Gee, Terry Mulholland looks an awful lot like Peter Gammons! LOL!

Win Twins!

Terence John looks pretty young in that picture.............Ha.

Oh heck....it hasn't snowed here since....1972!

How about a picture of Cuddyer's butt?

How am I suppose to wait over a month for Twins baseball now that I've seen these pictures. It's like when you go to a grocery store at 5PM. You're not hungry before you walk in, but by the time you leave you feel like your stomach lining is starting to eat itself and you end up buying a Snickers because you can't wait the 10 minutes it takes to cook the frozen pizza.

FL

Terry Mulholland looks really good. He's aging well.

"Terry Mulholland" - BRILLIANT!

Dearest Insider

Oh thank you-thank you-thank you - you put a huge smile on my face!!!
I wish I was there!!

A big Hug from me to you -

Much Love -

Wonder Woman

"Terry Mulholland"
I love it! Watch him on espn tonight for more stuff. He does give the Twins some credit so it's nice he showed up here.

What, no pictures of Gammons Butt? Did the photographer lack the courage?

I hate to sound cynical, but I think Gammons giving our team credit is overdue. I grow tired of the fixation on Yankees/Red Sox, regardless of how big their respective markets are. 30 teams, ESPN. How about coverage that shows there are that many teams...

Peter Gammons has been giving the Twins credit for like 4 years straight now. Especially since the team was on the contraction block.

Win Twins!

Dear Insider and Bat Girl,
I love you dearly for these pictures, just to give us a taste of what's coming to Minnesota in a month and a half! I appreciate it a lot.

Just Beth
(Sallie-I'll be happy with Cuddyer's dimples!)

LOL @ Mulholland!!

http://images.sportsline.com/u/ap/photos/FLRB105022016_1024x768.jpg

What a nice guy.

Eric- I love that picture. sigh.

Where's Joe Nathan????? Now there's a butt I want to see!!!

Batgirl, when you started this blog, did you know it would become a magnet and haven for Twins fans with an ass fetish?

Man, I wish Peter Gammons, er, Terry Mulholland had been down there a couple years ago when I visited Spring Training! I thought I was giddy just watching all the players and meeting them in person! I probably would have fainted had I met Gammons too! Lucky duck!

Eric - What a great picture. Aren't these guys great!

frightwig:

speak for yourself :)

YankeeFan

Eric -- Great picture. I did notice, though, that he's not crouching. What's up with that?

I (heart) Lew.

And Johan.

I can't stop smiling!

I have a question. I read, a week or so ago, that the Twins weren't able to collect on the insurance policy they took out on Joe Mays for last season. Does anyone know why they wouldn't be able to collect on that?

An interesting article with help from the St. Paul Pioneer-Press. Who knew Juan Rincon had been "pistol-whipped?"

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=1996537

Great pictures. Sooo jealous.

Eric and talldrink both have good points. talldrink is absolutely right about Gammons. He's a good analyst and speaks well of the Twins, especially admiring their defense and fundamentals. (Let's hope that the reconstituted infield doesn't blow that reputation.)

But while I think that Gammons does a great job individually, ESPN does have a mighty jones for Boston and the Yankees. It must be good to be Yankeefan. Even when he leaves town and waves goodbye to YES, it's like there's another Yankees network, nationwide.

If I promise personally to buy every product shilled during the game (okay, maybe not the SUVs), do you think we could get another ESPN Twins broadcast?

Dear hrunting:

Thank you for your request to have a Twins game broadcast on ESPN. We will check when the Twins play the Yankees and/or Red Sox, and consider your request.

-ESPNexec

Lew!!! *faints*

Thank you so much for that picture of Lew!

Glove Boy -

Nice. You get that tone exactly right.

Dear Mmmarkiep,

I've read conflicting reports about the Twins' insurance on Mays. One report I read last summer said that since his surgery was elective, the coverage was voided. Another report I read not too long ago said that the policy specifically excluded elbow problems.

Guess we'll never know for sure.

Yours,
k-bro

Dear Yankee Fan,

It's true. You are not really a Twins fan.

sincerely,
BG

Yeah, the whole derriere thing weirds me out a bit. But to each his/her own.

How about this though. Look who is making a "pitch" for the fifth rotation spot... :)

http://www.startribune.com/stonline/images/news61/18twins0221.l.jpg

mmmarkiep and k-bro-

The policy on Mays specifically excluded coverage for any injuries to Joe's already-surgically-repaired elbow. It was the only part excluded, simply for the fact he had previously injured it.

Basically bad luck for the team.

BatGirl,

Touche. I think I may have a sass-fetish. Thanks for the smile.

YankeeFan

Ah, I see. Thanks for the scoop. Also, I have here, in my possesion right this very minute (I found it under some stuff in my room) one mint condition (never used) Victory Sports One foam stress relieving squeeze ball with a baseball look to it. I wonder what I could for it on eBay? Think it will be a collectible?

