Archived Game Threads

A buddy o' mine is flying into the cities Monday, and thought to check out Target field which was a kindly sentiment, knowing he's not much of a sportsball fan. Last thing what got him to fenway was the Red Bull Crashed Ice competition. I looked at the schedule and saw there was no game. So i pointed him at the State Fair. I puttered round online, but in the short puttering i couldn't figure out how to pull headliners out from the more mundane every other hour shows. I read some of them allowed to various levels of ribald mockery, until i got to the lumberjack competitions. Now he has something to share with coworkers. But that being said, i's happy to pass on any r…

The Kansas City Royals come into town, and they will either allow the Twins to live a little longer or squash their last breath of postseason hopes. The Twins currently have a 6.2% chance of making the playoffs, per FanGraphs, after being swept by Cleveland at home. Cleveland went on to win again last night, so the Twins are 5 games back with 23 to play. Han Solo says, "Never Tell Me The Odds", but I hate those odds. This matchup should be favorable for the Twins, as the Royals are a distance 4th in the Central Division, but they've outplayed the Twins in September with a 4-6 record. Yuck. The Matchup: Kris Bubic (2-11, 5.40 ERA, 88K, 0.…

During the past couple years, a lot of things have changed for me personally. I graduated from college, I got my first job within my field, the unnamed events of 2020…. the list goes on and on. With all these rapid changes, I have had to learn how to be better as a person in multiple facets. I try to at least work on one, if not multiple, of these objectives everyday, so I can fall asleep knowing I am doing something good each and every day. Below is a current list of objectives I am working on: 1. Be a better friend/family member. This one is pretty obvious. COVID slowed down a lot of my relationships with friends and extended family, so pursuing those relatio…

I hit the way-back machine in order to find some inspiration for the game thread today. However, I don't think it worked quite as it should have: * *Frostbite Falls, MN? Boris and Natasha? Moose and Squirrel? Any of this ring a bell? Bueller? Sigh. Youth. Somehow, I wound up in a weird place with flying squirrels and mooses that pull rabbits out of hats: * *Yes, we are substituting video for content. Why do you ask? I finally made it back to the current game thread and decided to look at the last game thread I wrote. In reading that previous thread, I realize now the Twins are 3-0 when I write game threads. (write, video, it's all content, right?) I'm hop…

ANNND Welcome! To Minnesota Twins Whine Line, GAME THREAD edition. I am your host for the next 2 days, Vanimal. Isn't it amazing how similar the Twins, and the TD owners operate? I mean, a CRUCIAL series against a 1st place Astros team, and they trust a ROOKIE to do game threads?! I'm more nervous than Tyler Duffey against the Blue Jays... For those who aren't familiar with the program, I'm just your standard radio host for Minnesota Twins news, with a few weird quirks... For one, I've been recorded (Truman Show style) by Chief and diehard. How they got access to my apartment, car, and office is still Mind.Boggling. I was also duped by a Nigerian Prince, who I thought w…

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…

The Twins have a one-day road trip today. Due to the Cardinals messed up schedule because of positive COVID-19 tests, the Twins will play two games in St. Louis today and have an off day tomorrow (and also Thursday). Unfortunately, my weather app says that there is a good chance of rain in St. Louis this afternoon. I don't know what MLB will do if weather interferes and I hope I don't find out. The Twins have 17 games remaining, no team has played more games. They are currently in third place in the AL Central, but barring a complete meltdown, they will make the playoffs this year. According to ESPN, they have a 99.5% chance to advance to postseason. They have played we…

Welcome Game Thread fans, it's me, your host for this evening's matchup between the home town Padres of San Diego and your traveling Twins of Minnesota. Our Twins come into the series as a team that wins 'em all or loses 'em all since coming out of the break. The Padres meanwhile, came out of the break to take 2 of 3 from the 1st place Mets and then went ahead and decided to drop 2 of 3 to the not so 1st place Tigers. Which teams will we see for this series? Before I get into more of this game, I think it worth mentioning that today is a National Holiday. It's not all that well known, but a day of celebration it is indeed! Forget about Thanksgiving, or 4 of th…

