"They hide their faces / and they hide their eyes" -Randy Newman "Baltimore"
I blame Angelos.
The Twins open the season tonight against the Fighting Orioles of Baltimore. Looking through the O's mugshots this year, I get a real "Oakland Athletics" vibe, if you know what I mean. (Also, those "O's" hats have got to be the most little-league looking things in the majors. Like the team is sponsored by Oswald's Trucking.)
The three starters the Twins will face are Erik Bedard, Daniel Cabrera, and Jaret Wright (really!):
(Bedard '07, Cabrera '07, Wright '07)
Here's a line of that Oakland look: Brian Roberts, Kevin Millar, Jay Payton (15-day DL), Miguel Tejada, Chris Ray, and Nick Markakis:
(Roberts '07, Millar '07, Payton '07, Tejada '07, Ray '07, Markakis '07)
Miggy keeps his string of having the worst mugshot-to-real-life-ratio (MSTRL) going.
(Tejada '02, '03, '04, '05, '06, '07)
Jay Gibbons just has a string of looking like Sloth, this year with long hair.
(Gibbons '03, '05, '06, '07)
Former Royal Paul Bako is now the backup catcher behind Ramon Hernandez.
(Bako '07, Hernandez '07)
Bako's full name is "Gabor Paul Bako."
Former Twin Terry Tiffee is not on the 40-man roster, but Chris Gomez remains the team's utility infielder.
(Tiffee '07, Gomez '07)
Tiffee looks no different than in the past.
[I knew of those Randy Newman lyrics from a (a) Tranquility Bass remix of a (b) Sly and Robbie dub version of a (c) Tamlins reggae cover in (d) the style of Nina Simone of the (e) song by Randy Newman. Until I looked up to confirm the lyrics, I had assumed it was a Tamlins original.]
Jaret Wright?? I had no idea he was with the O's.
I read somewhere this offseason that one of the major reasons he signed with the O's was to work with Mazzone again.
Correcting my faulty memory - Wright was traded by the Yanquis. Mazzone's presence on the coaching staff still carried weight in the decsion, though:
That's a great storyline to watch this season - who winds up being the better $3 million pitcher, Wright or Ramon Ortiz?
who winds up being the better $3 million pitcher, Wright or Ramon Ortiz?
To be fair, the Orioles DID have to surrender a pretty good relief prospect in Chris Britton too. Performance-wise, Britton looks like a rough approximate cross between Crain and Neshek right now, and he's younger than both and his service time clock just started last year. (Although since the trade, he had a poor spring for the Yankees and will now get his first taste of AAA, since the O's skipped him at that level.)
Also, the Yankees may have been more inclined to eat part of Wright's salary, knowing they'd get the added benefit of facing him several times this season!
I'd much prefer facing the O's against only Bedard or Cabrera, but we'll see how things go.
I don't really mind their hats, I guess. The Blue Jays hats are the most awful hats in the majors in my view, and the Tampa Bay hats are pretty bad, too.
One more year until the new Tampa duds (and name), isn't it?
Their unis say "Rays," so, to me, the name change is already official.
Much like I determine the official title of an album by looking at the spine.
So the Fishbone album title is only "Give a Monkey a Brain..."
and the Fiona Apple album title is "When the Pawn..."
and the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion remix EP is "Remixes Experimental" by the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, not "Experimental Remixes" by Blues Explosion, as the cover would have you believe. (Those are the only three I remember.)
That '03 Tejada: clear example of demonic possession. I don't think it was a coincidence that it was a contract year.
do you think Ghost Rider can save his soul?
And his '04 shot is really weird, too. Almost like he's incredulous about something but can't help grinning at the same time.
I just want to go on record as really missing Bruce Chen's gameday photo on the O's.