Game Thread: Twins @ Royals, 4/20 @ 1:10pm CT

[Squirrel]

Game-time forecast: Partly cloudy. Winds blowing out to center field at 10-15 m.p.h. Temperature around 75.

 

Twins:

SP, Hughes

 

Dozier 2B

Mauer 1B

Plouffe 3B

Colabello RF

Kubel LF

Pinto DH

Suzuki C

Hicks CF

Escobar SS

 

Royals:

SP, Ventura

 

Aoki RF

Infante 2B

Hosmer 1B

Perez C

Gordon LF

Butler DH

Moustakas 3B

Maxwell CF

Escobar SS

 

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

 

Brian, the thinking man, will have more to say here.

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

 

Thank you and Happy Easter

 

Things to think about:

 

1. Yordano Ventura -- 100 MPH... The hard throwing right hander is going to have our Twins on their toes today. Major leaguers can hit a 100 MPH fastball if it's grooved but they don't hit it every time because it ain't easy. Ventura is a good pitcher... a rookie of the year candidate and he's much better than Frank Oxnard... Steve Bakersfield... Luis Obispo... Jerry Santa Barbara and Todd Big Sur.

 

2. Defense -- Stomp Stomp Defense... Stomp Stomp Defense... You gotta prevent the crooked numbers if you want to win baseball games. Crooked numbers happen when you fail to make outs. If you give a team 5 outs to play with they usually hurt you and that's the ball game.

 

Case in point... The 4th inning yesterday:

 

After a Gordon single... Colabello blew a routine fly ball which would have been the first out of the inning. Instead of one out and a runner on 1st... there are runners on 2nd and 3rd with no out.

 

Moustakas hits a sacrifice fly which should have been the 2nd out with a runner on 1st. Instead it's one run in and one out.

 

After Escobar is hit by a pitch... Trevor Plouffe doesn't move on a routine ball (let's assume he didn't see it... I hope it wasn't because he wasn't on his toes). That should have been the third out with no runs allowed but it allows another run to score and following that the Pinto error on a throw that should have never happened because they should have been in the dugout.

 

When it was all said and done... According to the official scorer... 1 error (Pinto throwing error)... So... Correia is standing on the mound with 5 runs crossing the plate in the inning with 4 of those runs earned but Corriea should have escaped with zero earned. D Matters and those crooked numbers kill you.

 

3. Crooked Numbers -- Phil Hughes is starting today.

 

4. Animal Prognostication -- The evidence seems to suggest that the animals are better at predicting things then Joe A.

 

5. Easter Baskets -- Happy Easter to all!!! This Morning I was honored to be given the assignment of hiding the Easter Baskets for my Nieces and Nephews. I did a great job hiding them... The Kids tore after it... Kids searching high and low. I'd tell them... you're getting colder... you're getting warmer... you're getting colder. This went on for an hour and they didn't find any of them. Finally... My youngest Niece got frustrated and she started to cry. My wife says to me... "ENOUGH!!! ... Damn It Brian... Get in the car and take them to their EASTER BASKETS"!!!

[Squirrel]

5. Easter Baskets -- Happy Easter to all!!! This Morning I was honored to be given the assignment of hiding the Easter Baskets for my Nieces and Nephews. I did a great job hiding them... The Kids tore after it... Kids searching high and low. I'd tell them... you're getting colder... you're getting warmer... you're getting colder. This went on for an hour and they didn't find any of them. Finally... My youngest Niece got frustrated and she started to cry. My wife says to me... "ENOUGH!!! ... Damn It Brian... Get in the car and take them to their EASTER BASKETS"!!!

 

That's just mean. Funny. But mean.

[Guest USAFChief]

Wishing all a happy and blessed Easter! If you don't celebrate Easter, wishing all a peaceful and happy Sunday!

[PatG]

Game-time forecast: Partly cloudy. Winds blowing out to center field at 10-15 m.p.h. Temperature around 75.

 

Twins:

SP, Hughes

 

Dozier 1B

Mauer 2B

Plouffe 3B

Colabello RF

Kubel LF

Pinto DH

Suzuki C

Hicks CF

Escobar SS

 

Royals:

SP, Ventura

 

Aoki RF

Infante 2B

Hosmer 1B

Perez C

Gordon LF

Butler DH

Moustakas 3B

Maxwell CF

Escobar SS

 

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

 

Brian, the thinking man, will have more to say here.

