Mound Talk

I was at opening day in Minnesota and came away with a few things.

It is a good thing the Twins play under the Dome because the 7 inches of snow that fell would have spoiled a very good game. This could become an issue when outdoor baseball comes back to Minnesota in 2010. If MLB is smart they will not schedule the Twins to play at home the first week of the season, the same goes for New York, Boston, Detroit, Chicago, Cleveland, Pittsburgh, Baltimore & Philadelphia. MLB has made claims that it would be unfair financially to these teams to not allow them to have games the first week, but I think they could make up for this by scheduling them more games during August & September. The Twins have already come out and said they will work with MLB to avoid games the first week so they can prevent snow outs. If the Twins are any indication of what teams really feel than MLB does not have an excuse for scheduling these games.

The game was on ESPN2 to showcase 2 front runners for American League CY Young, John Lackey vs Johan Santana……….well at least that is what they thought when they scheduled the game. But I am sure that they were ok with the backup plan, Kelvim Escobar vs Francisco Liriano ……….out to injuries and rehab. In the end they had to settle for Jered Weaver vs Livan Hernandez, not quite what they were hoping for but it turned out to be a decent match up. There were still more story lines however, the return of Torii Hunter & the new Twins lineup which included 7 new players (including the starting pitcher). Torii was mostly cheered, with scattered boos throughout, but those cheers turned to boos every time he caught a ball in center and returned to cheers every time he got out. None were louder than when Joe Nathan struck him out in the ninth inning. Once again the Twins bullpen looked solid, Pat Neshek dominated, striking out the side in the 8th and Joe Nathan worked through the ninth without any difficulty. Carlos Gomez looked good in his Twins debut going 2-3, with a double, 2 stolen bases and 2 runs scored. What impressed me most with Gomez was during his first at bat. After reading interviews with him this spring I thought he might try to hit a home run in his first at bat, he seems to think he has more power than he really does, but instead he tried to bunt for a base hit. He failed on the bunt attempt and later doubled which he may have been able to turn into a triple but held up rounding second, another sign that he is not being overconfident in his abilities. In the future, when he has a better feel for what he can do, I would like to see him try to get the triple but I was impressed by the restraint and hopes he continues to learn.

The first game of the season was great, the Twins won, the new faces looked good and it gave hope for the future. Plus, it is always fun to have a snow ball fight after a baseball game.