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 .200, which is better than what our 6th hitter is hitting.

 

Other things to think about: 

 

1. It was brought to our attention last night that a "leap second" was added to the last minute of the last day of June. Since today is July 1, you could consider this leap second to have happened either last night or last month—take your pick. You may be upset like me that you weren't told about this beforehand. What this leap second did was prolong a month that the Twins will want to forget. Therefore I am guessing that either the White Sox or Royals were behind this. Maybe the Tigers. 

 

2. Another possibility is the Cincinnati Reds were behind it. But after last night's game, they probably want that leap second back. They could have used it over All Star week which is in Cincinnati in a couple weeks. What is a leap second, anyway? It seems so technical. It's the baseball equivalent of overmanaging. It would be easier to just do what the Romans did, and wait until we get snowstorms in June before deciding to add a few extra weeks to the end of February. Leave it to humans to try to do something about the fact the earth orbits around the sun. Which, as long as we are being technical, isn't actually true. (I might have scooped the science guys on this one.)

 

By the way, I did Google "leap second" and looked at some images. I was not impressed. 

 

3. Speaking of the Romans, the Cincinnati Reds ultimately trace their name back to the ancient Roman general Lucius Cincinnatus, who was a lowly alpaca farmer before being voted dictator of the republic to help fight a war. This was 2,400 orbits around the sun ago, give or take a leap second. I won't give away any spoilers, but let's just say the Romans battled their tails off. Otherwise the Twins might be finishing a three game series against the Aequi Yellows, or some such obscure name, with the name "Rome" having been long missing into the mists of history.

 

4. Cincinnatus returned to his farm after the war to find that his alpacas had all run away, because he failed to close several of the gates behind him. To be exact, gates 3, 6, 14, 29, and 34. Anyway, he then decided to take up GMO crop farming, which didn't require dirt, and which also saved him plenty of Roman coin on soap and laundry since his clothes did not get dirty when he was in the field. Among the other innovations of Cincinnatus's GMO farming was a breed of black spruce trees which can grow in Major League baseball stadiums, and the development of a grain that bakes easily into the shape of a pre-sliced hot dog bun which can be preserved for thousands of years. Perhaps you've tasted one. 

 

5. From the Roman general Cincinnatus we move to Marge Schott, who have less in common than you might think.... on second thought, let's not talk about Marge Schott. Let's talk about the ballgame.

 

It's time! Play Ball!

 

 

I'm blinded by the light,

revved up like a deuce,
another runner in the night.

 

Seriously, brilliant work.

 

And a peculiar lineup.

Twins giving May little help in keeping his job. Can they construct a worse lineup up the middle defensively and be as poor with the bat?

 

Looks like they are trying to make the Santana decision an easy one.

Wednesday afternoon getaway Day lineup.

 

Trevor May might be the closest to "Canadian" as the Twins can get now that Morneau is gone. May is from Kelso, Washington - it's about 4 hours from the border.

 

 

Everybody plays! Veterans Suzuki, Hunter, Mauer get the off along with Esco. Gardy isn't the only one with a getaway day lineup.

Great opener- thanks Hosken, etc!  Peculiar lineup indeed-  Eddie R in the 3-spot, whoaaa....  I'm intrigued, I guess.  Boy, that bottom 4 or 5 batters look like a string of automatic outs, tho, don't they?  

 

Being on the opposite end of the clock, it's now midnight here,  and I may not make it past the first half inning or so-  maybe we can revert to that month of May thing, and score a ton of 1st inning runs, and I can have sweet Twinkie dreams...  Zzzzzzzzz.....

Looks like if you are over the age of 30 and not named Robinson you get the day off today.  

Fantastic job on both game threads, HBD!

 

Much appreciated.

Plenty of bench moves, right?

 

Looks like if you are over the age of 30 and not named Robinson you get the day off today.  

Well, they did have a late night last night...

Great job on the Game Thread Hosken!

Early game. Will momentum from last night matter?

Generally, you beat good pitchers by finding a way to outpitch them.

 

8 shutout innings should keep you in the game, Trevor.  Get 'er done.

Play Ball y'all

 

 

Cueto varies his delivery to keep hitters off balance.  Nice technique if you can still maintain your command.

Nuñez must've been looking off speed there...

Nice play, Pelfry!

If the goal is to outpitch, you need to back that up with strong defense up the middle. One or two missed opportunities from Nunez and Santana adds to the pitch count and contributes to the other team putting up crooked numbers.

 

Nice play, Pelfrey!

He may have saved his spot in the rotation, with that one.

 

Trevor's turn to try to keep his job! (not that one start should decide it..)

So I got some bad news recently.  A good friend's wife passed away.  Her name was Lorraine, and she was a jewel.  Talking with some other friends, it gets even worse...turns out my friend was cheating on her, with a stripper named Clearly.

 

So I go to the funeral, and my friend gets up to pay his last respects to his wife.  The cad finishes up with "I can see Clearly now, Lorraine is gone."

rally time

yuck

I don't know if Herrmann was asked to sacrifice, it he did it on his own, or whether he was bunting for a hit.

 

But with Santana, Robinson and the pitcher due up next, it's why I don't like the play, even if it works.  

Twins giving May little help in keeping his job. Can they construct a worse lineup up the middle defensively and be as poor with the bat?

 

Looks like they are trying to make the Santana decision an easy one.

Feels like it's happened several times this year. Not sure how to look this up, but it feels like he has the worst run support out of all Twins starters.

So I got some bad news recently. A good friend's wife passed away. Her name was Lorraine, and she was a jewel. Talking with some other friends, it gets even worse...turns out my friend was cheating on her, with a stripper named Clearly.

 

So I go to the funeral, and my friend gets up to pay his last respects to his wife. The cad finishes up with "I can see Clearly now, Lorraine is gone."

Heh, last night's thread should've included a category of 'Best Groaners.' I think Chief would run away with it!

Big K.  Chance for another one here.

ok, may, one more and get out of this.

How does a leap second in June work with a pitcher named May?

Let's not have that much drama next inning, Trevor.

And National League baseball