Archived Game Threads

LINEUPS: Twins 2B Brian Dozier CF Aaron Hicks DH Joe Mauer 3B Miguel Sano 1B Trevor Plouffe RF Eddie Rosario SS Eduardo Escobar C Chris Hermann LF Shane Robinson (Cy Young) Indians 2B Jose Ramirez SS Francisco Lindor LF Michael Brantley DH Carlos Santana C Yan Gomes CF Abraham Almonte RF Jerry Sands 1B Chris Johnson 3B Giovanny Urshela Ahem. Well, I got the 4 runs right. If you read yesterday's thread, I predicted a 4-1 Twins win. Missed that by a tad. This Indians lineup isn't a very good one. But yesterday, they were able to take advantage of subpar pitching performances from Ervin Santana as well as the bullpen, especially Ryan O'Rourke and AJ Achter. And…

LINEUPS: Twins 2B Brian Dozier 1B Joe Mauer DH Miguel Sano 3B Trevor Plouffe RF Torii Hunter LF Eddie Rosario CF Aaron Hicks C Kurt Suzuki SS Eduardo Escobar P Ervin Santana Indians 2B Jose Ramirez SS Francisco Lindor LF Michael Brantley 1B Carlos Santana DH Yan Gomes RF Lonnie Chisenhall 3B Giovanny Urshela CF Abraham Almonte C Roberto Perez P Trevor Bauer ---------- WARNING: QUICK SATURDAY EDITION! SATURDAYS WITH A TODDLER WHO DECIDES NOT TO NAP WILL DO THAT TO A GAME THREAD STARTER. I BEG YOUR FORGIVENESS. Remind me never again to breathe a sigh of relief when we take a 6-0 lead. It took just 1/2 an inning for Mr. Pelfrey to let the Indians back in…

LINEUPS: Twins 2B Brian Dozier 1B Joe Mauer RF Torii Hunter DH Miguel Sano 3B Trevor Plouffe CF Aaron Hicks LF Eddie Rosario C Kurt Suzuki SS Eduardo Escobar P Kyle Gibson Blue Jays SS Troy Tulowitzki 3B Josh Donaldson RF Jose Bautista DH Edwin Encarnacion C Dioner Navarro 1B Justin Smoak CF Kevin Pillar 2B Ryan Goins LF Ben Revere P Mark Buehrle ------ Sigh. I gotta be honest, I'm having a difficult time getting excited to write this post today. 3 days of watching bomb after bomb from the Blue Jays will do that to a man. But, we persevere. Heck, we expect that of the Twins, the coaches, the ownership. Wouldn't be fair not to expect that of ourselves, …

LINEUPS Twins CF Aaron Hicks 2B Brian Dozier 1B Joe Mauer DH Miguel Sano 3B Trevor Plouffe RF Eddie Rosario SS Eduardo Escobar C Eric Fryer LF Shane Robinson P Tyler Duffey Blue Jays SS Troy Tulowitzki 3B Josh Donaldson RF Jose Bautista DH Edwin Encarnacion 1B Chris Colabello C Russell Martin 2B Ryan Goins CF Kevin Pillar LF Ben Revere P Drew Hutchison -------- Well, well, well. Isn't this fun. The Twins, with yet another loss Tuesday, dropped to just two games over .500 and, for the first time in over a month, out of the playoffs (were they to start today). And to boot, we still have another two games to play at the place where baseballs get smashed to smith…

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 …

-excerpts from a strange poetry collection- (my apologies i could not remember it all) It is the Seattle Mariners Who have taken one of three. 'By thy encompassed hat, and enlarged glove Now wherefore stopp'st thou me? Our leadoff man who should not fan now stops to scratch his neck, pulls up his socks in batters box and i am now on deck.' --- A curve ball hung is quickly stung now deftly splits the air it's flight doth cross an albatross but now it's not so fair. (editor's note: what joke?) --- Batters, batters everywhere Not one that pitcher faces Batters, batters everywhere can last to run the bases. (editor's note: yeah, Iwakuma apparently has been pretty eff…

"A day late and a dollar short..." game thread intro. I owe y'all an apology. I got caught up tryin' to be funny in yesterday's intro, and didn't end up sharin' what i thought a somewhat portentous experience from the previous day. Thursday morning, i brought my car to the shop to figure out how come it was tending to stall in stop and go traffic. i sat in the place with a book to read, and made some progress, though i was somewhat distracted by the day time talk show. 2 hours later, they get my attention to tell me they couldn't find the problem. Seemed to be workin' fine. I paid the obligatory hour of diagnostics, and yup, presumably in the process of unconnectin'/rec…

