Game Thread: Twins @ Tigers, 4/8 @ 12:08pm CT

[sampleSizeOfOne]

Game Thread, Twins @ Tigers, 4/8 @ 12:08pm CT

First! (Sorry, just had to get it out of my system)

Weather: (Forecast from weather.gov... which calls Detroit "4 miles s hamtramck mi" now that's humor!)

Showers likely, possible thunderstorms after noon. Cloudy, high about 47.

Er, line ups:

---to be filled in either by me if i get up in time, or some kindly moderator type saving my bacon. (if posting this without full information is a rash move, then would saving my bacon be a rasher one?)

Twins

Pitching: Ricky Nolasco

1.Santana, D, SS
2.Dozier, B, 2B
3.Mauer, J, 1B
4.Hunter, T, RF
5.Vargas, K, DH
6.Plouffe, T, 3B
7.Arcia, O, LF
8.Suzuki, K, C
9.Schafer, J, CF

Tigers

Pitching: Anibal Sanchez

1.Gose, A, CF
2.Kinsler, I, 2B
3.Cabrera, M, 1B
4.Martinez, V, DH
5.Martinez, J, RF
6.Cespedes, Y, LF
7.Castellanos, N, 3B
8.Avila, A, C
9.Iglesias, J, SS

And now for the game thread ignition sequence:

1) Previously...

Now that opening day hullabaloo has blown over, we can get back to normal work.
What are the take-aways? (Me? Oh, i was hoping you'd answer it. But here goes)

Hughes had one inning he regretted.
Graham got his jitters out of the way.
A little hitting 'gainst good pitching and fielding on the Twins part, but not much to speak of.
They ran on Hughes. I don't expect it to be too big a concern going forward.
More importantly, a fine game thread! Welcome back y'all.

1a) for extra credit:
If the Twins tied Monday's game in the top of the 9th.
What position does Escobar field in the bottom?

2) Mulligans.

I'm so glad i get second chances. So not that i have any say in the matter, but i'm on board with giving Nolasco a second chance to give a first impression. Or is that a first chance to give a second impression?

What was my point again? I know i had one somewhere.

Wait. Can i try that again? No? Oh well. Live and Learn.
(Gosh, Riverbrian, this is harder than it looks.)

3) Growth.

If the days of August are dog days, might not the days of April be puppy days? Bright eyed and bushy tailed. Are these the formative games for the season? Who needs to learn what? Discuss.

4) The weather.

At the time of this posting, possible thunderstorms are predicted. But assuming nature doesn't provide the thunder, which Twin will provide it? Any guesses?

My (hopefully reasonable, but not obvious) guesses:
(and feel free to play along at home, kids)

The thunder (Homerun) Mauer.
Rain (Run) Robinson.
Clouds (RBI) Santana. Er, Danny, that is.
Hail (Extra Base hit) Vargas.
Lightning (Stolen Base) Nunez.
A crack in the metaphor (Sac Fly) Escobar.
Tornado (Bunt Single) Arcia.

At this point the metaphor has snapped and injured the writer, who will take a
moment to wipe the egg off his face.
When it rains, it pours!

5) A school bus metaphor...

Someone's driving the bus. And indeed someone is in the front counting people, making sure no one is left behind, and that we're all wearing our safety belts. And of course most of the world is probably in the middle, passing the time until we get there. But i imagine the game threads are the people in the back of the bus, where the bumps and turns are hardest felt. It's the exciting place to be. Anyway, you'll have to figure out if it is an apt metaphor. In the meantime, thanks for an opportunity to do some good ol' fashion backseat driving!

Will that get it up and running?  I hope so, but if not, i'm no stranger to popping the clutch...

 

[USAFChief]

"...possible thunderstorms are predicted."

 

Not much of a prediction, if you ask me.

[ashbury]

If Nolasco is going to have a bounceback season, the Tigers offense will be a stern test. I'm optimistically cautious he'll give the team a chance to win.

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

According to myiphone.gov, there is a potential chance for possible scattered showers or thunderstorms being predicted by some people at some point early in the day, with possible clearing up later in the afternoon. In fact, it's a 50% chance.

