Joe Christensen Topic Page

Scott Baker just pitched 5 strong innings against AAA competition yesterday, so it comes as a surprise that Joe Christensen is reporting that Baker will start the season on the 15-day DL with shoulder soreness.

I missed the day game and I'm in the process of watching the re-play on FSN. I'm currently in the process of watching the seventh inning, the one inning that doomed the Twins in this game. The highlight was a Joe Crede grand slam that gave the White Sox their first lead of the game.

The Twins played their first game of the spring, facing off against the Concordia College Golden Bears. It more more or less a fun competition in which Rick Stelmaszek was the home plate umpire and Ron Gardenhire umpired first base.

The response to the 6 player trade centered around Matt Garza and Delmon Young has been mostly positive. Here's what some other Twins bloggers had to say about it:

Joe Christensen has done a nice job clarifying the recent rumors of negotiations between the Twins and Johan Santana.

Joe Christensen says it's about to happen.

Jayson Stark, on his Insider Blog, wrote about Luis Castillo's low slugging percentage. He's currently on pace to break his own record, set in 2000, for .330+ hitter.

For a 15-7 loss, there's still some positive things that can be taken from the game. For the second straight game, the Twins offense was able to put some runs on the board. Michael Cuddyer gave the Twins an early lead with a 2-run homer in the first. The Twins had 3 other home runs--2 from Justin Morneau and Jason Kubel's first. The problem on Tuesday night was Twins pitching.

This year the Star Tribune's Twins beat writers, Joe Christensen and Lavelle E. Neal III (LEN III) started their own blogs. It gives them a chance to write from a different perspective than in their newspaper stories and, obviously, it gives readers a chance to comment.

If there's any truth to the first paragraphs of this SI.com story then we have good reason to cherish the next two years.