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 C

Pinto DH (<faints!>)

Escobar SS

 

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Things to Think About:

 

1. Airplanes -- Typically when teams play the final games of a series. They board an airplane bound for different directions. The current 4 game series with the Brewers is different because both the Brewers and Twins have to leave Milwaukee and fly to the Twin Cities. I wonder if they flew on the same plane. I wonder if they hung out together in the same terminal... the same gate. I wonder if they gathered together and placed bets on the exact time flights from other cities would land. I wonder if Carlos Gomez correctly nailed the exact time... the flight from Miami would land and I wonder if Glen Perkins got into his face after he stared at the board too long afterwards.

 

2. Marco Estrada -- For the 2nd game in a row... The Brewers will be tossing a starting pitcher from Mexico. Marco was born in Ciudad Obregon in Northern Mexico... Just about 6 hours straight south of Tucson. Marco may have been born there but he moved with his mother to California as a young boy. I don't have exact figures but I believe that Marco and his mom were a couple of a handful of immigrants from Mexico that settled in California. He played high school baseball in the L.A. area and he played junior college ball in the L.A. area and College ball at Long Beach State in the L.A. area. He was drafted by the Washington Nationals in the 6th round. His minor league career started shortly afterwards in Vermont. The very second he arrived in Vermont... he noticed that there was a difference between Vermont and the L.A. area especially after running into Larry and his brother Daryl and his other brother Daryl. When I've seen him pitch... he can strike you out. He can also lay some cookies in there for a team to enjoy.

 

3. Ricky Nolasco -- Hasn't smoothly destroyed opposition batters but he has kept the Twins within striking distance in 5 of his last 6 starts. His 5.70 ERA looks terrible but the numbers are where they are because of a few starts were he looked real real bad. Which Nolasco shows up tonight will go a long way toward winning tonight.

 

4. Aramis Ramirez -- Ramirez has been on the D.L. with a hamstring issue since early May and he is supposed to return to the lineup today in the DH spot. When you purchase a ham at a supermarket... They are typically bound by a string. The reason for this... the world has produced too much string and doesn't know what to do with it. The excess string has caused problems with many athletes forcing them on to the disabled list. Aramis Ramirez is back today and by being in the lineup... He becomes another weapon.

 

5. Advice from Elders -- My dad was always a good source of advice. He has lived a long time and that experience was always a gold mine to turn to. Lately... My dad has become much more forgetful but it doesn't mean that his advice isn't still valuable. One Day my dad took me aside and left me there.

Edited June 4, 201412 yr by ChiTownTwinsFan

Zukes AND Pinto! This might be the best lineup Gardy has put together all season (offensively anyway, not sure that the defense in the OF will do Nolasco too many favors).

Hmmm...not sure Gardy has thought this through properly. If Suzuki gets hurt, doesn't that mean that...

I guess if we're gonna have both catchers in the lineup, we should get both SS in there too

3. Ricky Nolasco -- Hasn't smoothly destroyed opposition batters but he has kept the Twins within striking distance in 5 of his last 6 starts. His 5.70 ERA looks terrible but the numbers are where they are because of a few starts were he looked real real bad. Which Nolasco shows up tonight will go a long way toward winning tonight.

 

I thought if I looked at his season splits, we'd see gradual improvement but alas, that really isn't the case.

 

i guess we simply need to hope that his last game was a harbinger of good things to come.

I really like seeing Santana getting a chance with the Twins. I really don't like that it has mainly been in CF.

Similar to Pinto always catching Deduno, everyone knows that Santana is Nolasco's personal center fielder

That Lucroy sure kills us. Hit .356 against Twins pitching in the past 3 years, and OPS is 1.008. Good numbers for him. Bad for us.

Gardy after putting both catchers in the lineup aged 20 years. The stress of it all.

 

http://www.peoplespharmacy.com/siteassets/old-man.jpg

Never shall the goatee be shaved, however

Nice start for Nolasco.

Uh oh. Mauer batting with RISP...

Not anymore.

Uh oh. Mauer batting with RISP...

 

In the Sports On Earth article on Dozier, I found this paragraph hilarious:

 

Nor is Dozier, visually, someone who looks like a power threat. He's listed at 5-foot-11, 190 pounds. See his 6-5 teammate Joe Mauer walk past him, and you'd figure Mauer is the home run leader on the Twins, but it is Dozier who leads the team in home runs with 11.

The power of home field.

Zukes AND Pinto! This might be the best lineup Gardy has put together all season (offensively anyway, not sure that the defense in the OF will do Nolasco too many favors).

 

I think he's growing accustomed to that fact.

I guess if we're gonna have both catchers in the lineup, we should get both SS in there too

 

Actually all THREE, and Gardy's tried that one at least once, already.

I want a Gardy gnome.

Ugh. Still couldn't score him.

The power of home field.

 

Dozier called out stealing third, overruled to safe, Mauer soft liner to shallow right for second out. Good grief...

Yeah, i was hoping that Dozier would try to tag on Mauer's fly ball.

 

Oh well.

 

And Milwaukee plates a run on two two out doubles in the 2nd. (That's 4 of a kind)

Can't blame the defense for either double. I am guessing that it will take more than one run to win this game.

 

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

 

 

3. Ricky Nolasco -- Hasn't smoothly destroyed opposition batters but he has kept the Twins within striking distance in 5 of his last 6 starts. His 5.70 ERA looks terrible but the numbers are where they are because of a few starts were he looked real real bad. Which Nolasco shows up tonight will go a long way toward winning tonight.

 

Thanks for another nice sterno log of wisdom and humor to get the game thread campfire going.

 

With regard to which Nolasco shows up tonight, well, home/road splits are usually not a big deal for most players, and have more than a little SSS flakiness just two months into the system.

 

That being said, there's a good chance of seeing Good Ricky instead of Evil Ricky tonight:

 

Nolasco opposing hitters 2014...

 

 

Home: .241/.283/.467

 

Road: .366/.418/.594

 

So at home, the average batter vs. Nolasco is Dozier minus some walks. On the road, the average hitter is... a first ballot Hall of Famer. Mauer 2009 minus some walks, I guess?

 

Oh, and speaking of sterno logs, that warning label is bs. Burned one along with real logs in the fireplace once. No Chernobyl.

Edited June 5, 201412 yr by LaBombo

Bremer's fixation on American League Rules vs. National League Rules is beyond irritating.

Was TD down for the rest of you for a while?

Bremer's fixation on American League Rules vs. National League Rules is beyond irritating.

 

Willing to cut him just a little slack because of the fairly rare instance of a home and home, NL/AL series. It does highlight the contrast.

 

That being said, yeah, way too much of it, and too early tonight. Was hoping to avoid it until we got into PH/RP territory, but no. And the next time he launches into an inning-long explanation of double switch strategy that sounds like an elementary school chess club teacher explaining en passant to the one kid who doesn't get it, the volume goes off.

Love this line-up. Please let it score some runs so Gardy doesn't dump it after one game.

Was TD down for the rest of you for a while?

No, not today.

Was TD down for the rest of you for a while?

Wasn't my fault. 0 for server-crashing .gifs tonight. So far.

Can't blame the defense for either double. I am guessing that it will take more than one run to win this game.

Can I blame the second double on not one, but two fat 0-2 pitches?