Let’s be honest here. I was planning on writing about Joe Nathan’s visit to the Target Center earlier, but I’ve been preoccupied with the Wolves four-game winning streak. Word.
The other reason why I didn’t shoot this out as fast as Brett Favre throws the ball when he sees triple coverage? It took way too long to figure out how Nathan wasn’t selected to the All-Star game last year. Don’t worry, we’ll delve more deeply into that one once our time-stamped diary kicks in. However, if you don’t know why you’re reading this in the first place, here’s your proverbial newspaper-style lead:
On Friday, January 5, Twins closer Joe Nathan brought his buddy and fellow major leaguer Jim Brower to the Target Center to go through the Lexus Courtside Club experience as the Wolves battled the Philadelphia 76ers. Your writer, and Twins PR ace Dustin Morse, were along for the exciting contest which concluded in a Kevin Garnett OT game winner. Tight.
Are we clear now? Well, I suppose I should remind you of just what the Lexus Club entails."Prepare for the NBA thrill ride of a lifetime: take your seat in the Lexus Courtside Club. Each night, come face-to-face with the NBA's greatest. Top if off with first-class amenities that only an elite few will ever experience."
That means stuff like valet parking, free food and drinks before the game and at halftime, and sick courtside seats and more. Now that the facts are on the table, here’s what happened.6:20 p.m.
Joe, Jim and Dustin arrive in a Red Range Rover (I let Joe borrow my wheels) and valet their car at NBA City. Mark Hetland, who runs the show on 6th Ave., is the man. Solid mixture of speed and demeanor. 6:23 p.m.
We go through the introductions, and Jim hurts my hand with his handshake. Dang major league pitchers. I quickly forgive him upon finding out that he’s from Minnetonka, just a stone’s throw away from where I live. Respect. Joe claims New York, and Dustin is from 'round here.6:25 p.m.
We bring our tickets into the Lexus Locker Room, in exchange for a lanyard, locker in which to put our coats, and are led to a table in the VIP-type section of the restaurant. We’re still going through the requisite small talk.6:30 p.m.
Joe orders MGD heavies, while Jim opts for Miller Lite. Joe tells me he likes the clear bottle, which is fair. I ponder asking Jim if going Lite makes him a wuss, but realize that it’d be a really stupid question, and no one would laugh. Also, I don’t want him to hurt me. I learn that Joe and Jim have been good friends since serving in the San Francisco Giants bullpen together in 2003.
Meanwhile, I roll with my traditional restaurant Cherry Coke (I’m on the clock, OK, not trying to spoil the party). Listen, they almost always put more grenadine in at the restaurant, so it’s a better decision than going Cherry on a machine. I’m just saying…6:45 p.m.
Just grabbed my notebook to jot a few things down after finishing some tremendous chicken tenders, cornbread, and salad (they have a lot of great food at the buffet, but I’m a really lame eater). Joe, Jim and Dustin take better advantage of the spread.6:47 p.m.
The most interesting part of our dinner conversation was Joe’s description of the All-Star team that the U.S. sent to Japan subsequent to the MLB season. Joe Mauer joined Nathan for the trip (and was excellent, he said) as the U.S. played five games and an exhibition against Japanese players. For the first time ever, the U.S. swept all of their games in the ___ All-Star Series. I know that’s blank. Joe couldn’t remember, and after 10 minute of Google-searching I gave up. Joe did say it’s named after a Japanese grocery store. Can someone help us with this?6:49 p.m.
Before we head into the arena for the game, let me explain my earlier comment about Joe not making the All-Star team. I figured it out first by going to www.twinsbaseball.com to check out Nathan's stats, and had just assumed he made the squad as I clearly remember him dominating every hitter he faced. So I skimmed the website for like 10 minutes looking for his mention as an All-Star. Wait a second! He went in 2004 and 2005, but got SCREWED this past season? What? I mean have you seen his stats?
How about 7 wins, 0 losses; an ERA of 1.58; 36 saves; 95 Ks, and only 16 BBs? Get off me, MLB All-Star voters. Who was the manager that served up Joe like Brad Pitt dumped Jennifer Aniston (Hi honey, it's Brad. You're dumped)?
Joe: “If I get the ball in a wide-open situation, like in practice with no one around me, I can put it down. Yeah. Then I got it.
Jim: “Maybe with a volleyball.”
Dustin: “No.”7:29 p.m.
The Sixers are sticking around despite looking like the inferior team. While watching, we’ve started to discuss the Twins magical 2006 run to the playoffs, and what to expect for the coming year. Joe confirms that he’s never seen anything like the team chemistry and vibe Minnesota had. The name Sidney Ponson comes up (free agent pitcher acquisition for the Twins).
