Archived Game Threads

Having done more than my fair share of minimalist Game Thread Intros, due to trying to do other things, well, i was thinking of joking here that i'd been optioned to the AAA Game Thread Intro squad. So now that i'm back up, i gotta show i can get the job done, or Chief and ChiTown won't trust me to tow the Game Thread Rubber the next time round in the rotation... And actually i'm doing less today than i'd been doing the last few times. Life is still hecticker than i'd care to admit, and it is in fact my fault, but well, for one day, i thought i'd be able to get stuff done. So, subjects to cogitate upon... 1) I miss Buxton. Not to say i don't like having Granite around.…

How are the Vikings doing? Preseason must be underway. But i haven't bothered to look it up yet. And the Lynx? Aren't they in midseason? What about the current Tennis Tournament? Or golf? I never know what to think of subpar golf. Apparently its for the birds or something. Anything Wild about their offseason? Did the Timberwolves draft someone yet? Is Kevin going to finally get them over the hump? I suppose i will look these things up eventually, but off hand, i wouldn't know. Because i'm a Twins fan. (feel free to google Kids in the Hall Doors fan to see the inspiration, albeit the intro suffers somewhat for a midwestern aversion to expressing contentious…

Good morning, one and all! Yes, I'm here to fulfill my duty as your game thread guide: *It's no "Young Frankenstein" though. Anyway, I've been looking for a reason as to why the team underperformed this year, and came across this novel theory: *About the only part of that particular episode that was any good. You'd think they could have dubbed in some better voices. Sheesh. Since I've gone hopping down the bunny trail, I'll leave this here just because: *Yes, that is Michelle Dockery of "Downton Abbey" fame. Well, enough chit chat, as it's time for me to leave a random image that has nothing to do with anything and on the relevance scale is less th…

Today finds us in Sunny Philly, where the cheesesteak sandwich finds its home. However, of other historical note, Philadelphia was home the Constitutional Convention and eventual ratification of the Constitution. Just imagine, without the Constitution, we, shudder, would have Cricket as the national sport with Gin being the drink of choice during a game, along with those weird cucumber sandwiches Brits seem so fond of. Instead, we have baseball, brats and beer, though, Philly fans would probably argue the Philly cheesesteak sandwich is proper ballpark food. And, all things considered, I would probably have to concede the point. After all that, what else do we know? …

Indians: SP Corey Kluber LF Brantley 1B Swisher 2B Kipnis DH Santana RF Raburn SS Cabrera C Gomes 3B Aviles CF Stubbs Twins: SP Pedro Hernandez CF Presley 2B Dozier RF Doumit DH Arcia C Pinto 3B Plouffe 1B Parmelee LF Mastroianni SS Florimon Things to Think About: 1. Think about the World Watching... Well maybe not the world... But they are watching in Northern Ohio... Central Florida and Northern Texas and a couple of people in Mahnomen. 2. Think about Pinto... Josmil Pinto... He's been doing pretty good... It's been a good September for him. That may turn into a good April. 3. Think about Roster Options... The Twins have a couple of options each night a…

You have to love a summer day game during the week! It's a great day to be unproductive at work. Lewis Thorpe is making his return today, his first appearance with the major league team since May 20th. I'll be hoping his fastball velocity is over 90 mph, but he should have a chance to make-it-or-break-it for the next 1.5 months of the season. He's out of options next year, so this is a pivotal time for the Aussie. The Twins won't be able to send him down under to the minors after 2021. Speaking of Aussies, who is your favorite from the list of ex-Twins below? (Whitefield is still in the Twins org, and still very, very fast) 1. Grant Balfour 2. Luke …

A Byrd In Hand The Byrds. No, not the Birds, the Byrds, the folk-rock band of the ’60’s. You know, “Roger McQuinn had a 12-string guitar it was like nothing I’d ever heard.” - David Alan Coe lyrics from his song “Willie, Waylon and Me”. I was always envious of Roger McQuinn of the Byrds. He could make a Rickenbacker 12-string guitar jingle-jangle while I had trouble plucking your basic 6-string. That’s how I wound up a bass man. Only had to pluck four strings. It was said I could play the bass by ear, but to be honest, I only ever used my fingers. I had a buddy, our rhythm guitar player, who also liked to play bass and sometimes the two of us would get toge…

Game-time forecast: Mostly sunny. Winds blowing out to right field at 5-10 m.p.h. Temperature near 70. (No worries about rain delays with this series as it never rains in Southern California! ... starting Brian off right ... ) Twins: SP, Gibson Santana SS Dozier 2B Mauer 1B Willingham LF Morales DH Suzuki C Parmelee RF Escobar 3B Fuld CF Angels: SP, Wilson Calhoun RF Trout CF Pujols 1B Hamilton LF Aybar SS Kendrick 2B Cron DH Freese 3B Conger C ------------------------------------------ Brian ... your turn ... think, man, T H I N K! (the queen has spoken) ------------------------------------------ And to you I curtsy... I'll admit a curtsy doesn't feel all…

