Opening Day!

Well, it's finally here! The Twins open the season in the Metrodome as the Angels come to town, bringing with them Torii Hunter. I'm rooting for Torii to do well regardless of what his attitude was about returning to the Twins; he was a good player for many seasons and I always found him fun to watch. That being said, I won't be rooting for him tomorrow. Hopefully Livan Hernandez can handle him and the rest of the Angels' line-up, as he takes on Jered Weaver in the starting pitching matchup. I don't have much confidence in Hernandez, but maybe I'll be pleasantly surprised.

In reality, I'm much more excited to see the re-tooled offense in its first game. Hopefully Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau, Michael Cuddyer, Delmon Young, and Jason Kubel can combine to provide a pretty formidable middle of the lineup. They'll definately need to for the Twins to have any chance of making the postseason this season. Truthfully, it's not very likely we'll be seeing the Twins in October, but who knows? If Francisco Liriano comes back strong, the new additions live up to their potential, and Scott Baker, Kevin Slowey, and the other young pitchers excel, don't the Twins sound like a pretty good team?

Of course, that case--the "if everything works out" case--could be made for practically any team. Clearly, the Indians and Tigers have very good teams and it will be very tough for the Twins to finish ahead of either of them. But I was surprised to see Sports Illustrated project Minnesota to finish last in the AL Central. They had them winning 72 games, finishing a game behind the Royals. Perhaps I am quite biased, but I think the Twins are definitely still a better team than the White Sox and Royals. I guess we'll see who's right as the summer months roll along.

I'll be anxiously awaiting the official line-ups to be posted, and of course for the game to start. In case any of you weren't aware, it will be televised nationally on ESPN2 at 7:05. That's great news for people like me, who aren't in the Minnesota area, and thus wouldn't be able to watch their opening game otherwise. Let's hope they start the season off with a bang!