Twins Fest 2007

From Justin Morneau at Twins Fest

TwinsFest was crowded, but a good time, as usual. What can you do there?
Get Autographs: Here are Pat Neshek and Kevin Slowey signing:

Pat Neshek at Twins Fest 2007

You can ask players questions.

Twins Fest 2007

Justin Morneau

Justin Morneau at Twins Fest

Matt Garza

Matt Garza and Rick Anderson chat at Twins Fest

As a season ticket holder, I picked up my bobbleheads. The STH (Season Ticket Holder) bobbleheads are slightly different from the SGA (Stadium Give Away) bobbleheads. They have the players' name on the base, and sometimes things are added. The one I got of Torii, for example, had a "2006 Division Champions" plaque on the bottom. So now my bobblehead collection looks like this:

My Bobbleheads

Man Hugs

The picture headlining the article about Luis Rodriguez on TwinsBaseball.com this week brought back memories of the game that picture was taken at; a terrific game!. Twins vs Brewers on May 22, 2005 (back when we still had the Soul Patrol--sniff). That was the game my daughter, Maija, leaped up to grab a Joe Mauer foul ball in front of a groping, drunken cheesehead behind us.


Anyway, the Twins scored first with a run in the 3rd and for awhile it looked like that's all we'd need. Santana was smokin'--11 strikeouts that day--for 5 2/3 perfect innings before giving up a run in the 6th and another in the 7th. Juan Rincon gave up 2 runs in the 8th and "fans" started heading up the steps.

The Twins inched back with a run in the 8th but Joe Nathan walked in a run in the 9th to put the Brewers back up by 3. It seemed pretty hopeless when none other than Jacque Jones lead off the bottom of the 9th with a single after a 13-pitch at-bat (yes, it was JJ) and Leewwww doubled him in. Shanon Stewart hit a 2-run dinger that just cleared the baggie to tie it up and avoid a loss for Johann. The homer set off a flurry of man hugs in the dugout, and I took a picture...


L-Rod knocked in the winning run in the 11th and that shiny rookie helmet was pounded on by his teammates. Yep, we'll remember that one for a while...
P.S. Luis Rodriguez' photo was taken by Jim Mone of the AP. The others were taken by me, before I got my new camera....