[ashbury]

The forecast for tonight: Dark. Continued mostly dark, with periods of widely scattered light toward morning.

 

_{^{/ RIP, George Carlin}}

[Mill1634]

Lets go Twins. I'm predicting a rain out. 

[JB_Iowa]

Wondered who would be the first volunteer! Nice job, SS1.

 

Wish I could be around for this game but don't think I'll make it so have a good game thread and

 

WIN TWINS!

[Kirby_waved_at_me]

Nice intro to the game thread Sample Size of One!

 

I hope they get the game in today. Waited so long in the cold for baseball to get here, I hate postponements!

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

Detroit weather update from I'mnotMakingthisup.gov says:

 

Only a 5 to 25% chance of a cloud with diagonal blue lines underneath it throughout the afternoon. Play ball!

[Kirby_waved_at_me]

Tigers Starter Anibal Sanchez was injured for a good chunk of the year last year, managed to get a few innings of relief in September... He's got a lot of rust on him. Here's hoping the Twins can knock him around for a few innings early on.

[kydoty]

Forecast:  Who cares.  It's Detroit.  Like it matters. 

[ScrapTheNickname]

But buses don't come with safety belts.

 

And neither do the Twins.

[formerly33]

I'm looking forward to that bunt single by Arcia.

 

I think we should go a step beyond "Beat the Streak" and try to break the record for consecutive games with RBI. Assuming that the Twins are going to score today, who will get the RBI? Obviously sampleSizeOfOne picks Santana and/or Mauer. But what about the rest of you? I almost want to pick V-Mart for the Tigers. Will that jinx him? One can only hope...

[sampleSizeOfOne]

Line ups here (as i seem to have mislaid my "edit this post" link)

 

Minnesota:

 

1.  Santana, D, SS 
2.  Dozier, B, 2B 
3.  Mauer, J, 1B 
4.  Hunter, T, RF 
5.  Vargas, K, DH 
6.  Plouffe, T, 3B 
7.  Arcia, O, LF 
8.  Suzuki, K, C 
9.  Schafer, J, CF

 

Detroit:

 

1.  Gose, A, CF
2.  Kinsler, I, 2B
3.  Cabrera, M, 1B
4.  Martinez, V, DH
5.  Martinez, J, RF
6.  Cespedes, Y, LF
7.  Castellanos, N, 3B
8.  Avila, A, C
9.  Iglesias, J, SS

 

And current weather forecast i believe to be:

 

78% chance of nitrogen, 21% oxygen, 1% other gases, primarily carbon dioxide and water vapor.

 

As we are at the bottom of most atmospheric conditions, and most of that 1% being denser, We may have disproportionally higher chance of that.

[formerly33]

78% chance of nitrogen?! And what if the remaining 22% chance of having that 78% of the air we breathe also be other gases turns out to be true? We won't be having any more beautiful game threads on TD anymore. Or will we just have all new players and no TD members who were in Detroit at the time?

[Mike Frasier Law]

 

Tigers Starter Anibal Sanchez was injured for a good chunk of the year last year, managed to get a few innings of relief in September... He's got a lot of rust on him. Here's hoping the Twins can knock him around for a few innings early on.

 

He got slapped around a lot this spring. Might be a few crooked numbers today.

[Kirby_waved_at_me]

I hope Arcia hitting 7th regularly will humble him a bit and allow him to put together some quality at bats. Facing Price yesterday was a steep hill to climb, but Sanchez should be a more favorable matchup for Oswaldo.  

[Squirrel]

 

Line ups here (as i seem to have mislaid my "edit this post" link)

I helped you out with that, so the lineups are above, too.

 

[sampleSizeOfOne]

 

I helped you out with that, so the lineups are above, too.

 

Thanks a bunch!

 

I was a little leery of the source where i got 'em: through the notes link on mlb.com, as it said "today's lineup" and the pitchers listed reflected that, but amongst "upcoming games", april 8th was still listed...

 

But as it is consistent with the gameday link what just appeared, i can rest assured i didn't mess up.

