Apparently, the idea of playing for his home country in the WBC has got the good Doctor his groove back. Batgirl recommends the Twins change their uniforms to maple leaves, stat.
There was no question before Justin Morneau left for the World Baseball Classic that he spent a lot of time working to improve his offense.Posted by Batgirl at March 9, 2006 09:11 PMThat extra bit of preparation seems to have paid off, at least for Canada, as Morneau went 3-for-5 at the plate on Wednesday in the country's win against Team USA. He hit two doubles, drove a run in and scored two runs himself.
That the performance came against the United States wasn't a shock to Gardenhire, who knew that Morneau was fired up to play against the neighboring country.
"We won't ever live that one down," Gardenhire said of the U.S. loss. "That's for sure."
I always knew the doctor had it in him, let's just hope this carries into the regular season (knock on wood.)
Posted by: Hannah (the second) at March 9, 2006 09:24 PMHe's been beautiful.
O CANADA!
And maple leaves are beautiful.
Posted by: Stacy at March 9, 2006 09:43 PMI had to double check my MLB Gameday when I saw the Morneau RBIs, but no increase in score on the US side.
Then it hit me: He's a "Leafer"!!!
Sometimes you forget. I hope he and Koskos had a good time making fun of Radke's HR/1IP and Kyle Lohse's ERA.
Viva la (Francais) Canada!!!!!
Posted by: Bloody P at March 9, 2006 10:04 PMI can't seem to find the written evidence, but I heard tell that the game actually made the good Doctor...*smile*!
Posted by: mk at March 9, 2006 10:48 PMThe good Doctor can do whatever he wants to us in the WBC as long as he does the same in the upcoming season.
How about paying tribute to Kirby on Opening Night by pegging a home run off of Puck's face up in right field?
Posted by: BadAndy48 at March 9, 2006 11:00 PMmk,
I did indeed see him smile after he caught the final out of the game. Does this count as written evidence? I'm not sure...but I am sure about what my eyes saw. :)
ubelmann
Posted by: ubelmann at March 10, 2006 02:44 AMHeh, as soon as he wasn't playing FOR Gardy ;) Nah, I'll still blame Ullger until opening day. Good for JM though!
Posted by: SSJPabs at March 10, 2006 03:34 AMubelmann,
That's good enough for me!
BadAndy,
What I'm hoping for out of Morneau is a consistent bat and a decent amount of power. Any assualt on the curtain up there is simply bonus...
mk
Posted by: mk at March 10, 2006 03:46 AMwhat with the basketball and the hockey is there any team sports the US wins at? Seriously, are there any?
Maybe the NFL should start a world championship with other countries, that way you could win something.
Cause you're getting slapped down at the world cup this summer :-)
Dom Republic is my hot time for the WBC
D
Posted by: dan in london at March 10, 2006 04:00 AMSomehow, Canada might not make it out of the pool. I thought I understand the tiebreakers, but I don't. We need South Africa to come through for our northern neighbors and whoop our country's unappealing superstars. That'll leave the tiebreaker out of it all together.
Posted by: amr at March 10, 2006 04:23 AMUmm...
Justin versus Mexico: 0-3, 1 walk, two K's, 4 LOB
That WAS slighly better than Koskie's 0-4, 2 K's, 5 LOB
Others of note:
Castro 1-5 in the leadoff spot
Crain one shutout inning, set 'em down with no walks or k's
There's your "true patriot love" right there.
What a blowout by Mexico!
Morneau has never been one of my favorite Twins, but I was really proud of how well Castro played defense. That's a good team. And Crain didn't pitch much, but was very solid.
Well, welcome back to Fort Myers, Justin and Jesse.
Posted by: Annie Savoy at March 10, 2006 08:45 AMYeah Dan, I think it's apparent that the US will win the WBC riiiiiiight about the same time England wins the World Cup again.