“If he can get into decent shape, he’s a top-of-the-rotation starter,” said Nathan. “He knows that. He wants the ball and eats innings, he just hasn’t played to his capability. But we made a good move getting him and he can definitely help us out.”7:31 p.m.Mike James makes a slick pass to Trenton Hassell for an easy flush. Joe admit he would probably have missed that one. But I'm not sure if Hassell could strike out David Ortiz in the 9th inning. Let’s go with the under on that one.7:34 p.m.
I was meaning to write this down earlier, but in an amazing development, Sixers coach Maurice Cheeks has brought Ashton Kutcher off the bench! Wow. And the fool can shoot? You’d think making TV shows (like Punked) movies (The Butterfly Effect) and chilling with Demi Moore (I hope you watched Disclosure) would keep him busy, but he also happens to be a great shooter. Nice stroke.7:36 p.m.
Dustin: “Seriously, he looks like Ashton Kutcher.”
Me: “No, I know, it is Ashton.”
Jim: “You’ll never see them together, because it’s the same guy.”
From New York, Nathan understands how the media works, and acknowledged that it was a bit surprising Derek Jeter didn’t win, but that Morneau definitely deserved it.7:50 p.m.
As the Big Ticket struggles a bit from the field (but is still controlling the game per usual) Joe tells me about Johan Santana, and what a tremendous talent he is. “Johan knows how to pitch,” he says. “His stuff is so good that he can be off a little bit with his control and still dominate hitters. He’ll miss two or three times with his change up, and the next one is good for a K. He’s great.”7:52 p.m.
Dustin reminds us that Joe heater and nasty pitch he drops out of midair work OK as well. Dustin even gets Joe to say that he’d love to finish his career here in Minnesota, music to Twins fans’ collective ear. Told you Dustin’s one of the best PR guys in the league.7:55 p.m.
As Andre Iguodala takes his turn trying to bring the rim down, I get a better idea of how close Joe and Jim are; they explain how they borrow each other’s cars, snowplow each other’s driveways, or stay in each other’s homes. Obviously, only one of them did a respective favor at a time…you know what I mean. My point is, they’re good buds. Bare with me.8:00 p.m.
With halftime approaching, I bring up a much more important subject than baseball. Here are the group's favorite TV shows:
Joe: A) 24 B) Grey’s Anatomy
Jim: A) 24 B) Numbers C) Prison Break
Dustin: A) 24 b) Lost
I can’t resist asking Joe if it was McDreamy that really hooked him on Grey’s: “Yes, I love McDreamy.” Thanks for playing along, Joe. You could have sold me out there.8:03 p.m.
On to which batters our resident pitchers either hate facing, or guys who have had unprecedented success against them. For Jim, it's Luis Gonzales, the Arizona slugger who's apparently gone 10-for-12 against Brower. Jim does say he'd get Luis out if they'd ever let him face the Diamondback again, and that Shawn Green is like 0-15 against him.
I really had to press Nathan for a name or two. He literally is not scared of facing anybody. I'm thinking maybe it's Ortiz (nope) or Jeter (walks against him), but I'm now convinced that he'd throw high and hard on Mike Tyson. Finally, he admits that Ben Broussard has had some success against him, and that Jermaine Dye is a really tough out. Yet and still: "I don't think about not wanting to face anyone. It doesn't matter," says Nathan.8:14 p.m.
We also get into which pitchers Jim hates facing in the National League (as a batter, obviously). Jim quickly identifies Turk Wendell, who broke his hand with a cut fastball. Ouch.8:20 p.m.
At halftime, we head up to Club Cambria to check out the scene, have a drink, eat some dessert, and say what's up to a few Wolves employees. Ryan Tanke, Britt Carlson, and Scott McKone are all present to greet us. They, and their staffs, really do a great job with hospitality, no matter where you are in the arena. Joe, Jim and Dustin are clearly quite impressed with this, and though I'm used to it, it never gets old.
As for the Club itself, it really does feel like being in some nice lounge that happens to feature a live NBA game. It's a great atmosphere. 8:30 p.m.
We begin a solid to quite solid discussion about the Little League World Series. Jim took his East Tonka (REPRESENT!) team to the LLWS in 1985. You remember that team, right? Jim recalls beating Saudi Arabia and finishing sixth, and how weird it was seeing the Japanese team wearing matching sweats and going on military runs. That's a little more serious than how a bunch of 12-year olds from the MN suburbs warmed up. Jim did seem really upset ESPN2 waited until 1986 to start showing games, and Nathan started to ride him for it.
So there you have it. Full respect to Dustin, his fellow Twins PR staffer Molly Gallatin and Wolves staffers for getting this done. Rumor has it we’ll be back doing something like this soon. If I absolutely have to go through a similar situation, I’ll (grudgingly) take one for the team. See you later.