The Night We Almost Spilled Beer on the Big Canadian (2012 Justin Morneau Casino Night)

For the second consecutive year, my wife and I made the flight to Minnesota for Justin Morneau's Casino Night. It's a charity event for the Arthritis Foundation -- specifically, juvenile arthritis (Justin's niece suffers from juvenile arthritis). It's part of the Twins week of hope. Instead of hitting up a couple games at Target Field this year, we opted for this event instead, held at International Market Square, just a few blocks from Target Field. The Twins might not be very good this year, or even next year, but if there is one thing this organization does well, it is being active in the community and using celebrity to raise awareness and money for worthy causes. Yes, all sports teams do this stuff.

Justin Morneau appears unscathed despite narrowly
avoiding an Amstel Light

But, as I have mentioned before, good luck meeting Derek Jeter and Alex Rodriguez for under $1,000 per person, and good luck having a beer with David Ortiz in Boston for under $500. The Twins are accessible and in the community. In my mind, this event costs about as much as good seats to 2 Twins games, and quite frankly, I'd rather have a guaranteed good time at Casino Night.

This picture with Morneau was taken about 20 seconds after my wife accidentally knocked a full beer off the card table and onto the ground, just next to Morneau's feet. He was a good sport, mentioning that he'll forget about the the fact that his tux smells like beer until next June when he pulls it out of the plastic bag again.

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2011 Rock Cat, 2012 Twin, Brian Dozier

This year, I've been doing a lot of Rock Cats stuff, and was looking forward to meeting Brian Dozier, whom I had watched several times last season but had never met. Yes, he's been up and down this season with respect to his defensive and offensive performances, and yes, there are going to be bumps and bruises along the way, but I do believe that he's the Twins' shortstop of the future. Also, he's an exceedingly nice human being. From speaking to loyal Rock Cats fans, I can tell you that he has not, and likely will not, forget where he came from.

I opted NOT to ask Joe Mauer about his engagement,
unlike the 10 people before me

Joe Mauer was a pretty big draw. Women, especially, wanted to congratulate him on his engagement. This was the first time that I met him in person, and I'm still shocked he doesn't hit for more power: the guy is huge -- even compared to the other players there. As you have probably read 1,000 times, Mauer was extremely nice to EVERYONE that wanted to talk to him. We spoke for about 5 minutes, and he asked me for an update on Alex Wimmers' progress after I told him where I lived and that I followed the Rock Cats players pretty closely.

It was a really fun night. The food was good, the silent and live auction items were great, the beer and wine were flowing, and most of the Twins players -- the ones you would want to meet, anyway -- were there. Here are a couple other snapshots from the night.

You know you've made it when someone designs
a logo for you

The Big Canadian giving a keynote address
Future politician?

My wife, 5 feet 2 inches (in heels admittedly),
was not dwarfed by Ben Revere

Rock Cats Starting to Rebound

B.J. Hermsen, perhaps
the MVP for the
Rock Cats this
past month

After winning 2 of 3 on the road at Erie over the weekend, the Rock Cats earned a much needed day off, though much of it was probably spent on the team bus headed back to Connecticut. Beginning tonight, the team is home for 6 games, before another week on the road. As I like to do once a week or so, I'll take a look at the team's performance, including a couple players that are currently standing out.

Importantly, the offense came back alive over the weekend. After scoring a combined 7 runs in 3 games against the Akron Aeros, the Rock Cats tallied 19 runs in their 3 games against Erie. Currently, New Britain is just 1 game back in their division, sitting in a tie with the Reading Phillies for second place.

Here are a few players that have been getting the job done this past week.

First, James Beresford: .296/.362/.340, 3 2B, 2 3B, 14 RBIs. Check out James' stats for the last 10 games: .417/.462/.556. 3 of his 5 extra base hits this season have come in these past 10 games. He's leading the Rock Cats in batting average far and away, and has been on a hot streak lately. Let's hope he can continue this recent success as we get into summer! It would be great to have one of the every-day players hitting above .300.

Evan Bigley: .243/.287/.410, 12 2B, 3 3B, 7 HR, 37 RBIs. Admittedly, I haven't written much about Bigley this season. For me, he has sort of flown under the radar. The 25 year old Texas native is an outfielder for New Britain, in his second full season with the team. His power stroke has been showing in the past 10 games: .317/.333/.634, 4 2B, 3 HR, 7 RBIs. Hopefully Evan will continue to knock the ball around.

B.J. Hermsen: 4-2, 2.59 ERA, 42 K, 11 BB, 55 and 2/3 innings. Hermsen has been nothing short of excellent for New Britain. This team has lost its most dependable pitchers, including Lucas French, to promotion, and that's part of the reason why the Rock Cats' record has stagnated to a degree. That's minor league baseball for you. The fact that Hermsen, 22, has been able to step up and can be counted on to pitch deep into games has been great for New Britain. His shortest start of the season for the Rock Cats is 5 innings; in 8 total starts, he has pitched 7 or more innings 6 times; 7 of his 8 starts have been quality starts. In fact, since he joined the Rock Cats on May 1, I might argue that Hermsen has been their most valuable player -- certainly their most valuable pitcher.

Up ahead: I'll be at either Wednesday's or Thursday's Rock Cats game, so expect a report, analysis and pictures from that. And tomorrow morning expect a recap and pictures from Justin Morneau's Casino Night, with a Rock Cats twist.