro Transit will adjust the departure times for all weekend service, all weekday morning service into Minneapolis and most northbound weekday trips.

The weekday schedules will better match actual travel times, saving several minutes in each direction. Visit Metro Transit's web site for the new schedule details. Connecting bus routes 20 and 811 will be adjusted to meet the new train times.

The change alleviates the 10 p.m. train, which had limited ridership, and is replaced by a 7 p.m. departure. The weekend schedules also will allow earlier arrivals in downtown Minneapolis for Minnesota Twins games at Target Field. Northstar will serve 53 of the Twins' 81 home games this season. Visit Metro Transit's web site for a list of games served by the Northstar Line.

During the Twins opener this week, the Northstar line was a big winner. Ridership grew from 501 for the first game train on Monday to 2,055 on Thursday. What this says to me is people are accepting commuter rail as an economical and desirable way to move.

If you have questions or comments about the new Northstar schedules, service to Target Field or other operations between Big Lake and downtown Minneapolis, please use the online customer comment form at http://www.metrotransit.org/ or call Metro Transit customer service at 612-373-3333.

Thank you for riding Northstar - or if you haven't ridden yet, give Northstar a try for a relaxing, convenient and safe ride.

Sincerely,
Dan Erhart
NCDA Board Chair

PS. Also starting on Saturday, Family Passes will extend eligible ages to 6 - 17 years old.

So, it's good to know that they're trying to solve the problems. We'll see. I'm really happy about the Family Pass thing, because now it works for me.

And, many thanks to haasertime, who provided this link to a Star Tribune article about it in the comments.

Splits and Suitcases

So we split the series with the Sawks. I guess that's not bad, but I'm not entirely happy about it either. I hate splits; they just go against everything baseball is about. But whatever...

Recap:
Monday: Twins 5 - Red Sox 6
Tuesday: Twins 5 - Red Sox 2
Wednesday: Twins 4 - Red Sox 2
Thursday: Twins 1 - Red Sox 3

Mini-bro went to Thursday's game on a school field trip. He said he had fun, but they left before the home plate ump decided he needed to repeatedly work on his "yer outta heeeere" move. I don't even get it (the field trip leaving part, not the ump part -- well, I don't get the ump part either, but that's another story). If they knew they had to leave before the 7th, why even go at all. But whatever...

It was good to see Blackie pitch well on Tuesday and Swarzak on Thursday. It was good to see Dice-K play, oh what did Bat-Girl used to call it?, chuck and toss on Wednesday. It was good to see homers, and nice defense, blah, blah, blah. But I'm still left feeling kind of like I just had tomato soup made with water for dinner -- it just quite doesn't do it for me.

~~~~~~~~~~

So, the Twins are on the road now -- off to Tampa Bay for three games. And it turns out that they have the dubious distinction of having the worst road record in the league. Well, that's no good. It's a good thing that it's a short trip -- they need to work into improvement slowly.

I have created a chart of items that I think they should pack to help them feel more comfortable while traveling. They can't hurt, and they might help. Whatever it takes.



(Yes, I do know that as I'm writing this, they're already well on their way to Florida -- maybe even already there -- and their bags were packed long ago, but I didn't think of this until today at work, and while doing this would have been a lot more fun than the copying and pasting that I was doing at work, I didn't think it would have been a good idea. But whatever...)

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.