The Best News of the 2011 Baseball Season

A few days ago, I got a Tweet that was the best Twins news I’ve had all year:  the 2012 schedule.

I have a hard time even remembering to check www.twinsbaseball.com for the latest news.  And when I do check it, headlines like “Twins unsure if Morneau will return this season” barely garner a superficial scan of the article.  And it’s a really bad sign that I can’t even muster up the desire to turn the radio on for the game or the pre/post game coverage.  Like everyone else, I just want this misery to be OVER.

But hope springs eternal (at least in my heart), and that’s why I am excited to have a look at next year’s schedule.  The first thing I checked was when we host the Brewers.   This summer, I met up with my closest college friends for a Twins-Brewers game in Milwaukee.  (No surprise, it was a Twins loss.)  The plan is to make this a tradition, alternating seasons between Miller Park and Target Field.  Last year, I had my first tailgating experience.  This year, I hope to introduce my friends to the glories of Target Field.  (And nicer fans.)

I hope our guys will be healthy, as it’s hard to extol the virtues of Joe Mauer over Ryan Braun when Mauer’s not even playing.  For most of this year’s game, the best I could legitimately say was that Mauer was better looking than Braun.  Mauer did pinch hit late in the game, and he actually got a clutch hit.  But, not surprisingly, the 2011 Twins couldn’t do anything with it.  Pavano pitched a game worth forgetting, we had very little offense, and we played poorly enough to be easy targets for the person pushing the buttons on the sound effects that day.

While I don’t believe our mid-game cartoon “race” around Target Field can compete with Miller Park’s “Sausage Races”, and we can’t tailgate, I think the rest of the ballpark experience might win out:  gorgeous view from anywhere, electric atmosphere, giant scoreboards, and Minnesota nice.  Oh, and of course, I expect we’ll have a winning team next year.

One of my favorite moments of the day was when my friend’s six-year-old son (product of a “mixed” marriage of a MN mom & a WI dad) said that we can be happy whichever team wins.  I’ll let him be happy regardless of the outcome.  I’ll be happy when the Twins beat the Brewers, but I’ll enjoy the company and new tradition no matter what.

Ironically, I’ve decided to cheer for the Brewers for the remainder of this year.  I didn’t like how the Arizona fans treated Prince Fielder when he exercised his option to choose his teammates for the Homerun Derby.  But only for this year, which will work out just fine since it’s expected to be Fielder’s last year on the team.  If Morneau doesn’t recover, or doesn’t recover well enough, might the Twins be looking for a First Baseman/DH with some homerun power?