Notes, quotes and comment

Thursday is supposed to be the Twins home opener. For a variety of reasons, not the least of which was a months-long hunch (accurate, as it turns out) that the weather today would be inhospitable to baseball, I won't be there; I believe this will be the second home opener I've missed since 1987.

So I'll shovel the driveway and sidewalk this morning and report to work in the afternoon.

The Twins, as I understand it, really want to get Thursday's game in. Friday's backup offday promises to be even colder. It's gonna be a rough homestand, at least in terms of weather.

---

The gold medal men's curling team is to throw out the first ball Thursday. My hope is that skip John Shulster rolls the ball toward home plate and the other three sweep it though.

---

Sports Info Solutions -- formerly Baseball Info Solutions, so apparently they're branching out into other sports -- listed Jake Odorizzi as one of last year's more overachieving pitchers in the American League. This suggests that the Twins' Opening Day starter is due for a rougher season.

Pitching is notoriously difficult to project, and one factor not included in SIS' statistical analysis is health. Odorizzi had back and foot issues last year. Good health, while hardly a given, might turn that "downward arrow" around for him.

---

I'm putting this at the end because I don't want to beat the Chase Sisco brohaha to death (assuming it hasn't been), but I wanted to note that Brian Dozier's comment immediately after the game implied that he expected the Baltimore veterans to come down on the Twins.

Uh, no. Orioles first baseman Chris Davis:

"There are certain things I don't agree with, when you talk about the unwritten rules, but I definitely think that what Chance did was warranted," Davis said prior to Monday's game against the Astros. "He was trying to help us win the ballgame. In fact, I told him, if you had made that first out that inning, I was going to lay a bunt down."

Well, there was already an out when Sisco bunted, but ... yeah.

Davis, incidentally, is said to be the most shifted player in the majors. He hit .215 last year and isn't doing that well in the first week this season. He probably should try a few bunts.