Hrunting and Glove Boy:
Your wish is ESPN's command.
The Twins are on ESPN's Sunday night telecast on Sunday, April 10th versus Chicago. It's now noted as such on the twinsbaseball.com site schedule. Respect for the Twins? Or maybe ESPN is just hoping to catch Torii run AJ over for their national tv audience?

Check out the chat with Scott Ridge before it disappears into the Insider content:

http://proxy.espn.go.com/chat/chatESPN?event_id=7371

William NY: Hey Steve, give me your top 5 breakout players this year.

SportsNation Scott Ridge: (1:08 PM ET ) 1. Joe Mauer. 2. Jose Reyes. 3. Grady Sizemore. 4. Huston Street. 5. Wil Ledezma.
Look for Mauer to be an All-Star this season.

A week ago on Inside Baseball Gammons shared what he thought the big three stories would be in baseball this year. They were...

1. Steroids.

2. Yankees/Red Sox

3. MN Twins, best pitching staff in baseball, going to the World Series

Ridge really thinks Chicago has a better rotation than the Twins? Really?

not to be a pessimist, but don't you think Pete Gammons is in Ft Myers to cover the Red Sox? he probably decided to check out the Twins camp for a few hours to get away from the Sox circus. don't get me wrong, i love Petey...

re: Rincon pistol whipping

Man, oh, man... reading something like that makes me say, "This is a terrible situation - somebody DO something!" But what can be done? I wonder if a difficult topic like that is brought up and discussed when MLB teams scout new talent?

Happy days are here again - I get to drool over Joe Nathan's mug in the papers!

Yea, T-Mac!

That's a start, anyway. I'm sure you're right, though, that ESPN is mostly taking interest in the game in hopes that there will be a Twin/Extwin slamfest.

Note, though, that Dougie (who should know, right?) has been telling the NY press that Red Sox/Yankees has got nothing on Twins/White Sox except media attention. Nice of Dougie to talk up the ol' division.

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball/story/282964p-242510c.html

I mean, all you have to do is see ESPN.com's front page to know their priorities.

"Pitch Men" - Story about Red Sox starters
"Sean McAdam: No time for Sox to look back"
"Olney: Sox start No. 2"
"Rodriguez shrugs off Sox"
"Giambi arrives...making amends"

I mean, come on. There is nothing else to talk about in regards to the upcoming season?

Well considering the ratings they pulled in last year...

...I guess the answer is no.

That's okay, Twins'll make 'em eat those words when they have to put up the headline "East Coast Behemoths fall as Twins clinch Series berth"!

What better time for optomism? :D

ESPN also has some stuff about Bonds today on the quickie. He never played for The Yanks or the evil red sox. And I have probably seen Joe Mauers name in as many articles as I have seen A-Ros this year

You guys all sound like Jan Brady complaining about Marsha. The Yankees/evil red sox is the best rivilery in sports, and especially since the evil red sox have finally won a world series after going 86 disappointing years since last winning one.

To be honest you hear more about dodgers/giants then you do twins/white sox. When was the last time the twins and w sox had an epic playoff battle against each other ? or even a really tight pennent race ?

>>You guys all sound like Jan Brady complaining about Marsha.

Heheheheh.

>>Yankees/evil red sox is the best rivilery in sports....

I was all ready to say that you were full of crap and biased (in a polite way, of course) but ... I couldn't think of any other rivalries that were given that much national attention. Now, the question is, how much of that is actual nationwide interest and how much is media hype?

And those of us who remain cable- and satellite-free and only get to see the Game of the Week are still subject to All Yankees/Red Sox, All The Time.

Except, of course, when they slip and occasionally bring us a Cubs/Cardinals game instead. So it's either Joe Buck expressing his not-so-hidden desire to drink Jeter's bathwater, or Kevin Kennedy wanting to have Albert Pujols's babies.

Circle THIS, Fox.

I am anxiously awaiting pics of the absolutely-delicious-from-head-to-toe Jacque Jones and wish to express my gratitude for same in advance. Yum!

"You guys all sound like Jan Brady complaining about Marsha."

That analogy is weak. If I were complaining about Yankees and Red Sox getting attention because I wished my team to get more attention, perhaps. Fact is, I don't wish to hear about the Twins 24/7, either. I simply wish they would talk as evenly as possible about all teams. Especially before the season begins.

And saying that Mauer has had as many articles written about him as A-Rod made me almost choke. You lost any credibility in my book after that one. Did you hear the other day about A-Rod answering his phone, and someone having called his number by accident? They hung up. It should make the AP wire by later this afternoon.

