This Early, It's Still Tryouts

We're nearly ten games in, let's rehash.

Uh, it's not great. But, please girl, no freaking out (Red Sox Nation). The Twins pretty consistently take a while to figure out which end of the bat is the ball-hitting end and that "doubled off" is means something different than something you can pay for at Sheiks. 

Not to worry about: Mauer, Morneau, Thome, Span, Kubel, Valencia, Young*, Pavano, Nathan, Capps.

To mostly not worry about: Duensing, Cuddyer, Liriano, Tolbert, Hughes, Hughes, Nishioka, Butera, Slowey.

Worry: Casilla, Baker, Blackburn, Perkins, Manship, Mijares, Burnett.

Clearly, the middle relief is an issue; To this, I say no shit and will move on. Baker and Blackburn I always worry about, so really a null point. That leaves Casilla. If this were a vlog, you would have witnessed a sigh and eye roll, which is my habitual reaction to whoever is playing the role of Gardy's little hustle pet. You know him, the guy whose only consistency is hitting below .190, but gets a pass because Gardy clearly has a soft spot for the scrapper with a big heart.

(Okay, let's just get this out the way early... Yes, I'm sideways shit-talking Punto, and this is not likely to be my only swipe. In darker days, my eyes have rolled so far back in my head at the mere mention of Punto's name, I've nearly shot a contact across the room. I'm still haunted by the popped up bunts, inexplicable base running, blooper-worthy high hacks at balls in the dirt and, god, the head-first slides. But, buddies, I will try to take it easy and not be too harsh on the Punto as I know that tenderness for the little guy runs deep around these parts.)

Casilla is okay defensively; has pretty good range, but his arm is an issue. As is his head. I'm just not sure he has the wits; I swear, he just looks lost out there. A lot. It's the only thing he's consistent about. He's quick on the bases, but not aggressive enough-- or he forces it. And then there's the batting. Long story short, I'd rather see Tolbert in the lineup any day. But, I'm not super worried about this. As my trusted work/sports buddy, Meghan, wisely reminded me today: This early, it's still tryouts.


Home opener recap: It was awesome. 

The game and all its 8th and 9th inning glory has been pretty thoroughly detailed, so I'll skip that and move on to the most important news:

There is a Summit stand just as close to our new seats as one was to our old seats. Phew. I know.

The new right field screen is a great addition-- thumbs up. HD, larger size than I anticipated, full of little trivia nuggets about the boys. For example, did you know that Kubel drives a Hummer? I would have figured him for a Ford F-150 guy.

The new tower is okay.

Music: It's better. I'd say whoever is in charge of it is 20 years younger or enough people said... seriously, if I hear Shout one more time, I will jump off the Budweiser Roof Deck.

The Vickster (my lovely mother and my partner in crime at Target Field, whom you will officially meet soon) took a lot of great pics with her new Canon. I'll share these with you soon.

O, and we ate and drank too much at the pre-game festivities at Smalley's to try any of the new food. Updates later.


Ciao, buddies.
-cr.

Footnotes

*Being a Delmon "The Tongue" Young believer since the start, even when it was a pretty ridiculous stance, it brings me joy to put him on the not worried list. Delmon will have a huge season. Callin' it.

I know baby, it makes me excited, too.