Gametime weather: Mostly cloudy with a 40-percent chance of rain. Winds blowing in from left field at 10-15 m.p.h. Temperature around 35. Twins: SP, Correia Dozier 2B Mauer 1B Willingham DH Kubel LF Plouffe 3B Arcia RF Suzuki C Hicks CF Florimon SS Sox: SP, Paulino Eaten CF Semien 3B Abreu 1B Dunn DH Garcia RF De Aza LF Ramirez SS Flowers C Garcia 2B Brian's gonna be doing a lot of thinking this year ... watch this space later. --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Thank You ChiTown... I am going to do a lot of thinking. 75% of such thinking... I'm gonna keep to myself. Others really shouldn't be aware of really is go…

The Pitchers: RHP Chris Flexen (14-6, 3.61 ERA, 179.2 IP, 125 K's, 3.89 FIP, 3.5 bWAR) vs RHP Dylan Bundy (2-9, 6.06 ERA, 90.2 IP, 84 K's, 5.51 FIP, -0.3 bWAR) I'm back. Good or bad, but I am back. Hopefully Dylan Bundy joins me on the "I'm back" path. Flexen is coming off the best year of his career for the Mariners, and is looking to repeat in 2022. Flexen relies on a 4-seam fastball, cutter, curveball, and changeup. He throws the 4S 40% of the time, at an average velocity of 92.8 MPH. This is very similar to Sonny Gray, although his velo was down in his first start of the year. The fastball was hit hard last year for a batting average against of .273, inclu…

It looks to be another fine day for baseball. No, I don't mean the weather, I mean, any day is a good day for baseball. Granted, playing when it's 20 below out with three feet of snow on the ground might make things a bit challenging but hey, snow shoes, snowmobile suits and we're good to go, right? Yesterday, the Twins played rather ineptly yet pulled out a win. Hopefully, the Twins are a bit more ept and win going away. Pitching for the Twins and making his 2019 Debut: Kyle Gibson. I'm looking forward to seeing Mr. Gibson. He was fun last year and hopefully, we get that Gibson this year. Pitching for KC: Homer Bailey. I don't suppose there's a chance Mr. B…

Game time Weather Forecast (courtesy The Weather Network), 16 degrees celsius (haha), wind North 24 km/h , 90% chance of precipitation Here we go folks, The AL Central Division leading Minnesota Twins (not a typo, actually true) take on the American East cellar dwelling Toronto Blue Jays in the opener of a 3 game series tonight at Target Field. The Twins, fresh off their first series sweep of the Red Sox in 9 years look to keep the train rolling against a team who at the very least most recently took 2 of 3 against the other Sox, not exactly a difficult task this year but noteworthy because, well, we hate the White Sox and it allows me to mention them losing…….aga…

Twins visit Cleveland with an early start. Could someone post the lineups?

Welcome to yet another Saturday evening edition of Game Thread action sure to be packed with fun and frivolity! First off, I must apologize as I am feeling a bit nauseous as of this writing. I'm not sure if it is due to yesterday's contest or the rough flight I took this morning, but the show must go on! But if I suddenly bolt to the bathroom, you'll know why. Thank you in advance for your understanding. Today's tilt will once again feature the Rockies of Colorado and the Twins of Minnesota. Speaking of feeling nauseous, the last time I was in Denver, I had such a bad case of altitude sickness that I spent my first night there emptying the contents of my stomach…

The Minnesota Twins will play today! (I think, anyways....) Although the weather is ghastly today, the precipitation will come down as snow, and not rain. Will Nelson Cruz slide into second on a homerun today like fellow slugger Miguel Cabrera did on Opening Day? (Edit: Nelson Cruz was a late scratch due to an illness, so he will not) https://twitter.com/ActionNetworkHQ/status/1377675605932699648 It amazes me that guys like Cruz and Miggy can still go out there almost every day and still be insanely productive at the plate. I'm just over half their age, and seem to get more injuries just living normally, and not having to deal with sprinting, getting hit by a 99 MPH…

