Lousy weekend north of the border, as the Twins opened up the season by getting shelled, backed up by getting, in the words of Harry Doyle, "one goddamn hit" on Saturday, then eeked out a tight game on Sunday. The pitching was poor, fielding sloppy, and hitting nonexistent. Now you might think a superstitious person like me, who reads way too much into things and overreacts at every turn, would be freaking out a bit today. That's not the case, for a variety of reasons.
First off, the Twins always lose to Toronto, particularly in Toronto. The Blue Jays won 6 of 9 games between the two clubs last season, including a 11-2 pounding of Carl Pavano that looked remarkably similar to Friday night's opener. Was I perturbed by the fact that they went down 4-0 in the first inning, en route to a 13-3 shellacking in the season opener? You betcha, but that was more about the anticipation of game one, and feeling robbed when it turned into a dud.
So now it's off to New York, and the expectation of returning home Friday with at best a 2-5 record. Again, losing 3 of 4 at Yankee Stadium will be nothing new, so nothing to get bent out of shape over. This is not a rationalization of failure, simply an acknowledgement that things might take a bit of time to come together this season. The middle infield is unfamiliar, the first baseman and closer are returning from injuries and a little off, the pitching staff isn't quite in rhythm. Basically, the same issues that a lot of teams face early on. If the Twins are still behind Kansas City in the standings a month from now, then I'll panic.
But just because I'm not agitated about baseball doesn't mean I'm not agitated. Today it's the NFL draft. Not that I have a problem with the draft itself, typically it's one of my favorite events of the year. This year, with the Vikings holding a high pick, should be more entertaining than usual, if only I could get past the black labor cloud hanging over the league at the moment. Watching a bunch of guys get drafted is only intriguing because you get to speculate on seeing them play in a few months. Without the promise of a season on the horizon? Well they might as well be discussing the WNBA.
Just another reminder how the most popular and profitable sports league in the history of this country is killing the golden goose. I'm sure that at some point the draft chatter will suck me in, but each time it's come up so far, I've disgustedly changed the station. It's bad enough they moved the damn thing to Thursday night, now they don't even have the decency to ensure there will be a next season, before hyping the new additions that will be a part of it. Maybe.
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