Play Ball

In the opening day spirit, I thought I'd try my hand at a little bit of the running diary while watching the Twins/Orioles tilt. I only planned on doing it for about an hour and a half, just to kind of get the feel for the whole liveblogging/running diary thing. There's a chance that, if people think it would be fun, we could have occasional live-blogs of games here as they're played out. So what follows is my first crack at the format, as it were. I got a bit of a late start, coming in in the bottom of the first. So... here we go. Be kind.

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6:22 PM--And, I've finally made it, only five outs late. Brilliant. The Chairman inside-outs one to left field, and away we go. I must be good luck.
6:24--No milk jug this year? That's a shame--I blame the lost calcium for Mauer's leg injury.
6:26--It's the curse of the missing milk jug; Cuddyer down on a backdoor slider to end the first.
6:30--Tejada's single breaks up the no-hitter. I'm a jinx.
6:31--Rondell tries to fool the runner with the "I lost the ball in the ceiling" trick. Note to Rondell--an Oscar is not in your future, friend.
6:33--The President picks off Tejada, then K's Gibbons on the next pitch. Is there even anything fun to say about him?
6:36, :37--Morneau and Hunter each go opposite field, on consecutive pitches. And, near as I can tell, no blows are thrown in the dugout afterward.
6:40--It's comforting to know that however this college thing works out, at least there will always be a job working on Menards ads.
6:42--Radke joining Dick and Bert while Johan gets locked in. My Radke bobblehead approves.
6:48--After a walk to the 9 hitter, Brian Roberts drops one softly behind second. Corners, two down. Johan quickly goes 0-2 to Mora.
6:50--...and destroys him with a changeup for a swinging third strike. The changeup looks locked in early.
6:54--Gah. Do we really have to bring up Liriano? I prefer to pretend that he was just some kind of dream, not a real player. It's easier to deal with that way.
6:57--I should have been an Ultimate Fighter. Nobody looks cooler in their commercials than an Ultimate Fighter.
7:01--Apparently someone named Paris from American Idol is chatting up Dick and Bert. Believe it or not, this is a bit outside my comfort zone.
7:05--Aubrey Huff gets the Baltimore scoring started with an RBI double, and then Gibbons drives him in with a chopper over Morneau. Back even at two, one down.
7:08--Corey Patterson laces one off the baggie--RBI double to push Baltimore ahead 3-2. The O's are starting to take their hacks early in the count.
7:14--I'm not sure how one is supposed to do this exactly. Do I give any play-by-play? Witty banter? Fun and easy cooking tips? A few singles to start the Twins' 4th, by the way.
7:18--What should I be expecting from Rondell? Anything? I feel like if all of his limbs stay attached, it's a successful game.
7:20--White stays fully assembled and draws a walk to load the bases. Cirillo at the dish, and my roommate is in actual physical pain seeing him in a Twins uniform.
7:22--Morneau... thrown out by approximately three miles. But the tying run (Cuddyer) scores on Cirillo's single. Looks like Morneau blew threw a late stop sign. Bako, the catcher, took the worst of the collision--looks sliced open under the chin.
7:27--Moving right along, tied at 3 through 4. And Channel 29's out-of-commercial intro thing is trying to hypnotize me. I think it might have worked, too--I'm increasingly excited about the Sidney Ponson era.
7:31--Rondell robs Mora of extra bases with a diving grab. And I'm happy to report that he walked away from the attempt.
7:33--My roommate wants to buy a boat. It's hard to argue with him.
7:37--Rally time, kids. The boat will have to wait. Punto doubles over the wall in right-center. 2nd & 3rd, no out. The Chairman at the dish.
7:40--Bedard in trouble. Bases full, none out, the 4-5-6 coming up.
7:44--Passed ball--4-3 Minny. Curly at the plate with two on.
7:45--Morneau thrown out again, this time trying to stretch it to a double off the baggie. 5th run scores. Gotta get him a copy of Tom Emanski's baserunning video.
7:47--Breaking it open? Hunter chases Bedard with a double, 6-3. This one is going exactly to plan--get the big names to produce, then hold on.
7:53--Tejada turns on one--the Metrodome crowd, however, wants none of his souvenirs.
7:54--Johan showing flashes all evening. Not totally sharp, but the changeup looks good.
8:01--Santana finishes off his 6 innings, up 6-4. Sounds like he's done for the night, and so am I. Trying to make this sort of thing interesting is hard work. Maybe I'll try again some time.

John Sharkey welcomes a better way to do this at aodshark@gmail.com.