Just throwing in my .02 here. I have noticed that there are some folks that recently arrived at TT, and have put out many fan posts (more in the last month than I have put forth in 2+ yrs). I also have seen different reactions to this phenomenon. One side seems to be totally against the serial poster/ non GT commenter, and the other is 180 degrees opposite. I find myself somewhere in between, though leaning towards the former.

I guess that my thoughts are that while this is a forum where all are welcome, I also believe in etiquette. I feel like we have a great community here at TT. Many of the regulars here are a lot of fun, and even though I have never met anyone here in person, I feel like I could hang out and watch a game with 90% of the members here. My point, if there is one, is to encourage new members to hang out a bit, join in some game thread conversation, and get to know the community. I believe that would foster a spirit of more welcoming and less criticism (maybe I'm wrong).

So, to the new members, I encourage you to hang out and get to know the TT community, most of us are pretty cool.

"They invade our space...and we fall back. No more. The line must be drawn HERE...no further!" (Captain Jean-Luc Picard, USS Enterprise).

The Twins and Yankees have a lot of history with each other. Unfortunately, for Twins fans, the Yanks are like the playground bully who dominates the teeter-toter and makes sure we aren't having any fun...

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Is this going to be the series we finally stand up to the mighty New Yorkers and come away with a few wins? I know we are 2-7 and in MLB's basement, but at what point are we going to show some fight against these guys?!

As Captain Picard so ferociously declares, there is always a line that must be drawn in any rivalry. Can the Twins draw it starting tonight? We have four games with which to figure it out.

Preview (2-7, 5th, 1.0 GB KCR): Carl Pavano (0-1, 5.93) vs. Freddy Garcia (0-0, 5.79).

Hope For Sale, Get Your Hope!! With one week of the 2012 MLB season down, this year's Twins squad has already shown us enough to get us both excited and concerned. Shocking considering how last year played out. Add to that the news about Moon Shot Scott going down for the season and there is certainly not a lack of drama in Twins Territory (patent pending). To read more about this year's squad's start to the season, head on over to Border Rivals: http://wp.me/p29VCs-7q.

Willy-Nilly: Defined by Merriam-Webster as "in a haphazard or spontaneous matter". Sound like anyone on the Twins so far?!

Our own Willy-Nilly once again provided the talking points of tonight's contest, first with another long homer (this one an absolute moonshot):

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And then with this...

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Again, as I said in an earlier post, Willy-Nilly giveth, and Willy-Nilly taketh away.

Luckily, the Twins got a big hit from Jamie Carroll...

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Were helped when Torii Hunter did his best impersonation of a crash-test dummy on a ball hit down the right field line...

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And saw Matt Capps do his job (though not without allowing a guy to reach second base first, of course)...

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The monkey is now off our backs! With a win tomorrow afternoon, we can actually win this series!

Preview (1-4, T-4th, 1.5 GB KCR): Dan Haren (0-1, 8.44) vs. Francisco Liriano (0-1, 11.25)

According to Rhett Bollinger, Scott Baker will be having surgrey on his right elbow, effectively ending his 2012 season. From MLB Trade Rumors:

The Twins have announced that right-hander Scott Baker will miss the 2012 season to undergo and recover from elbow surgery, MLB.com's Rhett Bollinger reports (Twitter links). The operation will repair Baker's flexor pronator tendon and rehab will take six months. Fortunately for Baker, his ulnar collateral ligament is fine.

Baker, 30, also dealt with elbow problems in 2010-11. The Twins shut him down during Spring Training and he left a minor league game after feeling discomfort last week, according to La Velle E. Neal III of the Minneapolis Star-Tribune.

When a team loses 99 games in a season, the start of the next year at least contains the hope that "we can't be as worse as last year...right?!". Well, in the three games (all losses) after the season opener, all the Twins have proved is that they are no different (at least not yet) in a few key areas from last season.

For example...

