Vote Pat!

For almost a year now we've had the pleasure to watch Pat Neshek's delivery cause major league batters to flounder helplessly. In this outing, August 10, 2006, Pat struck out Frank Catalanotto and Vernon Wells on 6 pitches to end the inning.

Big Hurt

Big Boom

Only in Minnesota!
The guy who caught the ball--worth probably $40 to $50 grand--gave it to Thomas in exchange for a jersey and signed baseball and bat. Thomas said he appreciated Eisenlohr's willingness to give up the ball without asking a king's ransom.

Twins cruise along Baker Street

Twins vs Brewers

Check out the People at the Park...

Baker and the Twins didn't win the game Friday, but a few Brewers got "Baked"; We call this "The Series of Silly Swings":

Twins vs Nationals

Who put a nickel in Guzy anyway?

Brave Fans

Whoo! Twins sweep the Braves.

Braves have fans, too:

2007_06_12

Life in the HOV Lane, or, How a couple of Minnesotans take an hour and 35 minutes to drive 3 blocks from Anaheim stadium to the hotel

How could it take an hour and 35 minutes to drive 3 blocks from Anaheim stadium to our hotel? We muttered this to Twins' pitcher, Pat Neshek, in the hotel elevator upon our arrival--our frustration at the Twins' 16-3 of loss yesterday utterly eclipsed--and he remarked, "Yeah, that's why I walked." I've chronicled our route in My Maps, one of Google Maps new features. Click Here to view in Google Earth, which is even cooler!

Pics from Oakland

Golden Glove Performer!
Santana made a terrific catch in his (winless) start in Oakland:
Thank goodness for Kevin Slowey! Otherwise my trip to Oakland and Anaheim would be winless so far. Kevin struck out the first batter he faced; here's the pitch:

Some of Slowey's deliveries looked different; he straightens his back on some pitches but not others. I wonder if he could tip his pitches that way. Any ideas?

Twins Cards

Been spending lots of time sorting and scanning my Twins baseball cards for posting on TwinsCards.com. Check it out! Be patient, the pages load slower than we'd like, but it's still worth it!

Twins Fest 2007

From Justin Morneau at Twins Fest

TwinsFest was crowded, but a good time, as usual. What can you do there?
Get Autographs: Here are Pat Neshek and Kevin Slowey signing:

Pat Neshek at Twins Fest 2007

You can ask players questions.

Twins Fest 2007

Justin Morneau

Justin Morneau at Twins Fest

Matt Garza

Matt Garza and Rick Anderson chat at Twins Fest

As a season ticket holder, I picked up my bobbleheads. The STH (Season Ticket Holder) bobbleheads are slightly different from the SGA (Stadium Give Away) bobbleheads. They have the players' name on the base, and sometimes things are added. The one I got of Torii, for example, had a "2006 Division Champions" plaque on the bottom. So now my bobblehead collection looks like this:

My Bobbleheads

Man Hugs

The picture headlining the article about Luis Rodriguez on TwinsBaseball.com this week brought back memories of the game that picture was taken at; a terrific game!. Twins vs Brewers on May 22, 2005 (back when we still had the Soul Patrol--sniff). That was the game my daughter, Maija, leaped up to grab a Joe Mauer foul ball in front of a groping, drunken cheesehead behind us.


Anyway, the Twins scored first with a run in the 3rd and for awhile it looked like that's all we'd need. Santana was smokin'--11 strikeouts that day--for 5 2/3 perfect innings before giving up a run in the 6th and another in the 7th. Juan Rincon gave up 2 runs in the 8th and "fans" started heading up the steps.

The Twins inched back with a run in the 8th but Joe Nathan walked in a run in the 9th to put the Brewers back up by 3. It seemed pretty hopeless when none other than Jacque Jones lead off the bottom of the 9th with a single after a 13-pitch at-bat (yes, it was JJ) and Leewwww doubled him in. Shanon Stewart hit a 2-run dinger that just cleared the baggie to tie it up and avoid a loss for Johann. The homer set off a flurry of man hugs in the dugout, and I took a picture...


L-Rod knocked in the winning run in the 11th and that shiny rookie helmet was pounded on by his teammates. Yep, we'll remember that one for a while...
P.S. Luis Rodriguez' photo was taken by Jim Mone of the AP. The others were taken by me, before I got my new camera....