Credit: Derick E. Hingle-US PRESSWIRE

The first Twins baseball game of 2012 is here!  Admittedly, the game today is a B game, which is barely a game at all, but it is something, and someone, somewhere will probably produce a recap and a box score.  A B game is closer to a scrimmage than a real baseball game.  A B game will usually feature less notable players that coaches want to take an extra look at, or in the case of the Minnesota Twins, it gives Ron Gardenhire and Rick Anderson an opportunity to see the pleothora of pitchers they’ve invited to camp square off against a real opponent (La Velle E. Neal III is reporting that Scott Baker and Nick Blackburn will be among 9 pitchers used in the B game, and here are the rest of the players slated to make an appearance today).  But it does not matter what kind of baseball the Twins will be playing, all that matters is that BASEBALL IS BACK!

Now onward with the links from the week that was:

With today’s B game quickly approaching, be sure to check out The Tenth Inning Stretch’s helpful post listing all the new Twins and the numbers they will be wearing during Spring Training.

Coffeyville Whirlwind is investigating the curious case of Jarvis Brown, who won a World Series ring with the Twins in 1991, but whom I’ve never heard of.  As a young Twins fan, not yet into my 30s, the 1991 Twins were everything to me as a youngster, but I had almost no idea of baseball at the time, not even yet in little league.  Turns out the 1986 1st round draft choice built a career on stealing bases, making his Major League debut earlier in 1991 before lacing it up for the Twins in the greatest World Series ever.

Pitcher Wins.  A terrible stat used to measure some of the greatest pitchers of all time.  While winning 20 games still means something in 2012, it does not mean everything, and it certainly does not mean you are witnessing greatness everytime a 20-game winning pitcher toes the rubber.  But it kind of does.  Winning 20 games is still a nice accomplishment and Bradfod Doolittle explains why he loves Wins so much at Baseball Prospectus in Ode to a Terrible Stat.  (more…)

You’ll forgive me that the Thursday Links were not out at the crack of dawn when you learn what I was doing instead of blogging the links.  Late last night I was browsing ebay and I found a pair of game worn Rick Renick pants from the 1990 season.  Renick played exclusively for the Minnesota Twins in his short career (parts of all five seasons from 1968-72).  After retiring Renick bounced around as a coach and spent a couple years coaching under Tom Kelly in Minnesota before leaving to coach in the Chicago White Sox organization after the 1990 season.  Clearly, game used pants from Rick Renick are not going to be the centerpiece of anyone’s Twins collection, but they were listed for just 99 CENTS!  Throw in about $8 shipping, and you’re looking at some pretty strange looking Twins merchandise for under $10 bucks!  Upon closer inspection of the pants, I didn’t see any pinstripes and the pants were just plain white, because the Twins home kit in 1990 used pinstriped pants, and the road kit was grey, these were clearly some sort of practice pant.  Still, for less then $10 George Washingtons they could be mine!  Sadly, the bidding spun wildly out of control during the final minutes, as ebay auctions often do, and the pants were priced out of my comfort zone. They sold for $5.  You win some, you lose some, but when you learn about the history of Rick Renick along the way you have to feel good coming out the other end!  If you have a favorite memory of Rick Renick please share it below.

The biggest signing this week, at least for Twins fans (others may be biased towards the signing of Yu Darvish, and there was that blockbuster deal between the Mariners and the Yankees) was the announcement that the Twins had signed right handed flame thrower Joel Zumaya to a Major League deal.  Zumaya actually passed his physical and the Twins made the move official yesterday afternoon, the Tenth Inning Stretch was kind enough to share some lesser known facts on the fastballer.  In less big news, the Twins also signed 16 year-old Venezuelan, Mauricio Silva as an international free agent with a  $370,000 dollar signing bonus.  Silva is already throwing his fastball in the low 90′s and is at least five years away from putting on a Twins uniform.

On with the links:

Jon Swol is rolling the dice on the Twins 2012 season, and wondering if they can bounce back from 99 losses a year ago.  His analysis bounces around the Central and looks at other teams that had significant drop offs in win totals from one season to the next, like the Twins did a year ago, and then looks at how those teams responded.  History doesn’t bode well for the 2012 Twins, but I’m still holding out hope.

The North Dakota Twins fan has managed to collect a few baseballs during his years as a Twins fan, and shared a couple stories about how he snagged his favorite balls.  I have never been lucky enough to catch a foul ball at any type of professional sporting event, so I am a little jealous, but I still hold out hope.  (more…)

Funny that this baseball cookie cutter has recessed laces, the opposite of real baseballs.

Happy Holidays to all of the Puckett’s Pond readers.  We hope each and every one of you find something to lift your spirits during the holiday season.

If you’re a young person from my generation, you can never really feel the holiday spirit without watching Home Alone.  To kick off this week’s version of the Thursday Links, here is a list of 12 things you probably didn’t know about Home Alone.  And if you DID know all 12 of these things, let me know, I’ll mail you something awesome.

If you’re still not feeling the spirit, head over to The Platoon Advantage and read Mark Smith’s 12 Days of Baseballmas.  If you still don’t feel the spirit, you likely never will.

Last week I presented a link to the All True Twins team from Beyond the Boxscore.  This week, Beyond the Boxscore presents the All All-True-Team Team.  The Senator’s Walter Johnson is the only player from the Twins franchise to make the list.  I had to look him up at Baseball-Reference, as he was a bit before my time, but with 127.7 career WAR, he’s a total stud (Here is another interesting character from the Washington Senator’s history, one that played just before Johnson arrived in Washington).

This one is a little more than a week old, but something I hadn’t stumbled upon until some time during the last week.  Target Field has earned a LEED Silver Certification.  Not only is Target Field the
Greenest Ballpark in America but now the folks over there have an extra something to hang their hat on.  (more…)