Red Sox thoughts from a friend, Bring on the Jays

Wow, what an amazing four games series for the Twins. The Twins took three games from arguably the most complete team in baseball. They pitched pretty well, ran the bases well, and the bats came alive. Great series and I enjoyed watching two games on ESPN.

My friend and past MVB guest blogger, Taylor, witnessed the series unfold at the dome and presents the second installment of Thought from a Fellow Fan.

After attending one game and watching the other 3 of the Twins, Red Sox series three points stood out for me.

1. I truly found out what "Red Sox Nation" means. You hear it a lot nowadays as almost any ESPN commentator or media personality has to throw in the phrase "Red Sox Nation" when talking about Boston baseball, and I always thought it was dumb. But after being in the Metrodome Saturday night it finally hit me how true Red Sox nation is. The stadium was filled with red, and it wasn't because of red Twins shirts. Multiple times the dome flooded with chants of "Lets go Red Sox." And most importantly it actually sounded like the game was played at a neutral site rather then in an opposing teams stadium. I now understand that there truly is a "Red Sox nation" and they do flood out to every stadium wherever the Red Sox are playing.

2. The Twins hitting is going to be what carries them this year. This series really pushed me over the top into believing that hitting, rather then pitching like in years past, is going to be what needs to be consistent and potent if the Twins will return to the playoffs. We all should have seen this coming into the year, but it's just something Twins fans aren't used to. Gomez is a run machine if he gets on base, and the middle of the order with Mauer, Morneau, Cuddyer, Young, etc. can be just as good as the big boys in the AL. So Twins fans might have to get used to more 9-8 victories rather then the 3-2 wins we have become so accustomed to.

3. The Twins are for real. Usually coming into the baseball season I feel the Twins get disrespected because they are always picked to never make the playoffs, although they always seem to be there in the end. But this year I agreed with the ESPN's and Sports Illustrated's in picking the Twins to finished towards the bottom. Boy was I fooled. Just Sunday on ESPN the radio analyst Steve Phillips had the Red Sox as the #1 team in his power rankings in all of baseball and the Twins just took 3 of 4 out of them in multiple ways. They beat the best closer in baseball one game, out slugged them in another, and out pitched them in the final game. Now in the middle of May I expect the Twins to be still playing in October. And once again the "preseason projectors" if you will will be terribly wrong, this time me included.

The Twins look for their third win in a row tonight against the Toronto Blue Jays in the first game of a three game series in the Metrodome. Toronto's Jesse Litsch faces off against Kevin Slowey.