Archived Game Threads

I'm generally a "glass half full, silver linings, it's better to be in first place than last place like last year" kind of guy, but the current state of Twins pitching is making that a little difficult these days. Aaron Sanchez will take the mound for the Twins tonight. Aaron debuted in 2014 at the age of 21 as one of the bigger pitching prospects in baseball and a big hope for a bright future in Toronto. He is not that guy anymore. Sanchez began his career in the bullpen and was quite effective in 2014 (1.09 ERA in 33 IP). In 2015 he started working his way into the rotation with 11 of his 41 appearances being starts. He was again quite effective with a 3.22 ERA in 92.1 …

Good morning Twins fans and welcome to another Game Thread installment filled with fun, laughter and exciting banter! I like day games and listening to the game while at work. I also like posting on the Game Thread whilst fielding phone calls from customers and vendors. When people enter my office I tell them to leave as I am busy typing up an important email (in truth its just posting on the Game Thread). Speaking of fun at work, it got me thinking about some of the funny practical jokes I've played on my co-workers over the years. Once when I was in college and working for Pepsi as a driver I had a stop where one of my fellow Pepsi drivers was parked. He was in th…

When in the course of human events. it becomes necessary for one fan base to complain vociferously enough about the lack of base running, and the dubious control we have on our opponents running game, and become so focussed that we lose ourselves in one petty detail, like if Buxton steels home on a strike 3 for a third out, does he actually have to beat the pitch home, beat the catcher controlling his bobbling of the pitch in an effort to get the tag down? or does he have to beat the other umps check swing call? Curious minds want to know these things... Anyway, it is good to take step back, appreciate the big picture, that the season is actually going ok…

strikezoid: noun pronounced strike ĕh(tip of the cap to our northern neighbors) zoid antecedent: strike zone Definition: a curious shape that defies normal geometric definitions. This shape, which changes from minute to minute, is designed to drive both batters and fans crazy. In fact, this shape, while correctly known as a "strikezoid" is often confused with the "strike zone." However, since strike zones are rectangular in shape, the distinction quickly becomes obvious. Back to the subject at hand: strikezoid. It has become apparent the umpires have designed a new shape for the strike zone. Henceforth known as the "strikezoid." Curiously, the strikezoid seems to be…

King of game threads, and game thread to the Kings. (same movie referenced further down, and left as an exercise to the descerning game threader, but it is a half hearted attempt to establish a theme... And my humble apologies for the stepping on toes, but i see it is an open date in Chief's ol' list, and it being day of, and considering the newish freedom, i figure forgiveness the better part of permission... or something) 1. For some reason i remember watching a Boston baseball game on the telly long ago, and they highlighted local celebrity types. And the one that stuck was the somewhat prolific author Stephen King. I think technically he is from Maine, which used to…

Brent Rooker, it is your time to show what you've got. It has always intrigued me how the Twins organization has treated having an overabundance of outfielders in the past. Jason Kubel never seemed to get enough at bats, Michael Cuddyer was thrown around the playing field, Delmon Young and Miguel Sano were allowed to even be out there, and the list goes on. Currently, us fans are extremely lucky to have Rosario, Kepler, Buxton, and Gonzalez being out there most days. However, Rooker, Kirilloff, Larnach, and even Royce Lewis are knocking at the doorstep, and they will need opportunities soon. I was looking back at some old writings of mine a couple weeks ago, and I wro…

Twins | 43-50 overall, 28-22 at home, 8-2 in their last 10 Fernando Romero | 3-3, 4.28 ERA, 1.34 WHIP, 2.32 K:BB Rays | 49-46 overall, 23-29 on the road, 6-4 in their last 10 Ryne Stanek | 1-2, 1.93 ERA, 0.95 WHIP, 2.73 K:BB Lineups: https://twitter.com/MillerStrib/status/1018517871146782720?s=19 Additional notes: In his three starts since being sent back down to Rochester, Romero only gave up three earned runs over 18 2/3 innings (1.45 ERA). He’s back up in the bigs because Aaron Slegers was placed on the DL. You may be thinking to yourself “Stanek? Didn’t we already see this guy?” We did. He pitched an inning out of Tampa Bay’s bullpen Thursday night at Target …

We're ten games into the season and haven't really learned a damned thing about the hometown team. The good lineup is underperforming, the bad pitching staff is overperforming, dogs and cats are living together, it's mass hysteria. And it's approximately 14 degrees in the Twin Cities. Thankfully, the Twins are back on the road because baseball is not meant to be played in this weather. Anyway, the Twins started the season against three teams that should be in the playoff mix: the Mariners, the Red Sox, and the Dodgers. The team held their own against the Mariners and Red Sox - despite some of the most god-awful games of baseball I've seen in awhile - and la…

