2012 for the Twins: It's early

The 2012 Minnesota Twins season has commenced. The boys didn't have quite the same disastrous start to the season as they did in 2011 in Toronto (remember the errors in that first game?), but they still went out to Baltimore and couldn't win a game. In fact, they could barely score a run.

I haven't been able to watch as much of the Twins as I would have liked to so far, thanks to all the day games and my schedule. Thank goodness for Twitter, though, to keep me updated as if I'm watching the game.

I did manage to see the last couple of innings of the team's first win this week, which came at home versus the Angels. (I'm simply calling them the "Angels" because it's easier than trying to keep track of which location they're identified with.) I was just in time to see the Twins get a lead, and to see a ball hit down the right-field line give former Twin Torii Hunter trouble as he crashed hard into the wall. Matt Capps even came in and didn't give up a lead, so there's that as well.

The team doesn't look the same as last year, with a few new guys on the everyday roster. I'm liking the power Josh Willingham apparently has. He seemed to be the only one who could hit a home run, until Thursday. He also had a couple of errors in a game out in left field, but at this point I'd rather have the hitting power. It's also still early in the season (let's put that as a disclaimer on the entire blog entry, sound good?)

As I followed Thursday's game on Twitter, it was pretty interesting how it went from a disaster where Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau got booed by the impatient home fans, to a 10-9 win with the M & M boys each crushing the ball out of the park in the process. Don't like getting booed? I'd say that's a perfect way to respond.

I'm not sure the Twins have what it takes to get back to their Central Division winning ways like we've seen over the past decade. Last year and even the few games so far this year have made me realize how lucky I've been since I started seriously following the Twins in 2000.

My biggest hope for this season is that the Twins can stay healthier than last year. With a 162-game season, every team goes through injury battles, but last year seemed like it was just one thing after the other with the Twins. They've already had a couple issues on their pitching staff this year, but Mauer and Morneau are healthy right now (please, go bang on some wood).

If nothing else, Target Field is still a beautiful ball park to watch baseball, especially if the weather is on your side. I hope to get there again this year, and this time I need to plan an outing with my friends from work so they can experience it, too.