Twins Sisters

So long and best wishes to Barty and Matty.  I'll miss them very much!

This is going to sound really immature but this news ruined my day. I wear scrubs to work and I made a point of wearing my black scrubs to mourn Barty and Matty going to play for the Rays.

Here's my problem: I get too emotional about it. Baseball is a business. Duh! I get that. I love baseball but mostly I really like all the guys that were on the team in 2006 and 2007.  My big fear is that watching Twins baseball won't be as fun for me with so many of the players I like gone! 

Here's my advice in case anyone is interested: If you want to feel bad because your favorite player is gone, go ahead. I've always been a big believer in that you can't help how you feel. If people give you a hard time about it, just ignore them. Mean people suck.



I hope Barty and Matty kick ass in Tampa Bay! 

**Becca**

We have to say goodbye to Jason Bartlett, aka Barty, today, since he got traded to the Rays in a deal that was finalized last night.  He's a favorite at Twins Sisters, and we'll miss him. 

We knew Torii would end up playing for someone else next year.

There were rumors that Matt Garza would be traded to the Rays.

I'll miss him, but I won't be surprised if Johan is playing somewhere else next season too. 

But this!  It came totally out of left field.  Holy crap! 

We wish Barty well as he plays for the Rays next year.  Actually, we hope he has a phenomenal year playing for them.  We'll miss him a lot. 

It has been 5 days since the news of Torii's offical departure from the Minnesota Twins surfaced. It sucks and I will miss him but the Twins will go on without him. We still have Nicky, Joey, Justin, Cuddy and the Jasons. Instead of being p'od about Torii being gone I think I'll be thankful to still have all those other guys that I like so much. Rumor is the Twins are going to try and sign Cuddy and Justin to something long term. Please do! We don't want to lose anyone else.

But we may.

Word is that Johan is the next to go.  *Gulp* What a way to be kick us while we are down. I REALLY don't want him to leave but we all know that if we don't trade him we will lose him to free agency after the 2008 season. The Twins are not going to pay him 120 million dollars so we may just as well say goodbye and get a center fielder, a third baseman and a new DH.



I don't want any of you reading this to get the impression that I want Johan to leave. That couldn't be more wrong. But since we are going to lose him anyway, let's get some players that will keep the Twins awesome. I was so angry when they let A.J. go to the Giants, but we got Joe Nathan, Boof! and Liriano in exchange.

Johan has clearly reached a point where he needs to play for a big market team that can pay him the big phat dollars the Twins can't and/or won't.

It'll be interesting to see how it all pans out. 

**Becca**

It is with a heavy heart that I announce that Torii Hunter has signed a 5 year contract with the Angels. 

I woke up late this morning and thought I'd go to the Twins website for funsies.  Funsies were no where to be found. I looked over the list of stories and I saw "Hunter, Angels agree to a 5 year deal." I was confused and horrified all at the same time. I clicked on it and sure enough, Torii is headed west. Just to be sure I turned on ESPN and I only had to wait a minute or so until they announced it.  It is the big baseball news of the day.

I called Tricia right away and as soon as she answered the phone I said, "We have a baseball emergency!" I quickly told her that Torii was now a California Angel. She and I have been bumming ever since.  We all knew that it was probably going to happen but it is still crappy.  I read in the Star Tribune just on Tuesday that Torii was not going to make any decisions until after Thanksgiving, so this news REALLY came as a surprise.

I've watched the news a little bit since this has been announced and they are showing all these clips of Torii playing this year. They showed the grand slam he hit that right into the Twins bullpen that Joe Nathan caught. They showed that catch from when the White Sox were in town last May when he jumped and leaned back into the seats to catch the ball.  I put that picture from the newpaper the next day on my fridge so I could see it every day.  I'm leaving it there.

I can't help but wonder if the Angels fans truly understand the magnitude of how awesome a player they are so privileged to have.  Doubt it. There's no way. I take a small amount of comfort knowing that Torii won't be playing for the Evil Empire, the Red Sox or White Sox.

