I Really Hate the Red Sox (Fans)

As long as I've been going to Twins games, the only opposing team that ever brought a lot of fans to the Metrodome was the New York Yankees. It was something I had gotten used to.
Then this weekend I was in Minny for the Twins/Red Sox series, and was exposed to an impressive display of douchebaggery (fun fact - my computer's spell checker did not object to the word 'douchebaggery'. Apparently that's a word).

The Dome was crawling with Red Sox fans. Dumb ones.
People that weren't on this bandwagon before 2004. People who have never heard of Wade Boggs, let alone Carl Yastrzemski. People who were there simply to be seen, wearing their cute scruffy, frat-boy style Red Sox hats and their Irish green T-shirts. None of them wear the navy blue replica caps, they all wear the tight-fitting gray ones with the stockings on the back (see picture of douches), because for these people, being a Sox fan is a fad, and these hats are the primary part of it.
This team obviously has a very real and loyal fan-base, but none of them were at the Dome this weekend.

All of which made the Twins victories on Friday and Sunday pretty enjoyable.
I was there for a bachelor party, and when it became apparent that we weren't going to win Saturday, we kicked the drinking into high gear so we'd forget what happened - it worked.
I talked our crew into staying to the end Friday, as I correctly predicted that Jonathan Papelboner would blow the save. When he did, we were not above yelling at 11-year old Sox fans to "Get the fuck out of our dome!" Yeah, we're not very mature. But we won. On Friday anyway.

Some notes on the weekend, as the Twins finish the 4-game series today.
*I have a hunch the Twins, in the long run, won't miss Pat Neshek as much as some people think. The Twins system is loaded with pitching talent, and they can't all be starters. Neshek's injury will give someone else an opportunity. Relievers are fairly easy to find.
With his funky delivery, I have always had my doubts about how long Neshek's career will last.
Maybe he'll come back 100%, and I hope he does. But if he doesn't, I wouldn't be surprised, or terribly worried.

*Nick Punto going on the DL, on the other hand, will really hurt the Twins. Just kidding.
I'm sure Ron Gardenhire is losing sleep wondering how he can be expected to put together lineups without Punto's .322 career slugging percentage, but not having him for 15 days will mean more at-bats for the exceedingly impressive Matt Tolbert, and it will also give Alexi Casilla a chance to come back up and hopefully regain some confidence. Casilla was so bad last year that he'd fallen almost off the prospect radar, but the Twins' organizational dearth of shortstops (the Twins have declared Casilla a shortstop now, suggesting they might consider Harris a candidate for a long-term contract), means he's still got a chance to get out of the doghouse and once again become a significant part of the team's future plans.

*Craig Monroe was so bad last year that he almost ended up out of baseball. He said it was just a bad year, many speculated that he was finished. GM Bill Smith took a gamble that Monroe was right and would bounce back, and he has. Credit to Monroe and Billy-boy ($3.8 million is still too much, though).

*I was almost positive that Mike Lamb was going to get the game-winning hit against Papelbon Friday. He was just so due that I knew it would happen. Lamb's average is up to .238, and while he still hasn't shown much pop, I remain convinced he will be in the .270-15 homer range by years end.

*I know Juan Rincon has been terrible numbers-wise for the last couple years, but the guy seems to have no luck at all. It seems like he's given up more hits on seeing eye grounders than anyone on the staff. Of course, back when he was good he just struck everybody out.

*Very impressive start from Glen Perkins (although it's kind of pathetic that he gave up a 450-footer to Coco Crisp). The next time you find yourself bitching about the Twins, consider this: The Twins have at least 10 pitching prospects, maybe more, who would be the No. 1 pitching prospect in another organization.