The Boston Red Sox picked up where they left off last year and pounded out 8 runs against the Twins while all the Twins could muster was 3 runs late in the game. A few notable items worth mentioning include:

• Boof Bonser started the game with 2 strong innings: 2.0 IP   1 H   0 R   0 ER   0 BB   1 SO   0 HR   0.00 ERA
• Kevin Slowey started strong but could get his last out giving up back to back shots by Youkilis and Varitek.:1.2 IP   4 H   3 R   3 ER   2 BB   2 SO   2 HR   16.20 ERA
• Philip Humber pitched one shutout inning : 1.0 IP   1 H   0 R   0 ER   0 BB   1 SO   0 HR   0.00 ERA
• Denard Span led off the game with a nice single and looked comfortable. He was 1 for 2 at the plate.
• Carlos Gomez came in for Denard in the fifth and showed off his arm gunning down Pedroia at the plate. Carlos also had a questionable play where he chose to throw home again attempting to throw out Kottaras who easily scored. This allowed Coco Crisp to trot into 2nd base. Carlos was 0 for 2 leaving 3 guys on base.
•  Brian Buscher had a good game with a nice play in the field and the Twins first spring training homerun.
• Delmon Young made his first appearance and was 1 for 2.
•  Adam Everett also made his first appearance for the Twins and was 0 for 2 with 2 flyouts.
•  Neither Jon Lester nor Jacoby Ellsbury who were much talked about in possible trade packages for Santana made an appearance in the lineup today.
• Boxscore

The Twins get their second game tomorrow of three in a row against Boston. Randy Keisler will start for the Twins against Jon Lester. My guess is we will see Jacoby Ellsbury in center for the Red Sox too. Game time is 12:05 CT.

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