Archived Game Threads

Today, the Twins take on the Tigers, managed by Ron Gardenhire. After the series sweep in Toronto, I thought I'd look into starting pitching numbers, specifically, wins. Currently, the Twins are 23-12 with Twins starters having collected 20 of those 23 wins. Twins have decent starting pitching. Who'd a thunk it? For some reason, it seems me it's sort of important that Twins starters are picking up the majority of the wins. And, as we all know, numbers don't lie. And now, for some things to think about: 1. Berrios 2. Odorizzi 3. Perez 4. Gibson Pitching for the Twins: Jake Odorizzi Pitching for the Tigers: Tyson Ross. 5. Play ball!

Game Thread: Twins @ Royals, 8/20 @ 6:15 CT Probable Starters: Hector Santiago (10-7, 4.80 ERA) vs Ian Kennedy (7-9, 3.78 ERA) 1. Strat-o-Matic Baseball It’s time for the return of Strat-o-Matic baseball! If you weren’t reading the game threads from about a week and a half ago, you missed my Strat-o-Matic simulation of the Twins VS the Astros. Since the real game got rained on, I wanted to try again today. Here’s what the game looks like (though I’m using a newer version of it: http://i66.tinypic.com/kb7hut.jpg I’ve whipped up the Royals roster and both teams are ready to go. I’ll be reporting how the board game is doing right alongside the real game, so don’t read …

Game-time forecast: Mostly sunny. Winds blowing from right to left field at 10-15 m.p.h. Temperature around 75. The Twins are at home... They didn't do well on the road... Will the lineup clearly display this home happiness... Only one way to find out... Wait right here and ChiTown will bring the smiles or... Cookies... She likes to bake. Bri, I think at this point, only cookies will do the trick, no matter what. ROYALS: SP, Duffy Cain RF Hosmer 1B Butler DH Gordon LF Perez C Infante 2B Moustakas 3B Escobar SS Dyson CF TWINS: SP, Pino Dozier 2B Suzuki C Mauer 1B Willingham LF Morales DH Plouffe 3B Parmelee RF Nunez SS Fuld CF -------------------------------…

Three cheers for... Aw, screw it. *pours a drink* Gibsons: Brian Dozier 2B Joe Mauer C Oswaldo Arcia LF Justin Morneau DH Trevor Plouffe 3B Chris Parmelee 1B Aaron Hicks CF Clete Thomas RF Pedro Florimon SS (Kyle Gibson P) The Enemy: Ichiro Suzuki CF Zoilo Almonte LF Robinson Cano 2B Travis Hafner DH Vernon Wells RF Lyle Overbay 1B Luis Cruz SS Alberto Gonzalez 3B Austin Romine C (David Phelps P)

Game thread opener.

Figured i'd get back to basics today... 1. "Take me out to the ball game, take me out to the park." Location, location, location. First order of business is a chance to appreciate the action. Technology expands that horizon, but does not negate the need. You got that solved? 2. "Buy me some peanuts and crackerjack" It's not as quick a game as it used to be. Are your appetites addressed? Whatcha got on the menu? 3. "I don't care if i ever go back." I see we are all dedicated. It may not be so marked as swaring off the rest of the world, but it is important to care, at least a little. 4. "So lets root root root for the home team, if they don't win it's a shame…

Well, that was quite a game yesterday. Fun, even. Really fun. Seventeen runs worth of fun. And against the best team in the American League. The worst beat the best 17-5. How many of us thought that it would have been more likely a score the other way around? There was another score out there yesterday, too ... the Angels beat the Red Sox 21-2! While it wasn't the worst beating the best, it was still a case of the bad beating the good. It's just plain fun to see. Ever since David beat Goliath, we love to celebrate the 'little guy' taking it to the 'big guy.' And it's even more fun to celebrate when your team is the 'little guy.' But that was yesterday and today is today. …

Good Evening Twins Fans!! Sorry this posted late! Big game tonight against the Tigers. Hopefully the Twins can pull off another win. Maeda is on the mound so I think we could be in good shape. Let's see what happens...Twins need to pick this up another notch but you never know what bullpen, offense or starting pitching will show up. Tough year I know! Weird seeing Sano hit in the number 8 hole...I guess that's where his slash lines are now. Kinda sad. Larnach is starting to roll though! Go Twins!!! Let's get started with tonights lineups: TWINS 1. Luis Arreaz, 2B 2. Josh Donaldson, 3B 3. T. Larnach, LF 4. Nelson Cruz, DH 5. Ale…