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/news/story?id=1996944

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/gammons/story?id=1991400

http://sports.espn.go.com/mlb/columns/story?columnist=stark_jayson&id=1994619

http://mlb.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/mlb/news/mlb_news.jsp?ymd=20050221&content_id=947510&vkey=spt2005news&fext=.jsp

Here are 4 columns in the last week that mention Mauer. When was the last time a 21yo catcher got this much attention ?

Girls! Girls! You're BOTH pretty.

OMG, his name is in the third one.

They are mostly lists of players who people think will have breakthrough seasons. One of them is an article actually devoted to Mauer. Again, comparing this to A-Rod coverage? The guy talks about how much he works out, and the REACTION to those comments is covered in entire articles.

You have a very weak case, sir.

Tough debate.

On the one hand, you are comparing Yankee/Red Sox media coverage to Twins coverage.

On the other hand, you are comparing coverage of an all-star player, arguably one of the best players in baseball (arguably -- not by me, of course, but arguably) to coverage of a 21 year old catcher who has played some 33 MLB games.

I dunno -- tough debate. I say blame the fan base. The ESPNs are writing the articles that they think will most "sell" consumers. So either the fans really want to hear that drivel, or the
fans have given the media the impression that they want to hear that drivel.. Either way it's drivel, but hey, give the poeple what they want.

Eric -- how many Royals articles have you read? Devil Rays? There will never be equal coverage of all MLB teams because, frankly (and apologies to any fans of these teams, I mean no offense) not as many people care.

mike -- you cannot ignore the Yankee/Red Sox tilt that baseball has seen the last few years. Yes, there are disproportionately many articles about these two teams versus all of the rest of the teams (maybe combined). But, after 7 ALCS games in 2003 and 7 more in 2004 (both historic and compelling series, when considering everything that came before it), and now the Red Sox winning the WS, is there anything more riveting than opening day between these two teams (from an unbiased baseball fan perspective)? I mean, wow.

Tough debate indeed. You're both right. Now each of you take your half-baby and smile -- baseball season is coming.

YankeeFan

Eric

What do you want ? 100 articles a week about the twins ? all of their games shown on espn or espn 2 ? Guess what there aren't enough people in this country that care about the twins. If more people cared there would be more coverage.No one talks about Twins/Chisox because only twins fans/chisox fans care.

The twins have a good team with some very talented players. If you want them to get more respect maybe they should earn it with a WS win or at least make the game. Give people something to talk about other then your cheap owner.

When is the first Yankees vs Twins series ? If I remember correctly the last time these teams played the Yankees won the playoff series. Try beating us first then maybe you will get your respect.

You didn't have to ask me to repeat what I want, I already said it above.

>>>"You guys all sound like Jan Brady complaining about Marsha."

That analogy is weak. If I were complaining about Yankees and Red Sox getting attention because I wished my team to get more attention, perhaps. Fact is, I don't wish to hear about the Twins 24/7, either. I simply wish they would talk as evenly as possible about all teams. Especially before the season begins.<<<

And before you berate me in that fashion about wanting to hear more about the Twins, why don't you point out where I said I wanted to...

mike, you are putting words in my mouth faster than I thought humanly possible. Point out where I specifically state that the "Twins do not get respect."

Sometimes it helps to debate the topic, or what someone says, rather than a mentality or attitude.

mike:

"When is the first Yankees vs Twins series ? If I remember correctly the last time these teams played the Yankees won the playoff series. Try beating us first then maybe you will get your respect."

be careful what you wish for...

YF

"I mean, all you have to do is see ESPN.com's front page to know their priorities.

"Pitch Men" - Story about Red Sox starters
"Sean McAdam: No time for Sox to look back"
"Olney: Sox start No. 2"
"Rodriguez shrugs off Sox"
"Giambi arrives...making amends"

I mean, come on. There is nothing else to talk about in regards to the upcoming season?"

"I hate to sound cynical, but I think Gammons giving our team credit is overdue. I grow tired of the fixation on Yankees/Red Sox, regardless of how big their respective markets are. 30 teams, ESPN. How about coverage that shows there are that many teams..."

You forgot these two posts of yours also. You are whinning about Yankees and evil red sox getting the most coverage. You sound like Jan.

Did I say "Gosh, I wish every article was about the Twins, not the Red Sox".

I don't see that anywhere.

No you are complaining about the best two teams in the sport getting the most coverage. and you did say that Gammons should have been saying more good things years ago, that equals we don't get respect.

YF

as a Yankees fan I fear no ther team. Let the Twins take the best shot again this year and lose in the first round again. I'm not looking to upset anyone just telling it like I see it. I see the twins with alot of holes this year.

SS, 3rd base, pitching after Johan and Radke. Sorry they aren't as good as the Yankees and won't beat us if they even make the playoffs. Their divison is pretty evenily matched this year, the twins get the edge because of Johan and Radke though.

>>Let the Twins take the best shot again this year and lose in the first round again.

