Puckett's Pond » Major League Baseball http://puckettspond.com A Minnesota Twins Fan Site - News, Blogs, Opinion and More Wed, 22 May 2013 20:29:02 +0000 en-US hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.4.1 The Weekend that Never Was. http://puckettspond.com/2011/04/11/the-weekend-that-never-was/ http://puckettspond.com/2011/04/11/the-weekend-that-never-was/#comments Mon, 11 Apr 2011 15:10:52 +0000 http://puckettspond.com/?p=4643 Talk about a missed opportunity!  The Minnesota Twins came into a 3-game series with a chance to really shine in front of their home crowd.   After going just 2-4 in a rain shortened season opening series against the Blue Jays and the Yankees, the Twins were ready to be back home.  They were home without their imported second basemen, Tsuyoshi Nishioka, thanks to Nick Swisher and the cut throat nature of Major League Baseball.  They were home without the immediate services of Kevin Slowey, bullpen phenom, due to lingering soreness in his throwing arm.  But they were home.  Baseball was back in Minnesota and Mother Nature was happy to lend a hand, bringing beautiful weather back to a population decimated by winter blues.

But all was not lost for the Twins.  With Nishioka out of the lineup, manager Ron Gardenhire had a great opportunity to put some extra pop in his starting 9.  Using a combination of recently called up Luke Hughes and Michael Cuddyer at 2B, the Twins should have seen a boost in offensive performance.  Moving Cuddy over to 2B gave room for DH Jason Kubel to come in and play RF and long time home run masher Jim Thome to fill in at DH.  A lot of bats, a lot of home run potential, and Joe Mauer and his consistently high OBP (Career .406) in the 2-hole should have meant lots of opportunities for the Twins to score.

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