The two time defending AL Central champs took a couple of big hits in the offseason. They lost set up closer LaTroy Hawkins and closer Eddie Gurdado as well as All Star catcher AJ Pierzynski. They did resign Shannon Stewart who helped spark the offense after a slow start by the team. ANd Joe Nathan from the Giants could help alot in the bullpen. Which Torii Hunter will show up? 2002's MVP caliber season or the 2003 struggling to make any real contact? Luckily they are in a winnable division and the race between them and the Royals should be fun all summer.

What about the White Sox? Are they dead before the season even starts?

Why did they get rid of Pierzynski?

Pierzynski was traded because Twins management believes former #1 overall pick Joe Mauer is ready to take over catchinhg duties. Risky move as Mauer hasn't played in the majors yet. Pierzynski (who would have been a free agent after the 2004 season) was also a popular guy in the clubhouse, but they had to get a relief pitcher who could become their closer after losing Guardado and Hawkins to free agency. The Giants offered Nathan despite his breakout season last year.

Mauer this year at catcher, or a fill-in until 2005?

Speaking of A.J. Pierzynski, I heard him interviewed by Jim Rome last week; in fact, A.J. has been on the show several times and it's quite apparent the two of them have a good rapport. A.J. misses his Twins teammates, notably Doug Mientkiewicz (I would too, Doug is adorable wink ). Apparently his locker in San Fran is right next to Barry Bonds', so reporters who try (and fail) to get Bonds to talk will turn to Pierzynski for a sound bite on the steroids issue.

One thing A.J. said he won't miss about playing in Minnesota is the white roof of the Metrodome. (Personally, I don't know why they don't use fluorescent orange baseballs there, wouldn't that alleviate the problem? )

Ah, orange baseballs. Oh, how we laughed then. Charlie Finley, visionary.

Good win for the Twins today (and their new rookie catcher's a cutie!). And the Metrodome's new turf certainly is an improvement; did they buy it from the Vet or something?

The big concern for the Twins was their bullpen, which held up nicely gigving up no runs in 5 innings. Mauer goes 2-3. Game winning 3 run homer for Shannon Stewart. Nice way to start the season!!!

Another marathon at the Metrodome last night as the Twins win again in extra innings. Cleveland has battled two games in a row without a win to show for it.

Oh, and anyone else notice there were more fans remaining after the tenth inning here than were still at Dodger Stadium after the seventh? What's up with L.A. fans always leaving early?

Glad they won, but at what cost? Torii Hunter, Joe Mauer and Johan Santana, arguably three of the most important Twins, all left the game due to injuries. Santana was only able to go 4 innings before spasms in his forearm and they had to use 7 different relievers. This bullpen will be worn out at this rate!

On the upside, none of these injuries sound too serious. Hunter has a starined hamstring and Mauer has a slightly sprained knee. Mauer seems like the biggest concern. A knee injury of any kind can be devastating for a catcher. He'll have an MRI today.

The injury bug seems to hitting the Twins early and often this year. First Mauer and now backup catcher Matt LeCroy is out with a ribcage injury. They've already had to resort to calling up a minor league catcher. Mauer will be out about 3 weeks so they need LeCroy to get well quick.

I was at that 15 inning game Tuesday night, un-freakin'-believable. I sat in the upper GA ($6, perfect for a college student), and by the 13th inning my two friends and I were the only people left in our section. It really sucks that Joe Mauer (HOTHOTHOT) got injured in his second major league game, but add to that Santana having to leave the game early, and Hunter's injury, and then to top it all off, Matthew LeCroy injured himself the next game. NOT a good start for this year's Twinks. BTW I haven't posted here since October, I guess I should change my SN. At home for Easter weekend, will be at the Marlins-Phils game where the Marlins get their rings .

Twins win another in Cleveland with red hot Brad Radke winning his 8th consecutive decision, the longest current streak in baseball. Nice that he was able to go 8 innings and hurl a shutout so the bullpen could finally catch a bit of a break!

They managed to avoid another catastrophic injury.

Okay I added the Studly part. Call it editorial perogative.

[ April 16, 2004, 07:29 AM: Message edited by: George_vikingfan ]

Twins have gotten off to a very nice start with the most wins in the AL (14) and the second best winning percentage. Granted they've have a favorable schedule, but they've won two series from the Royals taking 5 of 6 games.