Forecast: 67 degrees, mostly cloudy Lineups: Philadelphia Phillies: 1. Odubel Herrera, L, CF 2. Andres Blanco, S, 2B 3. Maikel Franco, R, 3B 4. Ryan Howard, L, DH 5. Tommy Joseph, R, 1B 6. Cody Asche, L, LF 7. Carlos Ruiz, R, C 8. Freddy Galvis, S, SS 9. Peter Bourjos, R, RF vs. Ricky Nolasco, R Minnesota Twins: 1. Robbie Grossman, S, LF 2. Eduardo Escobar, S, SS 3. Joe Mauer, L, DH 4. Brian Dozier, R, 2B 5. Trevor Plouffe, R, 3B 6. Max Kepler, L, RF 7. Byung Ho Park, R, 1B 8. Juan Centeno, L, C 9. Byron Buxton, R, CF vs. Jerad Eickhoff, R Things to think about: 1. Rollin' on dubs. The Twins have won three games in a row. Will they win 60 games this …

Bounceback test. The Twins played a lousy game at “The Stadium” last night. Their past poor games have been answered by good games, with no indication of a skid. They face another lefty (Happ) today and Jake Odorizzi will answer the bell for the Twins. A reminder that there is a game thread intro signup thread. If you’d like to improve on my efforts to start a game thread, please sign up. Lineups: Twins Garver. C Polanco SS Cruz DH Rosario LF Gonzalez 3B Cron 1B Kepler RF Schoop 2B Buxton CF Odorizzi P 3-2 3.34 Yankees LeMahieu 2B Voit 1B Sanchez DH Andujar 3B Torres SS Gardner CF Maybin RF Romine …

Didn't see one started. Sox 7, Twins 3

Hello Twins Fans! Today’s game is being brought to you by the number 5. Entering today, the Twins have a 5 game lead over the Angels for the 5th seed in the American League with 5 games to play. As we all know, they can wrap up a playoff seed tonight. This is also the 5th week that #5, Eduardo Escobar, has taken over the #5 position on the diamond (3B) after Miguel Sano went on the DL with a stress reaction Aug 21. In the time-honored tradition of RiverBrian’s revered format, here are 5 Things To Think About: 1. The Last 5 games of the final 55. Exactly 50 games ago, as some of you may recall, I posted “My Wish List for the Last 55 Games,” http://twinsdaily.com/…

Very tough loss in the first game. Losing streak now at 4, and could come at hardly a worse time. We need a win tonight. A few other thoughts: 1) Mike Pelfrey. 'Nuf said, Big Pelf's got this. 2) Garrett Richards. The Angels threw a competent pitcher at us in game 1, we get another one tonight. Big righty (not as big as our guy of course), eats innings, strikes out his share of batters, keeps his team in the game. He walks a few, so maybe patience at the plate will be key. 3) The Twins Offense. This seems like the overall key. First game today was winnable, and a single run in any number of late inning chances would have achieved that. We need sustained offense the r…

Generic game thread intro 132 Weather is well, okay, i hope. (Yeah, 78F, Partly cloudy says the line up site) Line ups are cloudy with a chance of lightning strikes and thundering booms. Here's the fine print. Judge for yerselves... Twins Ervin Santana {R} toes the rubber. 1. Aaron Hicks {S} CF 2. Eduardo Nunez {R} 2B 3. Joe Mauer {L} 1B 4. Miguel Sano {R} DH 5. Trevor Plouffe {R} 3B 6. Eddie Rosario {L} RF 7. Shane Robinson {R} LF 8. Kurt Suzuki {R} C 9. Danny Santana {S} SS Angels Garrett Richards {R} toes the rubber. 1. Johnny Giavotella {R} 2B 2. Kole Calhoun {L} RF 3. Mike Trout {R} CF 4. Albert Pujols {R} DH 5. Erick Aybar {S} SS 6. C.J. Cron {R} 1B 7. Matt J…

Just a few short games ago, I was one of those who thought the Twins were pretty much dead, desperately clinging to life. I thought the Twins were done to the point I expected the FO to do the following: *Why is it that a comedy has a better representation of life in the Middle Ages than big budget Hollywood movies? But, it shows you what I know, because lately, the Twins have decided to have the last laugh and show us they're not quite done yet: *Trust me on this, the movie is far better than the book. And, here we are, heading into All Star break and the Twins FO is probably wondering if anything they have to trade has value and if what they have that …

