2023 - All good things....

All good things do come to an end -- they just do. Life is full of surprises, life is full of ups and downs. In 2007 a good friend of mine told me he was attending Twins Fantasy Camp in 2010 -- I graciously invited myself to join him, I mean I figure I was doing HIM a favor by going along with his great idea. We both agreed this would be a "bucket" list item and most likely a one time event. Let's fast forward to January 2022 -- I attended my 12th camp all in succession (with one year off due to that silly virus).

The decision to not attend the 2023 camp was a tough one, in fact I was considering not attending in 2022 but missing 2021 and in the spirit of doing something normal again the 2022 camp was one of the best decisions I made - the camp family that exists is real the friendships that have been formed over the years has been simply just overwhelming.

So if you are looking for any 2023 camp updates -- this blog will not be very helpful, in fact basically useless -- maybe one of the other camp fixtures can take on the daily updates and fun I hope I provided over the week for the last few years.

The sad part is I have not really told many people of my absence for camp and the handful of those who I have told -- the response is crazy -- it's like I have gone 'mad' by not going.....it's sort of funny to me these reactions I get.

The upshot in this decision - I will be able to see my son turn 17 in person - I have missed the vast majority of his birthdays (12 to be exact) and he only has a few of them left while under my roof (thank goodness). My son (Grant) also plays basketball and as a junior in high school (and the fact he is his father's son -- I didn't bless him with any height) he plays JV and most likely this will be his last year of competitive basketball, so it's just something that has been on my mind to soak in these last years (and quite frankly celebrate them -- launching two boys out of our house is a great feeling). I also did not spend countless hours in November and December getting ready for camp - it's a long week with lots of innings, I was spared any major injuries (praise the Lord) over the years so I feel like I am playing with house money. Probably the only regret is losing the last game after our team felt good about playing all week but in reality, 6 teams finished camp with a loss.....so chances are it's going to happen.  The upshot of losing on Friday is my Saturday game record still stands at 9-0.

So to those who actually check this blog -- wow....not sure what to say -- I will miss the week of baseball, I will miss the clubhouse, I will miss the many friends and teammates, I will miss meeting new guys and new teammates. I will miss a lot, but I have cherished memories of teammates, friends, and amazing baseball games. 

I also did another thing -- I didn't renew my Twins tickets for 2023......the times they are a changin'....

Frankie V is not going to be happy with me. Same with the Terminator.

God Bless your 2023.

~~ "You can observe a lot just by watching." - Yogi Berra ~~

2022 Camp is in the books!

Camp finishes with a bang on Saturdays with 2 championship games.

What an absolute gorgeous day in Florida. FLA did not disappoint with probably its best day - high hit about 77 and a little breeze was in the air to feel extremely comfortable!

The Red Division Championship game had End Before Dawn playing Last Call in the big stadium at Hammond Field. End Before jumped out to an early lead 2-1 and didn't let it go - Last Call couldn't string enough walks or hits (or anything) together to make it a game and lost 4-1.

The afternoon game had the Sandbaggers playing Rat Poison -- almost same type of game, the visiting team scored in the top of the first to get out in front and the home team, Sandbaggers, came back with 2 in the bottom of the first to take a 2-1 lead -- that was good until the 3rd inning where Rat Poison put 2 on the board to take a 3-2. (if I remember unearned runs.....) RP extended the lead to 6-2 and we go into the bottom of the 7th. Sandbaggers plate 2 runs after a few sloppy defensive plays get some runners around -- with the tying runs on 2nd & 3rd, Rat Poison gets the final batter to strike out and they win 6-4.

The weather was definitely was the highlight of the day as the teams showed a lot of tired legs and just down right "OK" baseball - I think the year off of fantasy took a toll on many of the campers -- maybe it's best we only take 51 weeks off.....not 103. Today's games featured 15 runs -- if I had to guess maybe 5 of them were earned (EBD team had some really good first inning hits to get the rally going.....)

Ok boys -- as Dick Peters said it best -- we now have 3 options:

1) Go back to work

2) Head to the disabled list (er....i mean injury list)

3) Check in to Rehab

I will take the number 1.....and make it To-Go!

~~ "You can observe a lot just by watching." - Yogi Berra ~~

Hey, man.. I ain't fallin' for no BANANA in my TAILPIPE! (Saturday Championships)

So today's games will be at 9:30am (announced first pitch at last's night banquet but listed as 9:45am in the book) and 12:15pm.

