Archived Game Threads

Welcome, threaders, to the last game thread in September and the penultimate game thread of the regular season. It’s fun to put that adjective in front of season, because this isn’t the penultimate thread of the whole season. Yes, there will be more game thread fun starting Tuesday. Brian will be our ‘go to’ starting pitcher on Tuesday. He’ll have the right amount of rest and I'm sure he will send us to the ALDS. As I look back on this season, I can’t point to any one thing that made it what it is for me. There were so many moments by different players and that’s what makes it not just a team, but a fun team to watch as a whole. There is a thread in the forums discussin…

Weather Alert: according to RotoGrinders: "Just an ugly night for baseball. It's cold (50 degrees), a bit breezy, and wet. Rain will gradually be tapering off, moderate rain around first pitch (unlikely they can start on time), then very light rain for most of the evening beyond that." Now that we have that out of the way, let's get back to our regularly scheduled game thread. The first full day of autumn is officially here, so it's only fitting that the Twins will try and stop their own “fall” tonight against the Los Angeles Angels. Minnesota enters the game having lost 7 of the 8 games to division opponents and have dropped to 73-77. They will have to go 8-4 …

I just wanted to get everyone in the proper frame of mind for the game: "Ezekiel 25:17. "The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of the darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children" -Jules Winnfield Twins with character 0. Jose Berrios (R) P 1. Kyle Garlick (R) RF 2. Josh Donaldson (R) 3B 3. Jorge Polanco (S) 2B 4. Nelson Cruz (R) DH …

Children's game game thread: What all were yer favorite games as a kid? And how am i going to tie that in to introduce a game thread? I don't know, but i figured i'd try. Baseball, after all, primarily a childs game. Promotes sportsmanship and teamwork and all them good stuff. Develops loads of hand eye coordination. Encourages fitness. Brings out all the buzzwords, don't it? Anyway, the incipient kids game that gave rise to this line of thought was Simon says. Simon says, "Catch the ball." Now throw it over the 1st baseman's head. Simon says "round 3rd and head for home." But you don't have to slide. And what brought this up was imagining the inverse game …

The "Waiting for Gobot" Game Thread covering the Twins vs As 3:05pm cdt 5/15/2021 ad (by Bectimus Sam) Setting: A suburban front lawn, a lone tree still waking up from the winter. In the background, neighbor is having a yard sale with the usual garage cruft: tattered clothes, old semi-functional tools, a dubious looking bike or two, fishing poles, tackle boxes, you know the like. Only thing eye catching is a bin of "vintage" 80's toys, dolls ("action" figures) and such. An ol' fart comes out and hangs a placard on the tree reading: 3:05pm Oakland 0. Cole Irvin ( L) P 1. Mark Canha (R ) LF 2. Seth Brown ( L) DH 3. Ramon Laureano (R…

Minnesota: Brian Dozier 2B Joe Mauer C Justin Morneau 1B Ryan Doumit RF Trevor Plouffe DH Aaron Hicks CF Clete Thomas LF Jamey Carroll 3B Pedro Florimon SS (Kyle Gibson P) New York: Ichiro Suzuki CF Zoilo Almonte LF Robinson Cano 2B Travis Hafner DH Vernon Wells RF Lyle Overbay 1B Eduardo Nunez SS Luis Cruz 3B Chris Stewart C (CC Sabathia P) Things to think about for today's game: 1. Think about a win yesterday. If we win one today... That's two in a row... If we win one on Thursday... That's called a winning streak!!! 2. Think about the all star break that starts tomorrow. Mauer and Perkins have something to do. Everyone else... can take s…

ANNND Welcome! To Minnesota Twins Whine Line: Christmas in August Edition! I am your host and gracious elf, Vanimal. Along with my trusty sidekick who does all the work, the intern elf! Guess what?! We're closer to Christmas than we are to the All-Star break! With 130 days until the big day, we're going to cheat and open up presents early! Hopefully we were good this year and Santa Falvine read our letters. Before we do that, let's toss it over to Chief elfeorologist, the intern.... Today is going to be a beautiful day in Minneapolis! Sunny and 85 degrees at first pitch. REAL FEEL of 84 degrees. Wind out of the NNE at 6 MPH. Lineups will come out later.... Who cares a…

