Section 220’s Iowa bureau chief, JimCrikket, is in Florida taking in this last week of practice baseball — and I found this report from Monday’s Twins-Cardinals game when I checked the morning mail:

I was really looking forward to going to the game. Being an Iowan, I hadn’t had a chance to see any of the new players this Spring since our cable company doesn’t carry Twins games.

The sun was out, the sky was blue, the grass was green, the beer was cold. I had a seat one row up from the Twins’ dugout. God was in His heaven and all was right with the world. Brian Bass has a nice 1st inning. Carlos Gomez lays down a bunt to lead off the bottom of the 1st, the pitcher tosses the ball over the first baseman’s head and I was, as we say in Iowa, as happy as a pig in… er… I mean… happy as a clam (when in Florida…etc.).

That’s pretty much when things went to hell. Gomez got thrown out stealing by LaRue’s perfect throw (close call nonetheless). The Twins’ own version of “Mike and Mike”, Lamb and Cuddyer, both had line drive doubles in the 3rd, which led to 2 Twins runs, but between those hits and Delmon Young’s 2 RBI single in the 9th, the offense was… well… offensive.

Meanwhile, the Twins’ pitchers couldn’t buy a first pitch strike and it seemed like every dink of a ground ball off a Cardinal bat was hit exactly where it needed to be placed to keep infielders from being able to get an out. You cant constantly pitch from behind, let guys reach base without hitting the ball out of the infield, and still expect to keep a team from scoring. Thus, the Cardinals did indeed score. Often.

Fortunately, the beer remained cold.

One interesting observation, though.

I grew up watching the Twins of the 1960s. I can remember watching Tony Oliva’s battingI grew up watching the Twins of the 1960s. I can remember watching Tony Oliva’s batting stance and thinking it looked like his knees bent awkwardly inside toward one another. (Of course, late in his career, those knees probably did bend in directions God never intended.) Later, Rod Carew took center stage at Met Stadium. He used a variety of stances, but one of them, I remember thinking, looked a lot like Oliva’s unique (to me, anyway) stance.

I really hadn’t given that stance any thought since then… until today… when Carlos Gomez stepped in to lead off the bottom of the 1st inning. His stance was very similar to what I remember Oliva and Carew using. Then, a bit later, Craig Monroe stepped up and I’ll be darned if his stance wasn’t even more similar to what I recall of Oliva’s (of course, a mirror image, from the right side). I remember reading that both of those guys had been getting some instruction from Carew and/or Oliva and either they both coincidentally already had the unique Oliva “knees bending inside” stance or they’re putting their lessons in to practice. I’m hoping it’s the latter.

Of course, it could just be that I’m desperate for something positive to write after watching what was a pretty ugly ballgame, overall, an 8-4 loss. I hope today’s game against the Pirates in Bradenton (which is on FSN) is an improvement. If not, I’ll just write something about how Delmon Young’s wicked cuts at the ball remind me of Harmon Killebrew … and let you know if the beer is still cold.

other people are here too.

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