Welcome to the 2009 Season Twins Fans

At roughly 9:55 pm on Tuesday, April 7th, The Twins 2009 season officially started. The problem is that they had played 17 innings that counted before that. Those 17 innings were filled with feeble at-bats and pitchers getting knocked around by a 39 year old Ken Griffey Jr. and Endy Chavez. It was brutal to watch and the Twins were as flat and lifeless as the fans. Then it happened, Gomez who already is taking much better at-bats coaxed a walk out of Brandon Morrow. Morrow then lost all control walking Kubel and Buscher (by the way I was suprised Gardenhire pinch hit for Punto). The Mariners brought in Miguel Batista but that was to no avail as Denard Span used his blazing speed to leg out a infield single and Alexi Casilla lined a single to center bringing in the tying and winning runs. In a single moment, Twins fans were reminded all over again why they love the Minnesota Twins. The question is now whether the Twins can play a full nine inning game. They should have a good chance of doing so against Carlos Silva tonight.

Way Too Early Reactions to the 2009 Twins

• Span does not look like he will regress into a AAA player. He just gives a quality at-bat every single time and with his speed gets a lot of hits he has no business getting. He is a very good lead-off hitter.
• Casilla and Punto might be the best double play combo in the league. They have looked very solid so far making a few amazing double plays.
• Gomez looks a lot better at the plate. He still takes a few bad swings but it isn't three in a row. He should have a much better year this year.
• Morneau looks off to another slow start. He didn't get a hit until his 5th game last year. He may start slow until Mauer gets back but he is still a lock for .290-20-100 at least.
• Crede may not be off to a quick start but him in the lineup is much more dangerous than Brian Buscher. He can hit a home run on any pitch. Buscher can hit a single on any pitch.
• Allowing opponents to bat .300 against him may catch up to Blackburn this year, I don't think he will be Silva bad but his ERA might be closer to 5.00 than 4.00.
• Jose Morales has not looked like a MLB player so far. I thought he could be a surprise and provide some offense but his at-bats so far have been brutal with 3 strikeouts in 4 at-bats. Did you know that he is actually older than Joe Mauer by two months. It seems like Mauer has been around for ever but he only turns 26 on April 19th.
  

The first two games have not screamed AL Central Champs but some of that can be attributed to Felix Hernandez and Erik Bedard who are no slouches and could both win a Cy Young sometime in their careers. These next two games against sub-standard pitching should give us a better look at just where the offense is at.