I'm going to spend tomorrow shopping and I'm going to drown my sorrows in yummy tacos from Taco Bell. It will take me a another day or two before I can even wrap my mind around this.

**Becca**

American League MVP is.......

Alex Rodriguez of the New York Yankees.

No big surprise there. Pretty much everyone was expecting it.  He's hardly my favorite person in the world of baseball but I have to say that he deserved to win.

That is REALLY hard for me to admit.
 
I've got a question. Are any of you out there in blog land going to hit the mall or any chain stores like Target bright and early on Friday? I've gone shopping the day after Thanksgiving, but never first thing in the morning. Should I bother or is just so freaking busy that it isn't worth it? There is a mall in town that opens at 1:00 am on Friday and that just seems nutty to me.

Happy Thanksgiving!  If you get the large end the wishbone I have a suggestion: Wish for the Twins to sign Torii!  I have the news on and was only sort of paying attention. All of a sudden they were showing a clip of Torii when he was running off the field during the last game of the season at the Metrodome.  My stomach just sank. I thought I was going to hear that he signed with a different team. Not so, at least not yet. The goober that does sports was just saying how he talked to Torii today to get an update from him. Here's the scoop: Torii is not going to make any decisions over the Thanksgiving holiday. He did say that he's met with the White Sox twice, the Rangers once and have a brief discussion with the Dodgers. He also said that testing the open market has "not been as much fun as he thought, and that it is turning out to be a big headache." Then just stay with the Twins!  Sounds like final decisions will be made next week. Torii did indicate that he would would meet with the Twins before he signs with any other team.  I will keep my fingers and toes crossed that he stays with the Twins. Chicago would never love or appreciate Torii the way we do in Minneapolis!

**Becca**

Thanksgiving is 5 short days away. The whole family is going to my aunt and uncle's house for yummy Thanksgiving dinner. We were all assigned to bring certain things. Andrea and I are to bring paper plates, napkins and pop. We met up at Target after she got done with work today to go shopping.

This should have been an easy and short trip. Not so much. Here's how it went in the Target paper plate aisle.

Me: Cool! These plates have penguins on them.
Her: But Becca, they are styrofoam.
Me: So?
Her: So they are bad. We aren't buying them.
Me: But they have penguins.
Her: We still aren't buying them.
Me: Fine.
Then we went on to look at debate the Dixie paper plates. We finally settled on a 40 count pack with a slight holiday theme. We bought them because the package said, "Strong enough to save the day." We thought that was funny. Paper plates can't save the day. We also picked up a pack of smaller plates with snowflakes on them for pie. As far as napkins go, I purchased the expensive, yet nicer Vanity Fair brand. Our family isn't too fancy but I didn't want to bring the cheap and generic Target napkins. I was just feeling out of sorts today. Normally stuff like this isn't at all difficult for me.


Andrea and I are so goofy when we hang out together. That's one of the best things about sisters. Knowing someone your whole life that will act goofy and silly with you. She's pretty cool, even though she doesn't like baseball. 

**Becca**

I had an interesting converstation with Andrea, the sister who has a strong dislike for baseball this morning. She stayed overnight and as she was getting ready to leave she asked me, "What makes a baseball player a legend instead of being just a regular player?" I have to say that is a very good question from someone that is not a fan of the sport. She was somewhat interested  in baseball when she was a kid during the Kirby Puckett era so she cited him as an example. I had to really think about it. I told her that a legend is somewhat that plays the sport with a lot integrity and that is a team player. I also told her that it is a guy that stays with the same team throughout his career because it is harder to be remembered when you play for half a dozen different teams. 

I was sitting at work today still pondering her question but I couldn't really think of anything beyond that. If anyone else has any thoughts, please comment.  What makes a baseball player a legend? 



Kirby Puckett, baseball legend.
Chuck Knoblauch, um...not so much. Sorry dude, you left us for the Yankees.


**Becca**