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A little too distractin' looking for the good ones to guess which weren't multiple choice. Thanks, Stringer bell for the line ups! This was worth finding though.

Yup. Good call. And it looks like after the first, they are formatted so as not to be so open ended. (let's see if this works...) Now that i've kinda figured it out, i can continue if folk want... But this format makes it less appealing, so i may only pick a few that i like. Or more likely, i'll look for an existent summary page more akin to what Craig put up initially.

Hold on, i'll see what i can do...

Pokin' around on twitter has the answer, so i'm not gonna ruin folk's fun by mentioning it, other than to warn that my experience has been that twitter comes up by default most recent first, so i got answers before i got to the questions, which spoils the fun... Good game!

"A day late and a dollar short..." game thread intro. I owe y'all an apology. I got caught up tryin' to be funny in yesterday's intro, and didn't end up sharin' what i thought a somewhat portentous experience from the previous day. Thursday morning, i brought my car to the shop to figure out how come it was tending to stall in stop and go traffic. i sat in the place with a book to read, and made some progress, though i was somewhat distracted by the day time talk show. 2 hours later, they get my attention to tell me they couldn't find the problem. Seemed to be workin' fine. I paid the obligatory hour of diagnostics, and yup, presumably in the process of unconnectin'/reconnectin' things to test individual components, they'd reconnected or unstuck whatever the issue was. Works fine now. I woulda probably tried to wring a moral with regards to fixin' the team and the trade deadline out o' this story. Who knows, I mighta succeeded. But it wouldn'ta been entirely accurate as we got Jepsen, who might be the first pitcher whose acquisition caused two shortstops to return to the minors? And of course i'm too lazy to try to verify this given that i'm too lazy to be accurate, as Plouffe returning obviously has something to do with it, so i'll just satisfy myself with speculation. Speaking of all that deadline excitement, i missed an opportunity. I can think of nothing so apt to express the sheer complexity of it than a Stephen Sondheim musical first act finale inspired by a Ingmar Bergman movie: (like the deadline, if you aren't familiar with all the ins and outs, i'm not even going to try to explain them. Though if prompted, i might point out the similarities that brought it to mind...) Two thoughts stuck in the back o' my mind from Riverbrian's thursday intro: He was lookin' at the wrong Seattle logo. The one on the hats tells it all: every direction is S. Obviously they're stuck at the north pole. The other is corollary to comparing the post all-star results to the beginning of the season. August is about to be the new May. In memory of Mr. Piper, i declare August the month the Twins run out of bubblegum. Someday i want to get me shades like those... Oh yeah. The game. Almost late enough, perhaps i should wait a few hours and include the line ups myself. Leastwise it'd give me more to talk about on topic... But nah. As a friend is in the habit of saying "better done than done well." The Seattle Mariners summon Mike Montgomery to the mound as their Left Handed Starting Pitcher for today, and field a line up of: tba While the Minnesota Twins trot out Kyle Gibson, their Right Handed Starting Pitcher, as well as a line up of: tba on this fine evening at Target Field. (To be corrected if weather reports contradict it) I'm sure looking for Gibson to bounce back, even for some of his pitches to do so as well... into infielders' gloves, i hope. (Don't know enough of the Mariners to speculate who faces him) We usually do pretty good against left-handed pitching don't we? In which case, i'm feeling optimistic with our chances against Montgomery, even if i don't know anything more about him. Does this mean we get to see the helmet fly off Nunez head? I don't suppose Sugar Shane (now i understand the reference, i feel better about using it) will find his way into the line up, will he? Anyway, i look forward to some good baseball!

Holy smokes! Didn't quite catch that, what with the Twins losing and everything. Other friends also mentioned it this morning, and recommend a memorial viewing of They Live.

Ah, shucks!

Any constructive criticism? How can i do better next time?

Well, that could have gone better... (What? All of the above) My theory: Molitor getting everyone in before he has to decide who goes down when Plouffe comes back and Jepsen arrives...

Montero hit one into the bullpen. 4-1 Seattle (2 outs in the top of the 6th now) CBU (a balky computer update?)

At least the outs were loud that inning. For a moment i thought/hoped Rosario and Sano were renewing their Rookie league homer competition...

How much is too much? Site was avoiding me too, but don't mind so much.

Thank you, Sano.

Man, i thought Hicks had Walker's number... Oh well.

Have you solved world hunger? Congratulations!

