New member saying hello!

Always good to have new people on board. Good first post.

My favorite player is Kirby Puckett, simply because he was The Guy as I was growing up.

I look forward to your contributions!

Favorite player: Kent Hrbek (honorable mentions: Michael Cuddyer, Denard Span, Matt LeCroy, Denny Hocking, Corey Koskie, Jacque Jones)

Favorite moment: Kirby’s homer in the 1991 Series edges the end of Game 163 last year, but I have a special place in my heart for Chad Moeller’s first major-league homer, a three-run in-the-parker that helped beat the Galactic Empire Yankees, which I saw in person.

Worst moment: The inning Johan fell apart in Game 4 of the 2003 series against the Yankees. Again, I was there in person (the only playoff game I’ve attended), and the Dome was absolutely dead for the rest of the game/season. Honorable mention to the 2006 playoffs when Hunter played a single into an in-the-park homer.

You’ll enjoy it here, I’m sure.

Favorite player: tie between Mauer, Kirby, Justin, Hrbek, Killebrew, and Denard. Lots of good guys that have played for this team, hard to pick just one.

Best moment: probably 163 last year as well. What an incredible game. I remember a tiny bit of the parade in ’91, and that was pretty awesome too.

Worst: the feeling after Johan and Hunter were gone. I knew it was bound to happen, but man that hurt. Or being swept by the Yankees. Gross.

Seriously, though. Welcome.

Favorite Player: Do I have to pick just one? My favorite player right now is probably Span (with obvious respect the the Mauer’s and Morneau’s of the world). I also have a slight man-crush on Pat Neshek. Favorite Twin of all time? It’s gotta be Kirby. I grew up watching him, man. He was SUCH a fun player to watch, and I still think he continues to impact the way I see the game. (I tend to appreciate centerfielders, just because I get to see them run around like I remember Kirby doing.)

Best moment: The very first game I ever went to. It was in the 92 season, and we drove to the cities from North Dakota to take my brother to a game on his birthday. We had GA tickets, so we got to the Dome extra early so we could get seats right above center field so we could watch Kirby as closely as possible. Then they announced the lineups. Kirby was DH’ing that day. We got to watch Shane Mack in center instead. Haha. So it didn’t turn out the way we wanted, but it was still an awesome experience seeing live major league baseball for the first time. Didn’t hurt that the Twins won the game, either. :)

Close second: Being in attendance for Game 163 last year. Easily the most thrilling game I have ever experienced.

Third: This moment was beautiful. I still get goosebumps when I watch this.

Worst moment: Too many to choose from. Getting swept by the Yankees in the postseason, Kirby’s death, Torii’s departure, getting swept by the A’s in the postseason….

Favorite Twin of all time: Brad Radke
Favorite Moment: Well, my first memory of baseball was watching the 91 World Series, so I might go with that. (It’s a lot clearer than my memories of Game 163…thanks alcohol!)
Worst Moment: The 2006 series against the A’s. Terrible. I really thought that was going to be the year.

Twin: Rod Carew
Moment: ‘91 Game 6: The Catch
Runner up: ’02 All Start game, Hunter’s catch.
Worst moment: Ruben (Steroids) Sierra’s 3-run homer in Game 4 of the 2004 playoffs off of Juan Rincon.

Favorite Current Twin: Franchisco Liriano
All Time: It was, is and always will be Spiderman. Honorable Mentions: The Franchisco, Matt Lecroy, Denard, Neshek.
Moment: Tie between the whole game 163 and when Kirbys Son pulled down the last number for Countdown to Target Field.
Worst Moment: Punto rounding third against the Yankees. . .

Favorite Current Twin: Justin Morneau
All Time: Kirby Puckett
Honorable Mention: Brad Radke
Favorite Moment: Game 163, Game 6 – The Catch and Homer
Worst Moment: 2006 AL Playoffs, 2009 Playoffs

Favorite all time Twin: Kirby, I was just a wee boy in his later years, he’s why I love baseball
Favorite Moment:in 2006, watching the Royals beat the Tigers on the big screen at the dome, and the subsequent celebration
Worst Moment: A game last year at Oakland, staying up late to watch them blow a 10-run lead, and see Cuddy get tagged out trying to score the tying run on one of the worst calls I’ve seen in my life. That call ended the game btw

Favorite Player – Kirby Puckett, fun to watch as a kid, probably the only reason I’m a Twins fan today – I loved to disagree with my dad on anything sports related just for the fun of it, and he was a Twins fan but Kirby was so much fun to watch, I couldn’t disagree with Pa on baseball.

Can I put in 2 categories for best moment?

Watching on TV – 1991 World Series game 6 – a formative event in the life of a 9-year old when your hero comes through in the clutch – indescribable.

Watching in person – I grew up in western IA and moved to Chicago later on, so I’ve never been to a lot of Twins games in person, maybe at this point I average 1 game per year I’ve been alive, but in 2008 my wife & I were determined to get to the Metrodome to catch a game, and it happened to work out to be September 25 (final game of the last series against the division leading White Sox) – the videos are in a post above, but what a game of highs & lows, very similar to 2009’s game 163. Slowey pitched 3 perfect, then got shelled in the 4th, had a couple errors behind him and eventually was hit in the wrist by a line drive. Our trip was unraveling right before our eyes, and I was thinking it was going to be a long drive back home the next day. We had been to the game earlier that year in Chicago where Gavin Floyd took a no-hitter late into the 7th or 8th, and I was afraid he was going to beat us again. It was a long comeback, but the Sox didn’t score again in the game. After Jenks blew the save in the 8th and he was back out for the 10th, I knew we had it won, it was just a matter of when, who, & how. Like I said, I hadn’t been to the ’dome too often, and I consider myself EXTREMELY lucky to have witnessed a game there that truly had that place rocking.

Worst Moment: Actually a game that really had no external implications, other than it being down the stretch of a possible playoff run, but watching the game on TV September 16, 2008 at Cleveland. We scored in the first, but allowed 4 in both the 2nd & 3rd. My mindset was “we have to win to make the playoffs” and I was steaming that we couldn’t perform against the struggling Indians and were on a 3-game losing streak ourselves. I went out to the local batting cages to let off some steam, and excitedly came back to find that we had played some catch-up and even took the lead in the 8th. Then the recently re-acquired Eddie Guardado blew the save in the bottom allowing the game to be tied on an HR. As the Twins lost all of the “clutch” in their bats as the game went into extra innings, I found myself screaming at the TV – literally shouting at the top of my lungs for the Twins to perform. When Nathan gave up the 3-run shot in the bottom of the 11th to end it, I was furious – storming around the house shouting wildly. I lost my voice, for no justifiable reason, that night and had to go into work the next day and for the next week and try to explain to my boss & co-workers why it was so difficult to take phone calls & speak to customers – because of a baseball game. Foolish, but because of a truly pitiful half-game, half-hearted performance by our Twins.

Sorry, this was a little long, but I hope you all have gotten to know me a little better as well.

Favorite Current Twin: Justin Morneau, although Jason Kubel is not far behind.
Favorite Alltime: Kent Hrbek.
Best Moment: That great day in 2006 when the Twins capped their comeback and won the division.
Worst Moment: Game 3 against Oakland in the playoffs that year.

Good to meet you.