I'm back!!! So glad to be back on Twins Daily to finally create and be involved in game threads, and it has been something I have missed ever since the last out against the Yankees. The Twins are off to a good start, sitting at 3-1, and are looking to make it 4-1 against the 2-2 Cardinals. This is the second, and final game, of a short 2 game home and home split with the Cardinals. The Twins will travel to STL in September. The Pitchers: RHP Daniel Ponce De Leon (1-2, 3.70 ERA, 48.2 IP's, 52 K's, 2019) vs LHP Rich Hill (4-1, 2.45 ERA, 58.2 IP's, 72 K's, 2019) Coming into the series the Cardinals expected to toss Miles Mikolas against the Twins tonight, but h…

April 28th, 2022 Detroit Tigers (6-11) vs. Minnesota Twins (10-8) Venue: Target Field - Minneapolis, MN SP: Tarik Skubal vs. Bailey Ober Go Twins!

The Twins have owned the Cardinal's 3-0 so far in the season, and look to make it a 4-0 sweep of the Red birds during today's matinee. My first two game threads of the year did not look so good with the weather, as one was snowed out, and another was delayed. Hopefully we have better luck today. GAME TIME WEATHER: 82 Degrees Fahrenheit, 0% chance of rain, winds WSW at 11 MPH. PITCHING MATCHUP: Lance Lynn (1-3, 7.34 ERA) vs Miles Mikolas (5-0, 2.51 ERA) TWINS' LINEUP: 1. Joe Mauer (L) DH 2. Brian Dozier ® 2B 3. Eddie Rosario (L) LF 4. Max Kepler (L) RF 5. Mitch Garver ® C 6. Logan Morrison (L) 1B 7. Byron Buxton ® CF 8. Ehire Adrianza (S) SS 9. Gregorio Petit ® 3B CARD…

The curtain rises to a thin man in full team array seated comfortably in a swivel chair in the Twins' clubhouse, right leg crossed over the left to form a triangle between the two, notepad and pen in hand. The numbers 2, 5, 7, 8, 9, 24, 25, 26, 36, and 52 have been penned in an orderly row, and his finger moves slowly up and down the line, occasionally pausing to mark a tally by a number. Stepping closer, you can hear him murmuring softly under his breath as he nears the end of this agonizing process and taps his finger back and forth between the two remaining numbers, 5 and 25: "Eenie, meenie, miney, mo ... and you are not it." With a sweeping motion he crosses off the 5…

“Riding on the City of New Orleans…” Well, actually, I’m on Amtrak’s Texas Eagle, which goes through Joliet and St. Louis on the way to Dallas and beyond, rather than through Kankakee and Memphis on the way to the Big Easy. But we still rolled along past houses, farms and fields. I love traveling by train, so I took the two-hour ride to Chicago’s Union Station yesterday morning and then got on board for the 24-hour therapeutic jaunt. Mrs. IT flies in tonight, and we embark on the “Take a Tums Tour,” searching for barbecue and chili (no beans). Next Sunday, we’ll take in a game in Arlington, allowing me to recheck the Rangers’ stadium off the list and return to b…

Today's thread intro is brought to you by Brazil. To short circuit Chief's humor, yes there are a brazilian brazilians there. But i actually mean the movie, not the country. I bring it up as it succinctly illustrates contrasts between reality and hopes, dreams, expectations. As an example, there is a scene where dinner is ordered at restaurant by number from a menu with lavish pictures only be delivered as 2 scoops of coloured mush on a plate. The Twins are only a few key corners to turn before making a run. Which corner do you expect they'll turn first? Bon appetite! Angels Nick Tropeano (R ) 1. Ian Kinsler (R ) 2B 2. Mike Trout (R ) CF 3. Justin Upton ( R)…

Game-time forecast: Clear. Winds blowing out to center field at 10-15 m.p.h. Temperature around 60. Twins: SP, Gibson Dozier 2B Mauer 1B Plouffe 3B Parmelee RF Suzuki C Kubel LF Escobar SS Hicks CF Gibson P Giants: SP, Lincecum Pagan CF Pence RF Posey 1B Sandoval 3B Morse LF Sanchez C Crawford SS Hicks 2B Lincecum P ------------------------------- Brian's up ... on deck ... AND in the hole ... ------------------------------------------------- In an attempt to make the set up more concise. Let's play ball.