And a Happy Labor Day/End-0f-Summer greeting to TD regulars, guests, and visitors! Our hometown heroes begin the turn to fall with a 3-game set against the Pale Hose at Guaranteed Rate Field. It’s fireworks off the Dan Ryan as Sonny Gray looks for some payback. Gray’s only other start against the Sox was ugly, as he ended up going only 3.2 innings, allowing 6 runs on the way to a 12-2 loss back in July at Target Field. But in his last three starts, Gray has given up only 3 earned runs in 17 innings. Which Sonny shows up tonight? Opposing Gray in a game –day change is Joe Kelly, making a spot start in replacing the previously scheduled rookie Davis Martin. Kelly’s lin…

ANNNND Welcome! To Minnesota Twins Whine Line: John Wick Edition! I am your host for TODAY, Van Wick... One of the most dangerous assassins in the world! You may be asking yourself why someone would out themselves IMMEDIATELY as an assassin, and why I'm talking about the Twins today! Well, my friends, Derek Falvey hired me to do a very specific job after he learned I killed 77 guys because the wrong guy killed my ******* dog, and stole my car. You'll find out what I did to help the team after the intern tells you about the weather. Uhhh, hi! Long time no chat... Wasn't really prepared for this! They're playing with the roof closed right? Hope so! DYNAMITE drop in, bud…

Good afternoon and welcome back to more game thread fun!! The Twin's seem to be heating up...can they make it 3 in a row? It was nice to see the Twins rally last night. Hopefully they can build off the momentum of last night and pull themselves out of the cellar. Berrios is throwing tonight too. Could be a good game! Finally got moved into our new place last week but still surrounded by boxes and lots of stuff .left to unpack. Will listen to the game on the radio as our internet and TV's still aren't operating at their capacity. I decided to cut the cable cord as well. I doubt anyone on here cares but thought I would let you in on that anyway. I'm now a cord cutter! …

Since my last game thread intro, the Twins have went on a run to win three ballgames in a row, and looking dang good doing so. The starting pitching has been fantastic, and the bats have come around the past two games. There is always the cloud of injuries over our head, but that is the life of being a Minnesota sports fan. Let's get into game 2 of the midweek series with Detroit. The Pitchers - LHP J.A. Happ (2-2, 3.47 ERA, 42 K's, 49.1 IP) vs RHP Casey Mize (0-3, 6.99 ERA, 26 K's, 28.1 IP) The Twins turn to offseason free agent signee J.A Happ to round out their rotation. The lefty has bounced around the league during his long career, most recently playing for the …

The Twins leave Cleveland, eking 1 win out of a three game series. However, this also means the Twins are currently 4 and 3 on this road trip. Which leads me to a "fun with numbers" edition of game thread openers. If a team were to go 4 and 3 every 7 games, the math says the team will, in the course of a season, wind up with a record of 92.56 wins and 69.98 losses. Adding in another bit of math, if a team goes 6 and 5 every 11 games, the team will end the season with 88.32 wins and 73.60 losses. Currently, the Twins sit at 41 wins and 20 losses, which, according to real math, done by someone who actually has mathematical ability, gives the Twins a 10.5 game lea…

The Twins get to play the MLB's worst team, but that doesn't mean that they will walk out of Miami with a sweep, or even a series victory. However, if they don't at least win two, it will for sure be a disappointment. However, the roster will, and yes, I say will because I promise you there will be at least one more trade, by Thursday's morning game. Now I'm not sure if they'll have Noah Syndergaard, or Kirby Yates, but they will have at least one new arm. However, let's get on to the series opener. The Pitchers: Jake Odorizzi (11-5, 3.84 ERA, 108 K's) vs Zac Gallen (1-2, 2.76 ERA, 35 K's) Jake Odorizzi has been very bad in July, but pitched like (and went to) an a…

Good morning Twins fans and welcome back to the ever popular Game Thread! After last nights punch to the gut, the Minnesota Twins will try to put up a "W" in the win column to prevent a sweep from the Cleveland Guardians. Just typing that makes me sick to my stomach. I'm going to repeat what many here on Twins Daily have already echoed too many times this year, this bullpen needs some help. Falvey and Levine, I know you read this site multiple times a day. Please hear our advice and bring some help to this bullpen. Bring up some younger arms or start making a few trades. This team has a ton of potential but please don't let it go to waste with an anemic bullpen.…

ANND Welcome back! To Minnesota Twins Whine Line: Game Thread Edition! What a crazy ending to last night's ball game! For those that stayed up for it, you were rewarded with seeing a unique 2-4-5-6 double play to end the game. Also, NASA just announced that they have identified 2 baseballs that left Earth's atmosphere last night. It's safe to say they were from the bat of Miguel Sano and Eduardo Nunez. Check out the game recap HERE if you missed it. Let's talk weather and lineups for the streaking Minnesota Twins! For once it doesn't appear that rain is in the forecast Perhaps the roof will be open today? 56 degrees when the first pitch happens. Real feel of 62 degrees…