Game-time forecast: Clear. Winds blowing in from center field at 1-5 m.p.h. Temperature around 55. Game 1 TWINS: SP, Hughes Santana CF Dozier 2B Mauer 1B Vargas DH Plouffe 3B Arcia RF Suzuki C Escobar SS Hicks LF PALE HOSE: SP, Carroll Eaton CF Ramirez SS Abreu DH Gillaspie 3B Garcia RF Danks LF Flowers C Wilkins 1B Sanchez 2B Game 2 lineups will be posted in thread after the completion of game 1 and when they become available. ----------------------- Brian, go to it! Double trouble! It suits you! ----------------------- Interesting... I think the last time I wore a suit was 10 years ago. It wasn't for anything special. I wore it because we hadn't done laundry …

Welcome to another installment of the Twins Daily Game Thread! The Twins have now lost 11 games in a row. Last night was a tough loss. The Twins actually had some decent pitching. Too bad the offense didn't pick up the slack. Oh well, tonights another night and anything can happen. It will be interesting to watch Andrew Albers pitch tonight for the Twins. It will be his 14th career big league appearance and his 1st MLB start since 2013. Will Albers be the one that gets this team off the losing streak? We will find out tonight. If Albers and the rest of the Twins team can't shed this losing streak tonight, I've come up with 11 ideas that the players, coaches and…

The Twins look to carry momentum from last night's win into tonight. Tommy Milone (4-1, 3.19) faces Jeremy Guthrie (6-5, 5.68) first pitch at 7:10. Weather: Beautiful. Lineups: Also beautiful: TWINS 2B Dozier RF Hunter 1B Mauer 3B Plouffe LF Rosario DH Sano C Suzuki SS Escobar CF Hicks ROYALS SS Escobar 3B Moustakas CF Cain 1B Hosmer DH Morales LF Gordon C Perez RF Rios 2B Infante The Royals have the 3rd best record in all of baseball, and with last night’s win the Twins are back within 3 ½ games of them for first place. 1. The Twins were swept when these teams last met. That was the early June series at Target Field that began with the Twins in 1st place and…

Twins try to rebound after an entertaining loss last night. Also, Perkins will be fresh to go a minimum 4 innings tonight. Pitching probables: Mike Pelfrey (5-5, 3.81) versus Joe Blanton (2-1, 3.14). Also probable: Glen Perkins. Weather: Absolutely gorgeous day for baseball in KC. Lineups TWINS 2B Dozier 1B Mauer RF Hunter 3B Plouffe LF Rosario DH Sano CF Hicks C Herrmann SS Santana Third Base Coach: Gene Glynn* * why list third base coach, you ask? Read on... ROYALS SS A. Escobar 3B Moustakas CF Cain 1B Hosmer DH Morales LF Gordon C Perez RF Rios 2B Infante Third Base Coach: Dick Jirschele Happy 4th of July to everyone. As Riverbrian says, try not to…

I'm sitting here, wait for the muse to strike and, managed to strike out. For some reason, getting to first base was rather troublesome as I worked on getting this thread ready for publication. Even when I got a few things lined up to score for my writing, in the end, I had trouble making enough solid contact to bring things home. Then, when my writing started to look promising, it again let me down, to the point I wondered why I even continued. Luckily, I stuck with it, (pipe down, over there, yes, I mean you, Mr Twinsnorth...no comments about whether I should have continued my efforts and should have retired my word processor years ago. So what if I'll never make th…

Lineups: Twins: Clete Thomas CF Joe Mauer DH Ryan Doumit C Justin Morneau 1B Oswaldo Arcia LF Trevor Plouffe 3B Chris Parmelee RF Brian Dozier 2B Pedro Florimon SS (Samuel Deduno P) Tigers: Austin Jackson CF Andy Dirks LF Miguel Cabrera 3B Prince Fielder 1B Victor Martinez DH Jhonny Peralta SS Don Kelly RF Omar Infante 2B Alex Avila C (Anibal Sanchez P)

Good evening Twins fans and welcome back to more Game Thread excitement! The Twins did a nice job in Houston and now kick off a 9 game home stand against the Chicago White Sox tonight. Hopefully they can keep up the momentum. Not that it really matters this year but I would like to see some of our younger players start getting into the groove and build some confidence heading into 2022. Speaking of confidence, I'd like to see the following players hit above .220 so I can have confidence we can actually score runs in 2022. I know batting average stats are no longer in vogue but let's look at some averages. The players: Kepler (.211), Rooker (.176), Garver (.220), Sano…

