The Twins have been playing well this spring and it gives them confidence heading into the season. Opening day is less than two weeks away and the roster is falling into place. One key part that will not be in the lineup-opening day will be catcher Joe Mauer. The reigning AL batting champ will be out for an a few weeks to start the season with an ailing back injury that has plagued him all spring. While Mauer is sidelined veteran backup Mike Redmond will be behind the plate. Redmond has had enough experience to handle the starting role.
There have been some good performances throughout the spring by the Twins. Leading the way for the regular players has been Alexi Cassila and Jason Kubel. Both of these players are hitting over .340 throughout the spring. On the pitching mound all five of the projected starters have an era of fewer than 3.00. Leading the way has been Kevin Slowey. He has an era of fewer then 2.00 runs per game. The Twins appear to be in good shape heading into the season opener. With the pitchers performing well and the offence being as balanced as any team in the league, they seem ready to make a run at another central division title.
This past week the World Baseball Classic concluded its second tournament. Taking the crown again was team Japan. Japan defeated team Korea 5-3 in 10 innings in the championship game. This was the third time in the tournament that the two teams had played, Korea winning the first two meetings. Team Japan defeated team USA in the semi-finals by a score of 9-4. Many thought that this team USA was the team that could have brought home the gold. One bit of criticism that has been given to this team USA was that they did not play with as much passion as the other countries. The media feels that the players of team USA were distracted by the upcoming season and trying to stay healthy. Winning the WBC would just have been a bonus. The players on team USA deny this. Players such as Mets third baseman David Wright say that they were just as excited as the other teams. We will have to see in four years if the classic stays the way it is or does it change to make the best players playing.
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