Version o' that song i grew up with was sung by Tex Ritter, on the flip side of 'Blood on the Saddle', and i think it prominently featured the phrase 'Jack o' Diamonds' so i'd often find an excuse to bring it up when playing Euchre later in life. But Pete Seeger's great too. But i forget... How deep in the big muddy were we again?

Good point. It is possible Allen's opinion affected affected both trades similarly, but less likely, seeing as he was out of the organization when the first happened, and it doesn't bode anything about Allen's rapport with him. So never mind. I'll try to pay closer attention in the future.

I knew i was leavin' myself open to a lack of pop music knowledge... I can only hide behind Riverbrian's intro last night, and say i wasn't sure to which crickets he was referrin'...

Will he get here in time? Miami's like, just about as far from Minnesota as just about any other ballpark. (and they're playin' San Diego, so even if they were away, it wouldn't really help) And the $64 question: who gets bumped from the active roster to accommodate him?)

I'm optimistic, at least. And i guess i'm more curious as to what Neil Allen can do with him. It occurs to me that, seeing as Mr. Allen came from the Rays, and may have had some part in their acquisition of him from the Dodgers, that this might have greater immediate value than folk are crediting it for... Yeah, i too am waiting for the related roster decisions to pan out. A seller's market, i presume, and ya gotta give something to get something (else). Violence inherent in the system, and all that. I'm sure i'll keep an eye out for Hu over the next few years just as i will Colabello and other folk who have left the system.

Beatles sound pretty good. (More appealing than crickets, at least) I guess now that the deadline is past, i should catch up on the actual carnage. Did we win?

That fella is cheating! By using a headset, he doesn't even have to hum. Someone else can hum for him. Or he could be listening to real music even. Why didn't i think of that? Thanks! I'll use it next year... What real music should i have been listening to?

Can i take my fingers out of my ears yet?

"Fingers in the ears and humming loudly" Game Thread intro. Here's to avoiding all the speculation, and catching the actual factual moves perhaps after the fact, but waiting builds character. "Just because [i am] a character doesn't mean have character..." So if everyone else is doing it, that means i can do it too, right? Here goes... "There has been an unprecedented three team swap between Minnesota, St. Louis, and Kansas City. Unlike previous trades, where a few noteworthy players move around, this one is wholesale. The entire teams are moving, including mascots. In one fell swoop, Minnesota upgrades to one of the best bullpens. Matt Carpenter is reported to be looking forward to home field advantage in the World Series. And the (St. Louis) Twins suddenly become the owners of the best record in baseball. Not all this is well received. Some Kansas City fans are irate that they have to wear a whole new color. Sano is left without the DH spot, unless he's willing to pitch. The player's union is quietly looking into the matter to see if this violates various no trade clauses, but, as on the surface they are still playing on the same team, it is likely to hold up. Not surprisingly, national coverage takes no notice." -me See even i get distracted by this, and not a word of it is serious. At least now it's out of my system. I hope... But i digress... Round 2 between Seattle and Minnesota features Taijuan Walker #32 going toe to toe with Tommy Milone #33. Or rather they'll both be toeing the rubber, just not simultaneously. But that's toe to toe on average... #32 vs. #33? Looks pretty even to me. Looking further (the paragraph description on mlb's site) Walker's in a bit of a tough stretch, but has also been pretty good at times. He has more than twice Milone's K total, but probably 'cause he didn't spend time in AAA. Milone of course has been pretty sharp. I hope he can hold 'em. I'm sad our pitchers don't get to lock horns with Cano. But if that makes a win more likely, i guess i can't really complain. Presumably, we get to see Sano manning the hot corner again, and probably Polanco at short, but as the line ups aren't up, i probably shouldn't count my chickens before they hatch. How were they last night, as i only half paid attention? I recall a good pick by Polanco followed by an errant throw, but that's all... This is about the time they got Vargas up and swinging last season, so it wouldn't be without precedent to set that sort of thing up again. Is that enough thoughts for today? I haven't kept track... Oh yeah, left as exercise to your friendly neighborhood moderator, updating the weather and the line ups: Seattle Mariners: P Taijuan Walker, North Paw Marte 2B Seager 3B Cruz DH Gutierrez LF Trumbo RF Jackson CF Montero 1B Miller SS Zunino C Minnesota Twins: P Tommy Milone, South Paw Dozier 2B Hicks CF Mauer 1B Sano 3B Hunter RF Rosario LF Nunez DH Fryer C Polanco SS Enjoy the game!

Music to my ears... er, eyes, that is. No more losin' blues for me. We have regained our general blue shift tendency in the standings, um relative to the majority of the league.