sampleSizeOfOne

We plated 3 in the bottom of the final inningto make it close (5-4) but oh well. And 4 minutes to go in the Gophers and still trailing by 12. Got it down to 4, but let it slip back up. I sure hope they make a run!

And Gophers down 39-27 at the half.

Balazovic with a 1-2-3 8th. Is that his first ST appearance? Protected the 4 run deficit.

And buckeys take an 11-0 run to open the big ten tourney play. Er 13-0.

Second marwin dinger with a couple geese on the pond. I take the blame for this... me and my half baked intros.

And Marwin is hit by pitch next at bat?!

After 3, it is 1-1. marwin's dinger offsets Kirilloff's.

Curse of the Bambino is long forgotten, almost like it was the work of Lovecraft or thatKing fellow, best recounted round a camp fire miles from light polution. This century, it seems Boston sports franchises have had more than their fare share of championships, and some of that success has come from players who had formerly played for Minnesota. I am too lazy to put research in, after all, it is only Spring Training. I just hope Marwin isn't the latest example... Red Sox: 0. Eduardo Rodriguez ( L) P 1. Enrique Hernandez (R ) CF 2. Marwin Gonzalez ( S ) 2B 3. J.D. Martinez (R ) DH 4. Rafael Devers ( L) 3B 5. Christian Arroyo (R ) SS 6. Michael Chavis (R ) 1B 7. Kevin Plawecki (R ) C 8. Michael Gettys (R ) RF 9. Marcus Wilson (R ) LF Twins: 0. Matt Shoemaker (R ) P 1. Max Kepler ( L) CF 2. Josh Donaldson (R ) 3B 3. Nelson Cruz (R ) DH 4. Jorge Polanco ( S ) 2B 5. Mitch Garver (R ) C 6. Alex Kirilloff ( L) 1B 7. Brent Rooker (R ) LF 8. Keon Broxton (R ) RF 9. JT Riddle ( L) SS

And Nick Gordon got his first hit of ST. Good for him!

Wait, what? Astudillo drew a walk!?

Buxton is probably getting work in on the other fields? Am in patient to see him and Simmons on the field for maximum wow factor. I hope they are behind who ever pitches most to contact...

4-0.

3-0 lead in the 4th. And this last inning brought some OPSs down. I was excited for a moment whne battters 4-8 in our line up all had OPSs>1. Welcome to spring training...

TD: Today's game thread intro consists of an apology for being late. TC: 0. Jose Berrios (R ) P 1. Luis Arraez ( L) 2B 2. Ryan Jeffers (R ) C 3. Miguel Sano (R ) 1B 4. Willians Astudillo (R ) 3B 5. Kyle Garlick (R ) LF 6. Brent Rooker (R ) DH 7. Rob Refsnyder (R ) RF 8. Tzu-Wei Lin ( L) SS 9. Gilberto Celestino (R ) CF TB: 0. Luis Patino (R ) P 1. Kevin Kiermaier ( L) CF 2. Mike Zunino (R ) DH 3. Austin Meadows ( L) LF 4. Brandon Lowe ( L) 3B 5. Manuel Margot (R ) RF 6. Yoshi Tsutsugo ( L) 1B 7. Francisco Mejia ( S ) C 8. Mike Brosseau (R ) SS 9. Vidal Brujan ( S ) 2B TA: ta for now...

Dogs and cats living together... Mass hysteria.

Yeah, part of the shortened game thing is to always play out the bottom half of the inning. It is so pitching can be planned more reliably. Anyway... To quote chief, "Winnah!"

Scoreless after 6. Luke Farrell is on the mound. Isn't he the one who didn't give up a BP homer to Buxton earlier in ST?

You can always ask... Have they batted back to back yet? Lineups and substitution strategies may be against us on this. I would be satisfied to see one hit and the other score, and pinch running is more likely to happen. A sfor current scoreless game, Broxton does have one of two walks.

