Greg L Johnson's Minnesota Twins Fan Profile

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The Old Rivalry posted on 04/23/2008

For much of my life as a Minnesota Twins fan, the team's biggest rivalry was with the Oakland Athletics. Oakland had established themselves with a series of World series wins in the seventies, then when Tom Kelly became manager of the twins and Tony LaRussa took over the A's things really heated up. kelly and LaRussa were the best managers of their time, each could out maneuver pretty much anyone in the league except for each other.

Because of that, the teams' games were always played at a high level, no matter whether they were involved in a pennant chase or not.  Then in the nineties the divisions were revamped, oakland in the West and the Twins in the Central, kelly eventually retired from managing and LaRussa moved to the national league.

But it's still fun when they match up. the Twins and A's now share similar circumstances, both are smaller market teams faced with larger market rivals in their respective divisions, and both are held up as examples of how to compete well even given that basic disadvantage.

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Twins End Cleveland's Streak posted on 04/20/2008

Well, let's try this again. I tried to post this morning and the whole thing disappeared into the land of server errors, a less than happy way to start the day.

Yesterday the Minnesota Twins beat the Cleveland indians 3 -0, snapping an eight game losing stral against the Indians that dated back to last season. Nick Blackburn pitched 7 and 2/3's shutout innings for his first win of the season. It was a stellar performance that should cement his place in the starting rotation.

The other aspect of the game that stood out was the Twins defense. The infield was superb, turning three double plays a nd bringing back memories of the type of team defense that led to the Twins winning four division titles in five years.  The pitching and defense gave a taste of the kind of team this group of players could develop into. Add a little more hitting and it's easy to see theTwins competing for the division title again in the next few years.

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Carl Crawford Catches One For The Twins posted on 04/17/2008

It's the eighth inning and the Minnesota Twins and Tampa bay rays are locked in a five all tie. The Twins have a runner on third with one out. Mike Lamb hits a fly ball that's tailing into the left field foul area when in a flash speedy Tampa Bay outfielder Carl Crawford comes running from his position and makes a great sliding catch. The only problem is he's in no position to make a throw, and delmon Young easilt tags up and scores the eventual winning run from third base.

It's one of the more unusual situations in baseball, but once in a while there's a ball that you're better off not catching. If Crawford lets it bounce, it's a foul ball, the game is still tied, and who knows what may have happened next. But carl did his thinking with his feet instead of his head, and the result was a Twins win.

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Twins First Road Trip posted on 04/16/2008

The Minnesota Twins completed their first road trip of the season last night, and the results were fairly disappointing. Disappointing because after splitting two games with the White Sox and taking two out of three against the Royals, the Twins twice blew late-inning leads and lost two games at Detroit, finishing the road trip with a 3 - 4 record that coulda should been 5 - 2. We'll get to the Detroit series later, first let's take a look at what went right.

Staritng pitching was undoubtedly the high point of the entire road trip. Back to back shutouts at Kansas City and early inning leads at Detroit showed that the Twins starting rotation is playing more to their talent than their lack of experience. That bodes well for thinking the team will at least stay competitive for the season. Offensively, Justin Morneau and Delmon Young started to heat up, and Denard Span showed flashes of being able to hit at the major league level while filling in for Michael Cuddyer. The surprise of the season continues to be Matt Tolbert, who simply hits every time he's in the lineup.

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No Momentum In Baseball posted on 04/13/2008

There was a point in last night's game between the Minnesota Twins and the Kansas City Royals where you suspected that the game might be about to turn around in favor of the home team. In the top of the seventh, the bottom of the Twins lineup had started the inning off with four straight singles, scoring a run and leaving the bases loaded with nobody out. With the top of the order coming up, it looked like the situation was right for the Twins to break the game open.

Instead, Carlos Gomez, Matt Tolbert and Joe Mauer strung together three of the worst at bats you'll ever see in a major league game. Gomez flailed wildly at three pitches out of the strike zone, Tolbert popped up in the infield, and Mauer watched a fastball go right down the middle of the plate for strike three.

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