87 World Series Reunion

I've been waiting for this series since I first heard about it during Twinsfest. I know some may argue that the '91 World Series was better, but for me, nothing can compare to the '87 World Series.

I'll admit it, I was not much of a baseball fan before the '87 playoffs. But as the '87 season progressed, I started watching more and more games. When they started winning in the postseason, I was hooked.

To borrow a famous line from literature, "it was the best of times, it was the worst of times"... as the Twins were entering the playoffs, my first marriage was ending. It was watching the Twins win that year--on a small black & white t.v. with my two young children (ages 3 & 1) beside me, that helped me escape for a few short hours the misery that was pervading my life at that time. It worked. The Twins' underdog championship season gave me the inspiration I needed to rise above the mud and muck that life was slinging my way.

O.k. maybe I'm being a little dramatic...but truly, baseball carried me through a hard time...and when they won the World Series, I vowed I would be a fan for life, whether the Twins were winning or losing.

My appreciation for the game has grown over the years. I am not some fair-weather fan. I am not a casual spectator. I have been accused of being a baseball geek and I can handle that.

Baseball is pure bliss for me. There's nothing like walking into the stadium (even the Metrodome) for the first game of the season. On even the worst day, baseball makes life a little better. I swear it lowers my blood pressure (and when a game is going badly, sometimes raises it a few degrees).

So with joy in my heart, I'm making my way to two of the games this weekend. I am sure to have goosebumps when '87 highlights are played and the '87 team is introduced.

I'm still a fan. And I will be for life.

Feast

The Twins must be pushing themselves back from the table, having gorged on Seattle pitchers for 28 hits in the past two games. 18 hits on Tuesday, with a final score of 11-3. 10 hits today, with a final score of 6-1. It was looking today as if the Twins were repeating past mistakes--following a day of fantastic hitting with poor production--that is until Torii Hunter hit a grand slam in the final inning of the game. 3 homeruns were hit these past 2 days, including the first HR by White this year. Watkins had 2 hits today as well.

As I've said, it's been feast or famine when it comes to Twins' hitting this year...but let's hope we're eating at the buffet table for the remainder of the season.

A roller coaster ride

Fox Sports North just went out...wait, maybe that's FSN's way of sparing Twins' fans from viewing another ugly loss. Drats, the Twins are back on...and even have 2 runners on the bases...but hey, we have 2 outs, so there's no way we're bringing those two home.

Excuse the sarcasm. I am usually an optimistic fan. That's one of the things that I love about baseball...until that final out, there is always hope. But this season has been a bit of a roller coaster ride for Twins' fans and I'm starting to feel nauseous. (Yup, Casilla just struck out). Just when the fans are ready to give up on the Twins, they come back strong and seem to be in the thick of things (it helps that Detroit and Cleveland have been playing sub-par as well). When the pitching is great, the hitting is nonexistent. All season it's been feast or famine when it comes to hitting and I think most would agree the Twins have been starving of late.

They're playing a late game tonight and I know I won't be able to stay awake for it. I'm just hoping the morning paper brings news of a winning score.

New lineup

New lineup tonight:

Casilla
Bartlett
Mauer
Morneau
Hunter
Cuddyer
Kubel
White
Punto

Not sure what magic a new lineup may bring, but god knows it can't hurt. The thought is that Mauer will get some better pitches to hit...that would certainly be a good thing. Off to a good start...Bartlett just hit a triple in the 1st.

Fathers and Sons

My dad passed away on Wednesday. 85 years a Minnesotan.

I wish I could say he was a big baseball fan. In minor ways he was. He went to the old Saints and Miller games as a kid, with his aunts and uncles saving Wheaties box tops, which with two and a dime you got a ticket to a ballgame.

I actively collected baseball cards starting in 1962 when you got one with a gum for a penny. My dad would tell me stories of the neighborhood corner store where the owner opened all packs and put the cards in one jar and the gum in another and you could pick the cards you wanted and take a corresponding piece of gum.

I learned about early era baseball players when I unearthed my dad's 1933-1935 Goudey cards in the attic...yes, he had them all -- Ruth, Gehrig and the gang. He did sell them in the late '70s. They weren't as glamorous as the Topps photo cards of my youth, but showed the charm of baseball -- small gloves and big bats. When every man could play the game with a modicum of skill.

My dad was never a big fan of catch or playing ball. We went to few games, my live action attendance mostly with friends of the family. But he religiously listened to WCCO radio and both my parents fueled my baseball interest on our yearly cross country trips by driving to baseball stadiums, letting me get postcards of the parks, going on the tour of the then new Astrodome, and even waiting outside Fenway Park when this 13-year-old got his own seat down the line from the "Green Monster" all by hisself in this strange land knowing that when the last out was recorded the family station wagon would be waiting outside the garage door exit.

My dad was a good dad. Yes, I miss not playing catch more with him more...but it was the afternoons of hitting balls to other kids in the park, playing tennis ball baseball in the alleys, and always afternoon little league games that parents of that generation could not attend because of the working environments.

I remember my parents getting me one of those bounce back nets to perfect my non-existent pitching skills. I placed it with its back to the alley on the first day of use, anchoring it to the grass, wound-up and threw the ball. The bounce came back high and hard and just missed breaking the kitchen window. I quickly reposition the net now facing the alley, then side-armed a wild pitch missing the net and cracking a basement window. You can't win some days.

The game was always on the radio in those days, during sunny afternoons, when out doing yardwork, travelling the roads. My dad knew the players (his work shared the same physician as the Twins team and a co-workers son was the Twins public relations guy during the early days of the franchise). He would bring home photos of the players, used game balls, Twins souvenirs.

And he listened to my fascination with stats, my gaining knowledge of home run records and pitching feats. And I'm sure he loved his own days as a kid, sitting on the plank bleacher seats of the hometown teams cheering on your everyday working stiffs playing a little baseball.

I'm going out to the park with my glove and a ball and loft a pop up high towards the sky. And when it comes back down, I'll catch it!

What's wrong with this picture?

The Great Escape

I suppose it's time to get back to this baseball blog. Blogging, and even baseball, hasn't been of the highest priority this past week. My aunt died this past week, my father-in-law entered the hospital and is in serious condition and then there is the tragedy of the bridge collapse--all these have contributed to baseball being put on the back burner. It is a game after all.

Prior to the bridge collapse, much hoopla was going on in the Twins baseball world in regards to trades...Castillo was traded and no one, at least no one ready to help this season, was acquired before the trade deadline. Santana, along with other players, were perhaps, rightfully, upset. It hasn't gotten any better in the past few days...Cirillo was picked up off waivers by the Diamondbacks. I'm not sure how big a loss that is, but it does seem to indicate that Terry Ryan is more focused on downsizing the payroll than bringing on board some new bats.

I'll admit there have been times in recent days that I've been frustrated. I think the Twins are contenders this year. I think the current players need to stay focused and play their best ball. It may not be a perfect world, but hey, they are playing major league ball. How bad can that be?

And Pohlad needs to quit worrying about his pocketbook and open up the pursestrings so Terry Ryan can actually do something to help this team get stronger.

So, this week I hope to get back to enjoying baseball...perhaps with the perspective that the world won't end if we drop a game...much worse things can happen.

But oh the joy to be found in the game...because finding bliss in 9 innings of baseball have made this game the great escape...and I'm quite sure we all could use a little of that right now.