Why I loathe Boston, and how I came to miss my Baby, by David in HK Greetings to all back in the World, and elsewhere. As the home town team embarks on a rather testing first half of September, I raised my hand to offer some thoughts, and grind a personal axe for this series at the same time. As many of you know who have followed these threads for the past few years, I'm in Hong Kong these days, (more on that later), having been on the China side of the water now since '09. And why I'm still here has a lot to do with Beantown. The shortest story version, but still long, so bear with me a little bit- ND native, Twinkie fan since my toddler days in '65. Living in t…

ANND Welcome! To Minnesota Twins Whine Line - Game Thread Edition! I am your host for the next 2 days, Vanimal. We got ourselves a real barn burner match up this weekend between our Twins, and the Cleveland Indians. Let's get some things out of the way like lineups and weather to set the mood... 49 degrees at game time and spotty showers. Winds from the west at 20 mph. Gusts higher than that. Minnesota Twins: 1. Joe Mauer (L) 1B 2. Eduardo Nunez ® SS 3. Miguel Sano ® RF 4. Trevor Plouffe ® 3B 5. Byung Ho Park ® DH 6. Brian Dozier ® 2B 7. Eddie Rosario (L) LF 8. Juan Centeno (L) C 9. Danny Santana (S) CF P- Ervin Santana - 81 overall on MLB the Show! Cleveland Te…

Game time Weather Forecast (courtesy Weather Network) 16 degrees Celsius, Wind E/12 km/H, 20% pop. Not exactly a masterpiece but beauty is in the eye of the beholder and a win is a win. The Twins seemingly won another game by all accounts they probably shouldn’t have but 3 double play balls from Kyle Gibson, including one with the bases loaded and 1 out , a timely triple by Brian Dozier and 1 hit ball by the maligned bullpen was enough to do the trick. If I didn’t know any better I would have sworn that was last year’s Twins wearing Blue Jay uniforms yesterday. The Jays paid homage to the 2014 Twins lineup by going 0-8 with RISP, having the bullpen allow the winni…

Game-time forecast: Sunny. Winds blowing out to right field at 10-15 m.p.h. Temperature around 65. TWINS: SP, May Santana CF Dozier 2B Plouffe 3B Vargas DH Willingham LF Parmelee 1B Escobar SS Fryer C Schafer RF ATHLETICS: SP, Samardzija Crisp CF Fuld LF Donaldson 3B Moss 1B Noris C Reddick RF Lowrie SS Vogt DH Sogard 2B Okay, Bri ... a momentous day indeed! Have at it! ---------------------------------- I can tell that you are excited about something... I can't put my finger on it... but you are certainly glowing at the moment in anticipation of something. Things to Think About: 1. May Day -- May Day is May 1st every year. I remember in my youth leav…

This is my inaugural run at the mighty Game Thread. I thought I would follow Brian's design since imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but decided against it. A copy of a Rembrandt is a pale imitation. Brian's format can be imitated but not duplicated IMHO. I instead will talk about why the Twins are 5-8 going into tonight while the Royals are 10-3. Maybe we can summarize and say "they have better players", but what fun is that? I don't claim to be a stats whiz, but we can see why what has happened has taken place. Royals: They are 10-3 because they have hit well and pitched well. How well? They are first in runs scored, have a team OPS of .810 (.66 be…

Game-time forecast: Partly cloudy. Winds blowing in from left field at 5-10 m.p.h. Temperature around 60. Twins: SP, Correia Dozier 2B Mauer 1B Plouffe 3B Parmelee RF Suzuki C Kubel LF Escobar SS Hicks CF Correia P Padres: SP, Kennedy Denorfia RF Cabrera SS Smith LF Headley 3B Venable CF Gyorko 2B Alonso 1B Grandal C Kennedy P LINE UP!!! AGAINST THE WALL!!! Blind Folds here ya go... Cigarette? Don't worry... ChiTown will probably hit your foot. ChiTown here: Bri, I'm a pretty good shot. Just sayin' ... ----------------------------------------------------------------- Things to Think About: 1. San Diego -- A Beautiful City in deep southern Califor…

Stream* of consiousness game thread introduction... (which despite my occasional attempts to impose order, most all my intros end up being this... believe me, if i figure out how to write them in my sleep, i am sure i will, if only for the novelty of it) On paper we are looking at a three game losing streak on the line, depending on journeyman injury replacement pitcher on the road facing a future hallof famer and Cy Young candidate at home heading AL West juggernaut. Has there been more lopsided epectations since David met Goliath** in the Bible? Probably... (feel free to name a few) like Karate Kid or just because of the name: ROCKY! 0. Aaron S…

