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Indeed, these are the puppy days of april... For those of less discerning eyes, the top picture is today's starting outfield. Doesn't Escobar look alert? Middle picture are Moli and Bruno. Responsibility weighs heavy on the brow. And the bottom is the starting line up, as they are introduced. Papasan provided by the front office. They may not look it, but they'll grow to give even wild cats a run for their money. (No old yeller references please... Oops. sorry)

Alas, i'm just too lazy to turn off the smiley face generation stuff which converts a parenthetical capital r into a trademark symbol. semi colon close paren...

Starring... Minnesota Twins: Mound: Kyle Gibson ® 1. Danny Santana (S) SS 2. Brian Dozier ® 2B 3. Joe Mauer (L) 1B 4. Torii Hunter ® RF 5. Kennys Vargas (S) DH 6. Trevor Plouffe ® 3B 7. Eduardo Escobar (S) LF 8. Chris Herrmann (L) C 9. Jordan Schafer (L) CF Detroit Tigers: Mound: Shane Greene ® 1. Anthony Gose (L) CF 2. Ian Kinsler ® 2B 3. Miguel Cabrera ® 1B 4. Victor Martinez (S) DH 5. J.D. Martinez ® RF 6. Yoenis Cespedes ® LF 7. Nick Castellanos ® 3B 8. Alex Avila (L) C 9. Jose Iglesias ® SS Additional online posts by sundry extras.

Game Thread, Twins @ Tigers, 4/9 @ 12:08pm CT This is it. Bottom of the eighth 2 out, Runners at the corners, Perkins comes in to protect a 1 run lead. The indomitable Miguel Cabrera shakes a weight from his bat, and saunters confidently to the plate. Perkins looks in for the sign, shakes Suzuki's first call off, and nods at the second. He gathers his thoughts for the pitch. The Tigers have had their way in the first two games of the road series, out scoring 'em 13-0, but that doesn't matter. This is now. This game. He rears back and fires... Ball 1 Ump replaces the dirty ball, Suzuki fires it back while Cabrera looks down the line. Again with the sign, this time nodding at the first. This one's for Gibson. Not a perfect game, but outstanding. He went toe to toe with Greene, and gave the team a chance to win. After a hot and cold rookie season, he kept the Tigers honest. He too is the home grown talent. Again. Rear, Fire... Strike 1. Out comes the ball. Sign. He's set. The defense is on their toes, in anticipation. The had a few tough breaks the last two games, but this was a pretty heads up game. Would have been totally different if they hadn't gotten that double play. And that outfield catch! It's a defence worth watching. And there goes the ball. A big cut! A long ball down the line... Foul! Strike 2. Alright! Got 'im on the ropes. Not that baseball has any ropes. The count is in our favor. That's right. Accountability. Someone should figure out how to get the bottom of the Tiger's order out. Today was better than yesterday, but still, glancing over his shoulder Glen can see one of those pesky fellows on third waitin' for a chance to scamper home. Who knows what internet jinks must be responsible for that? Where is the accountability? But the thought does not dignify a professional athlete. Here goes! He swung? Appeal to the first base ump... Ball 2. At least the umpire asked for help that time. No. Don't pick at that scab. This is a team sport. We're all in it together. Alright. Settle down. He almost bit, now let's see how he handles this! That's right, Suzuki, here it comes! Ball 3. Full count. Runner on first will be running with the pitch. If Perkins... A) tries to get Cabrera to chase, read post 21. grooves it down the center, power 'gainst power, read post 35. C) calls for a pick off, read post 46. D) doesn't approve the old school "Choose your own adventure books", read post 11. But if you really want to find out what happens, stay tuned, watch the game. And talk up a storm, if the weather doesn't already have that under control. This Intro has been given a rating of GT for Game Thread. And now for your Feature Presentation... (Roll opening Credits... I mean lineups)

Clever. It's a grade, but it also stands for Defense. D is for Diploma. That's what i keep telling myself... The mark of a true fan. Not to high nor to low. An even keel. (Because the maximum multiquote appears to be two. For future reference)

Thanks all for improvin' the game thread. Just gave a quick glance through, and picked up a few either i missed, or gather new significance. It might be cool to peal the cover off the ball and hand out a game ball thread, not to be confused with a game thread ball. Few comments become more significant when removed from context. This is one. Thanks for reminding me. Now i do remember it, and the curtains were extensive. That had pictures of the designs and such. I particularly enjoyed someone's saga to get enough fabric to replace all the curtains in a large home. Not all may have been positive, but it was definitely interesting! Anyway, once again, thanks for the game thread!

Figured this was a fine reference to pass on to future Gamethreaders...

Now that all's said and done (or at least done), perhaps that could have gone better. Back to, well, not exactly work, but doing things i should have gotten done.

Actually, i think that was the one that squeaked under Torii's glove. Both that and Torii's catch are in the highlights on gameday. The funny part with this one is the tigers announcers say Torii is able to get over, but not to bend over. (and to be fair, bending over while running at full speed is hard)

And of course i don't mind being wrong. No worse than redundancy or double negatives. I just wish i were wrong sooner and more often.

"Hail (Extra Base hit) Vargas." Well, that's one wrong thing. Schafer rakes the lead off double in the 6th.

Circus Boy update: 9-0 Detroit. Top of the 6th. Well, it's a new inning. Anything can happen.

Arcia's pop up, i think, may be the first time i've ever seen the catch standing in the batter's box to catch it. I'm not sure i've ever seen that before...

Is it possible to make a sufficiently transparent prism of gumdrops to effect that one Pink Floyd album cover? The game is still valuable, both to see what we got in our bullpen, and as extended fielding practice.

I chalk these two games up to Minnesota nice. It would be inconsiderate to visit Detroit, partake of their hospitality, and make them look bad. The season is long, so there will be plenty of time for that later.

What about double negatives? (and i feel inadequate, as i don't think i've seen "Old School". I am familiar with Will Farrell, so i can extrapolate somewhat.))

Sorry. I wasn't paying attention... "What do you get when you multiply six by nine?" "Strange things are afoot at the circle K?" "This means something..." (still on my mind due to pumpkin carving) "To every question, there is always a simple, easy to understand, wrong answer." (i forget who that is attributed to, but i guess i should probably put it into quotes as well...

I'm oK with a strike out, too. No worse than monday, so i think we're in familiar territory at this point. Oh, Circus Boy Update, as it were: 3-0 Detroit after 3.

Come on! One more ball for Arcia to catch, and we're out of the inning...

"No-sac-fly-for-you" Arcia makes the catch in shallow left, charging well.

My impression was that was his strength... Not that i've paid as close attention as should. That said, something seems to be afoot in the game: he has runners at 2nd and 3rd with no out.

I continue to be surprised though, that things are usually easier than i expected when i actually try to do them. Due to #4, and the apparently inadvertent possessive apostrophe to start #5, i postulated perhaps #5 should be "grammars." But please do not remove the elegant ambiguity of #4. One assumes the wife is fully capable of explaining.

More flies.

Respectfully submit a more accurate statement would be "disproof, by counter example"? QED.

Game is on! (Posting rate reduced, as i'll be mildly distracted following the game...)