Archived Game Threads

After mailing in the last thread (FYI, trying to FedEx electrons to TD is marginally easier than herding cats. Marginally.) I decided to put some thought and effort into this game thread series opener. ("game thread series opener" is a trick to increase word count because, nothing says "lots of thought went into the opener" quite like a bunch of words on a screen) What was interesting about the "mailing it in" start of the game series thread openers was the Twins sweeping Texas, and, apparently, Tony Diaz switching uniforms so he could show Texas the proper way to run their way out of innings. Which brings us to today, Twins taking on the White Sox, a tea…

Deja vu. I think i have been waiting for this parade before, tasked with writing a game thread, not knowing what i would write... But that (or those?) times the Twins weren't leading there division. I could away with substandard game intros. Ha. Jokes on them (you?) I got no standards to hold me down, to pick me up, to make me frown. So this is it. The fire trucks are shining their wheels, all in fine uniforms. Parade might be over by the time the game begins, and i got an opportunity to car pool, so i can post on the game thread... if my phone has charge and signal. They are handing out mucus (he means music...) percussionist asks if there is a triangle part, he …

The first game against the White Red Sox went well. Okay, maybe not well, but it wound up in the "Win" column due to late inning heroics by Joe Mauer. Then, game II rolled around. And, as expected, the game was over early. And here we go: game three with Ervin Santana on the mound against Chris Sale. Should be a good one! Deep Thoughts 1. Why is a baseball diamond, which is actually a square, called a diamond? If you do the geometry, the bases are arranged in a square, with each base 90 feet apart. And the pitching rubber is 60' 6" from home plate. Which is just over halfway to 2nd base. I'm not sure if it was due to bad math or if the Pythagorean Theorem had ye…

Things to think about: Texas - Texas is one of the best baseball states in the country, with only California and Florida having more active Major League Baseball players, and compared to Minnesota's measly 6 native born players the 69 from Texas are quite a lot. Baseball is not the most interesting aspect of Texas, because they have rednecks, which by definition is a working class white person, especially a politically reactionary one. Rednecks like things big, and they especially like big guns, which is why big, bullet throwing pitchers come out of Texas. Exciting teams that do bad - This is something that the Twins and Astros both are, so what they should try to do …

Seattle Slough I went through Seattle once. Maybe a few other towns out that way, too. Mind’s not that clear about that trip, uh, journey, but I don’t recall seeing any sloughs. So I never could figure out why horse people get so excited talking about Seattle’s sloughs. Imagine what all that water could to a horse race… But this is about baseball so let’s talk about baseball people. You know who I’m talking about… those little round guys dressed in faux horsehide and leather gloves. They’re a little unseamly (went a long way to get that one), but once you get to know them you realize they’re often well grounded and only occasionally fly off the handle. For God’…

Brian is unavoidably, unavailable, today. I am never going to be an... equivalent, or even close to... to his greatness. So I'm not even going to try. I'd apologize... but hey, it's not my, fault Brian isn't here... today. I'm sure. He'll let you know... about it in his next... game thread. The Phillies are kind of a meh team. The Twins are worse than meh. The Phillies are on a losing streak of 7 games; the Twins just won one, against the Yankees. The Phillies are going to be looking to break their streak, with a starter who has had a few rough outings in a row now. The Twins are looking to build on their winning streak of one game with a starter that started the season…

Lineups Twins 2B Brian Dozier 1B Joe Mauer 3B Miguel Sano LF Eddie Rosario DH Logan Morrison SS Ehire Adrianza RF Max Kepler CF Byron Buxton C Jason Castro SP Kyle Gibson Orioles 1B Chris Davis SS Manny Machado 2B Jonathan Schoop CF Adam Jones LF Trey Mancini RF Colby Rasmus 3B Tim Beckham DH Anthony Santander C Caleb Joseph SP Andrew Cashner Twins v Orioles Game Two - This Time It's Personal It's a funny thing about Opening Day. Win the opener and you feel like your team's invincible and can do no wrong. If you lose, things seem gloomy right away. Your team has to get that first win out of the way for everyone to feel better. And even then, if it doesn…