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

 

Thank you and Happy Easter

 

Things to think about:

 

1. Yordano Ventura -- 100 MPH... The hard throwing right hander is going to have our Twins on their toes today. Major leaguers can hit a 100 MPH fastball if it's grooved but they don't hit it every time because it ain't easy. Ventura is a good pitcher... a rookie of the year candidate and he's much better than Frank Oxnard... Steve Bakersfield... Luis Obispo... Jerry Santa Barbara and Todd Big Sur.

 

2. Defense -- Stomp Stomp Defense... Stomp Stomp Defense... You gotta prevent the crooked numbers if you want to win baseball games. Crooked numbers happen when you fail to make outs. If you give a team 5 outs to play with they usually hurt you and that's the ball game.

 

Case in point... The 4th inning yesterday:

 

After a Gordon single... Colabello blew a routine fly ball which would have been the first out of the inning. Instead of one out and a runner on 1st... there are runners on 2nd and 3rd with no out.

 

Moustakas hits a sacrifice fly which should have been the 2nd out with a runner on 1st. Instead it's one run in and one out.

 

After Escobar is hit by a pitch... Trevor Plouffe doesn't move on a routine ball (let's assume he didn't see it... I hope it wasn't because he wasn't on his toes). That should have been the third out with no runs allowed but it allows another run to score and following that the Pinto error on a throw that should have never happened because they should have been in the dugout.

 

When it was all said and done... According to the official scorer... 1 error (Pinto throwing error)... So... Correia is standing on the mound with 5 runs crossing the plate in the inning with 4 of those runs earned but Corriea should have escaped with zero earned. D Matters and those crooked numbers kill you.

 

3. Crooked Numbers -- Phil Hughes is starting today.

 

4. Animal Prognostication -- The evidence seems to suggest that the animals are better at predicting things then Joe A.

 

5. Easter Baskets -- Happy Easter to all!!! This Morning I was honored to be given the assignment of hiding the Easter Baskets for my Nieces and Nephews. I did a great job hiding them... The Kids tore after it... Kids searching high and low. I'd tell them... you're getting colder... you're getting warmer... you're getting colder. This went on for an hour and they didn't find any of them. Finally... My youngest Niece got frustrated and she started to cry. My wife says to me... "ENOUGH!!! ... Damn It Brian... Get in the car and take them to their EASTER BASKETS"!!!

 

When does Buxton come off the DL? I believe the Twins love to coddle their top prospects, we are seeing it here again in Buxton. Why not let the guy come up to the bigs and see what he has? Our current lead off guy, although hitting for some power, is hitting around the Mendoza line? Why not let Buxton have a couple of weeks; hey, better D in the outfield is never a bad thing....

[Mr. Brooks]

Buxton has yet to even swing a bat since his injury in mid March.

You arent going to see him with big club any time soon, and if he doesnt get into a lineup somewhere soon, almost certainly not at all this year.

[sampleSizeOfOne]

 

5. Easter Baskets -- Happy Easter to all!!! This Morning I was honored to be given the assignment of hiding the Easter Baskets for my Nieces and Nephews. I did a great job hiding them... The Kids tore after it... Kids searching high and low. I'd tell them... you're getting colder... you're getting warmer... you're getting colder. This went on for an hour and they didn't find any of them. Finally... My youngest Niece got frustrated and she started to cry. My wife says to me... "ENOUGH!!! ... Damn It Brian... Get in the car and take them to their EASTER BASKETS"!!!

 

Yeah, my dad was so good at hiding 'em that we didn't find the last few until we got out the winter clothes in the fall... Knowing this, i think our family kept track of the real dyed eggs, so it was only the plastic candy filled ones what we'd give up.

 

Wait... you had to drive to get them? Only seems fair if you let the kids drive while looking for them...

 

"2.... those crooked numbers kill you."

 

I always thought "the Butler did it", but no, i guess it was a crooked number. Now i can imagine fans from a game called to look at line up. "Can you identify the number that did him in?" "It was the 5, officer, I'm sure of it!"

 

And in response to 4, well, i don't think animals don't have to worry about jinxing things, so they got it easy! 1 out of 2 ain't bad, albeit a small sample size...

 

Anyhow, lookin' forward to the game!

[JB_Iowa]

• Tim Brown ‏@TBrownYahoo now
  Angels just made three errors on the same play. Looked more like eight.
   
   
  Been practicing with the Twins.
   
   
  

[Craig Arko]

• Tim Brown ‏@TBrownYahoo now
  Angels just made three errors on the same play. Looked more like eight.
   
   
  Been practicing with the Twins.
  

