First Game of Spring

I must say I was very excited at 6 o'clock this evening when I turned on the 'CCO on my radio and heard the voice of John Gordon pronouncing "Twins baseball on the air". The game itself, a 4-3 loss against the Red Sox, was not particularly interesting outside of being the first Twins game of 2005. Not a single projected starter played in the game (except for probable DH Lew Ford). The Twins fielded Matthew LeCroy, Luis Rodriguez, Eric Munson, and Bartlett in the infield; with Mike Ryan, Armando Ríos and Ford in the outfield and Mike Redmond at catcher. A few speculations below...

*Bartlett, a contender for the starting job at shortstop this season, batted lead-off and start the game with a base hit. He ended up scoring on a wild pitch.

*Kyle Lohse started the game, and pitched two innings, allowing a run. JD Durbin pitched the next two. He looked good in his first inning of work, but ran into some trouble in his second, walking a couple guys and loading up the bases with no outs, then allowing a run to score on a base hit. He ended up working out of the jam though.

*The mid-inning subs included 2B Brent Abernathy, 3B Andy Fox, and CF Jason Tyner. All are offseason pickups, none of whom are expected to make the Major League club, but I recognized them because they have all started for the Tampa Bay Devil Rays within the past few years. Guess that says something for the D-Rays.

The Twins play again tomorrow against Toronto, and the game actually should feature some starters.

-Nick N.