Game-time forecast: Partly cloudy. Winds blowing in from right field at 10-20 m.p.h. Temperature around 80. ChiTown will be along with the starting lineups. She's got a leash and the lineups go along with her on walks. Of course most city laws state that she has to clean up after them. Okay, hmm .... PALE HOSE: SP, Danks Eaton CF Ramirez SS Abreu DH Garcia RF Gillaspie 3B Viciedo LF Wilkins 1B Phegley C Semien 2B TWINS: SP, May Santana SS Nunez 3B Mauer 1B Vargas DH Pinto C Arcia RF Hicks CF Escobar 2B Schafer LF ----------------------------------------------------------------------------- Things to Think About: 1. Trevor May -- There is no question th…

Hi everybody, and welcome to today's game thread. I check the obituaries every day. My name was not listed so that means I have to keep my promise to write today's opening post. I do not include any kind of baseball analysis in my thread openers because there's plenty of that on this site already, done by people more skilled and more knowledgeable about such matters than I am. So I use a 5-topic format. Today I'm going to mention something from baseball history from 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 years ago. 2012: Miguel Cabrera wins the triple crown. 2002: After the Twins survive the threat of contraction, Jacque Jones hits a home run in the first plate appearance …

Most know my mantra pretty much is "It's just a game." Or sometimes "Hope for the best, prepare for the worst." Sometimes it's both at the same time because sometimes it's necessary to work harder at trying to keep perspective when you lose when you don't want to lose and/or you need to win. Of course, I never want to lose, but that just isn't reasonable or practical. It happens, move on, get over it. But we have reached that point in the season where 'moving on' from a loss means you are done for the season. Yeah, okay, so some of you are saying, there is still plenty of baseball left. I don't really agree with the plenty part, but we are still in striking distance, and,…

Game-time forecast: Partly cloudy. Winds blowing out to right field at 5-10 m.p.h. Temperature around 50. Red Sox: SP, Doubront Dustin Pedroia 2B Shane Victorino RF David Ortiz DH Mike Napoli 1B Grady Sizemore LF A.J. Pierzynski C Xander Bogaerts SS Will Middlebrooks 3B Jackie Bradley Jr. CF Twins: SP, Correia Brian Dozier 2B Joe Mauer 1B Trevor Plouffe 3B Chris Parmelee RF Kurt Suzuki DH Josmil Pinto C Eduardo Nunez LF Eduardo Escobar SS Aaron Hicks CF ----------------------------- Okay Brian ... it's on you, now. Yes, you! -------------------------------------------------- You wouldn't believe the stuff that is on me!!! Ick or Ish would be appropriate but I'…

Twins | 43-49 overall, 28-21 at home, 8-2 in their last 10 Jose Berrios | 9-7, 3.41 ERA, 0.99 WHIP, 4.69 K:BB Rays | 48-46 overall, 22-29 on the road, 6-4 in their last 10 Chris Archer | 3-4, 4.41 ERA, 1.38 WHIP, 2.82 K:BB Lineups: https://twitter.com/MikeBerardino/status/1018153219325915137?s=19 Additional notes: Archer missed more than a month, then in his first start back gave up three runs on six hits and a pair of walks over 3 1/3 innings. Berrios, on the other hand, has been excellent over his past 11 starts, posting a 2.75 ERA with rate of a 9.8 K/9. Here’s hoping the home/road splits for these two starting pitchers hold up. Archer has been much better in …

Welcome back to more game Thread fun!! Berrios is heading to the mound tonight. I see a 8-2 win/loss ratio after the game tonight. I'm really not sure what to say about this team right now...Hot, cold, cold, cold, drought, rain, shine. Enough of the weather examples. This team really needs to figure out who they want on their pitching staff and who they want to trade or upgrade. Is the season lost? Maybe but this team always surprises me. Stranger things have happened! Sorry for the late post and short introduction but work got a little crazy today. It's Friday, people should be home enjoying happy hour at 4pm versus sending emails at 5:30. Who does that?......On to …

The Minnesota Twins look to sweep the Blue Jays in their three game series north of the boarder, and look to take home the season series win 4-3 with a win tonight. Kyle Gibson will look to bounce back after a rough outing, and the pitching staff will look to throw a third straight shutout. Vlad Guerrero Jr. has been given the day off from the Blue Jays lineup after struggling to get going in his first go around in the show. The Pitchers: Kyle Gibson (2-1, 4.68 ERA, 29 K's) vs Trent Thorton (0-3, 4.08 ERA, 38 K's) The Twins lost 6-5 in Gibson's first go around against the Blue Jays. Gibson threw 5.1 innings, giving up 4 runs on 4 hits. He also walked three hitters, w…