"Fingers in the ears and humming loudly" Game Thread intro. Here's to avoiding all the speculation, and catching the actual factual moves perhaps after the fact, but waiting builds character. "Just because [i am] a character doesn't mean have character..." So if everyone else is doing it, that means i can do it too, right? Here goes... "There has been an unprecedented three team swap between Minnesota, St. Louis, and Kansas City. Unlike previous trades, where a few noteworthy players move around, this one is wholesale. The entire teams are moving, including mascots. In one fell swoop, Minnesota upgrades to one of the best bullpens. Matt Carpenter is reported to be look…

LINEUPS: Pirates RF Gregory Polanco LF Starling Marte CF Andrew McCutchen 3B Aramis Ramirez SS Jung Ho Kang 2B Neil Walker DH Pedro Alvarez C Francisco Cervelli 1B Travis Ishikawa SP Francisco Liriano Twins 2B Brian Dozier CF Aaron Hicks 1B Joe Mauer DH Miguel Sano RF Eddie Rosario 3B Eduardo Nunez SS Eduardo Escobar C Kurt Suzuki LF Shane Robinson SP Ervin Santana I think it's time for everyone to take a deep breath. In. Out. In. Out. RELAX. I'm going to try hard not to play the role of "It's Cool No Matter What" guy here, because I don't find that to be particularly interesting or compelling (or honest) writing. The fact of the matter is, the Twins aren'…

Forecast: 81 degrees and mostly cloudly Lineups: Yankees: Ellsbury CF Gardner LF Texeira DH McCann C Beltran RF Jones 1B Headley 3B Gregorius SS Drew 2B vs. Kyle Gibson (RH) Twins: Dozier 2B Hunter RF Mauer 1B Sano DH Plouffe 3B Rosario LF Nunez SS Suzuki C Hicks CF vs. Nathan Eovaldi Things to think about: 1. Kyle Gibson. I am pretty confident in Phil Hughes as a playoff pitcher. I would be of Ervin Santana if he were allowed to pitch in the playoffs. I am pretty confident about Kyle Gibson, but I really want to see it happen. Two strong pitchers can carry a playoff team (as long as they get one other win somehow--either a great performance from a…

Game-time forecast: 86 deg F, partly cloudy, very slight chance of rain, but not likely, winds from the S at 6mph. Lineups: YANKEES Ellsbury CF Young LF Rodriguez DH Texeira 1B Beltran RF Headley 3B Murphy C Ryan SS Drew 2B Sabathia P TWINS Dozier 2B Hicks CF Plouffe 1B Sano DH Hunter RF Escobar 3B Robinson LF Suzuki C Santana SS Milone P Oh, where to start ... hmmm ... 1. We beat them last night, and good. One could say we spanked them, and good. I'm not sure we can expect the same tonight, but given our home record, we can hope. But I loved last night's game. It's always way more than fun to beat the Yankees than most teams, or maybe any team, and last nig…

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…

Mostly cloudy throughout the day, with a high temperature of 80° around 3 PM, and a low of 68° around 11 PM. The sun rose at 5:57 AM and will set at 8:00 PM. Line-ups For the Twins, RHP Mike Pelfrey 1. Brian Dozier ® 2B 2. Torii Hunter ® RF 3. Joe Mauer (L) 1B 4. Miguel Sano ® DH 5. Trevor Plouffe ® 3B 6. Eddie Rosario (L) LF 7. Aaron Hicks (S) CF 8. Eric Fryer ® C 9. Danny Santana (S) SS For the Angels, LHP C.J. Wilson 1. Johnny Giavotella ® 2B 2. Kole Calhoun (L) RF 3. Mike Trout ® DH 4. Albert Pujols ® 1B 5. Erick Aybar (S) SS 6. David Freese ® 3B 7. Chris Iannetta ® C 8. Matt Joyce (L) LF 9. Daniel Robertson ® CF When you are in a slump and face some challenge…

Minnesota Twins at Oakland Athletics 07/19/2015, 3:05 PM CDT Weather forecast: Clear, 84, winds W (toward right field) 4 mph Pitchers: Minnesota: Tommy Milone (5-1, 2.84) Oakland: Jesse Chavez (4-9, 3.40) Lineups and batting order: TWINS Dozier 2B Rosario RF Mauer 1B Hunter DH Plouffe 3B Hicks CF Robinson LF Fryer C Santana SS ATHLETICS Burns CF Canha 1B Zobrist 2B Butler DH Smolinski LF Lawrie 3B Phegley C Reddick RF Semien SS OK, so this is my first time opening a game thread. I think I’ll take the time-honored five things approach. 1. During Friday’s game Jack Morris commented that O.co Coliseum is a different park at night in that batted balls do …

