Twinsfest!!!!!

Going to Twinsfest the next two days! I'll Tweet about it from @CrawfordCards. Should be a cool event.

Even though I'm a Rays fan, I'm glad I can get to someone's fanfest. As they say, love the one you're with! Though, to be frank, I get the feeling that works better in some areas (like baseball) than others (like one's marriage).

Have a good one everybody and goodnight Pumpsie Green, wherever you are!

Who's Wicked?: Twins Winter Caravan

The high today in my part of the country is 1 degree. For most of the day it'll feel like -15 or so. Either way, that wasn't going to stop me from hitting up this year's Twins Winter Caravan.

I had unfinished business from a few years back when, announcing I was going last minute, Wicked Ortega desperately tried to hook me up with a ROMLB to get a Tony O signature for his collection. I'm a big Tony O fan, too, (Tony O for the Hall!) so I was determined to see this one through. I grabbed a friend to take along, offering to pay for his lunch as bait, and we went through the snow and cold out to the Wild Hog. At first they said the players would hand out cards (bummer), but they gladly signed anything and everything.

So, Wicked, here ya go:

As for me, in addition to picking up signed cards of Glen Perkins and Scott Diamond, I treated myself right.

#6, Tony O!

Have a good one everybody and goodnight Pumpsie Green, wherever you are!

Update: from the Twitter account of Scott Diamond:

Yup. Right after I left Tony O lost a tooth on a chicken wing at one of the finest establishments in town. Does one laugh or cry?

Game 2: Straight to the Good Stuff

I'm skipping game 1. Not because it wasn't great (Rays won!), but because it was so cold no one remembered to take pictures. In case you missed it, it was SNOWED during the game.

The next day started out not so promising.

Clouds in the sky, tarp on the field. And raining. And cold.

Compa and a friend who came with us got beers and, like sensible people, stayed under cover to keep warm.

Since we never get to games I sprung for front row tickets next to the visitor's dugout.

I know, not the best shot, but I swear that you can see players beyond the cameras from time to time! Besides, this being the Rays in MN, there were some interesting characters down there waiting for the players to come out.

There was guy and his two kids up from Des Moines to see Hellickson pitch. He said he'd played in an over-35 league with Helly's dad and had nothing but good things to say about the Rays prospect. The ushers were coming around and kicking people out of there but since compa wasn't there and those WERE our seats I told them to stick with me and I'd vouch for them if anyone asked. Long story short, Helly did come out on his way to the pen and the guy and his kids DID get to shake his hand. Pretty cool.

Compa and friend came back and we settled in when one of our all-time favorite Durham Bulls, Elliot Johnson, came out to warm up. This is where things get goofy.

Elliot had made the team out of spring training this year, which was a pretty big deal as far as we were concerned. Appropriately enough we'd made a sign for Elliot saying "Congrats," which was promptly pulled out. He was gracious about the whole thing and yelled over, "Congratulations for what?" When we replied, "For making the team out of spring training!" he ran over and spoke with us for a few minutes until the National Anthem.

He asked us about being Durham fans and, when we told him we'd recently moved up North here from NC, without missing a beat he said, "That sucks." Good stuff.

Well, I had an old Durham jersey I was wearing to the game and had brought a pen just in case Elliot was around. He seemed surprised someone would ask him to sign a jersey that obviously wasn't his number (the jersey is #14, he's #9; he even flipped it over to see whose name was on the back---there's no name!), but I was THRILLED. He said, "Well, I was 14 in 2007."

Not seen: the massive sh!t-eating grin I've got on. 

Thanks Elliot! This was very, very cool, and the non-game highlight of the trip until what happened a few minutes later, but that'll be for tomorrow.

Have a good one everybody and goodnight Pumpsie Green, wherever you are!

2 days in April: Seeing the Rays kick some butt

I took a road trip to see the Rays hopefully win some games against the Twins (they did!). They were my first games in 2 years, so I was stoked to be there. So, picks and the 411 coming over the next few days!

This was day 2, after the sun a had cleared a bit. The Wednesday night game was almost unbearable, but Thursday more than made up for it!

If you are in the area Target Field is well worth the visit. Clean lines, friendly field, altogether a nice place to take in a game (so long as it's above 40 degrees).

Been busy lately...

and I got tickets to the COMPLETE Rays/Twins tilt, including tomorrow and the doubleheader Thursday. On Thursday keep an eye out for the dude in the Durham Bulls jersey near the Rays dugout---I wouldn't know him!

Catching Up: Gomes Winner, and Where I Been

First up, I have a good excuse for slacking the past few days (and I apologize). A friend of mine scored tickets to the Twins game last Tuesday night, and the compa (who is more my partner in crime than voice of reason at times) said that we had to go. So we went. Which meant that I've been playing catch up non-stop since we got back at 3 AM Wednesday morning.

But first, OMG that game was amazing!

Just check out the noise! That stuff never comes through on the tele, and I'm still half-deaf from the screaming. That's the mascot rolling around on an ATV on the field. Mijares (he of the Delmon hpb infamy) eventually took the flag from him (the mascot, not Delmon---don't think they're speaking yet) and led a hand-slapping tour around the outfield. Really, really cool stuff.

One of the strangest things about baseball is that, just because you go to a lot of games and watch a lot of different players in person you don't necessarily see anything special happen. You might see a HOF take the field, and that's awesome, but your memory of a particular game might be of that HOFer making 2 errors and going 0-4. I was really lucky (thanks Jeff and Compa!) that I even had the opportunity just to drive 5 hours, go to the game, then turn around and drive 5 hours home, much less that the game turned out to be so mind-blowingly amazing! The Twins really sent the Metrodome out in style, and it was incredible to be there for game 163 against the Tigers.

So...the moment you've been waiting for...the winner of the Gomes is...after three randomizations...Brian!!! Brian, shoot me an email with your preference for either the Ginter or 206 and I'll get it to you. Thanks to the folks who participated, and spread the good word of Gomes!!!

Have a great one!

Twins Win!!

I'm exhausted. Post later!