We had every intention of tailgating yesterday on the final stint of the Great Baseball Road Trip. But the beastly heat, combined with a slightly later than anticipated start to the day, meant we were a no-show in the parking lot. The grill was brought for nothing. Shame on everyone involved. That said, our mood brightened considerably when, upon riding the escalator up to our seats, the recently purchased “Green Bay 4 Ever” shirt started to achieve its desired effect. A Packers fan whispered to us, “What are you going to do if he signs with the Vikings?” To which we replied, “Actually, I’m from Minnesota. I’m only wearing the shirt because I think it’s funny, and I’m really looking forward to Favre coming to Minnesota.” Needless to say, that thought hadn’t crossed the fan’s mind.

We reached our seats — regrettably to some in our party, they were exposed to the sun. For our money, you can’t beat a good sun seat, even if it does cause some intense sweating and a little redness on the knees. Diddy and Taco periodically headed for the concourse to escape the glare and the heat. Taco, in fact, watched practically every inning the Brewers batted on the TVs in the shady concourse. As such, he didn’t miss it when the Twins built a four-run lead but was spared Bernie Brewer’s sixth-inning slides after a pair of connections off Scott Baker turned 4-0 into 4-3 (who saw that coming? A cruising Baker touched up the third time through the order? On a hot day? With the Twins leading? Surely you jest?). It figured, of course, that the game we sat near Bernie’s hangout (T.C. was up there with him quite often as well) was the one where the Brewers hit their only homers of the series. Just as things seemed like they were slipping away, of course, the Twins responded with two runs of their own in the top of the seventh. R.A. Dickey pitched a critical and quick seventh, Matt Guerrier survived a couple of bad pitches (one of which was tagged for an out, the other of which left the park in about 0.4 seconds off of Ryan Braun’s bat) to build a bridge to Joe Nathan, who slammed the door quickly and impressively. As Twins fans chanted Nathan’s name, the sun beat down on a Twins watcher wearing an ironic Brett Favre t-shirt in Miller Park. It really doesn’t get much better than that.

We hit the road immediately afterwards. Thanks to the miracle of satellite radio, we had no worries that we would have full NBA draft coverage even in the parts of Wisconsin where the two types of radio station (and two types of music) are country AND western. (We were in the driver’s seat all the way back, for the two or three of you who were hoping for more Twitter updates or participation in the draft predictions). We howled when James Harden went third and almost swerved off the road when Sacramento passed on Ricky Rubio at five. Could it be? Were the Wolves going to get Rubio and Stephen Curry? Sure, the duo would be a little undersized if they played together, but it looked too good to be true. With the No. 5 pick … Rubio! Yes! With the No. 6 pick … Jonny Flynn? Wait, aren’t they both pure point guards? The wheels started turning. And here is where they stopped: disregard anything David Kahn says about both of them playing together. That’s merely for leverage to trade one of them and not seem desperate. He grabbed the two best players available (at least in his mind) at the biggest position of need on this team. If he can sign Rubio — which remains dicey — the Wolves will at some point trade Flynn, who is coveted by many teams. If Rubio demands to go elsewhere, the Wolves will deal him for a fairly high ransom. In both cases, the Wolves get a point guard of the future and more pieces with which to build. But we consider it the longest of long shots that the two PGs ever set foot on the court together in Minnesota. Of course, the real WHAT moment came when Ty Lawson went No. 18. At least we found out quickly he was being dealt for a future No. 1 — a good move considering this year’s draft was thin and a team doesn’t want so many No. 1 picks on the team. Wayne Ellington at No. 28 was also embraced by the GBRT crew (it should be noted that Taco called both the Lawson and Ellington picks, somehow. Probably because all he knows about basketball is North Carolina). Our immediate question: what is the starting five as of right now? Best guess:

Rubio OR Flynn
Ellington
Ryan Gomes
Kevin Love
Al Jefferson

Also early in the rotation: Corey Brewer, Etan Thomas, Rodney Carney (if he signs), Sebastian Telfair

We’d like it more if it was Rubio and Curry, with Ellington off the bench. Then again, this team isn’t playing for 2009. It’s stockpiling assets for 2010 and beyond. That’s pretty clear if your lineup features a rookie point guard, a rookie shooting guard, a second-year PF who is undersized and a star coming off an ACL tear (and clearly this starting five could change with a subsequent PG trade or any other moves).

That said: It will be interesting. And that’s saying something.

This entry was posted on Friday, June 26th, 2009 at 10:36 am and is filed under Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.