Now starts the tougher part of the season. They host the Angels then head west for series' at Seattle and Oakland, return home for the Mariners and then finally will play the ChiSox in ChiTown. The Twins and White Sox look to be each others main competition for the AL Central crown.

Big series starts tonight in Chicago against the White Sox. Twins are 1/2 game up, pretty good considering all the injuries the first half. The offense really missed Shannon Stewart. Johan Santana is a monster, leading the AL in strikeouts ahead of Pedro and Schilling!

I've been reading that the Twins are in the running for Kris Benson from Pittsburgh. He'd be a nice fit to the rotation, but I think they need more offense. The pitching staff in third in the AL in ERA as it is.

It's amazing how a team like the Twins, who are a bunch of worthless no-names, can win like they do. I've said it months ago, I'll say it again: The White Sox will not win this division. The Twins will.

It's probably rigged.

How sweep it is! Taking a 3 game set in Chicago! Extending the lead to 3 1/2 games. Sounds more and more like the the Twins will land Kris Benson, though I'm not sold on the fact they need him. Rumored to be going to Pittsburgh are either Doug Mientkiewicz ( eek! PLEASE NO!!!!) or Michael Cuddyer and a couple of prospects. Mientkiewicz has struggled lately but I'd hate to see him leave the Twins, especially to just rent Benson for a couple of months.

The only good thing about the Twins winning the division will be the fact that they'll get the shit spanked out of them in the first round of playoffs. What a crappy team they are. :mad:

Bummed to lose Mientkiewicz but the Twins have such an abundance of young talent that is just too good to not play full time. The Bo Sox are getting one of the best defensive first baseman in the gamne today who, so far, has struggled after a hot start.

Glad the Twins didn't pull the trigger on the Kris Benson deal. His first outing for the Mets was a debacle to say the least and the staff is second in the AL in ERA as it is now. The rotation, led by Santana and Radke, is looking really sharp.

2of 3 from the BoSox to extend the AL Central lead to 5!

After 2 of 3 from Boston the Twins take 2 of 3 from the Angels. Nice series wins over two playoff contending teams. Next up is the AL West leading A's coming to the Metrodome. Despite being in first Oakland is playing poorly on the road.

How about that Carlos Silva the other night -- pitching a complete game shutout despite giving up 11 hits, thanks to SIX double plays.

Such an odd little stretch lately. Losing series to the Mariners and Indians but going for a sweep against the Yanks today. Glad things have gotten back on track a bit. The Indians visit the dome again this weekend, so hopefully they put a bit more distance between them and Cleveland.

Beating Mussina, even though he'd been injured, was pretty big given he was 20-2 lifetime against the Twins.

Santana is smoking. He's something like 6-0 with a 1.80 ERA sine the All Star break. And Radke looked terrific in the first game against the Bombers.

Tinkerbell, you're going to have to better than that, ass****.

[Stupid homophobic post IN ALL CAPS deleted by moderator]

[ August 19, 2004, 09:05 PM: Message edited by: Tarkus ]

Oh darn. I didn't even get to see it to laugh at it.

What a wild game last night! Yanks get out to early 7-1 lead, Twins eventually take a 10-9 lead but then Yanks light up the up-to-now impenetrable closer Joe Nathan for four 9th inning runs. Silver lining is that they took 2 of 3 and have built the lead in the Central back up to 5 games with the Indians coming into the dome this weekend. Go Twins!

PS-I'm with you Joe. What was the contorversial post? Was it a slam against moi? Or worse, a slam against my Twins?

[ August 20, 2004, 10:10 AM: Message edited by: George_vikingfan ]

Hey to all of you in the Twin Cities!

Joe Mauer is HOTT! Anyone see him out and about in civvies? How does he look in person? Does he do alot of local promotions and stuff? Appear in the gossip columns? Got the ladies chasin him? Is he a nice guy?

Tell, tell tell!

Joe, George, nothing exciting or new. Just the usual "You're sick! You're disgusting! You like to stick your dick up guy's asses!". The usual.

Did I hear correctly that until this week the Twins hadn't beaten the Yankees in the regular season since 2001?