And the next time the US and England play each other in baseball, basketball and hockey, we should TOTALLY make some silly bet...oh...wait...nevermind.
Posted by: BAT bandwagoner at March 10, 2006 08:59 AMOK--I am confused--Mexico has advanced according to Twins web site and they are 2-1. Somebody said welcome back to Jesse and the doctor but Canada is also 2-1--If the Rocket has anything left in his tank then the USA should beat South Africa--and they will be 2-1. So how does Canada not go and Mexico and USA go?? Canada beat USA head to head. I do know that DOminican and Venezuela and Cuba and Puerto Rico all go from other pools--thats obvious.
Thnx
DAM
Also a note for my fellow out-of-towners--Twins web-site will show Kirby service on Sunday nite so we can see it...
DAM
Posted by: DAM-DC Twins Fan at March 10, 2006 09:55 AMDAM, the first tie-breaker is runs allowed. In order for Canada to move on, they had to hold Mexico to 2 or fewer runs.
Assuming Clemens can handle the South Africans this afternoon, Mexico, USA & Canada all will be 2-1, but Canada loses the tie-breaker. Adios, Canada.
Posted by: Annie Savoy at March 10, 2006 10:18 AMWhat I don't understand is why the announcers last night said Canada was "definitely" eliminated. If the US loses to South Africa, Canada and Mexico are the only 2-1 teams. Also, it's unlikely, but couldn't South Africa score a lot of runs on the US even if the US wins and make them lose the tiebreaker?
I will take the blame for Canada losing last night. I don't have cable, but one of the local stations picked up the game. I was rooting for Canada and every athlete/team I've rooted for while watching the game for the last month has not done well. (Olympic Hockey? All my fault.)
Posted by: Redbird at March 10, 2006 10:23 AM"Batgirl recommends the Twins change their uniforms to maple leaves, stat."
*picturing Joe Nathan in nothing but a maple leaf*
.
.
.
*fainting*
Bandwagoner,
ah yes, despite all the kids in LeBron shirts our Basketball team doesn't even get to play in the Olympics, and as for Hockey... My friend Canadian friend Ivan was working in Kuwait for a while and got together a team of random ex-pat Canadian's who were good enough to play the Kuwait national team; the game ended in a brawl. Our Hockey team is about on that level.
But we're a small country, we don't get a lot of snow and ice, our national diet is attrocious so we're all really short. And we won one more medal at the winter olympics than Bode Miller.
But this is the year, come July 9th England will be world cup winners, the Red Sox will be 15 games up on the evil empire and all will be right with the universe.
D
Posted by: dan in london at March 10, 2006 10:44 AMDan in London, I love the notion -- or, in Mientkiewiczean, "the mental idea" -- that any random group of Canadians is a good enough hockey team to play another country's national team to a draw. There was probably once a time when the same was true of Americans and baseball or Brits and cricket, but sadly no more. Now, apparently, a basically randomly selected group of Canadians is also a good enough baseball team to beat the US national team, provided the Good Doctor is one of 'em.
Britain should be proud of the Canadian national team, since when the British national team plays in European competitions, it's mostly composed of Canadian players with one English or Scottish parent. I saw Great Britain's team of Canadian ringers play pretty nicely in the 2004 European Championships in Holland. Not quite nicely enough to beat Greece's team of American ringers or Holland's team of Twins pitching prospects, but still.
Posted by: BallWonk at March 10, 2006 12:01 PMI saw the Canada vs South Africa game and let me tell you the game vs the US was the exception.
The Dr did not look so great against those strong South African arms. His double vs a 17 yr old kid in that game did not fill me with excitment.
I hope he gets it together for the season.
Posted by: caluofmn at March 10, 2006 12:24 PMas far as I could tell from the box score it was really Team Canada vs. Dontrelle Willis....
Posted by: msb at March 10, 2006 01:04 PMThe Minnesota Maple Leafs ? Does that mean Eric Lindros will be your DH ?
