Twins Spring Training Notes

This is a little late in coming seeing that the Twins are already 6 games into the season, but I think it is appropriate to give my impressions of the team as a whole in my first nutcan post longer than a paragraph that isn’t condemning religion or republicans.

I recently traveled to Florida to see 3 Twins spring training games. I would highly recommend this to anyone considering it in the future. The access you get to everything is worth the trip alone. I now relate my notes and jumbled thoughts.

March 21: Fly into Ft. Myers airport, pick up a rental car and drive to the game against the Phillies. I got there about 90 minutes before the game started. The complex is actually 4 other fields plus the stadium where games are held. The Twins take batting practice before the games on the field adjacent to the stadium, and the minor leaguers are usually practicing or playing games on the other fields. I got there just after batting practice had ended. The one nice thing about the park is that you are allowed re-entry if you leave. Being that I can’t usually do this when I go to see a crappy $5 rock show at some bar, it was pretty fantastic. I went and checked out the stadium and then came back out, and Joe Nathan was signing autographs by the practice park. The crowd was awash with “hope you get your contract” sentiments. (this was pre-signing). I can’t say I was in agreement with resigning Nathan, it was nice to see the fans showing some love. I don’t have anything against Nathan, but am against paying anyone in their 30’s 12 million for 70 innings. Anyways, the Twins lost, but the highlight was a 12-year old girl singing the national anthem better than almost anyone I’ve ever heard.

March 23: Easter Sunday and the park isn’t as packed as it was on Friday, although it fills up pretty good by the 2nd inning or so. I arrived early and watched batting practice. Jason Kubel was launching home runs left and right, and the girls do love Joe Mauer. As the players were leaving, Gardenhire and Morneau were walking out of the practice field together and Gardenhire turns to the crowd and yells, “I’m sitting Justin today so he’s going to come and sign autographs for all of you.” Morneau was clearly walking back to the stadium at that point, but he came over and signed for over an hour. About halfway into it, it started pouring rain and he stood out there for the whole rain storm, signing every last kid’s autograph, while some random guy held an umbrella over his head. Morneau was a staple of signing autographs for kids the whole time I was there, and seemed generally happy to do it. Liriano pitched 4 no-hit innings and looked good. His command was a little off at times but his changeup was incredible and he threw a couple of solid sliders. Jason Bartlett went 4-4 for the Rays if I recall. Twins win.

March 26: My first time seeing Gomez play, and it was less than impressive, but the Twins win again. Falling down seemed to be his forte today. 2 cuts so hard he fell, 2 missed bunts for strikes, 2 strikeouts and a botched fly ball to center that put him on his ass. He had just been handed the CF job the day before, so it might have been nerves, but I was not enthusiastic at that point. However, he did double late in the game and he certainly can run. Probably the fastest player I’ve seen except for maybe seeing Jose Reyes against the Twins last year. He has been impressive so far this season, but he’s going to be up and down all season, strike out a lot, and probably needed some more time in the minors. Before the game Tony Oliva came over by the batting practice field and signed autographs. Being that none of the kids knew who he was, it wasn’t too hard to get one. He said something completely incomprehensible to me in the thickest latino accent I’ve ever heard, and I nodded and smiled and said, “Thanks Mr. Oliva”

Play of the trip: Livan Hernandez coming up on a bunt that he was not going to have time to field and make a play to first, so he kicked it directly into Morneau’s glove. It was a perfect kick and a perfect catch. The crowd went nuts and the entire Devil Rays team was applauding the play.

New favorite Twin: Matt Tolbert. This guy was a machine. Prior to every single game he was taking batting practice after everyone had left, then if he wasn’t starting the games, he went straight to the batting cages and hit more balls. After the games, he was again back in the cages. In between, he signed autographs every chance he got for every kid he could. He was signing autographs in the stadium up to about 3 minutes before the games started and as I was leaving one day, I saw him pull his truck over as he was leaving the stadium and sign for all the kids waiting by the players parking lot. He’s probably not going to be much more than a bench player in years to come but he’s a class act and certainly will put up better production than crappy Nick Punto ever will.

Autographs obtained: I had a ball I carried around and got signed by: Justin Morneau, Joe Nathan, Boof Bonser, Delmon Young, Matt Tolbert, Brendan Harris, Jesse Crain, Tony Oliva, and Jason Pridie. I just missed Pat Neshek, Craig Monroe, and Tom Kelly. Mauer signed on the day I wasn’t there.

Easiest autographs to get: Tolbert, Nathan, Morneau

Hardest to get: Liriano, Gomez, Cuddyer (never even saw any of them)

Bobbleheads obtained: Torii Hunter and Brad Radke. The others were Jack Morris and Billy Martin. It looks like they are just leftover bobbleheads from regular season games.

Questions: Why do Twins fans like Punto so much? After Mauer, Morneau, and Neshek, he probably got the biggest cheers from the crowd. Does having one of the worst offensive seasons of all-time endear players to the hearts of their fans? Is it the head-first slides into first that conjure up images of a young Pete Rose, except without the hits, batting average or toughness? I don’t understand.

Sweetest ride: Mauer drove behind me for a couple miles on his way home in a pimped out 300C hemi.

Since I have to post a link, I posted it to my current favorite Twins blog.
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