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 …

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…

Tonight the "so hot right now" Minnesota Twins host the Kansas City Royals. Pop quiz (answer below): Is Kansas City in Missouri or Kansas? Former supplemental first round pick Kris Bubic gets his 3rd start of the season for KC. The 23 year old lefty features, according to former Twins analyst Bert Blyleven, "all four pitches." The Twins will counter with former Uber driver Randy Dobnak in his second start of 2021. The 26 year old Dobnak features a mustache. KC is the team immediately above the Twins in the ALC, so this weekend presents an opportunity to move into thi... um, get closer to third place. If some kind person, or one of the mods, cou…

A gamethread named Sue. "To sampleSizeOfOne: We question your integrity as a game thread introducer. Please contribute more prominently during the game proper. -Modern Jiminy Cricket" Sorry. I had me a rehearsal during the game last night, and am about to rush off to a parade today... "I ran out of gas! I got a flat tire! I didn’t have change for cab fare! I lost my tux at the cleaners! I locked my keys in the car! An old friend came in from out of town! Someone stole my car! There was an earthquake! A terrible flood! Locusts! IT WASN’T MY FAULT, I SWEAR TO GOD!" As i won't be around to help it grow strong, i figure i'll pull out the stops on meme like cultur…

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, …

Hello, and welcome to today's game thread. I'm going to use the time-honored five-point format. 1.) Wednesday and Thursday in Detroit provided us with two very disheartening losses. But after last night https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIZUS5rBtFE I think many of us have renewed hope. There is still plenty of time for us to catch and pass Cleveland. 2.) I'm not a stat-head, but in recent years I've come to look at WPA (Win Probability Added) as one of the most important ways to measure how good a player is because it places a higher importance on performance in key situations. However, I have come to think that this needs to be refined. Players who play for very good t…

Game-time forecast: Cloudy with a 60-percent chance of rain. Winds blowing out to left field at 5-10 m.p.h. Temperature around 80. ROYALS: SP, Vargas Aoki RF Infante 2B Perez C Butler 1B Gordon LF Willingham DH Moustakas 3B Escobar SS Dyson CF TWINS: SP, May Santana CF Dozier 2B Mauer 1B Vargas DH Arcia RF Plouffe 3B Parmelee LF Fryer C Escobar SS ---------------------------------- Okay, Brian ... I know you are on vacation from work ... but this isn't work, right? ---------------------------------- Not on Vacation Yet... But Soon... I'm heading to Minneapolis Thursday for a long weekend... rest and relaxation... having a good time... Doin The Pub Crawl a…

Blue Jays: SP RA Dickey SS Reyes LF Davis DH Encarnacion 1B Lind 3B Lawrie RF Sierra 2B Goins CF Gose C Thole Twins: SP Mike Pelfrey CF Presley RF Thomas 2B Dozier DH Willingham 3B Plouffe LF Arcia 1B Colabello C Pinto SS Florimon Things to Think About: 1. Think About Canada... It's an invasion from Canada... You know it's just a matter of time before Canada Citizens en masse blow past the border and starts claiming warmer American land for themselves. No reason to guard the current border. They will swing around and go straight after Florida. A warm state and two hockey teams. It's only a matter of time. Think about the Canadian Dollar... The Blue Jays sp…

Ah, the summer doldrums. The dead period in a baseball season where absolutly nothing much interesting happens. The Twins, coming off an off day, travel down river to St Louis, losing approximately 400 feet of elevation along the way, to take on the Cardinals. I wish there were something, anything, that would give us a topic of discussion for tonight's game, but I got nothing. ZERO happened today, or yesterday, as far as I can tell. And let me tell you, I follow this stuff pretty closely, I'd KNOW if there were things to talk about. Anywhoo, it's J.O. Berrios on the bump for the Twins tonig....wait, wut? Mrs Chief just interrupted me with something about "a tra…