You can stream them live on walshmedia.net and I may get an opportunity to get into booth and do some color commentary for the games if things work out. The facilities have some construction going on and also not sure if the doors will be open!!  (for the media....)  I am sure it will be OK.

The weather today is another fantastic Florida day with high forecasted at 77 -- bright blue sky and sun may play a part of the games today -- especially that 12:15pm games.

Good luck to all the campers today -- nothing feels better than leaving here with a win and these teams will have at least 2 wins in row!!

9:30am (or 9:45am) -- Last Call vs. End Before Dawn

12:15pm - Sandbaggers vs Rat Poison

I just hope Rat Poison lets the other team know they have one pinch runner for most of the lineup.....so let's clear that up pre game - we don't need more drama at camp. This pinch runner tried to steal home in our game - it was an impressive slide at home. The cool part is I didn't fall "for the banana in the tailpipe" (see one of my favorite clips of BHC -- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HktV2yGtLv8) so let's just see how the runner situation plays out this afternoon.

Also -- another podcast in the books with fellow camper, Ryan Hess -- take a listen it's a shortie with recaps of standings/playoff matchup and outcomes.

Link to podcast -- MN FC Podcast

~~ "You can observe a lot just by watching." - Yogi Berra ~~

And just like that....

The week is over.

So our team put in a flat effort and we couldn't put together any offense against the 30 year rookie thrower - he gave up 2 runs in the first and our bats couldn't get going and we lost 5-2. We spotted them 3 runs in the first after giving them the first 3 outs - I was able to induce 3 ground balls to start the game, but none of them resulted in outs.  So with the bases loaded a base hit plates in 2, they get one more and it's 3-0 to start off the game. We get 2 in the bottom and couldn't do anything more. 

I pitched just fine - I should have been a little sharper, but more or less giving up only 1 earned run. I had a few batters I should have put away but the mistake pitches turned into hits and ended up being the difference - but we need to get more than 2 runs to win.

In other games -- the #3 seed (Sandbaggers) beat the 2 seed (How's Your Tomatoes) -- the #5 seed (Last Call) and #6 seed (End Before Dawn) move on as well -- 

Tomorrow's games :

9:30am -- Last Call vs End Before Dawn

12:00pm - Sandbaggers vs Rat Poison

We have kangaroo court this evening - more fines will be doled out, bring your cash!

Championship games will be played in Hammond Stadium for all the marbles and we will end the evening with a banquet at the hotel to close out the camp.

I really want to thank my teammates this week - we really had a great group of campers to play with all week very enjoyable! It was great to be out here in the sun and doing "normal" things again -- we got through the week essentially healthy and that is what matters.

We will make a final post tomorrow night (or maybe Sunday AM) to wrap up the championship games and final banquet awards.

~~ "You can observe a lot just by watching." - Yogi Berra ~~

Friday is here and I did a podcast

Ok - quick post before getting ready for our game at around 10am this morning.

Semi Final Friday -- lots of good matchups across the board, previous post outlined them - in the past these friday's games have been very competitive, close games -- this camp feels different (and not in a bad way) just different. I think we are going to see some double digit runs in by multiple teams - the pitching just seems real thin right now and even the "decent" camp pitchers are getting hit as well -- probably more on walks/errors than anything but we will see how things shake out.  The Rookies will be playing in the stadium in the afternoon vs the Pro Staff a fun time and experience for those campers to get into the major league field where the Twins play spring training games.

I totally forgot to add this to the mix -- I did a podcast with fellow camper Ryan Hess - he did all the hard work of putting it all together and decided to join him.  It was more fun than I imagined and the feedback we have received early has been fantastic -- had a good time. We are hoping to do another one this evening and will get the link out there.

MN Twins Fantasy Camp Podcast - Host: Ryan Hess; Guest: Paul Bennett

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1918147/9871200

These fun little projects (like this blog) seem larger than they appear -- but the reality it is just fun to do this without making it a big deal.

I do want to point out -- my predictions from early in the week were basically spot on - the only team I "missed" was End Before Dawn and Last Call -- but in the end they both were bottom 4 teams so I was more correct than incorrect on my handicapping the teams this week.

Whatever happens today will be - I had a great week and just being here with "everything going on in the world right now" has been a great experience.

I will pitch this morning until my arm falls off.

~~ "You can observe a lot just by watching." - Yogi Berra ~~