 

Cue Yakety Sax.

[kydoty]

Sunlight + HD = Holy crap at Marney Gellner's forehead wrinkles!

[JB_Iowa]

• Ken Rosenthal ‏@Ken_Rosenthal 8m
  Source: #Twins claim OF Sam Fuld.
   
   
   
   
  
  • Mike Berardino ‏@MikeBerardino 53s
    #mntwins may be close to a deal. Had a scout tell me OF Sam Fuld "makes a lot of sense" for them. DFA'd by Oakland.
     
     
    

   

   

   

   

   

[JB_Iowa]

• Mike Berardino ‏@MikeBerardino now
  Scout on Sam Fuld: "He's a good 4th or 5th outfielder. He's not going to hit much, but he is a Twins kind of player. That could be it."
   
   
  

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

• Mike Berardino ‏@MikeBerardino now
  Scout on Sam Fuld: "He's a good 4th or 5th outfielder. He's not going to hit much, but he is a Twins kind of player. That could be it."
  

 

 

He's kind of a Nick Punto of the outfield. Get him in the lineup!

[Craig Arko]

The Clairvoyant predicts: within the next ten days Hicks and Florimon are optioned, and Fuld and Nunez are up.

 

edit - wrong already, Mastro DFA'd.

[30whales]

Game-time forecast: Partly cloudy. Winds blowing out to center field at 10-15 m.p.h. Temperature around 75.

 

Twins:

SP, Hughes

 

Dozier 1B

Mauer 2B

Plouffe 3B

Colabello RF

Kubel LF

Pinto DH

Suzuki C

Hicks CF

Escobar SS

 

Royals:

SP, Ventura

 

Aoki RF

Infante 2B

Hosmer 1B

Perez C

Gordon LF

Butler DH

Moustakas 3B

Maxwell CF

Escobar SS

 

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

 

Mauer at 2B and Dozier at 1B? That's a bold move Cotton. Let's see if it pays off.

[Gibby]

So how many runs are we going to get?

[sampleSizeOfOne]

So how many runs are we going to get?

 

2 so far, courtesy of Plouffe double w/ Mauer and Dozier on.

[Guest USAFChief]

Mauer at 2B and Dozier at 1B? That's a bold move Cotton. Let's see if it pays off.

Prolly a move designed to get more power from first base.

[Gibby]

Ventura's change-up is harder than I can throw with a running start.

[Gibby]

It's nice we have a power hitter at the plate in this situation.

[Gibby]

This place is deader than the stadium in October.

[Guest USAFChief]

Young Gibby still in Italy?

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

This place is deader than the stadium in October.

 

Then it looks like you are carrying the ball today - it's your off day to pitch anyway, right?

[Gibby]

Young Gibby still in Italy?

 

2 young Gibby's are in Italy. My youngest is in Rome with her club team.

[Gibby]

2 young Gibby's are in Italy. My youngest is in Rome with her club team.

 

My Eldest is in Conegliano playing for the Panthers. If they win the next 2 matches they are in the Italian championship. If they lose either one, they are done and I get her back for a couple weeks.

[Guest USAFChief]

My Eldest is in Conegliano playing for the Panthers. If they win the next 2 matches they are in the Italian championship. If they lose either one, they are done and I get her back for a couple weeks.

So which are you hoping for?

[Guest USAFChief]

0-2 on the 9 hitter, and walk him.

 

Uffda.

[Squirrel]

Mauer at 2B and Dozier at 1B? That's a bold move Cotton. Let's see if it pays off.

Oops ... was going 1, 2, 3

[Gibby]

So which are you hoping for?

 

I've seen here lose in 2 final 4s and the national championship for 18 year olds. Of course I want a championship. If they make it we are going out for it, so I don't mind that.

 

What I'm really psyched about is I get to watch her in the World Gran Prix in her USA jersey next summer in Omaha. Then Rio the following summer.

[Guest USAFChief]

I've seen here lose in 2 final 4s and the national championship for 18 year olds. Of course I want a championship. If they make it we are going out for it, so I don't mind that.

 

What I'm really psyched about is I get to watch her in the World Gran Prix in her USA jersey next summer in Omaha. Then Rio the following summer.

Wow, Omaha and Rio!

 

The beaches, the girls, the excitement!

 

And I hear Rio's nice, too.

[Gibby]

Wow, Omaha and Rio!

 

The beaches, the girls, the excitement!

 

And I hear Rio's nice, too.

 

Yeah Omaha has the steaks, and all the girls in Rio have their asses hanging out.