Twins vs Brewers Running Diary

I am watching the Twins vs the Brewers and will be keeping track of my thoughts during the first half of the game and posting afterword. The term Running Diary is from Bill Simmons of ESPN, and I will think of a new name for it either later or during the game. Here we go:

7:06: Jon Miller just called Twins starter Scott Baker, Steve Baker. Well, I guess he isn't a Yankee or a Red Sox player so we should give him credit for getting his last name right and being able to find Minneapolis to announce the game.

7:09: Miller just apologized for calling him Steve Baker. He also apologized to Scott's wife, kids and his Alma Mater. I am guessing he knew those off the top of his head and didn't read them off his bio.

7:11: Baker is on his 2nd batter and has yet to give up a HR.

7:14: 1-2-3 first for the Twins, though on the 3rd out, a foul pop to Mauer, the batter Ryan Braun might have been called for a defensive foul if this were the NBA, if David Stern authorized the foul being called.

7:18: Hmmm, the NL players don't look any different than the AL players. I expected them to be much smaller.

7:19: Joe Mauer with an upper deck shot. 1-0 Twins!! Mauer now has 10 HR's in 78 AB's this season, whereas he only had 9 HR's all last year. Nice. I think he is trying to make up for having Gomez and Punto in the lineup batting 1 and 9.

7:25: Top of the 2nd and Prince Fielder and steak sandwich are up to bat. Fouls out with a nice running catch by Crede.

7:27: Speaking of Crede, let's just say he sure isn't making me miss Tony Batista much. My apologies to Tony's wife, kids and alma mater.

7:29: Corey Hart gets a double off of Punto's glove after falling behind 0-2 showing that he will "Never Surrender".

7:32: A check of the Brewer's player's salaries shows that their highest paid player this year is Jeff Suppan at $12.75 million. I think this shows that smaller market teams can compete with the larger markets in terms of overpaying for crappy players.

7:35: Crede with a base hit for the Twins in the bottom of the 2nd. It's so nice having a 3rd baseman for the first time since Corey Koskie. It shows you what the Twins can do when they took out the criteria for a replacement for Koskie as being Canadian.

7:40: Harris hits into a double play after a walk to Buscher. Crede to third. This shows you can take Casilla away from 2nd base but you can't take the Casilla out of Twins 2nd baseman.

7:42: Delmon Young strikes out to end the 2nd. 1-0 Twins.

7:49: Baker strikes out the 1st two batters in the 3rd. This is normal, he usually doesn't give up his 5 run inning until after the fifth. A base hit and then a flyout to end the top half of the 3rd.

7:52: Metrodome is looking quite full tonight. I am pretty sure they all came out to see Nick Punto who just hit his deepest ball of the year, just past the pitchers mound for a pop out.

7:53: Gomez just hit a dribbler down the first base line and it seemed he started to run faster after the ball had rolled foul. I think what Gardy would like you to show is hustle on balls in play there Carlos.

7:54: He showed good hustle back to the dugout after striking out. Once again Carlos, balls in play. Mauer up....

7:57: The announcers just said "Time your load for Dave Bush" and "High hard one" within 10 seconds of each other. Ummm, maybe Orel Hershiser should get his hookers before the game to clear his mind. Another hit by Mauer but Morneau is out on a screeching line drive to Fielder who didn't have to move, which is good as he was working on some BBQ ribs over there.

8:02: Braun with a line drive single to start the 4th and Fielder now comes up to bat with a 2 foot Italian BMT sub from Subway. No, wait, it's a Cold Cut sub.

8:08: Double play by the Twins as Punto switches the ball to his glove and throws it underhand from 2nd to 1st to beat Fielder by 20 yards.

8:10: Cameron homers to left for the Brewers. Key double play for the Twins. 1-1.

8:12: ESPN goes to the dugout with Brewer manager Ken Macha. This should be fun, always learn something from these. Nope. I am just waiting for one of these chats with the dugout where the his pitcher gives up a HR and the manager goes off like a tucker on shore leave. Yeah, that doesn't make sense but you get my point.

8:16: Crede goes deep into the left field stands!!!! 2-1 Twins. Estimated at 418ft and Jon Miller knows this since he saw a hot dog vendor where it landed and he has a strange 6th sense to know exactly how far he would have to walk to get a Dome Dog.

8:21: I just realized Joe Morgan isn't announcing this game. I was wondering why my ears weren't bleeding.

8:23: Dave Bush kinda looks like he should be riding the rails instead of pitching in the majors. Maybe he does both, he does get 5 days off between starts. Hmmm?

8:28: 1-2-3 top of the 5th for Steve, i mean, Scott Baker. 2-1 Twins.

That will be the end of this post. This was fun and next time I may try to go further into the game but time to bring in the bullpen.