I don't think that's the case Joe, but the Yanks have beaten up on the Twins pretty handily for a couple years now. But I don't think they were unbeaten dating back to 2001. Could be wrong though.

Nice run again from the Twins. 2 of 3 from Yanks, followed by a sweep of the Indians and 2 of 3 from the Rangers. The offense is clicking and the starting pitching has doen a great job against three of the most potent offenses in the AL. Only closer Joe Nathan, who has been one of the best all season, has been shaky as of late. Hopefully it's just temporary.

The current run has helped them put some distance between them and the Indians and White Sox (8 & 9 games back respectively) and back in the hunt for the AL #2 seed, which would mean an all important 1st round home field advantage come playoff time.

Johan Santana is becoming a Cy Young candidate. He's the AL strikeout leader, 14-6 record (7-0 since the All Star break), a 3.13 ERA (1.74 after the break)and over 10 Ks per 9 innings.

Santana continues to roll. Pitches 7 solid innings as the Twins blank the Orioles. Santana is now 17-6 with a league leading 2.85 ERA to go along with his league leading K's. Could be only the third Twin to win the Cy Young Award (Jim Perry-1970, Frank Viola in 1988).

Radke also has been solid lately. Unfortunately, there is a bit of falloff after that. Hopefully Silva will regain his early season form in time for the postseason.

Twins have now won 8 of their last 10. Coupled with the A's 5 straight losses, Minnesota is now just 1 game behind Oakland for the #2 seed and home field advantage for the Divisional Playoffs. Twins have a 3 game set against the Yankees, but otherwise the schedule loooks quite favorable. Playing at home was a huge advantage during their World Series runs in '87 and '91.

Seasson high 8 game win streak for the Twins. They are now 1/2 game ahead of the A's for the #2 seed which would pit them against the Red Sox. Since the Yanks have owned the Twins for the last couple of seasons, maybe playing Boston, especially with home field advantage, might be a better option to advance to the ALCS.

Santana won his 20th game and set a new single season K record for the Twins, previously held by Bert Blyleven. He probably has the Cy Young nailed down. He's 13-0 with a 1.18 ERA since the All Star break.

On the downside, he did have his scoreless inning streak snapped at 33!

What a farce that the Twins-Indians game had to be stopped with the score tied in extra innings, because they had to get the field ready for college football tonight. Why can't the football game be delayed? Why were the two events even scheduled on the same day?

Maybe the Twins should threaten to move if they don't get a ballpark of their own. wink

I hear there's going to be an empty dome in Montreal next year!

[ October 02, 2004, 09:12 PM: Message edited by: BillyC ]

The games tomorrow are important, they'll determine who they play in the playoffs, they can't just phone 'em in (neither can the Angels). I'd love to see a Twins v. Yankees rematch.

Obviously I am bummed. Games 2 and 4 were winnable. But still a nice season by the no name, low budget Twins. With the young roster and future All Star Joe Mauer returning, the Twins will be back in the hunt next year so I'll have to look forward to that.

Yeah, I'm surprised that the Twins are not mentioned more during talk about 'Moneyball' teams. Theo Epstein and J.P. Ricciardi are always mentioned as disciples of Billy Beane, yet Epstein's Red Sox have the second highest payroll in the majors and Ricciardi's Blue Jays finished last in the AL East.

The Twins have the lowest payroll of all the playoff teams this year ($53 mil) and have been consistently good in recent years despite a lack of 'big name' (high salary) players.

After sleeping on it, I realize that despite his success the past 3 years, Ron Gardenhire pretty much blew the ALDS for the Twins with his pitching decisions, or in some cases, indecisions.

Santana, while not having his best stuff on 3 days rest, had just whiffed Sheffield and Matsui. Why take him out. Then Grant Balfour comes in and is throwing heat. What does Gardy do? Takes him out and brings in Rincon. He then allows Rincon to give up hit after hit and run after run til the Yanks come all the way back to tie it up. What did he think this was, a Grady Little tribute?

In game 2, letting Nathan go 3 innings was another mistake, but that one is mostly in hindsight. Other than the fact that Nathan hadn't gone 3 relief innings before, there wasn't much evidence to say nathan had no business being in there.