Welcome to the Game Thread, Sunday morn edition, where we'll discuss all things not being math and politics. This series has been a mixed bag thus far. Friday night showcased the Twins team that we know and love. Saturday's tilt featured the Twins team that we know and love but aren't quite sure of why. It's likely that we'll see one of those two teams in today's matinee rubber match. On the hill today, Devin Smeltzer looks to continue to show that he belongs in the rotation. Gilberto Celestino returns to the starting lineup to help him out. It'll be interesting to see how Smeltzer's stuff fares against a good lineup like Toronto's. After a short outing by B…

Lineups for today's game: Indians 1. CF Michael Bourn 2. 2B Jason Kipnis 3. LF Michael Brantley 4. 1B Carlos Santana 5. RF Brandon Moss 6. DH David Murphy 7. 3B Lonnie Chisenhall 8. C Roberto Perez 9. SS Jose Ramirez PITCHING: TJ House Twins 1. 2B Brian Dozier 2. RF Torii Hunter 3. 1B Joe Mauer 4. DH Kennys Vargas 5. 3B Trevor Plouffe 6. C Kurt Suzuki 7. LF Oswaldo Arcia 8. SS Eduardo Escobar 9. CF Shane Robinson PITCHING: Trevor May ------- Today's matchup: TJ House vs the House DJ [borrowed from someone on Twitter, I honestly cannot remember who, sorry to that person]... Trevor May, as many fans know, moonlights as a DJ spinning as DJ heybeef. Let's ho…

Good afternoon, Twins fans! After playing three games in 27 hours, the Central Division Leadership has taken a brief recess (21 hours or so) before two more games in 21 hours starting tonight. Then the Twins travel back across Guardiana, Illinois, and Wisconsin (or maybe cut across Ontario and Michigan if the pilot is not afraid of water) to play the Orioles of Maryland at the weekend. Pre-Game Diversion: Favorite Baseball Books This is a topic that has appeared here from time to time: favorite baseball movies or books. Since I don’t do a lot of movies, I’d like to hear about your favorite baseball books tonight. (I’m thinking about histories or novels, not anal…

The Twins are on a West Coast swing, starting in the North, though still south of the Twin Cities, in Seattle, facing the Mariners. This should be an interesting series because the Mariners have been able to put some runs on the board. Though, their pitching seems to be able to give up quite a few runs also. Which is good for the Twins, not so good for Seattle. It's funny, because I sort of kept an eye on Seattle and noticed they had a good record, but looked at how many runs they were giving up and realized their early season record was smoke and mirrors. And, as of this writing, Seattle shows a -12 run differential while our favorite team, the Twins, show a run diff…

Well, here I am doing my second intro on the seventh game of the season. I didn't plan for it to go this way, but one never knows. It is supposedly baseball season, but looking outside, I'm not so sure. I got up this morning and it was snowing. Yeah, I know, it sometimes snows in April in Minnesota and it can be cold and gloomy on any given day BUT not every freaking day! It's the 15th of the month and there has been snow in the air at least nine of those days. It was 66 degrees almost exactly a month ago and it hasn't been close to that in over four weeks and the weather is supposed to get better as we head through spring. And the wind! Okay, end of rant. Better to compl…

Apparently it is mostly cloudy and low 60s anticipated temperature. Line ups are: Minnesota P Jose Berrios ( R) 1. Brian Dozier ( R) 2B 2. Joe Mauer (L) DH 3. Miguel Sano ( R) 3B 4. Eddie Rosario (L) LF 5. Logan Morrison (L) 1B 6. Eduardo Escobar (S) SS 7. Byron Buxton (R ) CF 8. Max Kepler (L) RF 9. Mitch Garver (R ) C Baltimore P Kevin Gausman (R ) 1. Chris Davis (L) 1B 2. Manny Machado (R ) SS 3. Jonathan Schoop (R ) 2B 4. Adam Jones (R ) CF 5. Trey Mancini ( R) LF 6. Colby Rasmus (L) RF 7. Tim Beckham ( R) 3B 8. Pedro Alvarez (L) DH 9. Chance Sisco (L) C Today Easter falls on April Fool's day. I wonder how often that happens, and while i am curious, th…

The funny thing is, I assumed the Twins would scratch out a win in one of those games yesterday. I mean, a person can’t be that jaded to believe the Yankees will sweep the Twins again, can they? Tonight is Sonny Gray (7-4, 3.10 ERA) for the Twins, versus Nestor Cortes (9-4, 2.68 ERA) for the Yankees. Lineups as they are available. (EDIT 4:30 PM - Lineups at bottom of this post) In the doubleheader yesterday, both the Twins and the Yankees blew chance after chance in Game 1, and in Game 2 a grand slam by former Twin Isiah Kiner-Falefa, off of current Twin Joe Ryan, was enough to seal a win. The grand slam came while Thad Levine was tal…

