The Biggest Sports Story in the Nation

This isn't a blog post about March Madness, Tim Tebow (**shudder**), Peyton Manning, Tiger Woods or whether the Yankees or Red Sox won or lost last night. In my mind, those come in a far distant second to what happened on Saturday down in Florida. Of course I'm talking about Justin Morneau's 2-for-2 game with 2 home runs and 5 RBIs. Every report had indicated that, although Morneau was still batting around .100, his timing was closer. La Valle E. Neal wrote about "loud outs," "hard hit balls" and pop-ups that Morneau had just missed. Still, though, it was hard to get past the fact that Morneau only had three hits all spring -- all singles. But then Saturday happened. Check out the replays, if you haven't already. The first home run, especially, was well struck. But the second one might have been more "vintage" Morneau: he hit it out to right-center with that signature 1-handed swing where his left had leaves the bat, and the right hand does most of the follow-through. It was exciting to see.

I'm not going to make too much of it, of course. It was just Spring Training, Morneau is still batting under .200, and he hasn't played first base in over a week, leading to speculation that Chris Parmelee has perhaps played his way onto the 25 man roster to start at least the first part of the season at first base (with some right field possibly mixed in). But still, I think we should be excited that Morneau is playing in games -- in fact, one side of the debate concerning his recent role exclusively at DH is that it simply gives him more at-bats, and allows him to focus only on batting, rather than defense -- and that those "loud outs" may start falling in for hits. I know a few bloggers are down in Ft. Myers, or are headed there shortly, and I'll be curious for a firsthand, non-media observation of how Morneau looks. Sure, he may be skinny, but he hit the baseball a combined 800 feet on Saturday.

Although it's unrealistic as fans to get ahead of ourselves because Morneau hit two home runs in an exhibition game, it is appropriate to consider what those hits could signify in the larger context, namely, that the swing is coming around. And with that being said, I'll leave you with this vintage Morneau clip as a reminder of what that swing looks like when it's at its best.

Early Reports: Span, Morneau and Carroll



Denard Span rounding the bases.
Jime Mone, AP



I think I have used the title "cautious optimism" on this blog a few times before in describing my feelings toward our slew of injured players rebounding this season. I don't like redundancy, but I'm not sure that there's a more accurate term. Based on the extremely small sample size, it seems that Denard Span, one of the most important cogs in the lineup and on the field, has essentially returned to form. Yesterday, for instance, returning to the lineup after missing a few games with a sore neck, he went 3-4 and, from the little I have seen, has looked sharp in the field. It's tough not to get excited thinking about a healthy Span at Target Field this spring. Don't forget -- before his June, 2011 concussion, Span was having a very solid year, batting .294 with a .361 on base percentage. Most of us talk primarily about having Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau back in the 3 and 4 spots, but a healthy Span leading off is, arguably, just as important in the overall scheme of things. When he was "on," Span was able to set the tone for the whole offense, working at-bats, drawing walks and getting on base at a good clip. To see that kind of production again would be welcome. Also, in positive news, Span has not yet struck any family members or friends with foul balls. Way to go, Denard!

On the opposite end of the spectrum, Morneau and Jamey Carroll seem to be starting off pretty slow. I think it's too early to be concerned, though. I commented on the TwinsDaily site yesterday that, for me, there are two issues with Morneau: ability and health. If he is not healthy, it sure sounds like he's going to retire. But if he is healthy, I'm confident that the athletic ability is still there -- it's just going to take some time to shake the rust off. If he's still batting .136 at the end of Spring Training, then maybe it's time to be concerned. But for now, I give him a couple more weeks to get back in the routine.

Finally, for those that are interested, I posted my first introductory article for Through the Fence Baseball yesterday. Take a look!