Former Twins in the Postseason

The Twins are outside looking in on the playoffs, but that doesn't mean that the Twins' fans have no rooting interests. Former Twins are on several Postseason Rosters, which makes the games more interesting for me to watch (not that playoff baseball was uninteresting in the first place).

Houston Astros:

Carlos Gomez:

Pat Neshek:

Honorable mention: Alex Presley and Sam Deduno

New York Yankees:

None.

Honorable mention: Jim Kaat is still doing TV now and then for the Yankees, and Garrett Jones, a former Twins farmhand played in the regular season for New York.

Chicago Cubs:

None.

Honorable Mention: Ron Coomer does radio for the Cubs.

Pittsburgh Pirates:

Pedro Florimon:

Francisco Liriano:

Vance Worley:

Honorable Mention: Deolis Guerra on the Pirates 60-Day DL, was part of the trade that sent Johan Santana to the Mets. He was the last player to play in the Twins org. from that trade, but was granted minor league free agency following the 2014 season.

Texas Rangers:

None.

Toronto Blue Jays:

Chris Collabello:

Ben Revere:

R.A. Dickey:

what gives? I don't have a Twins card of R.A. ? Do you?

Liam Hendriks:

LaTroy Hawkins:

this card is from 1995. 1995!!!

Honorable Mention: Steve Tolleson, Danny Valencia (now with Oakland), and Andrew Albers all played for the Blue Jays at some point in the season.

New York Mets:

Michael Cuddyer:

Sean Gilmartin:

Rule V selection in 2015, never pitched for the big league Twins

Tim Stauffer:

A disaster out of the pen for the Twins, he didn't last long enough to get a card.

Los Angeles Dodgers:

None.

Honorable Mention: Scott Baker started two games for the Dodgers this year. Also Vin Scully, who was no connection to the Twins, but who should always be mentioned honorably.

Saint Louis Cardinals:

None.

Kansas City Royals:

Kendrys Morales:

Another Free Agent that couldn't make a dent in the Twins record books.

Drew Butera:

Honorable Mention: Yohan Pino appeared in 7 games for the Royals including one start during the regular season.

The Blue Jays are the team with the most Twins, so they are the team I am pulling for now. It was a bummer that Hawkins got the loss in game 2, hoping for that series to go a little longer.

Let's Get Crackin'

The long national nightmare is over - I'm posting about baseball cards again!

Julie from A Cracked Bat recently moved to the Midwest, and we made our first trade shortly thereafter. I'm going to be moving soon myself, and Julie left a very kind note along with a great stack of cardboard!

 A couple key cogs from the early 2000s Central Champion Twins - both sporting serious Sling Blade underbites, mhmhm . . .

 Some tiny League Leaders!

 Shiny!

 Vintage!

 Shiny AND Sign-y! Breslow is still bouncing around the league as a lefty with a pulse.

 Kennys!

 Love a good pinstripe!

Just gonna say that Joe Mauer is one of the best hitters of his generation, and it has been a real treat to see him play several times a year.

 The hits keep coming!

 BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOF.

 When I think Dynasty, I think of Lew Ford.

Ok, so maybe not - but it's a cool idea for a card!

Thanks so much Julie, these are fantastic!

I'd be Lion if I Said I Only Collect Baseball Cards

OK, so I do have a player collection of Barry Sanders. It dates back to my first round of collecting as a kid, but I've been adding onto in the last year or so.

 Some of the originals - Old School Junk wax. I think the Snow Game in the bottom right is my favorite.

 Some new stuff.

So Shiny!

I'm Glad They Still Come With PWEs

Jeff from Wish They Still Came With Bubble Gum sent over this fantastic Plain White Envelope with some great stuff!

 We got Bat Rack guys - Sweeney looks like he's in the boiler room or something. If Ichiro saw that, he'd cringe!

 TC is a home run derby champ at Target Field - they set up just outside the infield and he launches softballs into the second deck and off the batter's eye. He hit a bit better at the Dome, but so did Mauer...

 A couple sweet minor league cards of 90s greats. I don't know if either guy will be a Hall of Famer, but both had tremendous careers.

 Glove Stories is a pretty cool recurring insert in Gypsy Queen - I'm a fan.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOF.

Thanks Jeff, this was a great PWE! I sent over some Heritage Minors on Monday, you should see them in the next couple days!

The 2015 Twins in Review

The Minnesota Twins have hurt me bad in the past 5 seasons. Starting with the good kind of pain, a 2010 playoff appearance in the first season at Target Field. They got swept, again, by the New York Yankees.

In 2011, the injury bug bit hard, taking its toll on the Twins. Mauer and Morneau lost significant time, the team was not the same defensively (or offensively) without J.J. Hardy at Short, and the pitching took a step back. It was a disaster by all accounts and the Twins lost more than 90 games. An unexpected gut punch that tossed the Twins into rebuilding mode.

The less said about 2012, 2013, and 2014, the better. Just sad, uninspired, and barely watchable baseball.

Fast forward to 2015, and here is the opening day lineup:

SS Danny Santana

2B Brian Dozier

1B Joe Mauer

RF Torii Hunter

DH Kennys Vargas

3B Trevor Plouffe

LF Oswaldo Arcia

C Kurt Suzuki

CF Jordan Schafer

P Phil Hughes

Also appearing in game 1 of the 2015 season, Reliever J.R. Graham and Eduardo Escobar, who pinch hit for Schafer.

Nolasco had a great May before being injured, Gibson struggled to stay consistent

The Rotation to start the season also featured Ricky Nolasco, Kyle Gibson, Tommy Milone, and Mike Pelfrey. Noticeably absent was new free agent acquisition Ervin Santana, who tested positive for a PED and missed the first half of 2015 due to a suspension.

Closer Glen Perkins was perfect in the first half, may have injured himself in the All-Star Game, and finished the year as a late inning set up man for Kevin Jepsen.

Trevor May began the season in AAA, replaced Tommy Milone in the rotation, and was the Twins' best starter in the first half. He ultimately moved to the bullpen to become one of the team's best arms in the late innings.

The Twins fell hard out of the gate, starting the season 1-6. It looked like all of the changes to the coaching staff and the Rotation would be for naught. They started to turn things around in May however, and 2015 became a season to remember.

3 Rookies in particular led the Twins to contention for the first time since 2010:

Eddie Rosario

Miguel Sano

And Tyler Duffey. (psst. I don't have any Tyler Duffey cards - thanks, Topps.)

The #1 Prospect in Baseball also made his debut, to mixed results. Byron Buxton did manage to hit his first two major league homers in the final week of the season, as well as providing elite defense in Center Field.

The Twins also got a big boost from Aaron Hicks, who finally started to figure out MLB pitching in his third season in the big leagues.

All of this made for a very happy rookie manager, Mr. Paul Molitor. The Twins finally avoided a 90 loss season, and actually finished above .500 avoiding a 5th consecutive losing season. Until the final day of the season, the Twins could have possibly still earned a wild card spot. Pretty good for a team that has not had much to cheer about for the last 4 seasons.

Just wait til next year, when Jose Berrios makes it to the show, Buxton and Sano have their first full season together in the majors, and the rest of the team is a year older and more experienced! The 2015 Post Season will be a lot of fun to watch, but I will already be thinking about 2016, just a little bit.