Good afternoon Twins fans and welcome back to more game thread fun! Today the mighty Minnesota Twins (and current AL Central Division leaders) take on the NL Central Division leader Milwaukee Brewers. Unlike the drivel Rosenthal discusses in The Atlantic about the Twins collapsing in the second half of the season and getting lapped by the White Sox and Cleveland, I think the Twins are going to run away with the division. Tonight's game will be a good test for the Twins! Not only do I think the Twins will dominate the AL Central this second half but I think they will dominate tonight's game. The Twins lineup looks good and ready to roll. Buxton and Correa are both in…

I am opening this thread for the people who visit Twins Daily but have not yet posted on any of the forums. If you have not yet registered, then you will need to do so. You should also read the TD Comment Policy sticky thread at the top of the Questions About MinnCentric forum. Even if you're a little shy, gather your courage and take a chance and post something here. I believe that you will find that most of us don't bite, and those who do bite better not do it here.

I wrote a Game Thread opener that had nothing to do with today’s game and very little to do with this year. Then the Twins won four games in a row and the intrigue about buying and selling heightened, as well as some great performances to talk about—Garver with four hits Wednesday and the gamer last night, Gibson with a great performance against the best team in baseball so far this year—and I’m reeled in to discussing the balance of the series versus the Rose Hose. So, today Chris Sale faces Lance Lynn. Sale has been dominant of late, and Lynn has been a disappointment, if not and out-and-out dud. However, the Twins have played the Red Sox very well and done a respectab…

Good morning Twins fans and welcome back to more Game Thread fun! It was so nice seeing the Twins play again yesterday! I hate that we lost but one game in the scheme of things doesn't really matter this time of year. However, I really believe we have a strong foundation and a group of players that will compete well this year. I'm still standing by my prediction that the Twins will win the AL Central this year. By the way, I love this time of year in Minnesota. We have the Masters on TV, the weather is warming, the ice is melting off the lakes, the grass is beginning to green, MLB is starting up and hope "springs" eternal for my favorite team the Minnesota Twins. …

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…

ANND Welcome! To Minnesota Twins Whine Line: Game Thread Edition! I am your host for the next 2 days, Vanimal. How neat was that victory last night? The odds were stacked against ol' Pat Dean... But he was able to out-duel King Felix, notorious Twins killer! I'm sure he'll be telling that story to his grand kids one day. Let's talk weather and lineups.... It's Seattle. Of course it's raining when the first pitch happens. The retractable roof wins again! Real feel of 54 degrees. Minnesota Twins: 1. Eduardo Nunez ® 3B 2. Brian Dozier ® 2B 3. Joe Mauer (L) 1B 4. Miguel Sano ® RF 5. Byung Ho Park ® DH 6. Robbie Grossman (S) LF 7. Eduardo Escobar (S) SS 8. Kurt Suzuki ®…

Breathe in. Breathe out. The Twins have been through a bit of a rough stretch, but I do feel that people are overreacting justttttt a bit. Yes, the Panic!! Thread is incredible, but I really don't think people should be too worried about this team. I'm just going to give a few reasons why to be hopeful about this team. The Twins have three guys at Rochester that would be on the majority of rosters leaguewide in Cave, Astudillo, and Arraez. As much as an injury to a star hitter would suck, the Twins have guys to fill in! The Twins have an impressive and deep prospect list. Through the next few years, many of these guys will turn into really good players, while others w…

ANNND Welcome Back! To Minnesota Twins Whine Line on a Sunday. How neat was that game yesterday?! The International Space Station captured Vargas' HR leaving our atmosphere yesterday! And Berrios did his best Catch Me If You Can impression to get the win. Today is Nik Turley day! Maybe you're like me and haven't heard of this guy until a week or so ago. We did some digging to learn more about him to prepare you for today... And we discovered he has a sharp looking beard who throws a bender! That's about it... Before we get into more debauchery, let's talk weather and lineups. Bring your jackets to the stadium again, because it's a chilly one. 63 degrees at first pitch…