Twins | 53-61 overall, 20-37 on the road, 5-5 last 10 Ervin Santana, RHP | 6.14 ERA, 1.64 WHIP, 2.25 K:BB in 14.2 IP Tigers | 47-68 overall, 29-27 at home, 3-7 last 10 Jordan Zimmermann, RHP | 4.31 ERA, 1.23 WHIP, 4.56 K:BB in 77.1 IP Lineups: https://twitter.com/MikeBerardino/status/1028003956398743552?s=19

I go down a lot of rabbit holes when it comes to this game we all love. Inevitably, when I was researching those Chip Hale and Jeff Reboulet hit streaks, I came across the name Walt Dropo. Moose was the AL rookie of the year in 1950 for the BoSox and, although he never matched the promise he showed in that first campaign, went on to have a solid career. Alvin Davis, Eric Hosmer, and Sixto Lezcano are some of his comps. All that said, Walt Dropo is best known for getting twelve hits in a row, the major league record (Pinky Higgins also singled in twelve straight ABs but mixed in a pair of walks). But I’m not here to talk about all that. It’s just how I got started. Drop…

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…

Game-time forecast: Mostly cloudy with a 30-percent chance of rain. Winds blowing out to left field at 5-10 m.p.h. Temperature around 70. My afternoon schedule is looking full so I thought I should get the game thread thoughts together early. This is... of course... way too early for ChiTown who typically sleeps until 2PM. She'll post those lineups right here after she wipes the sleep from her eyes. Brian, pfft! I'll have you know I stumbled out of bed at noon, and then went and had my nails done. In a little bit I'm off to the dentist and have to stop at Target for a few items. Oh, and have to return some clothing items I purchased. All in all a productive day, d…

Game-time forecast: Partly cloudy. Winds blowing out to left field at 5-10 m.p.h. Temperature around 90. TWINS: SP, Nolasco Santana CF Dozier 2B Mauer 1B Vargas DH Arcia RF Plouffe 3B Suzuki C Escobar SS Schafer LF ROYALS: SP, Duffy Dyson CF Escobar SS Gordon LF Butler 1B Perez C Willingham DH Moustakas 3B Cain RF Colon 2B -------------------------------------- And now that ModCon is over, and we are all on our way to recuperation, and Brian was possibly given too much to think about, he should have no problem finishing out the year here! Let's play ball! -------------------------------------- Yeah... I Suppose... But I can't remember how to do it. I think…

One of the reasons I wanted to do the gameday thread TODAY was to play this song. This song has given me goosebumps since I was a child. Listen to this classic from the Moody Blues and please read my (I am hoping) non-controversial comments and impressions; along various quotes, ruminations and contemplations. Please remember no animals were harmed in the process ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I would like to begin with historical (non-hysterical) happenings in Twins history on this date: July 3rd 2000- Topsy-turvy game at Fenway as the Twins come up on the short end in an…

Twins: Brian Dozier 2B Joe Mauer C Ryan Doumit DH Justin Morneau 1B Trevor Plouffe 3B Oswaldo Arcia LF Chris Parmelee RF Aaron Hicks CF Pedro Florimon SS (Samuel Deduno P) Rays: Desmond Jennings CF Luke Scott DH Ben Zobrist 2B Evan Longoria 3B James Loney 1B Wil Myers RF Matt Joyce LF Jose Molina C Yunel Escobar SS (Roberto Hernandez P)

Game-time forecast: Partly cloudy. Winds blowing out to center field at 10-15 m.p.h. Temperature around 75. Twins: SP, Hughes Dozier 2B Mauer 1B Plouffe 3B Colabello RF Kubel LF Pinto DH Suzuki C Hicks CF Escobar SS Royals: SP, Ventura Aoki RF Infante 2B Hosmer 1B Perez C Gordon LF Butler DH Moustakas 3B Maxwell CF Escobar SS --------------------------------------- Brian, the thinking man, will have more to say here. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank you and Happy Easter Things to think about: 1. Yordano Ventura -- 100 MPH... The hard throwing right hander is going to have our Twins on their toes today. Major …

