All Things Bubba

March 29, 2007: Minnesota Twins 10, Cincinnati Reds 2

There were no swarms of bees in this game, but that's about all that can be said for it. Well, that and Bubba got to play. But it wasn't a great night, for Bubba or the Reds.

As a minor leaguer, Bubba was wearing a jersey with #84 and no name on the back. (Wonder how they decide which minor league players they want to use? Do they just wander over and grab some warm bodies, or what?) He was subbed into left field, taking over for Jeff Conine at the top of the 6th.

The Reds played a sloppy game, committing three errors - one by Bubba. He made a good throw to home from left...but the ball hit the runner. I was listening to the Twins feed, and the announcers felt that Bubba really didn't deserve the error. Shades of his last error with the Yanks, back in 2005. He made a terrific throw from deep center-right, to 3B. Unfortunately, it got to 3B at about the same time Big Papi did. A-Rod couldn't see the ball, and it got past him.

Bubba didn't have any better luck at the plate. He came to bat in 7th, one out, none on. He took a ball low, then grounded out to 2B. The Twins announcers described it as a "hot shot off the bat of Crosby." Which is pretty impressive, considering that it was a broken-bat hit.

His next at-bat was in the bottom of the 9th. Two outs, runner on 2B. He grounded out to 2B again. The last out of the game. Which means the Gameday link is frozen showing Bubba at bat (still in a Yankees cap) and three outs.

Reminds me of the time when the Cowboys lost a big game, and AOL's logon page got stuck with that as the top story, complete with blaring headline and heartbreaking photo. For three days, every time I logged onto AOL, I got that loss rubbed in my face. (Yeah, I know, I deserve it for using AOL.)

Anyway, Bubba's line for the night was 0 for 2 with an error. Which means he's now hitting .258 / .343 / .452. Though no one else hit that well tonight, either. (Except maybe Brandon Phillips, who homered.)

All in all, it was a pretty ugly game. But I was very happy that Bubba got to play. Maybe we'll see him in another spring training game. They're a little short of outfielders at the moment.