I didn't know that only fans of the twins were allowed on this site Eric. Sorry my mistake.

Not my implication. Just curious why you find the need to trash the team this site is set up to discuss.

Guys, guys, guys. Take it easy. Let's get back to what's really important here. This is a forum for all baseball fans to discuss the big questions, not just Yankees vs. Red Sox, but important stuff like "If Ditka fought the Yankees and the Red Sox simultaneously during a hurricane, who would win?"

The answer of course, is Ditka, and I'll give both of you Pedro and Zimmer.

Because Bat-girl ,the writter, is a talented baseball writter with good insight to baseball, not just Twins baseball. And Bat-girl the website is at most times fun. and I don't trash the twins. if I thought they were better then the Yankees I would say so. But I guess I should only state things in a Soviet Union style of nothing negetive ever happens.

The Twins will win 145 games this year, and sweep everyone in the playoffs, if the other teams even bother to show up. Start the parade.

But does Ditka have a lego-figure of himself? Those little plastic bits would tip the scales.

Ditka would win I agree.

>>Let the Twins take the best shot again this year and lose in the first round again.

Eric the twins weren't good enough last year, and whether you agree with me or not, they didn't gat any better by losing players this year. Where did the Twins make great improvemnets to the team from last year that should show me this year they will be better then the Yankees ? The Yankees have gottne better, can you say the same about the Twins. Hey its spring everyteam has a chance.Even the devil rays.

Cubsfan36:
Have you been to Harry Carey's to eat you some of that Bartman ball? I wonder if it tastes like chicken?
One of my all-time favorite Dikta memories is Coach Ditka on roller skates in the Metrodome. Ditka rules!

The Twins are improved over last year's Twins team with a healthy Joe Mauer, a healthy Joe Mays, and a full year of Dr. Morneau. Granted, it's no Randy Johnson, Carl Pavano, and Rey Sanchez, but the Twins should still win their division.

When did the roller skate thing happen? I wish I remembered that--too funny!

Dearest Batgirl -

Please STOP the madness -

Much Love
Wonder Woman

Don't remember the exact year, but it was in the mid-80's when the Bears were good. Ditka called the Metrodome the Rollerdome. Even Ditka knew what a crapheap the dome was way back then!

T-Mac,

No on the Bartman ball. I draw the line on my fandom at eating yarn and cork laced with explosive. Even if it is infused in a delicious marinara sauce. I don't believe in the curse, just bad management.

And let me add this to the fire, I think the Cubs may have the best 1-4 rotation in baseball. Enough to win our division at least.

Hope springs eternal I suppose.

Dearest Misters Eric and Mike,

Now, now. Spring is here. Pitchers and catchers are gallivating around Florida, and Batgirl's heart is in bloom. Take hands, please, look into each other's eyes and say, "We both love baseball, and that is beautiful." For fighting on her site, Batgirl sentences you to ten Hail Gardys and an evening feeding soup to Terry Mulholland.

Love,
Batgirl

I don't know about the pitchers "gallivating," but I harbor no ill will to any baseball fan right now. It's the most won-der-ful tiiiime of the year...

Hail Gardy, full of grace,
for thou are blessed among managers...

"I don't believe in the curse, just bad management."

Now THERE'S a person who understands baseball! cubsfan -- next time I am in Chicago, I'm buying you a drink at Cubby Bear -- no "ifs," "ands" or (sorry all) "butts." (yes, unfortunately, I'm here all week too...)

YankeeFan

The Twins beat themselves last year--the Yanks were just the beneficiaries. Hard to have watched those games and say, "Yep, they beat us fair and square; they're clearly the better team." A good team can lose games, just like a bad team can win a few. If you want the "better" team to win every time, there's always fantasy baseball, but real ball is just a little more complicated. Who knows--perhaps what the team isn't telling us is that they've added a psychologist to the roster for Kyle.

I'll be there to watch the Twins beat the Yankees in New York. Who's up for a Batgirl-folks gathering at Yankee stadium in late July???

Brian

Brian:

Don't know whether my schedule will permit me to be at the same game as you, but if so... I'm in. Also, if you (or any other Batling) need tickets to those games, let me know -- I may be able to assist you.

YankeeFan

YankeeFan,

Accepted. It'd be nice to meet a rational Yankees fan.

Mike,

You seem like an insightful guy who just happens to be a fan of a team that I hate. I won't hold that against you. I will say, however, that the Twins have improved. First, their young returning players have another year of experience. Additionally, they have improved in the rotation (Mays should have a good year), at catcher, and at first base. They lost a good defensive third baseman who had been modestly productive offensively. They also lost a shortstop who never got clutch hits. The way I see it, the Twins should have a better pitching staff, better hitters, and more power. It all adds up to a happier Batling come October. Sorry if you still disagree.

Respectfully,
FL