We are back! I know we are 4 games in, but it’s my 1st game thread, so welcome back everyone. Welp…..not how we all wanted the season start, but here we are winless. A day short of a year ago, the winless Twins sent Tommy Milone to the mound looking for win #1. What they got was 7.2 shutout innings and an offense that “erupted” for 6 runs on the way to a win. This year’s winless Twins will send the same Tommy Milone looking for win #1 and offensive breakout. Sound familiar? The 2016 Twins haven’t had it as rough as last year’s bunch though. A year ago’s Twins were absolutely pounded in their 1st series of the season to the tune of 22-1 by the Tigers. This year’s…

Game-time forecast: Cloudy. Winds blowing out to right field at 10-20 m.p.h. Temperature around 45. Royals: SP, Vargas Aoki RF Infante 2B Hosmer 1B Butler DH Gordon LF Perez C Moustaka 3B Cain CF Escobar SS Twins: SP, Correia Dozier 2B Mauer 1B Plouffe 3B Colabello RF Kubel LF Pinto DH Suzuki C Hicks CF Florimon SS (Hmmm, this is starting to look mighty familiar.) –------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Things to Think About: 1. Jackknife Replication -- At a certain point... Numbers will replicate and repeat themselves. It's how a political exit poll sampling can lead to a winner being declared accurately and quickl…

Bad ideas for game thread intros: 1. Spoonerisms (work it out for yourself. The least of it is the relative immunity Borrea and Cuxton from spoonerisms) 2. Shaggy dog stories. Take too long to tell, and too hot for the dogs. 3. Pitch puns. 440hz is a recent standard. And who plays High, Low, Jack, and the Game anymore? 4. Peanut Allergies. Charles Schulz not with standing. Is the Doctor in? Will Mr. Brown ever kick the football? 5. Johnny. Who remembers Short Circuit? And are there not better robotics examples more recent in fictiona nd real life? Canada Toronto: 0. Mitch White (R) P 1. Lourdes Gurriel Jr. (R) LF 2. Vlad…

Lineups: Twins: Jamey Carroll 3B Brian Dozier 2B Joe Mauer C Josh Willingham LF Justin Morneau 1B Ryan Doumit RF Aaron Hicks CF Pedro Florimon SS (Scott Diamond P) Brewers: Norichika Aoki RF Jean Segura SS Ryan Braun LF Aramis Ramirez 3B Carlos Gomez CF Jonathan Lucroy C Rickie Weeks 2B Yuniesky Betancourt 1B (Michael Fiers P)

Game-time forecast: Partly cloudy. Winds blowing in from center field at 5-10 m.p.h. Temperature near 50. Twins: SP, Gibson Dozier 2B Fuld CF Plouffe 3B Colabello 1B Kubel LF Suzuki C Pinto DH Herrmann RF Florimon SS Indians: SP, McAllister Morgan CF Swisher 1B Brantley LF Santana 3B Chisenhall DH Cabrera SS Gomes C Murphy RF Aviles 2B ----------------------------- Tag, Brian ... you're it! -------------------------------- OK... But here's what I'm going to do... I bringing some books and snacks... and I'm going to hide. Wait patiently... You won't know where I am... You'll forget all about me. And SURPRISE!!! Tag you're it. I win a lot of games that way... I…

Is it bad that I expect more from this squad? Yes, the Twins are 8-2 this year, which is an amazing start! However, the starting rotation is down to 2 of its original members, nearly everybody in the lineup is slumping, and Jose Berrios has been the worst member of the rotation. If you told me those three things in 2 weeks ago, I would have expected a below .500 record. This team’s depth is showing, though. Lineups and Analysis Jose Berrios (0-1, 7.00 ERA) vs. Joe Musgrove (0-2, 4.76 ERA) Twins Maximilian Kepler (L) RF Jorge Polanco (S) SS Nelson Cruz ® DH Eddie Rosario (L) LF Miguel Sano ® 1B Luis Arraez (L) 2B Marwin Gonzalez (S) 3B Alex Avila (L) C Byron Buxton…

Quick introduction for the third game of four in the Twins @ Seattle series. The Twins are now 29-15 (14-7 on the road) and lead the AL Central by 5 games. After a 13-2 start, Seattle has fallen below .500. These are two of the leading home run hitting teams in MLB. José Berríos vs. Wade LeBlanc. Twins 29-15 Polanco ss Schoop 2b González 1b Rosario lf Cron dh Kepler rf Sanó 3b Castro c Buxton cf Berríos p Mariners 22-25 Gordon 2b Haniger rf Vogelbach dh Encarnación 1b Narváez c Healy 3b Bruce lf Crawford ss Smith cf Le Blanc p