Game-time forecast: Cloudy with a 30-percent chance of rain. Winds blowing out to center field at 15-20 m.p.h. Temperature around 70. PALE HOSE: SP, Carroll Eaton CF Ramirez SS Abreu 1B Dunn DH Viciedo RF Gillaspie 3Bi De Aza LF Beckham 2B Nieto C TWINS: SP, Pino Santana CF Fuld LF Dozier 2B Plouffe 3B Arcia RF Willingham DH Parmelee 1B Fryer C Escobar SS ----------------------------------------- ​Brian will be up soon … I hope … as we all need a little Brian after the last 3 games. Sigh. Keep on swimming, keep on swimming, keep on swimming …. --------------------------------------------------------- We need a little something... That is for sure Things t…

(I am Game Thread) Game: Twins @ Cardinals, 6/16 @ 12:45pm CT 9. Byron Buxton [R] CF 8. Kyle Gibson [R] P 7. Shane Robinson [R] LF 6. Kurt Suzuki [R] C 5. Eduardo Nunez [R] SS 4. Trevor Plouffe [R] 3B 3. Joe Mauer [L] 1B 2. Torii Hunter [R] RF 1. Brian Dozier [R] 2B Minnesota Twins Symmetrical Lineups (or downs?) Saint Louis Cardinals 1. Kolten Wong [L] 2B 2. Matt Carpenter [L] 3B 3. Jhonny Peralta [R] SS 4. Mark Reynolds [R] 1B 5. Yadier Molina [R] C 6. Jason Heyward [L] RF 7. Randal Grichuk [R] LF 8. Peter Bourjos [R] CF 9. Michael Wacha [R] P Weather: Currently Partly Cloudy and 78F = 26C (within some rounding error, i'm sure) Forecast: Showers likely, with thu…

Minnesota SP: Mike Pelfrey CF Mastroianni C. Suzuki 1B Mauer LF Willingham RF Parmelee DH Ramirez 3B Romero 2B Bartlett SS Santana Phillies SP: Jeff Manship CF Revere 2B Galvis RF Abreu 1B Ruf 3B Franco DH Mayberry LF Gwynn SS Cedeno C Nieves Things to Think About: 1. Daylight Savings Time: This isn't a 1:05 (Eastern Time) Start... It's a 12:05 start. The body clock doesn't just change with a snap of the fingers. This means its really a 9:05 start in Thousand Oaks California. On top of that... You are talking about Young Players. When I was the age of the majority of these players. Sleeping until Noon was done with such ease. Sean Gilmartin is 23 Years old an…

Okay ... last little bit of tune up before it all begins ... Go Twins! TWINS Dozier 2B Mauer DH Sano RF Plouffe 3B Rosario LF Park 1B Escobar SS Murphy C Buxton CF Nolasco P NATIONALS Taylor CF Rendon 3B Harper RF Zimmerman 1B Murphy 2B Werth LF Ramos C Espinosa SS Ross P (Ross P)

Games Past Midnight This is the 3rd time in less than 2-weeks (even counting the All-Star break) that the Twins have played a rain delayed game past midnight. They won all three, A’s 11-4, Rangers 8-6 and last night 5-4. All three came after a previous night’s loss. The first two they won the following day…A’s 4-0, Rangers 15-5, I don’t think we be asking too much to simply keep going for continuity sake. Talking about rain delays and games past midnight, here are some games that might put last night’s game in perspective. 1. Aug. 12, 1990, Chicago, 7 hours, 23 minutes Hosting the Rangers, the White Sox waited that long before finally postponing a Sunday afternoon game…

Game-time forecast: Sunny. Winds blowing out to right field at 5-10 m.p.h. Temperature around 75. PADRES: SP, Despaigne Cabrera SS Solarte 3B Smith LF Medica DH Gyorko 2B Venable CF Alonso 1B Grandal C Francoeur RF TWINS: SP, Correia Santana CF Dozier 2B Plouffe 3B Vargas DH Arcia RF Parmelee 1B Escobar SS Fryer C Schaefer LF ---------------------------------------------------- Okay, Brian ... your turn ... slippin' and slidin', think it over and rave on! We're all crying, waiting, hoping here! (But maybe we could move on from crickets to another critter ... )