Johan Santana gave up 3 earned runs in 2.0 innings pitched in his first grapefruit league appearance for the New York Mets. His line included 10 batters faced, 4 hits, 0 base on balls, 1 strikeout and 1 homerun surrendered to Juan Gonzalez.. That line gives Johan a meaningless grapefruit ERA of 13.50 so far this spring. Take from that outing what you want. Twist it and say "Johan is washed up and will never match what he did for the Twins" or maybe say "Johan’s best is yet to come, he will dominate the National League, these spring numbers mean nothing".

But if this is so meaningless you may ask why bother writing this at all. My answer to that is because people want to know what Johan did today, and I like writing and talking about baseball. We all want to speculate on what will be, what was lost, what was gained, and who will do what this year. That is the fun of baseball. None of it really matters for us observers, it’s just a release, hmmm…..a pastime one might say. Johan’s box score

The Twins came up short in in their grapefruit opener today. Baker pitched the first 2 innings giving up 3 hits, no runs, no walks and had 1 strike out. Perkins took the loss giving up a 3 run dong in the 3rd. Perk gave up 4 hits and had 1 strikeout. Guerrier, Neshek, Daigle, DePaula and Barrett were the other Twins pitchers. Guerrier, Neshek, Daigle and DePaula did fine and each pitched an inning with and no runs. Barrett really slowed things down in the eighth giving up 3 runs (2 earned) with 2 hits and 1 base on balls.

Mauer, Cuddyer, Kubel, Monroe and Lamb each had singles for the Twins. The one Twins run was scored by Tolbert but was unearned with the Reds having 4 errors. The Twins had one error. Brendan Harris blew a double play chance with a poor throw that took Jones off of first. There was a hard slide coming in but sounds like he could have made the play. Carlos Gomez was 0 for 2 leading off in center today with one strike out. He did get on his horse with a nice catch in center though. Boxscore.

Tomorrow the Twins have an evening game starting at 6:00pm CT. Catch it on AM1500 and the Twins Radio Network.

Today at 12:05pm CT the Twins have their first grapefruit league game of spring training. The Cincinnati Reds are hosting the Twins at Ed Smith Stadium in Sarasota. La Velle E Neal III gave us today’s Twins lineup in a blog post he made yeasterday and also the Reds lineup today. Thanks La Velle! I’m psyched up, The Twins on on the air today! Catch the game on AM1500 and the rest of the Twins radio Network.

1. Carlos Gomez, CF.
2. Brendan Harris, 2B.
3. Joe Mauer, C.
4. Michael Cuddyer, RF.
5. Jason Kubel, LF.
6.Craig Monroe, DH.
7. Mike Lamb, 3B.
8. Garrett Jones, 1B.
9. Alexi Casilla, SS
P Scott Baker, Glen Perkins, Matt Guerrier, Pat Neshek, Casey Daigle, Rickey Barrett, Julio DePaula.

1. Norris Hopper, CF. 2 Ryan Freel, LF. 3. Brandon Phillips. 2B. 4. Edwin Encarnacion. 5. Jay Bruce, RF. 6.Andy Phillips, 1B. 7. Juan Castro, SS. 8. Javier Valentin, C. 9. Joey Votto. P Matt Belisle.

First pitch is about to be thrown. I will be twittering the game at http://twitter.com/betweeninnings. Hope you follow!

photo compliments of Stephen Fernandez cc

 Twins pitchers and catchers report to spring training tomorrow and one of my favorite times of the year is about here. Here are the key dates for the Twins Spring Training.

• Sunday February 17th - Twins catchers & pitchers report
• Monday, February 18th - first offcial workouts for Twins pitchers and catchers
• Friday, February 22nd - all Twins players report to spring training
• Thursday, February 28th - first spring training game 6:05 pm central time at the Reds.
• Friday, February 29th - Twins Spring Training home opener 6:05 pm ct vs the Red Sox
• Wednesday, March 5th - First Twins TV game of Spring Training 12:15 pm ct vs the Yankees on ESPN
• Saturday, March 29th - Twins last Spring Training game 12:05 pm ct at the Pirates
• Monday, March 31st - Twins first game of the season and home opener vs the Angels w/Torii Hunter 6:05 pm ct at Metrodome

Here’s a couple aerial shots of the Twins Spring Training Hammond Stadium. Ahhhhh, looks nice, eh?

 Here are a couple images of Twin’s spring training schedule and seating chart taken from the Minnesota Twins 2008 Spring Training pocket schedule. Click on them to see a larger image. Twins spring training tickets go fast I hear so them now if you are making the trip.

According to the Twins 40 man roster, new Twins Carlos Gomez and Philip Humber have their new numbers with the Minnesota Twins.

• Carlos Gomez is # 22
• Philip Humber is # 38

Kevin Mulvey has been assigned spring training non-roster invitee number 88 and Deolis Guerra non-roster invitee number 89. It shouldn’t take long to start seeing Carlos Gomez jerseys walking around the Twin Cities.

With the Santana deal now complete, new Twins prospects Carlos Gomez and Philip Humber have landed on the Twins 40 man roster, while Kevin Mulvey and Deolis Guerra are listed as non-roster invitees for the 2008 Twins spring training. I think we can venture a guess as to where these guys will end up in the Twins system.

• Carlos Gomez saw 58 games and 125 at-bats for the Mets last year. He also had 36 games and 140 at-bats for the Mets AAA New Orleans Zephyrs. Carlos has speed and dynamic fielding ability but he is suspect at the plate with a lack of discipline and poor walk to at-bat and walk to strike out ratios. My guess is that he will stick with the big league Twins and platoon in center field.
• Philip Humber pitched 7 innings for  the Mets and 139 innings for the AAA Zephyrs last year. He should get a good chance to show what he has in spring training but will most likely be with the Twins AAA Rochester Red Wings.
• Kevin Mulvey does not have any innings pitched in the Majors but moved up quickly to the Mets AAA last year and was named the Mets 2007 pitcher of the year. His minor league career of 2 years produced 173 innings pitched and a 3.02 ERA. With the Twins approach to young pitching he is bound to start at AAA and maybe get a call up mid season.
• Deolis Guerra is the youngest of the bunch and has 178 innings pitched and a 3.28 ERA for the Mets A teams over the past 2 years. People have high hopes for this youngster with his blazing fast ball clocked in the mid nineties. Maybe Deolis can make the Twins AA New Britain Rock Cats this season.