Stretching... As the starting pitchers get more innings per start in preparation for the season, so too do game thread intro writers. No need to provide thoughts to get the discerning reader through the whole game as other posters are round for relief, but it is good to work on your offerings. Today bald declaration pitch. It bears down on the reader, giving them only a split second to decide whether to respond or not. It is good to keep these up in the zone, so readers are likely to pop them up if they make contact... 1. Nelson Cruz is going to rake! 2. Broxton will fly! 3. Sano will pick it! (er, How was that? Did i blow them by everyone for a K? Or was the catcher able to hold on to that last one... I know i can be a little wild) Noon on Tuesday (Toonsday?) March 9th Baltimore Orioles 0. Dean Kremer (R ) P 1. Cedric Mullins ( L) CF 2. Trey Mancini (R ) 1B 3. Ryan Mountcastle (R ) LF 4. Pedro Severino (R ) C 5. Austin Hays (R ) RF 6. Pat Valaika (R ) SS 7. Yolmer Sanchez ( S ) 2B 8. Tyler Nevin (R ) DH 9. Rylan Bannon (R ) 3B Minnesota Twins 0. Kenta Maeda (R ) P 1. Max Kepler ( L) RF 2. Josh Donaldson (R ) 3B 3. Nelson Cruz (R ) DH 4. Jorge Polanco ( S ) 2B 5. Miguel Sano (R ) 1B 6. Mitch Garver (R ) C 7. Alex Kirilloff ( L) LF 8. Keon Broxton (R ) CF 9. JT Riddle ( L) SS

Me too.

If only we could have hooked up Texas' powergrid last month to this over-reactor...

Phew. I didn't miss anything. Today is an off day for the Twins.

TA: Sorry i am late. TB: 0. Collin McHugh (R ) P 1. Willy Adames (R ) SS 2. Austin Meadows ( L) LF 3. Randy Arozarena (R ) RF 4. Brandon Lowe ( L) 2B 5. Ji-Man Choi ( L) 1B 6. Manuel Margot (R ) CF 7. Yoshi Tsutsugo ( L) 3B 8. Francisco Mejia ( S ) C 9. Mike Brosseau (R ) DH TC: 0. Lewis Thorpe ( L) P 1. Luis Arraez ( L) 2B 2. Josh Donaldson (R ) 3B 3. Jorge Polanco ( S ) SS 4. Nelson Cruz (R ) DH 5. Byron Buxton (R ) CF 6. Ryan Jeffers (R ) C 7. Jake Cave ( L) RF 8. Alex Kirilloff ( L) 1B 9. Rob Refsnyder (R ) LF

Yeah, i remember seeing we were up 2-0 after 2 due to Buxton and Lin singles round a Riddle triple, and that Cruz also had singled in the first, but i got distracted and didn't check in. What else happened?

Today (noonish, Saturday 3/6) we face the vaunted line up of the East Coast juggernot known for the covering of their feet. But, like Twins, socks are identical, meaning they can't start off on the wrong foot. Wait.. Twins don't have to be identical... What else couldi be wrong about. Twins: 0. Michael Pineda (R ) P 1. Max Kepler ( L) RF 2. Mitch Garver (R ) C 3. Nelson Cruz (R ) DH 4. Miguel Sano (R ) 1B 5. Byron Buxton (R ) CF 6. Willians Astudillo (R ) 3B 7. Brent Rooker (R ) LF 8. JT Riddle ( L) 2B 9. Tzu-Wei Lin ( L) SS Red Sox: 0. Ryan Weber (R ) P 1. Enrique Hernandez (R ) SS 2. Jarren Duran ( L) CF 3. J.D. Martinez (R ) DH 4. Rafael Devers ( L) 3B 5. Hunter Renfroe (R ) RF 6. Marwin Gonzalez ( S ) 2B 7. Bobby Dalbec (R ) 1B 8. Kevin Plawecki (R ) C 9. Yairo Munoz (R ) LF Curious... Twins have 6 right handed batters followed by 3 left handed batters. Discuss.