Lineups: Twins: Darin Mastroianni CF Joe Mauer C Josh Willingham LF Justin Morneau 1B Ryan Doumit DH Trevor Plouffe 3B Chris Parmelee RF Jamey Carroll 2B Eduardo Escobar SS (Mike Pelfrey P) Royals: Alex Gordon LF Alcides Escobar SS Billy Butler DH Mike Moustakas 3B Salvador Perez C Eric Hosmer 1B Jeff Francoeur RF Lorenzo Cain CF Chris Getz 2B (Jeremy Guthrie P)

Game Thread: Twins @ Astros, 7/15 @ 6:10 CT Probable Starters: Ervin Santana (10-6, 2.99 ERA) vs Joe Musgrove (4-7, 6.04 ERA) -5 Thoughts- 1. Examining Joe Musgrove If the Twins are going to have any chance to beat the Astros for the first time this season, they’ll need to topple Musgrove. However, Musgrove has already been disastrous, allowing 27 runs (all earned) in 29.2 innings in his last six starts. In four of those starts, he’s given up 4 or more runs (including a 7 and 9 run game!). If the Twins work this right, they should be able to get him out before he throws five innings and start wearing down Houston’s bullpen. Musgrove has given up 10.7 hits per 9 inning…

Yesterday, we discussed counting sheep, to go to sleep, but there was nary a peep, of why we keep, using sheep to sleep. So: Ants. http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2014/02/13/article-2558691-1B766FCF00000578-48_634x952.jpg picture: common ant Why not count ants? I've tried. The thing is, at first, they go marching by one by one. Easy to count, even if they're a bit small. Hurrah! But then, next thing you know, they're going by two by two. Harder. Then three by three, and now the math is near impossible. Who can count by threes? Nobody. Forget ants. Chickens, maybe? http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-DmoT-_ruC5Q/UJASeHzoRsI/AAAAAAAAIzQ/mgb_RaDxzMk/s1600/The…

Last night's game ... whew ... it's over, we won. Had a lot of very good reviewed calls help us on our way. The game recap has it all so no need to rehash here, other than to say ... The Joy of Victory ... And the Agony of Defeat ... And the 'I think I can' will of determination (look at the eyes) ... Onto today's game. I like the match up ... Berrios vs Anderson. Berrios had a bit of a rough outing last time up, but he will give us his best. Coming off the news that he will go to the All-Star game in place of the IL'd Odorizzi, I hope he's pumped up to shine. And Anderson ... a rookie ... who has not yet faced the Twins. I hope that last night's g…

Welcome to a most unfortunate episode of Shopping With The Enemy. this enemy is waaay too familiar, and so our shopping trip involves the comfy, cozy and familiar…. The Hoodie first up: the traditional hoodie for boring kids next, a short-sleeved hoodie for people with warm arms and cold heads Last, a Hooded Dress for a very stylish lady with a cold head lineups TBA Go Twins!

Good evening and welcome back to the Twins Daily Game Thread fun! If you live in Minnesota you know it's really hot here. I know we have TD members scattered around the globe but right now we might be one of the hotter places in the world right now. In Minneapolis we have a dew point over 72, a real feel temp of 108, bright hot sunshine and a major league baseball team that is ICE cold.... I hope we can at least stay close to the Yankees tonight. The lineup is looking better but I have no idea who is playing center field tonight. Here's looking at you Gilberto Celestino! Make the most of it kid. Looks like Buxton is getting closer to coming back. By the way, I went t…

Today the Twins play the middle game of a three-game series against the Royals. The teams are in a virtual tie for first place, with the winner tonight assuming a one-game lead. The Twins will start Trevor May, coming off his best game as a major leaguer. The Royals counter with 36-year old journeyman Chris Young, who has pitched effectively for the Royals. He is 4-2 with a 2.56 ERA. Twins fans may compare Young's results with Mike Pelfrey's. Some random musings: the team is in a hitting slump. One guy isn't picking up another, runners are being stranded in scoring position and and extra base hits are coming with no one on. A couple timely hits could make a big differe…

Even if the Twins are struggling, I still feel like this lineup is among the most exciting in baseball. Trevor Larnach and Alex Kirilloff are both very promising prospects with a lot of pop. Garver and Sano are starting to show their 2019 swings again. Simmons is a wizard at shortstop. Josh Donaldson is still a star of this league. We watched through the 2011-2014 seasons, right? The problem this year has been the lack of "clutch" moments so far. During the Metrodome era, my favorite player was Jason Kubel. Why, may you ask? It is because he seemed to perform when he was absolutely needed. The grand-slam cycle game, 2009 Game 163, the list goes on...... Jorge Polanco had …