Bring on the White Sox!!!

[Durango53]

Pitching matchup
MIN: RHP Kyle Lohsehttp://minnesota.twins.mlb.com/images/gameday/mugshots/346798.jpg
# 9-13, 5.34 ERA in 2004
# 1-0, 3.26 ERA in 2004 vs. CWS

CWS: RHP Orlando Hernandezhttp://minnesota.twins.mlb.com/images/gameday/mugshots/133340.jpg
# 8-2, 3.30 ERA in 2004
# 0-0, 7.11 ERA in 2004 vs. MIN

[Durango53]

Player to watch
Shannon Stewart is a .391 hitter (9-for-23) lifetime against Hernandez. He has three doubles, a homer and three RBIs.

[Durango53]

Quotable
"Home openers are always going to be huge, no matter who you're playing. Having the White Sox playing there, it probably even magnifies it a little even more because they've been one of our big rivals over the past few years. That's pretty cool. Then you add the A.J. Pierzynski factor. He's a guy we had. It all makes for entertainment. It ought to be a lot of fun." -- Twins manager Ron Gardenhire

[Durango53]

#

On television
# MIN: WFTC
# CWS: WCIU

On radio
# MIN: WCCO 830-AM
# CWS: ESPN 1000-AM

[Durango53]

Quick hits
Torii Hunter is 1-for-12 through three games. ... Jacque Jones is batting .333 (5-for-15) lifetime against Hernandez. ... Luis Rivas is also at .333 (3-for-9) against the right-hander. ... Matthew LeCroy belted a three-run homer in his first game of the season Wednesday. ... Closer Joe Nathan has pitched two scoreless innings in two games.

[Durango53]

On deck
# Sat: White Sox at Twins, 6:10 p.m. CT
# Sun: White Sox at Twins, 7:10 p.m. CT
# Mon: Off day
# Tue: Tigers at Twins, 7:10 p.m. CT

[Timberwolf]

BRING ON THE WHITE SOX!

[Timberwolf]

Sounds like Jay Mariotti is not impressed with the White Sox like me.

http://www.suntimes.com/output/mariotti/cst-spt-jay07.html

[>TC<]

Both the Indians and the White Sox had their closers implode during the first series. That really shows what an advantage the Twins have with Nathan.


TC

[Durango53]

not only Nathan but most of that pen!!!

[Timberwolf]

Joe Nathan rocks. It's not just Takatsu and Wickman blowing saves this week, TC. How about Trevor Hoffman blowing a save for the Padres on Monday? How about Mariano Rivera blowing saves twice this week and Keith Foulke blowing a save for the Red Sox? How about Braden Looper blowing a save on Opening Day for the Mets? It's crazy right now.

[Timberwolf]

Tonight is the night. I am so pumped for tonight. It's a big night in Minneapolis with the Twins starting the home opener against the She-ca-go Whiney Sux and the Timberwolves battling for their playoff lives against the Nuggets in a do or die game. I am pretty sure the fans in Minnesota will be keeping an eye on both games.

I am amped. With the home opener and the fact the Whiney Sux are in town, how could anyone not be excited. This is an golden opportunity to make a statement this weekend. The Whiney Sux are 2-1, but I ain't impressed one bit. Their offense hasn't done much and I doubt it will be any better with Carlos Lee being traded and Magglio Ordonez being gone as a free agent. Twins are the better team and it will show all year long.

Tonight is the return of A.J. A.J. spent some good years for the Twins. Yeah he was a pain in the rearend, but he also was a guy that got lot of hits. I am curious to see whether he gets booed or not. I say he may get booed because he is wearing a Whiney Sux jersey and fans rarely cheer for fan favorite that wears an enemy jersey. I hope he gets an ovation at least for one at-bat and then that's it.

This is a big start for Kyle Lohse. He needs to show that he is a lot better than last year and he needs to get deep in the game this year. He was so bad last year. I won't have much patience with him this season so he better do well when he starts. I am dissapointed Joe Mays is not starting in this home opener. He is more deserving than Lohse. If Kyle stinks it up early, I will start calling for Scott Baker. I am dissapointed that Kyle is in the team, but he is here so I will support him and hope he does well.

El Duque vs. Lohse

[Chisox73]

Sounds like Jay Mariotti is not impressed with the White Sox like me.
That's being kind to Moronotti.

He hates the White Sox with a passion.Eddie Munster is not exactly known for putting common sense before everything else.He has an axe to grind with the White Sox.He hates Reinsdorf,he almost got into a fight with Hawk last year,he's constantly rips the ballpark,and it's fans.He was fired from his ESPN 1000 gig a couple of months back for his constant bashing of Reinsdorf,at a time when ESPN 1000 is trying to retain the rights to Sox radio broadcasts,which is a lost cause at this point.

As a matter of fact,Eddie Munster hates everything about Chicago sports,and Chicago in general. :notme:

[Durango53]

I was going to get the game tonight but instead my wife came up with some indoor football tickets for the team in Casper so I ended up going to that. But it didnt look good for the old Twins tonight

[Chisox73]

El Duque just had the Twins off balance tonight.He threw 70 of his 104 oitches for strikes.

You guys may get a reprieve tomorrow.We have Jon Garland throwing balls out of the zone,or hanging them over the plate.I'll be throwing up. :barf:

[Timberwolf]

A dissapointing home opener loss tonight by the Twins, but I also had this loss in the calender with Kyle pitching so I can't be too dissapointed.

