Lots going on at Turner Field today. Here are a bunch of things that didn't make the paper:
-- Chris Colabello swung at the first big-league pitch he ever saw. But first, he asked permission.
"I asked Bruno [hitting coach Tom Brunansky] if it would be all right if I let it go," Colabello said after his first big-league game. Lefthander Paul Maholm "threw a pretty good pitch to hit, and I put a pretty good swing on it."
But he lined it directly at right fielder Jason Heyward, the first out in an 0-for-4 debut. "I didn't really get any fastballs to hit," he said afterward, "but that's part of the game."
Colabello also made a nice running catch of a shallow fly ball to end the fourth inning.
-- As the trucks were loaded equipment after the game, Colabello's bat bag was easy to pick out. Only one Twin has a bag that says, "Italia," from his two-week stint playing in the World Baseball Classic.
-- I felt bad for Vance Worley, who is a real positive presence in the Twins' quiet clubhouse, but who seemed absolutely mystified by his terrible start this year. His numbers weren't especially strong last year with the Phillies, either -- 6-9 with a 4.20 ERA -- but he obviously expected to be doing much better here, and he's only two years removed from an 11-3, 3.01 season.
"I went out there, and left the ball up just a bit. My ERA is killing me and it's hard to win a game if you get behind," he said. "This whole spring and up to this point, I haven't been consistent whatsoever."