After the fiasco of 10,000 and 1 Game Thread ideas, I thought I'd look for another source to crib from, I mean, another way to come up with an opener for a game thread. As luck would have it, I ran across the “Dwight Yoakam” method and decided to give it a whirl. As I was using the “Dwight Yoakam” method, (“face a white wall and beller”) My wife poked her head through the door, gave me “the eye” and asked why in the world I was making all that racket. I tried to explain and she said that while she was sure that game threads are important, she was equally sure the neighbors didn't appreciate me hollering at the top of my voice at the moon at 3am, no matter how much it mi…

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…

Hello everyone! Welcome to the game thread for Friday against the Rays. What has happened in the last 24 hours? Well, the Twins hit five homers against Gerrit Cole in two and a third innings and still lost. Veteran players made baserunning mistakes and fielding blunders. As soon as a mistake was made, the Yankees (usually an ex-Twin) jumped on it. Oh well, only a game. Of course, the Twins also lost their number one prospect to injury for the season. None of the three starters for the Tampa series were in the original rotation probably the top three starters are on the Injured List, although Ryan and Winder could be back within a week. Tampa is a good team and going…

Roster Moves: The Twins have placed IF Luis Arraez and RHP Dylan Bundy on the COVID-IL. They have also sent down LHP Jovani Moran, who has pitched in two different ballgames this year. The most notable thing here is that Carlos Correa did not end up on the IL, as he does not have a broken finger, and is considered day-to-day, although I wouldn't expect to see him this weekend. IF Royce Lewis has been recalled from AAA and will serve as the starting SS in the near future. The team also recalled 1B/OF Alex Kiriloff, who was on a rehab assignment. However, AK has not been hitting for much power and the wrist still seems to be an issue. RHP Cole Sands also returns after makin…

Well, so much for the correlation between my writing game threads and Twins winning. Ah well, all good things must come to an end. And I guess my Twins and me wining streak is dead.* *No idea why there aren't more red shirts in these clips. But, life goes on and we have another fabulous game today. Should be a good one! Maybe the Twins will find the two out rbi hero they were so lacking last night.* *Yes, I'd prefer a no-out RBI but, sometimes one cannot really chose the rbi moment. Finally, I'd like to say: I need to get going as I'm running late getting this thread up.* *This is known as filler, as I've nothing to really add at this point. An…

Baily Ober makes his major league debut as he faces the first-place Chicago White Sox at Target Field. The Twins face Lance Lynn for the second time in six days. Yesterday, the White Sox clubbed the Twins extending their string of dominance against the Sox. The weather looks iffy from here (75 miles away) but there may be a window of dreary, but dry air to complete the game. Good luck Baily Ober. White Sox (25-15) Anderson ss Lamb lf Moncada 3b Mercedes dh Eaton rf Grandal c Vaughn 1b Garcia cf Madrigal 2b Lynn (p) 4-1 1.30 ERA Twins (13-26) Arraez 2b Donaldson 3b P…

Hi Ho Silver! Away! I grew up listening to the Lone Ranger on the radio. Yeah, that’s right; the radio. TVs didn’t start making their way into homes until the ’50’s and I was six and about ready to graduate from kindergarten when we got our first TV; a black-and-white Sylvania. We maybe got two channels and you had to watch ‘em through a snowstorm. So it was a slow transition from listening to radio to watching TV in our household. Anyway, radios back then came in big wooden cabinets with lots of dials, tubes and antenna leads. Things weighed about forty pounds. Not something you were going to carry over your shoulder blasting out eardrums over a square block…

Happy Easter, my peeps! Hope you find all the eggs! And the chocolate bunnies hatching from cadbury eggs aren't too numerous. I myself have been enjoying my Broccoli: Albert R. Broccoli, producer of James Bond films. Just finished the Roger Moore era. I feel i should be able to work it into a the game thread intro cleaverly... Mitch Garver is batting 7th. Perhaps he shall kill a fast ball? Or Jake Cave may gun another runner down? Could even happen in the 7th. Certainly yesterday had many zeros before the seventh. Twins line up looks like they just changed the battery. I hope it is fully charged. Twins: 1. Luis Arraez ( L) 3B 2. Jorge Polanco ( S ) 2B 3. Byron B…