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-Francisco Liriano is still a basket case when it comes to letting the game snowball on him. When he is in his groove, he is lights-out. However, as soon as any given game throws him the least bit of adversity (like a junk home run last Saturday), he melts down, starts walking guys, and can't locate his pitches to save his life. This results in meatballs over the plate and runs on the scoreboard for the opposition. If this continues, Liriano will not be a Twin in 2013 (or perhaps even after the AS break this year). I'm not panicking yet, just one start into the season, but it was distressing nonetheless.

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-We get a great pitching performance from a guy like Anthony Swarzak...and back it up with absolutely NO hitting. For a team that seems to have some decent bats in the lineup, the lack of run production (or even overall hits) has been very unnerving. I understand that the pitching comes first, but it sure makes the pitchers relax a little when the batters are swatting the ball around a bit.

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-Josh Willingham has been mashing the ball. Great. Wonderful. This is EXACTLY what the team needs right now. Yet, his impact on games has been roughly "zero" due to his defensive miscues (one pictured above). It always sounds like "old hat", but if the Twins are ever going to compete for this division again, it will come in large part from solid, fundamental defense. I was at the home opener, and it seemed like our bats were starting to heat up a bit as the game reached the later innings. I had a feeling that if we could just keep the game close, this was one we could win. Then, Carroll can't keep a ball in front of him, Willy-Nilly lets one right through the wickets, and suddenly the game is out of reach.

Right now, the Twins are the only team in baseball without a victory. They will continue to be the black mark until they "clean up their act" in those above categories.

Preview (0-4, 5th, 1.0 GB CLE): Jered Weaver (1-0, 0.00) vs. Carl Pavano (0-1, 5.14).

Three guys in their early 40s who like beer, baseball, and dirty women are coming to town in June for the Cubs series. I have a couple questions....

(1) Are there any good, lively bars around the stadium with a patio/rooftop where smoking is allowed?

(2) We are staying at the Hilton/Marquette downtown. Does everything in town close at 2:00am, or are there any after-hours places nearby where we can lurk?

Thanks. Looking forward to our first visit.

I live in DC, looking to drive up to Camden for what I can only hope is a Twins win. Anyone interested in joining?

Need 75 words, so let's see...live in Cap Hill and want to get there early to take advantage of $1 beers at Pickles. Tickets were $20 each so the views are decent but it being opening weekend even in Bmore you won't get seats you normally would. I remember some DC people did this last year and it worked out well

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Some guys are Twins Killers. Nick Markakis is a Twins Killer. This is primarily why the Orioles won the season opener today.

It always feels a little glum to start the year with a notch in the righthand column instead of the left, but there's a few games left to go (!).

The positives I saw from this game:

-Pavano going seven innings and throwing pretty well. This is a typical start for Pavano, and I'll take it pretty much every time.

-Solid defense, from what I saw (although a missed some sort of Doumit craziness in right field).

-Willingham's mammoth blast in the ninth. I don't think a Twin crushed a ball like that ALL of 2011.

-Despite being shut down for most of the game, I like how the Twins showed some fight in the last inning. You don't want to get blanked in the opener, and the Twins avoided that and created some excitement heading into Saturday.

The season has begun!!

Preview: 0-1, T-3, 1.0 GB DET; Francisco Liriano vs. Tommy Hunter

Heading into 2012, the common pick is for Detroit to win the division going away. I don't know of one entity so far that has the Twins even sniffing a division championship or playoff spot.

The critics might be right. Detroit might be too powerful for our suspect pitching & question mark-laced bats/fielding. This video, however, pretty much sums up my thoughts on Twins Baseball in '12:

What if the M&M boys are healthy together for an entire season?

What if the pitching (basically the same guys as 2010) pitches to that level again?

What if kids like Parmalee or Plouffe come up big in the majors?

What if Ryan Doumit can hit .280, Jamey Carroll .290, and Willingham blasts 30 dingers?

What if Alexi Casilla stays on the field (and at the top of the lineup) for an entire season?

Are all those things going to happen over the course of the season? Probably not. But I'm standing behind Jim Carrey...

Are you telling me there is a chance? Yes!!