The Mauer commercial-- that was just too damned funny for words. One of the fringe benefits about the Twins the last severals years has been the commercials-- which is such a weird thing to say.

Kudos to the Twins on another great group of commercials!

That Mauer one cracks me up.

But will BG make that exact kid face when Torii shows up to HER party?!

Is there any way I can watch them that doesn't involve Windows Media Player? My WMP plays the beginning of it...and then the video part stops. I can still hear everything, but I can't see it.

Both of those had me snorting in my cubicle.

And yeah, I'd bob for apples with Torii any day of the week.

Yes, in another questionable management decision, the Twins have gone with Windows Media Player rather than Quicktime. Perhaps WMP is a bit cheaper, but I hear it's been playing in Japan and is a bit overweight.

I miss the old "Get to Know 'Em" commercials; I still think those were the best.

I love the slappin' on of the sideburns, though. That's hilarious.

I like the Joe Mauer sideburns--though the old Mean Joe Greene ad has been ripped off too many times...I miss Newmie ad from last year...actually I think I am gonna miss Newmie.

DAM

As far as I'm concerned, it will be hard to beat 2004's "They're on to you, Johan..." These don't come close.

Okay, those commercials actually kinda frightened me. Funny, yes, but disturbing, too.

(And I'm in completely agreement with the high quality of commercials for the last couple of years.)

The kid is so mad at Torii. That's awesome.

Anyone remember the upcoming series commercials where they used to smash the opponents bobblehead?

So does Torii do birthday parties regularly now? Can he come in like a week and a half for my birthday, too?

Ugh, they're playing the Yankees that day. Too bad.

Wait, Torii does birthday parties? Great! My birthday is on Saturday! He can come help me move into my new apartment!

My all-time fav remains the "Pierzynski P.I." commercial from, well, a while ago. I'm glad they're keeping up the great ad tradition.

Neut, "They're on to you, Johan," stands in a class by itself, you're right. Ads that good don't come around often; but at least these show we're still thinking in the right direction.

Besides the 2004 Johan one, these were by far my favorites.

Does anyone know if the older commercials are still floating around the net? I'd like to watch them.

annun,

2004: http://minnesota.twins.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/min/fan_forum/commercials_2004.jsp

2005:
http://minnesota.twins.mlb.com/NASApp/mlb/min/fan_forum/commercials_2005.jsp

As far as the old commercials go, there are two that I'll remember for a long, long time:

* The Corey Koskie "Ol' Tree Choppper" Canadian folk-song. I laughed until I cried driving down 35W one day because of that one.

* The Doug Mientkiewicz "Schoolhouse Rock" bit about how to spell his name. Also hilarious.

Does anyone know if those Koskie and Mientkiewicz Get to Know Em spots are available anywhere on the internet?

I'd love to have audio recordings of all those cool radio ads.

Last year I still couldn't resist singing "we've got Joe Mays on the mound, ain't that a beautiful sight" even when it wasn't really.

And I loved the Guzman bionic sounds ad and so many others.

I'm glad so many of the TV spots are available on the website.

I thought Anna's question was a good one, so I decided to do a quick web-hunt in search of the old Mientkiewicz and Pierzynski commercials. Turns out I didn't find them, though I did stumble across this:

http://www.orioleshangout.com/2003/games/07-30-03.htm

With apologies to Carrie, it's a game recap of Twins vs. Orioles, at the Metrodome, from the end of July of 2003, when the Twins, in the wake of the Stewart trade, were beginning a massive surge toward winning their second-straight AL Central title (and DMW, in typical wanna-be-Hunter-S-Thompson mode, couldn't resist throwing tons of commas, apropos of nothing, into what would otherwise be a straightforward sentence). They'd end up winning this one easily. Three things stood out:

1) For all the talk of how great the offense got when Stewart became the leadoff man, two of the first three runs the Twins scored in this game were plated when #2 hitter Luis Rivas crossed the plate in the first and third innings.

2) The commenter notes both that the outing by the Twins starter was "vintage Brad Radke," but also that the Orioles were trying things like batting former Twin farmhand Jose Morban as their DH, so it could also be argued that they just weren't trying very hard.

3) Related to #2, it turns out that the Oriole third-baseman in this game was none other than our newly-acquired Tony Batista, of whom the commenter has this to say:

"For one, the more I watch the more Tony Batista becomes unbearable to me. He's regressed a noticable amount in the field, and offensively his numbers keep dropping too. Coming into tonight his OBP was .289, a career low! It didn't help that he went down swinging in one at bat when the pitch almost knocked his eye out. One reporter told me he was the most likely to be traded, but who could possibly want him? Honestly now? He's no longer an asset to this team."

I've noticed that BG's posts have been on a somewhat darker tone of late, though I suspect the long (if preternaturally mild) winter, the renewal of contraction talk, and the prospect of another year of raucous stadium debates probably have her eyeing BatKitty #2's favorite chew-toy with a somewhat manic visage. I'm also sorry to pile on additional gloom-and-doom on top of everything else, as I'm perfectly aware that gloom-and-doom isn't the *raison de etre* for the site and most folks come here to be amused, if not always uplifted.

But I'd be lying if I said I didn't read through that game recap with growing nostalgia, and I can't help but hope that I don't revisit that URL in mid-June and sigh, "Dang, those were the good old days..."

Peace.

What lingers in my mind is how that guy said "Joe Mowwer!" in the ad where he opens up the Joe Mauer bobblehead and finds a place for it on his mantle.

I urged you all to start calling your local House and Senate members last year long before the state shutdown, but you all were too busy fawning and gossipping over what Lew Ford's butt would look like in his Star Wars feety-pajamas, Little Nicky getting eaten, and Lyle Koshe's most recent tempertantrum in the Lund's produce aisle.

I, personally love our boys in blue as much as the rest of you, but we really need to get this stadium built or watch as our team will get disintergrated like a b-day pinata by the evil Brothers Pohlad and Air Bud or move off to the fair sea-side town of Portland. So, I implore you, before you start to get all gushy over Little Kube's homerun trot or the Good Dr's curl-girl hair, that you once again remind your local rep that we've already gotten to know these guys and want them to stick around for a while longer.

Dear Mr. Vince,

Now, now. The readers of this blog who want a stadium have been terrific about making these calls. Because everyone wants to see Lew Ford's butt in a shiny new stadium.

Seriously,
Batgirl

Portland? sea-side?

I guess if Sparta can have a port in the movie "Troy," Portland can have a beach in Batgirl's blog.

Well, Portland MAINE is by the sea....but they've got those adorable SEADOGS already.

Dear Aurora,

Thanks for the links!

Fondly,
Annun

Dear all-

Vince speaks the truth. Call, write, email, bribe,
complain,...

The new season already has a low carb texture to it because of uncertainty, well at least to me. I would like to freely get giddy about this new season and yet deep down I sense a possible break up and heartbreak down the road.

I want reassurance but I'm starting to cling.

Perhaps this might make you feel better, BG??

http://www.hardballtimes.com/daily/article/leverage-for-dummies/

Well, I thank you, San Diego..., for the Leverage for dummies article. It does make sense that there really is no place for our Twins to go except here with us. Still would like a spiffier stadium to watch games in tho.