Feeling Minnesota...

Here are some random thoughts on some random topics:

* Why doesn't Justin Morneau have any Gold Glove Awards in his possession right now? The problem is Mark Teixeira's move to the New York Yankees has morphed him into Don Mattingly. He has already locked up this award at first base for the forseeable future. He starts off the year chalked up as the winner and the only way he can lose this award is by missing significant time due to injury. Teixeira is really solid by all means...but, Morneau deserves this award at least once in his career...and this should be the year he claims it. Morneau simply does more for his team in the field than what is expected out of Teixeira who is playing with at least two future Hall of Famers. By the way, have the baseball stat geeks figured out a formula for how many bad balls/throws that first basemen encounters throughout the year and their success rate for picking/scooping these bouncers to still get the out at first? My bet is no...otherwise, I believe Morneau would be killing this category thus raising some national attention for his defensive prowess.

* If you're African-American and your last name is Williams'...please come to Minnesota because our courts will have your back! Not only does the Williams' Wall (Kevin and Pat) benefit from our state courts delaying their suspensions/pay for almost two years now (and granting them an appeal to delay it even more)...but, we also have Jimmy Williams who wins a lawsuit against Tubby Smith and the University of Minnesota for $1.25 million over a verbal discussion over a phone conversation.

Shame on Tubby for not doing more research on Jimmy Williams, specifically the incidents during the Musselman/Dutcher era at our very own University of Minnesota. However, Jimmy Williams doesn't deserve any pity. He claims that since the verbal hiring scandal, that he has been blackballed from the coaching scene. I don't think he was blackballed, but now I'm for certain he sealed the deal with that one all by himself. I'm sure suing a coach/university for $1.25 million will only enhance your resume even more to others while deciding to hire you...along with all the cheating infractions on it as well. Not to mention...his worst offense of all is that the Timberwolves was one of his stopping grounds.

* I'm so tired of hearing complaints about the lack of home runs the home team has hit while playing at Target Field. We are the freakin' Minnesota Twins. We don't knock the ball out of the park on a consistent basis. It took us a gazillion years for one of our players to hit 30 home runs in one season...keep in mind that steroids were prevalent throughout the game during this stretch...and we still didn't conquer that feat until Morneau did it in 2006.

Which brings me to my next rant...Gardy...start managing the game. We sit on our hands way too much during the games, especially in the early innings. Let's put some runners in motion and see if we can manufacture some runs by playing some small ball here and there (not all the time, but pick a time here and there). There are so many missed opportunities due to poor to piss poor at bats by our hitters. It doesn't matter who is up either...it could be Butera to Mauer to Cuddy to Hudson. The only exception is usually Morneau...because they're always walking his ass so he doesn't even really count.

SBG