Game Thread, Twins @ A's, 7/18 @ 8:05pm CT weather: Cloudy, then gradually becoming mostly sunny, with a high near 73. West wind 5 to 10 mph. Line up (not to be taken lyin' down) Twin Phil Hughes hurlin' rightly. Twin batterers: tbd A Scott Kazmir hurlin' leftly. A batterers: tba Alas, i'm not RiverBrian. As he offers things to think about, well, not bein' him, i figured, i should offer things not to think about... What not to think about? 1. The batting orders, respectively. They're not out yet, so don't think about 'em. Don't think about how well Sano's doing considering his youth and inexperience, or how Dozier can just turn on anything up and in, or how Hunte…

Last game before the All-Star Break …. A win today would put the Twins at 49-40 or .551. Who’d a thunk it? (Or dreamed it?) First up, the weather and line-ups: Gametime Forecast: 82°F • Mostly Cloudy • 0% PoP Looks like a perfect afternoon in the TC (its hot here). Detroit Tigers – RHP Shane Green (4-6, 5.82 ERA) – called up to make his first major league start since June 10. He gave up 22 runs in 14 2/3 innings to lose his final four outings before being demoted to Triple-A Toledo, where he was 1-1 with a 3.42 ERA in five starts (FSN Sports). 1. Ian Kinsler ® 2B 2. Yoenis Cespedes ® LF 3. Victor Martinez (S) DH 4. J.D. Martinez ® RF 5. Alex Avila (L) C 6. Nic…

Game Thread, Twins vs Tigers, 7/11 @ 3:05pm CT An exercise in Team effort: Great and glorius was the game thread intro i planned Pining for poetic precurser for our past time. I alighted upon old school epic alliteration Fell me with a feather, finale last night is a fine theme! Waking with wooly eyen, my wits wax but weakly. But, as our brethren of the bats battled last night For naught if but one failed or faultered Preciously posting, courteously crafting I beg, with thy bold swings, line by luscious line Recount the rally, a righteous and rich retelling! (i actually want this to almost work, so forgive my single mindedness, i'll not distract ya, except to say...…

Harken back roughly a century, to a time before internets and cellular devices, when interactions were actually *gasp* in person... http://www.reusableart.com/miwp/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/dove-banner.jpeg You are cordially invited to attend a Fancy Dress (er, i mean Base) Ball at the Chatteau de Twins Daily in the Magnificent Game Thread Bare Ball Room to commemorate this, the 11th reunion of the Erstwhile Washington Senators first in War first in Peace um, yeah... with the Detroit Tigers Four times Division Champs Music to be provided by Justin Verlander Ervin Santana (both esteemed right handed virtuosos of the mound) S…

Game-time forecast: 70-75 deg F, currently mostly cloudy, but should clear and be sunny, winds from the S at 7-8 mph. All in all, shaping up to be a good day for a baseball game! Lineups: ORIOLES Machado 3B Davis RF Jones CF Pearce LF Walker DH Hardy SS Parmelee 1B Schoop 2B Joseph C Jimenez P TWINS Dozier 2B Mauer DH Plouffe 1B Sano 3B Hunter RF Rosario LF Hicks CF Fryer C Santana SS Milone P Stuff: 1. Milone v Jimenez. If Milone stays on this roll of his, I give Milone the big edge. He's just been, well, amazing; a 1.95 ERA since he returned, 5 quality starts in a row (a team best), I mean, yeah! I give him the edge. Jimenez has been good this year, too, but as I…

Gametime forecast: 70°F • Clear • 0% PoP Great Night for Baseball! Wish I was there! For the Baltimore Orioles: RHP Kevin Gausman (1-0 after appearing in 10 games; 23.1 innings; 2 saves; 3.09 ERA) 1. Manny Machado ® 3B 2. Jimmy Paredes (S) DH 3. Adam Jones ® CF 4. Chris Davis (L) RF 5. Matt Wieters (S) C 6. Chris Parmelee (L) 1B 7. Travis Snider (L) LF 8. J.J. Hardy ® SS 9. Ryan Flaherty (L) 2B For your Minnesota Twins: RHP Kyle Gibson (6-6, 100.2 innings; 3.04 ERA) 1. Brian Dozier ® 2B 2. Joe Mauer (L) 1B 3. Trevor Plouffe ® 3B 4. Miguel Sano ® DH 5. Eddie Rosario (L) RF 6. Eduardo Escobar (S) LF 7. Aaron Hicks (S) CF 8. Kurt Suzuki ® C 9. Danny Sa…

Big game today, with Ervin Santana returning from his suspension to make his first start of 2015. He faces off against Danny Duffy (2-4, 5.44) Lineups TBA Weather: High 80s, summerlike, small chance of passing shower. Lineups TWINS 2B Dozier 1B Mauer RF Hunter 3B Plouffe DH Sano LF Rosario SS Nunez C Suzuki CF Hicks ROYALS SS A. Escobar 3B Moustakas CF Cain 1B Hosmer DH Morales LF Gordon 2B Infante RF Dyson C Butera Thoughts: 1. I was disappointed to hear that the lineups were announced for this game. Not disappointed with the players in the lineup, but that the lineup itself even existed. Instead of Lineups TBA=To Be Announced, we need something like TBRATM…

