Opening night review

Its great to get a win. The offense looked good, the bullpen looked good and Santana was Santana.

Johan starts out poorly every spring. So this was not a surprise. The surprise was that he got the win because the Twins scored 7 runs and it should have been more.

Morneau was thrown out on the basebaths twice. Once at second which was a bad call and at least very close and took a great throw to nail him. But on the second one he was out by a long shot and shouldn't even been sent home on that play. There are at least 4 reasons why you don't send him.

1. Justin isn't known for his wheels.
2. The situation would have been, bases loaded with 1 out. In a situation like that there is a run expectency of 1.65 runs. So on average with the bases loaded and 1 out a team would score 1.65 runs. At this point Bedard seemed to be on the ropes. Torii was up and had already hit a HR off of Bedard.
3. A play at the plate always risks injury in a collision to the runner or the catcher. Why take that chance in this situation, especially with the reigning MVP.
4. Lasty, the ball was a well hit grounder hit right at the RF. It was not a difficult play to make. He did not have to go to his left or right. He simply charged in and threw home. It was not even a good throw and he was out by 6 feet.

Is Scotty Ulger the second coming of Al Newman. Is it really that diificult to find a decent 3rd base coach?

Twins Pick of the day. I have the Twins as a very slight favorite in this game. Bet the O's +120. The Pick was correct yesterday.