 

On the other hand, a quick look at wikipedia enlightened me that argon is more prevalent than carbon dioxide.  I should rectify that omission.  It is very noble of the argon lobby not to have taken me to task.

[Halsey Hall]

I've got nothing better to do, so hope it isn't rained out.  No one at Hammond this morning so the Miracle must be practicing this aft. 

 

Maybe Nolasco can catch lightning in a bottle and we get a win.  I'd hate to see us start out around 6-14 for the first 20 games.  I see 12 hits for the Twins today, and 7 runs should do it.

[Squirrel]

 

I've got nothing better to do, so hope it isn't rained out.  No one at Hammond this morning so the Miracle must be practicing this aft. 

 

Maybe Nolasco can catch lightning in a bottle and we get a win.  I'd hate to see us start out around 6-14 for the first 20 games.  I see 12 hits for the Twins today, and 7 runs should do it.

Well, if the game is rained out this afternoon, you can go and watch the Miracle practice this afternoon!

[Squirrel]

 

Thanks a bunch!

 

I was a little leery of the source where i got 'em: through the notes link on mlb.com, as it said "today's lineup" and the pitchers listed reflected that, but amongst "upcoming games", april 8th was still listed...

 

But as it is consistent with the gameday link what just appeared, i can rest assured i didn't mess up.

 

On the other hand, a quick look at wikipedia enlightened me that argon is more prevalent than carbon dioxide.  I should rectify that omission.  It is very noble of the argon lobby not to have taken me to task.

I check a couple of different places for lineups. Here are a few of them:

 

http://mlbstartingnine.com/

 

http://www.baseballpress.com/lineups

 

http://www.rotowire.com/baseball/daily_lineups.htm

 

I like the Baseball Press one best. I also check the Twins website, too, but I usually find it in those other places first.

[D. Hocking]

The journey to 161 wins begins today.

[Riverbrian]

Applause to Sample Size!!! 

 

It is harder than it looks but the 2nd one will be easier and the third one will be easier yet. Unfortunately... the 47th one will go back to being hard again.   

 

Other things that are harder than they look. 

 

1. Pumpkin Carving 

2. Polka Dancing

3. Canoe-ing 

4. Explaining why you did something wrong to your wife

5. Grandma's -- Oh Sure they look all soft and Grandma like until you accidentally run into one at full speed.   

[Squirrel]

 

Applause to Sample Size!!! 

 

It is harder than it looks but the 2nd one will be easier and the third one will be easier yet. Unfortunately... the 47th one will go back to being hard again.   

 

Other things that are harder than they look. 

 

1. Pumpkin Carving 

2. Polka Dancing

3. Canoe-ing, but not kayaking

4. Explaining why you did something wrong to your wife

5. Grandma's -- Oh Sure they look all soft and Grandma like until you accidentally run into one at full speed.   

Made an alteration on that list of yours.

[sampleSizeOfOne]

 

"...possible thunderstorms are predicted."

Not much of a prediction, if you ask me.

 

Agnes Nutter, i am not.

 

(A kneejerk mildly oblique reference to the most recent book i finished reading.  Nearly a month ago at this point...  Which i didn't make at the time in favor of sleep.  RIP Terry Pratchett. )

 

But then again, not saying anything, is perhaps the simplest way to be less wrong.

 

Anyway, scouring the radar feeds, it would seem the game is on?

[Squirrel]

 

Agnes Nutter, i am not.

Okay, this nearly had me choking on my home-concocted healthy, energy smoothie.

 

Anyway, scouring the radar feeds, it would seem the game is on?

I think they will get it in ... there looks to be a window where it might be possible, unless it turns out to be one of these games that is tied after 15 (Circus Boy update ... had to just throw that in there).

[sampleSizeOfOne]

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

 

 

[Riverbrian]

Because I have a job... I hate day games.

 

I'll be happy when the night schedule kicks in.

 

I'm planning a two hour lunch. OK... 1 hour and 58 minutes... I suppose I gotta plan 2 minutes for Grand Forks traffic.

[ashbury]

 

Other things that are harder than they look. 

6. Hinting at risque material without it being noticed by most.