It’s weird to follow games through the internet, without the benefit of seeing or hearing. Seeing Friday’s four-hit shutout, complete with Glen Perkins pitching four innings, looks good when reduced to the box score. Cincinnati didn’t exactly bring the A-team to Fort Myers, but at least the Twins scored some of their runs against a real starting pitcher, Aaron Harang, even though Harang had a 2008 season that looked like he borrowed his stats from Carlos Silva.

A month from today, it’ll be the Twins and Seattle at the Dome. For real. Justin Morneau will be wearing the local uniform instead of Canada’s red-and-white and Joe Crede should get a standing ovation the first time he comes to bat.

In the last week, it’s been helpful to watch Joe and La Velle’s live chats on the web site, and a encourage you to check ‘em out if you haven’t already. Obviously, at this time of the year, they have a lot to add to discussion and debate. Still, as fans, we can set priorities for the things we’re wondering about after the first week of games.

My list right now:

*Delmon Young’s 7-for-12 looks like an interesting start. What should I make of no walks or strikeouts and one extra-base hit in that dozen? And if Young is going to be a most-of-the-time starter, is Gardy going to flip to right field and give Denard Span time in left? That would seem to play best to their defensive strengths at the Metrodome (Young’s arm and Span’s range), right?

*I don’t see the 11-man pitching staff happening at the start of the season. Not with all of those one-inning guys in the bullpen, the lack of off days early in the season and the possibility of bad weather messing with who can pitch and when. That’s bad news for Matt Tolbert.

*It doesn’t make any sense to turn shortstop into a Punto vs. Harris debate. La Velle says that Punto is the guy and his defensive stats warrant the nod. That being said, how much work will Harris get? And what will Gardy do when he needs to sit Alexi Casilla? Move Punto to second and put Harris at short?  Harris’ fatal flaw in the field last year was his problem in turning the double play.

*Buscher-Harris-Redmond-fourth outfielder makes a nice bench for offensive purposes, and there’s really nobody in the field who needs a late-inning caddie on defense. That’s another argument to carry 12 pitchers.

*I am simply going to trust that Joe Mauer, Joe Nathan and Nick Blackburn will be 100 percent for Opening Day.  If that makes me naive, so be it. If I want to be suspicious, I’m going to suspect that Nathan used spring training soreness as a reason to back out of the WBC. The life of a closer in spring is pretty good until the final week or so. You pitch a middle inning, to face as many of the other team’s best players as you can, and then you’re outta there

*Who would the sixth starter be? Right now, Kevin Mulvey intrigues me. I’d like to see him get some early-inning action.

*When the Netherland’s pitchers get roughed up during the WBC, will the Dutch press jump pitching coach Bert Blyleven’s butt about gooi geval? Especially after the way Bert goes on and on and on about how one of the problems with major league baseball is that pitchers are limited by gooi geval.

*What should be added to the list?

This entry was posted on Friday, March 6th, 2009 at 3:22 pm and is filed under Thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.