Posted by: public enemy mike at March 10, 2006 01:40 PMmk,
The Doc smiled actually a lot.
And he kind of has a tan now. Not a deep one...obviously. But it's there.
Posted by: Stacy at March 10, 2006 01:55 PMStacy,
Does that mean Doc has gone from pasty to... not so pasty?
Posted by: caluofmn at March 10, 2006 02:29 PMHey don't know being white.....At least he won't get skin cancer!!!
Posted by: allie at March 10, 2006 03:54 PMuggg...now I feel like a fool....hate it when you try to have a comback against someone and you spell a work wrong;)
but I know you batlings are smart and you can fill in the work knock for know!!!
ok last one I promise....
1st post know=knock
2nd post work=word
Holy crap. I can't believe they ended the US/Africa game early (after 4.5 innings) on account of "MERCY".
17-0 OMGLOL.
Posted by: Salt-Man Z at March 10, 2006 04:11 PMI don't get what's with all the Americans rooting against the American team...I mean...hey, maybe I don't like some of the guys, but it's OUR team. also...Joe Nathan is on the American team.
The Canadians are a very good team...they've got a lot of major league talent on that roster.
Posted by: Josh at March 10, 2006 05:14 PMI'm against the American team because they're mostly the players I root against all season long. Who do I root for? The Cantus, the Polancos, the Chens, the Kims, the Dutch, and the Twins.
Right now, I think I want Mexico and Korea to advance from Pool 1. Cuba def from pool 2.
We need Cuba to advance to the semis to give their players a better chance to defect. Gourriel would look great in a Twins uni.
Posted by: amr at March 10, 2006 06:20 PMMorneau seemed so happy and that made me happy! The one thing that really made me mad though was the announcers couldn't say his name right. I have to say that he and Crain looked really sexy in their Canadain Uniforms. And how bout that Adam Stern. Looks like I have a new fav. Red Sox. Don't ask me why but I seem to have a soft spot for Canadian men. Too bad they couldn't advance. On a different note how bout Lohse. He's been doing extremely well down in FL. I think it will be his year and you can take my word for it (knock on wood). 32 MORE DAYS TILL HOME OPENER!!!!!!
Posted by: Mel at March 10, 2006 06:51 PMI can't believe some of you are rooting against the US baseball team. I always knew that Minn was secertly a part of Canada !
Posted by: public enemy mike at March 10, 2006 07:17 PMWhat ever happened to Canezuela ?
Posted by: public enemy mike at March 10, 2006 07:32 PMugh...I have such a problem with people that root against their national team...it's like people born in Minneapolis rooting for the St. Louis Cardinals or someone else. I think rooting against the hometown team is just...wrong. I have big problem with people choosing to follow teams. Teams are something you're born into...either your family or where you live. It shouldn't matter who the individual players are. That's my little rant.
Posted by: Josh at March 11, 2006 02:20 AMOK, so how many people who thought the WBC was silly/reckless/meaningless/blah, blah, blah have become converts?
I can't wait for Round 2!
Posted by: Annie Savoy at March 11, 2006 06:42 AMDearest Josh -
What if you were only born in say Minneapolis but raised your entire life in St. Louis - would it be ok to cheer for the Cardinals??
Ohhh - what if you were born in a country where baseball wasn't a blip on the map and lets say you're of Spanish-Argentinian descent but grew up in the US - would you be relegated to root for the US team because you grew up here - or would it be ok if you cheered for on of the Spanish speaking countries???
I mean if your favourite player in the whole wide world is Johan Santana and you live in the US - I think it would be ok to root for the Venezuelans - ya know
I think you should root for what ever team you want to - that's just me -=p
Much Love
WW
What if you were born and raised in America, but your 4 favorite things next to the Twins winning are A-Rod, Jeter, Damon, and Clemens losing?
Go Mexico!
Posted by: amr at March 11, 2006 03:47 PM