Catch-Up Baseball is..weird. We went from an assault on batters in Kenta Maeda to, yesterday. But the beauty of this is there's always more baseball and tonight the Twins have an opportunity to bounceback and speaking of bouncing back, we get to see if Jose Berrios can tonight. The Twins are also estimated by nearly every playoff projecton metric to be at or above a 97% chance to make the postseason so more caution will be exercised with Buxton and Garver being put on the IL, although Garver's injury sounds like the worst blow so far as Jeffers has been called up to split time with Avila. Where to Listen WCCO 830, TIBN, 102.9 The Wolf Where to Watch Fox Sports North …

I got up this morning in somewhat of a funk, because the home town 9 played like they were in a funk, with results to match. *Ah, seventies era stuff. Music was cool, clothes, not so much. What? Yes, I wore that stuff. Don't judge! But, this is a new day and a great day to start another winning streak! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BtIeIs-btts *Supposedly, Mr. Trebek got miffed at this guy continuing to win. And now, I bow out, leaving this one final video: *That worked out far better than I thought it would. This is where I put in some sort of picture where the five things to think about should be: *When I lived in MN and the regular …

Lineups: Twins: Jamey Carroll 3B Joe Mauer DH Josh Willingham LF Justin Morneau 1B Ryan Doumit C Chris Parmelee RF Clete Thomas CF Brian Dozier 2B Pedro Florimon SS (Mike Pelfrey P) Royals: Alex Gordon LF Eric Hosmer 1B Salvador Perez C Billy Butler DH Mike Moustakas 3B Lorenzo Cain CF David Lough RF Chris Getz 2B Alcides Escobar SS (Wade Davis P)

Game-time forecast: Sunny. Winds blowing out to right field at 10-20 m.p.h. Temperature around 85. The Lineups are coming soon... It's an early start today and Gardenhire probably hasn't woken up yet. ChiTown will post them right here. Bri, it's not Gardy who hasn't woken up yet ... it's Chi. But I'm getting there. At least enough to post these: Twins: SP, Gibson Santana CF Dozier 2B Mauer 1B Willingham LF Morales DH Parmelee RF Escobar 3B Fryer C Florimon SS (And after looking at that, maybe I'll go back to bed.) Red Sox: SP, Lackey Holt RF Bogaerts 3B Pedroia 2B Ortiz DH Napoli 1B Nava LF Pierzynski C Drew SS Bradley CF -------------------------------…

LINEUPS (These will be added in a couple of hours when posted): Twins P Phil Hughes Blue Jays P Marco Estrada No team is as good as you think when things are going well. No team is as bad as you know when things are going poorly. It is true for the Jays and the Twins today at Rogers Centre in Toronto. The Blue Jays have won 5 of 6 and looked really, really good yesterday with Troy Tulowitzki and David Price being showcased on a national holiday in Canada. The Twins, meanwhile, continued to struggle to get on base, much less score. Ervin Santana wasn't exactly sharp for his second straight outing. And we once again got the opportunity to see Blaine Boyer …

The Twins are still up three and a half games on the Cleveland Indians, and for that fact alone you should be ecstatic. They are the second quickest team in franchise history to get to eighty wins, and that should also make you ecstatic. This team has a shot at the world series, and it isn't really that remote of a possibility, either. Sure, they aren't favorites, but nobody was expecting them to be favorites. Where they are now is ahead of expectations, so just sit back and enjoy the ride. The Pitchers: Jake Odorizzi (13-6, 3.57 ERA, 137 K's) vs Ross Detwiler (2-3, 5.51 ERA, 35 K's) Jake took the bump against the White Sox on the hill his last time out, and th…

Recipe for a good game thread. 1. A good game. I suppose that is subjective, and not entirely vital, but it helps. It needs to anticipation, excitement, and unifying events that we can all appreciate. Twins would like to notch another game like 2 nights ago, or even last night under their belt. Orioles, not so much. But that should make it interesting. 2. Pitchers. Belly itching doesn't go over so well. Gibson with his sinker, double play induction, and surprise strike outs, he should be worth the watch. Tillman, i know less about. But he's in the major leagues so he can't be that bad. (little help here) 3. Batters. Not the kind for cake. The kind what swing, or not, a…

ANNND Welcome back! To Minnesota Twins Whine Line: Breakup Edition! I am your host, and disappointed boyfriend, Vanimal. The Twins are doing their best to make us not care about their performance the rest of the year. Especially after optioning Romero to AAA, leaving the rotting corpse of Belisle on roster. Maybe it's them, not US! Before we dive into our feelings, let's talk about a game that will happen. It will still happen whether you watch them or not! Intermittent cloud cover in Minneapolis today! 77 degrees at first pitch and warming up during the day. REAL FEEL of 81 degrees. Blustery winds from the ESE at 10 MPH. Minnesota Twins (33-40): P - Jose Berrios …