Welcome to another exciting Twins Daily Game Thread!  It's probably one of the most underrated and misunderstood sections within Twins Daily.  As a relatively new member on this site I've found the Game Thread to be gut-busting fun.  A place where like minded Twins fans can come together and cheer, yell or arm chair quarterback every play.  In fact, its so much fun I decided to post my very first Game Thread introduction today on my birthday.  Yes, this is a present to myself.

 

Birthdays only come along once a year.  Since this birthday marks a mile stone year for me, it got me thinking a lot about time.  Its official; I am truly at "mid-life".  For some, mid-life makes them melancholy for others its time for celebration.  I choose celebration!  Even though my favorite baseball team is in last place I'm confident I will see this team turn the corner and go on to have some very terrific seasons ahead with all these youths (or "yutes" homage to My Cousin Vinny) playing today.

 

Speaking of time:

 

• As most of you already know the longest game ever recorded in MLB was back in 1984.  The Brewers and White Sox slugged it out for 25 innings that lasted 8 hours and 6 minutes.  What you don't know is that my mother labored just over 8 hours and 7 minutes to bring me into the world...Whewww!
• As most of you already know the shortest MLB game was way back in 1919 between the New York Giants and Philadelphia Phillies.  Total game time was 51 minutes.  What you don't know is that it took me 52 minutes to regain consciousness after my wife gave birth to our first child.
• Now this you may not have known.  The shortest professional baseball game was between the Asheville Tourists and Winston-Salem Twins. Total game time was 31 minutes.  For the record, I do have this one beat!  It only took me 29 minutes to fall asleep before the end of act one of "Les Miserables".

Speaking of birthdays:

 

• Alex Rodriguez holds the MLB record for most homers on his birthday (6).
• There are or have been 61 professional baseball players born on August 13th.  Some of the more notable names include Mudcat Grant, Jay Buhner, Corey Patterson, Andre Thornton and Mark Lemke (still don't like that guy).
• Since 1950, a baby born in the U.S. in August has had a 50 percent to 60 percent better chance of playing in the big leagues than a baby born in July.

Enjoy the game tonight!  I plan on spending my birthday with family and friends; throwing back some beers and smoking a pork shoulder while the Twins play on in the background...what a great way to celebrate life and middle age!  Go Twins!

 

Lineups:

 

ROYALS

 

Paulo Orlando ® CF

Cheslor Cuthbert ® 3B

Lorenzo Cain ® RF

Eric Hosmer (L) 1B

Kendrys Morales (S) DH

Salvador Perez ® C

Alex Gordon (L) LF

Alcides Escobar ® SS

Raul Mondesi (S) 2B

 

Dillion Gee ® P

 

TWINS

 

Brian Dozier ® 2B

Robbie Grossman (S) LF

Joe Mauer (L) 1B

Miguel Sano ® DH

Max Kepler (L) RF

Jorge Polanco (S) 3B

Eduardo "the money" Escobar (S) SS

Kurt Suzuki ® C

Eddie "more money" Rosario (L) CF

 

Tyler Duffey ® P

 

Weather should be beautiful.  Partly sunny with temps near 78 degrees.  Wind out of the west at 5-7mph.  Chance of precipitation 5%.

 

 

 

 

Twinssporto ... not only did you knock that baby out of the park, but the ball is still going! Well done!

Great setup, Twinssporto.

Suzuki currently on waivers too... Any way to see who's already been placed on (and passed through) waivers this year?

Suzuki currently on waivers too... Any way to see who's already been placed on (and passed through) waivers this year?

Checking... checking... uh, every player currently in the majors?

Per MLBTR: 

 

The Twins will select the contract of lefty Ryan O’Rourke, 1500ESPN’s Darren Wolfson tweets. The 28-year-old O’Rourke has reestablished himself nicely since being outrighted in May, posting a 1.93 ERA, 9.3 K/9 and 1.9 BB/9 in 28 innings for Triple-A Rochester. As Seth Stohs of TwinsDaily.com points out (on Twitter), O’Rourke has been brilliant since the beginning of July, allowing just one walk and no runs over that time frame.

It's a shame we can't (aren't finding?) find a way to play Vargas. He's started a grand total of 4 games in August, while hitting .296/.404/.636 on the season.

 

 

 

 

Per MLBTR: 

 

The Twins will select the contract of lefty Ryan O’Rourke, 1500ESPN’s Darren Wolfson tweets. The 28-year-old O’Rourke has reestablished himself nicely since being outrighted in May, posting a 1.93 ERA, 9.3 K/9 and 1.9 BB/9 in 28 innings for Triple-A Rochester. As Seth Stohs of TwinsDaily.com points out (on Twitter), O’Rourke has been brilliant since the beginning of July, allowing just one walk and no runs over that time frame.

Seth Stohs also mentioned it in this thread here.

The Minnesota Twins are on the air!!!

This lineup tonight is going to score some serious runs.  I would not like to pitch through it tonight if I were on the other team.  Monitor finally put a stinger together...

Uneventful 1st inning.  Keep up the good work!

DOZIER DOUBLE ON 1ST PITCH !!!

 

http://gifrific.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/11/Jack-Donaghy-Thumbs-Up.gif

We like hops like that!  Twins 1-0

 

http://www.dallacervejaria.com.br/images/front_end/lupulo.jpg

Beautiful balk.....

 

And Vargas continues to appear on milk cartons throughout Twins Territory. Unreal.

Wow, Puckett was once put on revocable waivers once?    Never heard that before.   Pretty shocking!

 

And Vargas continues to appear on milk cartons throughout Twins Territory. Unreal.

 

According to Molitor: He's hesitant to put Sano in the field because his elbow has a little soreness to it. 

 

 

From that I'm putting two and two together and this means Vargas can't DH because Sano can only do that and Vargas can't play 1B unless Mauer sits and Mauer needs development time to get ready for 2017. 

 

 

Duffey as a strikeout pitcher is pretty good, too...

Attaboy Duff.

 

Duffey as a strikeout pitcher is pretty good, too...

 

I feel a lot better when Duffey is pitching like someone we'd like pitching for us. 

2 3-pitch strikeouts, then a HR....

Welp.

Wow, look at the relaxed whip action of Duffey's curve ball delivery. He's getting really good movement. 

 

And then he serves up a homer... sigh.

 

I feel a lot better when Duffey is pitching like someone we'd like pitching for us. 

I have the same thought right around every 5th game.

 

Wow, look at the relaxed whip action of Duffey's curve ball delivery. He's getting really good movement. 

 

And then he serves up a homer... sigh.

 

If we could just find a pitching coach who can get these guys to hang zeroes every inning. We'd have a chance to get back into this thing. 

Quick inning.  Very nice  

Edited August 14, 201610 yr by HitInAPinch

Duffey's mechanics look good. His relaxed arm whip is getting better movement than I've seen for a while. When he throws like this, he will keep his team in the game. 

Molly must be giving up, no Dan San in the lineup going with the B team tonight.

 

Duffey's mechanics look good. His relaxed arm whip is getting better movement than I've seen for a while. When he throws like this, he will keep his team in the game. 

Agree.  He's looking very smooth tonight.