The dog days of summer are already here as the Twins took their last off day of the month on Monday in which they get to travel to Cleveland to play as well as play the Red Sox, and of course today’s matchup with the White Sox. The White Sox are a the first “professional” baseball team to earn a Twins Daily word filter, though the filter does not quite bring back memories of Jerry Ryan or a gold glove second baseman with a .300 average… but I digress. They are not what I’d call a professional baseball team either, being the first and only team to throw a World Series as well as a team that proudly continues to employ Hawk Harrelson. While the latter is inexcusable, the fi…

Weather Forecast: I don't know... It's 100 percent Canadian and they suck at predicting the weather. Last time I went up to Winnipeg the forecast said 22. I brought a coat and it was a nice day. Let's just say they missed it by about 50 degrees. I complained to a native Canadian about it and he just shook his head and laughed. Clearly they have learned to laugh off such every day meteorological mistakes. Twins SP: Kevin Correia 1. Santana CF 2. Dozier 2B 3. Mauer 1B 4. Willingham LF 5. Morales DH 6. Arcia RF 7. Nunez 3B 8. Suzuki C 9. Escobar SS Blue Jays SP: JA Happ 1. Reyes SS 2. Cabrera LF 3. Bautista RF 4. Encarnacion 1B 5. Lind DH 6. Lawrie 2B 7. Navarro C 8…

TWINS Max Kepler(L) RF Jorge Polanco(S) SS Willians Astudillo(R ) 3B Eddie Rosario(L) LF C.J. Cron(R ) 1B Mitch Garver(R ) C Jonathan Schoop(R ) 2B Byron Buxton(R ) CF Jake Odorizzi(R ) P METS Brandon Nimmo(L) CF Pete Alonso(R ) 1B Robinson Cano(L) 2B Michael Conforto(L) RF Wilson Ramos® C Jeff McNeil(L) LF Amed Rosario(R ) SS J.D. Davis(R ) 3B Noah Syndergaard(L) P I'm hoping the Odorizzi is better this time out, and that the Twins get to Syndergaard and the Mets early and often.

Didn't see one Started. Polanco hit HR to Start! Go Twins!! Twins 4 Astros 2

This has been a tough stretch of games to watch. An anemic offense, a horrendous bullpen, a COVID outbreak.... what's more to love? What does this team need to succeed? We just have to remember: Season is not over.... yet. 2011 was a bad year as a Twins fan. After a great 2010 opening season at Target Field, the team fell flat. Cuddyer was the strongest hitter in a sea of bad players: Luke Hughes, Tsuyoshi Nishioka, Matt Tolbert, Rene Tosoni, Jason Repko, Drew Butera, Brian Dinkelman.... yeesh. Mauer and Morneau are not right. Joe Nathan and Matt Capps were both bad. A lot of talent severely underperformed, but there were also some bad players forced to be up for signi…

Game-time forecast: Mostly clear. Winds blowing in from left field at 5-10 m.p.h. Temperature near 75. First you list a hitter and then you list a hitter who bats after that and another after that and another after that and another after that and another after that and another after that and another after that and another after that. Stop right there... You get no more. ChiTown will fill in the "Another after thats". Okay, Bri ... and here are the 'after thats' Brewers: SP, Estrada Segura SS Braun RF Lucroy C Gomez CF Ramirez DH Weeks 2B Reynolds 3B Overbay 1B Schafer LF Twins: SP, Nolasco Santana CF Dozier 2B Mauer 1B Willingham LF Arcia RF Plouffe 3B Suzuki…

My day as a 26 year old GM. A Perspective. If John Chayka (see Arizona Coyotes) can do it, so can I. After the dust settled, Terry was nowhere to be seen. There were theories of course. Spontaneous combustion was a popular one for a while. It covered all the facts, Terry, already born down by unforeseeable poor play this season, combusted after a top prospect got shelled. The Negativity Police arrived too late. Some thought that he was sent back in time as a gift from the Pohlads. Back to a time when baseball was simpler and the boys could just play. Rumor said he worked for some Ohio team. The spiders or something? Others think he simply went to ret…