The Cleveland Indians were just beaten by the White Sox in a one hit game in which was a solo shot, and the Twins now lead by six games. They have a chance to extend the division lead back out to six and a half games with a win tonight against Boston, so please win Twins!! The Pitchers Martin Perez (9-6, 4.89 ERA, 120 K's) vs Nathan Eovaldi (1-0, 6.23 ERA, 46 K's) Martin Perez was not good his last time out against the Tigers in which he didn't manager to get through three innings, and gave up eight runs in that outing. However, prior to that matchup Perez strung together multiple good starts in a row, so lets hope that showing was just an off night for him. He did…

Twins: SP Andrew Albers 2B Dozier 3B Carroll 1B Mauer DH Morneau LF Arcia RF Colabello C Herrmann CF Thomas SS Bernier Royals: SP James Shields CF Cain 1B Hosmer DH Butler LF Gordon RF Maxwell 3B Moustakas 2B Tejada C Kottaras SS Escobar Things to think about: 1. Think about Andrew Albers... Hey... Look... Someone New to look at... He's a great story... He's paid his dues and now he gets his MLB Debut... I imagine he didn't sleep much last night... However... He is Canadian and those guys don't sleep so he's probably used to that. 2. Think about James Shields... What a pitcher to debut against... I'm sure there is a part of Albers that was wishing for a mat…

The unwritten GametThread into. 0. If you weren't paging attention, i cleverly left the word rules out of the title so it would actually be unwritten. I actually thought that sufficient as the entire intro, but would have understood if Chief and ChiTown disagreed. 1. No one can be told about the GameThread. You have to choose. Take the blue pill to continue on down the rabbit hole (yes, the sign says Eat Me on it. Please don't be offended) or take the red pill to continue with your normal. Media coverage. What? they're both blue? That can mean only one thing... You are already in the GameThread... It isn't so bad once you get used to our... 2. Hospitality. Yes, desp…

Roster Move: The Twins have placed LHP Danny Coulombe on the 15 day IL after exiting last nights outing with a hip injury. To take his place on the roster, the Twins have purchased the contract of RHP Yennier Cano. Cano, 28, has had a long path to the majors including 12 scoreless innings at AAA St Paul so far this season. To make room on the 40 man roster, RHP Jhon Romero has been moved to the 60 day IL. Kyle Garlick could begin a rehab assignment soon, and Bailey Ober threw a 20 pitch bullpen session this afternoon. The Pitchers: RHP Jose Urquidy (2-1, 4.56 ERA, 25.2 IP, 16 K's) vs RHP Chris Archer (0-0, 3.26 ERA, 19.1 IP, 20 K's) Urquidy has gotten off to the…

In Search of a Yardarm Every St. Patrick’s Day my wife of 32 years (give or take a year or two, I lost track - but don’t tell my wife) and I sit down with a bowl of popcorn to watch John Wayne and Maureen O’Hara in “The Quiet Man”. If you’ve never seen it, give it a whirl. It was filmed in Ireland and has the distinction of being known as the only movie in which John Wayne played somebody other than himself. Anyway, watching the Quiet Man is one of my family’s traditions. My mother, God bless her soul, was Irish. Well, not Irish-Irish, but 2nd generation American Irish. That makes me half German, half-Irish. And some might say half-a$$ed. Actually being German-…

I was at a loss as to what to write for this series opener. So, I consulted with my very good friend, Christopher Robin to see if I could find some good insight into the Detroit Tiggers: Quickly realizing that Christopher Robin might not be the best source for information about the Detroit Tiggers, I decided to look elsewhere for inspiration that didn't involve much perspiration. *Yeah, that character was modeled on me trying to come up with ideas for game threads. Yes, we're going to ignore the fact the movie came out long before TD and the web became ubiquitous. After the Twins decided spotting the Sox a couple of games at home was a bad idea, they brought…

I don’t see a game thread for tonight, but whoever is doing the thread, I feel like this photo of Alex Cora during last night’s game needs to be included:

"And he stoppeth one of three..." I'll take one for the team. This is the one we listen to what the ancient mariners really have to say. Personally i hope we get the spruce goose, rather than an albatross. I also hope we win, and not because the rest of the leauge dies off. Things to think about... Coleridge: I had this wonderful dream* where it was the 80s, Reagan was preisdent, and there was an epic game thread intro that i read. Then i woke up and started writing it down, and well something distracted me, and when i got back to writing it, i had forgotten most of it. So i had to make up the rest, so it won't be any different than the rest of mine. In Minnesot'…