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…

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…

Happy Canada Day! This is the day when Canadians do things like not work, fire up a barbecue, and help their kids move out. But maybe someone more Canadian can explain better than me, since I am not Canadian at all. Today's pitching probables are Trevor May (4-6, 4.62) versus Johnny Cueto (4-5, 2.98). Weather in Cincinnati: Summerlike and beautiful. Lineups: TWINS 2B Dozier SS Nunez RF Rosario 3B Plouffe 1B Vargas C Herrmann CF Santana LF Robinson P May REDS 2B Phillips 1B Votto 3B Frazier RF Bruce C Pena LF Byrd SS Suarez P Cueto CF Hamilton So the Cincinnati manager is the one batting the pitcher 8th in the lineup today. However, Johnny Cueto is hitting .20…

The Twins will try to close out June with a win tonight. The pitching probables are Phil Hughes (6-6, 4.20) versus Anthony DeSclafani (5-5, 3.35), both righties. Game starts at 6. Weather forecast: Summerlike, good chance of scattered t-storms. Lineups TBA. Note: With the Twins in a swoon, we will go light on baseball in this set up and instead celebrate the "Mid Season Game Thread Awards" in this post. This will attempt to pull some of the best of the best from the game threads from the season up to this point. Some posters may see their names (fake names) below. Read on... A couple quick things to think about: 1. Ever noticed how TD Posters only use their dogs…

I'll start with the weather, since that's my thing. Game-time forecast: 76 deg F, partly cloudy, 20% chance of rain, winds from the SSE at 9mph. I don't know if the roof will be open or closed for that 20% chance. Lineups: TWINS Dozier 2B Rosario CF Mauer 1B Plouffe 3B Hunter RF Suzuki C Escobar LF Milone P Santana SS BREWERS Seguar SS Lucroy C Braun RF Gomez CF Lind 1B Ramirez 3B Perez 2B Peterson LF Fiers P ---------------- Game thoughts: 1. We need to win this game to break even with the Brewers. Mike Fiers is pitching for the Brewers. He's done well against us (SSS) even though he took the loss at our last meeting. He only gave up 2 runs but big Pelf turned in a …

Since I'm fond of movies, I thought I'd see if I could find an obscure book to reference, a book with a movie attached to it and tie it all in to baseball. And, perhaps talk about the Twins in the process. As luck would have it, there is such a book and better yet, it has a predecessor that was made into a fine movie. The Book: "Mash Goes to Maine." Yes, there were several of these books written, all revolving around a bunch of somewhat eccentric and roguish doctors. While the original book, "Mash," had one of those "other" sports featured, there were still some baseball references sprinkled throughout. For instance, in the book "Mash" after an especially tough cas…

Game Thread: White Sox @ Twins, 6/24 @ 12:10pm CT Christopher Allen Sale (6-3, 2.74 ERA) vs. Phillip Joseph Hughes (5-6, 4.47 ERA) Things to think about... 1- Computers -- Yesterday I was just standing around, minding my own business, but all of a sudden I heard a conversation that caught my attention, and the subject of this conversation was about electronic devices, mainly computers and hand-crank radios. Well I won't repeat everything that was said, but a certain member of the TD community was talking to a ten year old boy, and she was telling him that her computer burned fuel quickly, and then she got him all confused about it, and before you knew what had happe…

Game Thread: White Sox @ Twins, 6/23 @ 7:10pm CT The White Sox are in town, and they are looking to fall further in the standings in hope of getting Robin Ventura fired so that they can have a new manager, but Rick Hahn doesn't seem like he is very interested in firing Robin, so Jeff Samardzija is going to have to continue his good work. Speaking of managers being fired, the last time I went to a game the opposing team's manager was fired directly after, so maybe I need to go to this one as a good luck charm for the South Siders. White Sox - Jeffery Alan Samardzija, (4-4, 4.67 ERA) Minnesota Twins - Michael Alan Pelfrey, (5-3, 2.97 ERA) Here we go on your five thi…

Summer Solstice: When that pitch which is the earth's orbit begins to break. (It must be a pretty good spitball, as no one's managed to hit it yet!) Forecast for Today: Mostly sunny, with a high near 85. (Old Mother) West Wind 5 to 10 mph. Happy Thursday! Fa-thursday, that is. With a tip o' the hat to Riverbrian and his tree elephant: I meant what I said and I said what i meant. An Elephant's faithful. One Hundred Percent! And more as the exception that proves the rule: My name is Sue How do you do! Both quotes from well known poems on the subject of Fathers, i figure they need no further explanation? Anyway enjoy The Day of the Dad Alright Now.. Forcus on this …