El Duque pitched a very good game tonight as he mowed the Twins down. It was similiar to what Jamie Moyer did on Opening Day to the Twins. He is a very good pitcher as I saw with the Yankees so it was a good pickup by the Whiney Sux.

I thought Kyle did okay, but he had a rough sixth inning. He was starting to get hit hard and the Whiney Sux hitters started to figure him out after that. He has to continue to learn how to go deeper than just five innings.

Joe Mays was alright.

Good to see Guerrier do well in relief.

Jason Bartlett was the only guy that showed up in the lineup for the Twins.

Oh well! Let's go get em tommorow and Sunday. I expect the Twins to win the series.

Chisox: I am going to defend Mariotti tommorow. Mariotti is right to rip the White Sox and he makes great points.

[LesPaul]

...and the Timberwolves battling for their playoff lives against the Nuggets in a do or die game.


:cool:

Sorry to say but I enjoyed that game. The Nuggets are rollin! Was a great game, too bad it was a Minny team that lost but you can't deny what the Nuggets have been doing. It was rather enjoyable seein all the alley oops :D i thought ole Boykins was gonna give the game to the Wolves and sorry they had to play the Nuggets in a do or die game.

[Timberwolf]

Chisox: I am a huge Jay Mariotti fan and I feel that he is right on with his comments on the White Sox. If Reinsdorf ran a NY sports team the way he is running in Chicago, he would be crucified by the NY media and the fan.s White Sox come off as whiney arrogant SOBs. They do lot of talking, but they can never back it up. Jay is right on that. As for Reinsdorf, he has done nothing but make his team be a laughingstock. Let's see. In 1994 rather than continue to on with a great baseball season in Chicago, he leads the owners on a strike and then he goes out and give that big contract to Albert Belle. How about in 1997 when he had that White Flag firesale? How about when he has dumped fan favorites because their agents had the gall to ask for a raise? Jerry Reinsdorf comes off as a petty crank who can care less about winning. White Sox fans deserve lot of ripping. They act like idiots at games. Let's see. You got two White Sox fans who wanted to kill the ump. How about when several White Sox fans threw something at Rocco Baldelli couple of years ago or last year? How about when White Sox fans were threatening to go after Torii Hunter last year? They get what they deserve.

Hawk is an idiot. I am so glad someone in the Chicago media has the cajones to go after Hawk. Hawk has it coming.

I don't think Jay hates Chicago sports at all. If anything, he brags about Chicago's team success when they do well and he always expressed his frustration when the teams lose on Around the Horn.

I enjoy reading Jay Mariotti. Heck I was hoping he would replace Dan Barriero in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

LesPaul: Nuggets are playing very good. They are playing at a high level. George Karl has done a very good job getting the most out of Andre Miller and Kenyon Martin. Nuggets got an identity now and they are not in awe of everyone. They are not scared anymore. If they can get the #6 seed and draw Seattle, they will beat the Sonics. Nuggets are running and doing the little things to win games. That's a credit to George Karl.

Andre Miller was so assertive last night. This is the best I have seen him play against the Timberwolves. He attack the rim fiercely and he was shooting. He really played great last night. It's good to see Kenyon Martin do well too after struggling the first three months. He has really come out of his shell and he had a good game last night.

Minnesota had a lousy third quarter and Denver took advantage of it. Denver made big shots when they had to. I give the Nuggets credit. They deserved to win and the Wolves deserve not to make the playoffs.

[Timberwolf]

Patrick Reusse can be so full of it and so antagonizing. He spent his column today ripping Twins fans for booing A.J. A.J. got some boos, but he also got a warm welcome by the fans. If he was booed, it was because he wore the Whiney Sux uniform. Nothing more. There was nothing personal, but being the antagonizer that Patrick is, he decided to focus more on the few boos just to rip MN sports fans. Sometimes Patrick's act can get real old.

[Chisox73]

Chisox: I am a huge Jay Mariotti fan and I feel that he is right on with his comments on the White Sox. If Reinsdorf ran a NY sports team the way he is running in Chicago, he would be crucified by the NY media and the fan.s White Sox come off as whiney arrogant SOBs. They do lot of talking, but they can never back it up. Jay is right on that. As for Reinsdorf, he has done nothing but make his team be a laughingstock. Let's see. In 1994 rather than continue to on with a great baseball season in Chicago, he leads the owners on a strike and then he goes out and give that big contract to Albert Belle. How about in 1997 when he had that White Flag firesale? How about when he has dumped fan favorites because their agents had the gall to ask for a raise? Jerry Reinsdorf comes off as a petty crank who can care less about winning. White Sox fans deserve lot of ripping. They act like idiots at games. Let's see. You got two White Sox fans who wanted to kill the ump. How about when several White Sox fans threw something at Rocco Baldelli couple of years ago or last year? How about when White Sox fans were threatening to go after Torii Hunter last year? They get what they deserve.

I agree with you 100% on Reinsdorf there.But,I have to strongly disagree with you about White Sox fans.

Where the hell do you come up with the assumption that White Sox fans are as you put it,"arrogant SOBs"? Explain that to me.I may be wrong,but obviously,you've never been to Chicago and seen a Sox game.You might be surprised.

Don't lump us all in because of a few idiots.Do your homework before you start generalizing White Sox fans,those that are left.OK?

[Durango53]

Chisox you are right when you say that Sox fans. Because some dumb SOB's ran on the field and did some crappy stuff and it was all on TV that now some people think that all Sox fans are bad. I am glad you are here to stand up for the good fans of Sox nation.

And as a last post all teams have there few bad fans that make a team look bad. It is when those few bad fans get the most press that makes the few look bigger than they really are.