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  • Game Thread: Twins@Orioles 4/4 2:05P

    Riverbrian

    By Riverbrian

    At 2:05 a pitch will be thrown and the baseball season will be opened. The contents of what is inside will slowly spill out and bit by bit the contents will be revealed. We don't know the contents right now. We assume what the contents are but we really don't know.

    I'm hoping it's sunshine in a can.

    It might be dog crap in a can... I don't know... But I do know this.

    You open this can... it is certainly not a jack in the box that will surprise you.

    It comes out slow... It takes a while to identify it.

    Here are some things to think about!!!

    Twins Video

    1. Opening Day - Every Opening Day I type on this game thread opener that Opening Day should be a national holiday. So... I'm just typing that to get it out of the away and keep the tradition going. I am completely sincere! Opening Day should be a holiday! I promise to type it again next year on opening day. One thing that makes opening day special is that it's the only game of the 162 game schedule that is named... Only opening day is called opening day. None of the other 161 games have a name like that. Game 162 isn't called closing day for example. Anyway... it's opening day and to celebrate... I'm walking around the house just opening stuff. I've opened doors... our luggage... cans of soup and whatever the stuff in the Green Giant cans were. I opened the curtains... A couple of Christmas gifts still in boxes after we unwrapped them and said "Thank You... This is Fantastic... We love it... you know us so well". Yep... I'm opening stuff because today is the day to do that and with this thought #1... I also officially open the opening day game thread opener.

    2. Twins 2016 -- Personally... I don't spend a lot of time looking for potential regression candidates. If you show me that you can play this game for one hot month... I"ll continue to believe in that player and believe that that player can get back to doing it... no matter how hard they regress and almost everybody regresses so I choose not to search for it prematurely. This is why I believe in Arcia and Santana. They have shown me that they can do it and it's this belief in Arcia and Santana that causes me to love the Twins depth and it's this depth that makes me believe that 2016 could be special. If Molly chooses to utilize that depth and play the hot hand when the hand gets hot.

    Yeah... I'm positive about the Twins but I wish they would have acquired a big name bullpen piece... really really big and I wish we were in the National League so we could play the Phillies, Braves, Brewers, Reds, Padres and Rockies.

    3. Orioles 2016 -- My thoughts on the Orioles are pretty simple. They need better starting pitching but they are trying to overcome that with more power than anybody else in the majors. 1 through 8 are capable of going deep on any pitch in almost any wind condition. Murderers Row is a lot longer in Baltimore. Davis, Schoop, Hardy, Machado, Alverez, Trumbo, Jones and Weiters... Back to Back to Back to Back to Back to Back to Back to Back. Keep the ball down Ervin!!! On a positive note... These teams built on crazy power... rarely win it all. It's been tried before because it's fun and it looks good on paper. In reality... You still need a little speed for a little balance to win a little.

    4. Baltimore Parking-- I went to Camden Yards last summer and it's a beautiful park. Maybe a month prior... I had arranged for parking through ParkWhiz or Parking Panda or someplace like that online.... I should remember who it was because they have been sending me emails every day to let me know of every parking deal that happens in Baltimore. If I should get the urge to get in my car and drive to Baltimore to take advantage of 5 dollars off a parking ramp tomorrow... I am now fully aware of every possibility because I provided my email address when I booked a parking space. I was once offered a 75% off deal and I decided that was too good to pass up. I just got in the car and drove to Baltimore for the parking. Had some crab cakes and drove back home.... my hub cabs disappeared but it was really good crab cake. Thank You ParkWhiz.

    5. Will Do -- You may not realize this but "Will Do" sounds a lot like "Mildew". There really isn't an easily thought of context where any human should confuse the two in any simple conversation but... my wife asked my to take out the garbage and I responded "Will Do" and this sent her running over to the garbage container which she immediately lifted up. She got down on all fours and scanned the entire kitchen and didn't find anything before she asked exactly where it was. Now this misunderstanding was funny until I realized that my wife obviously now believes I've become so lazy that I can't be troubled to speak an entire sentence when describing the mildew situation.

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

    Lineups:

    TWINS

    Dozier 2B

    Mauer 1B

    Sano RF

    Plouffe 3B

    Rosario LF

    Park DH

    Escobar SS

    Suzuki C

    Buxton RF

    Santana P

    ORIOLES

    Machado 3B

    Jones CF

    Davis 1B

    Trumbo RF

    Wieters C

    Alvarez DH

    Hardy SS

    Schoop 2B

    Rickard LF

    Tillman P

    Umpires: HP - Winters, 1B - Wegner, 2B - Foster, 3B - Muchlinski

    Game-time forecast: 69 deg, overcast with a 50% chance of rain (with that percentage rising through the afternoon), winds from the west at 3mph.

    Yay baseball! Go Twins!

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    Featured Comments

    DaveW

    DaveW 9,037

  • Old-Timey Member

    • Posted (edited)

     

     

    FIVE INNINGS INTO THE SEASON, DAVE.

    To follow up, you can call this over-reacting all you want.

     

    I knew well before this appearance (as did most others) that Fien is not a good pitcher, he has a 3.81 career XFIP in the majors (3.72 as a Twin) and is past the point where he has any real upside. Giving that guy a bullpen spot, much less a key role in the bullpen on a "contending" team is a recipe for a disaster. This terrible 2/3rds of an inning is just further proof. 3.81 is pretty terrible for a RP btw.

     

     

    Ditto with putting Sano in RF

    Edited by DaveW
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    Danchat

    Danchat 11,131

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    It'll be interesting to see how Fien fares in the bullpen. I used to like the guy, but his leash has got to be getting shorter. I want to see him succeed, but if he continues to pitch like this...

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    DaveW

    DaveW 9,037

  • Old-Timey Member

    • Posted

     

     

    Buxton on pace for a zillion strikeouts.

    Yeah, I still think starting him in the majors this year is a mistake. I would have liked to see him get some confidence in AAA for a few weeks at the very least.

     

    Could have signed Span, could have kept Hicks etc to provide OF/CF depth in meantime.

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    Craig Arko

    Craig Arko 13,264

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    Dude, there's no defending making snap judgments five innings into opening day. That's all there is to the conversation.

    As for your last paragraph, I kinda agree. I didn't want Fien on this team. I don't like the guy and think he's toast.

    But five innings. Come on.

    Maybe you two should get a room. ;)

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    KirbyHawk75

    KirbyHawk75 215

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

    I am still concerned about Buxton... I always said last season that Buxton should have never been called up.  That was a huge mistake.  I still think he belongs in the minors.  He, along with Sano and Berrios are the future of the Twins.  

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    Brock Beauchamp

    Brock Beauchamp 39,328

  • Administrator

    • Posted

    One question:

    When you know opening day is the next day, what is the point on using any of your major league bullpen arms in the last exhibition game of the season? Especially when said game had a 60-80% chance of rain.

    Did they play yesterday? I thought the last game was Sat but honestly, I pretty much checked out on yesterday because the weather was so nice.
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    DiscGolfer

    DiscGolfer 1,254

  • Verified Member

    • Posted

     

    Did they play yesterday? I thought the last game was Sat but honestly, I pretty much checked out on yesterday because the weather was so nice.

    Dick mentioned earlier that he pitched in a minor league game yesterday

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    DaveW

    DaveW 9,037

  • Old-Timey Member

    • Posted (edited)

     

    Did they play yesterday? I thought the last game was Sat but honestly, I pretty much checked out on yesterday because the weather was so nice.

    Ah yeah, I guess it was Saturday. But Tonkin pitched 50 in a game yesterday.

    Edited by DaveW
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