Game Thread: Twins vs. Royals 6/9/15 7:10 PM

[stringer bell]

Today the Twins play the middle game of a three-game series against the Royals. The teams are in a virtual tie for first place, with the winner tonight assuming a one-game lead. The Twins will start Trevor May, coming off his best game as a major leaguer. The Royals counter with 36-year old journeyman Chris Young, who has pitched effectively for the Royals. He is 4-2 with a 2.56 ERA. Twins fans may compare Young's results with Mike Pelfrey's. 

 

Some random musings: the team is in a hitting slump. One guy isn't picking up another, runners are being stranded in scoring position and and extra base hits are coming with no one on. A couple timely hits could make a big difference. Kansas City also has been slumping, but showed enough to get a big win in game one of the series. The back end of the Royals' bullpen is the biggest factor for this series and for the Royals' season.

 

It is hot. I have attended Twins' games in every year they've been in existence. I remember a really hot day game against the Blue Jays at Target Field. The Jays clobbered the Twins and my daughter and I had a whole section in the sunny low third base seats to ourselves. Almost got a foul ball, but a kid from two sections away outran me for the ball. The warmest I have been at a Twins' game though, was in the Metrodome. The first year or two, either they didn't have air conditioning or it didn't work. Two of my co-workers and myself went to a weekday game and it was sweltering inside. The hottest game I attended at the old Met was a twi-night doubleheader against the Indians. The humidity was intense, and then a thunderstorm. The temp dropped about thirty degrees. I went home, but they completed the DH at some ungodly hour. 

 

I am trying to remember to space only once after punctuation. It is tough to break old habits. 

 

I have the Royals logo as my desktop, it didn't work for Game 1. If it doesn't work for Game 2, I'll try something else to reverse jinx the Twins opponent. Key players for the Twins today--Dozier, Plouffe and Vargas. I predict they get five runs today and I believe May and company will hold KC to three or less. 5-3 Twins.

 

Lineups:

 

Kansas City Royals @ Minnesota Twins, 8:10 P.M. ET
Royals

    SS: Alcides Escobar
    3B: Mike Moustakas
    CF: Lorenzo Cain
    1B: Eric Hosmer
    DH: Kendrys Morales
    LF: Alex Gordon
    RF: Alex Rios
    C: Salvador Perez
    2B: Omar Infante
    SP: Chris Young

Twins

    2B: Brian Dozier
    RF: Torii Hunter
    1B: Joe Mauer
    3B: Trevor Plouffe
    LF: Eddie Rosario
    C: Kurt Suzuki
    DH: Kennys Vargas
    SS: Eduardo Escobar
    CF: Aaron Hicks
    SP: Trevor May

[diehardtwinsfan]

hope May repeats his last start.

[formerly33]

Great job on the GT. I would suppose that you remember this game:

 

On this day in 1966, the Twins were playing the Kansas City A’s and were trailing 4-3 in the bottom of the 7th at the Met. Catfish Hunter was on the mound and facing the bottom of the Twins’ order. With 2 outs and a runner at 1st, Rich Rollins came in to pinch hit for Pete Cimino and lofted a 2 run homer into the seats (at least I’m assuming so - unfortunately the box score doesn’t get down to such details) to give the Twins the lead. The next batter up, Zoilo Versalles, hit a solo home run to add some cushion. Home runs are great, but back-too-back home runs are even better. Kansas City probably wasn’t too amused, though, and they laid the blame on Catfish and pulled him from the game, replacing him with Paul Lindblad. We’ll never know if that was a wise decision on their part or not. However, we do know that he did manage to get the 2nd out before allowing Tony Oliva to homer … and Don Mincher … and then John Wyatt replaced Lindblad … and Harmon Killebrew homered too!! Back-to-back-to-back home runs to give the Twins a 9-4 lead which stood for the game. It was only the 4th time a team had hit 5 homers in a single inning, and it still stands as the only 5-home run inning in the AL. The only other times this has happened were when the Giants did it 1939, the Reds in 1949, the Giants again in 1961, and the Brewers in 2006.

[mickeymental]

an interesting and nicely punctuated trip down memory lane ...

[Craig Arko]

Well done!

[Hosken Bombo Disco]

Big series, big game tonight!

 

I overheard that Pelfrey will be starting tomorrow night on one day's rest, and is available out of the bullpen tonight if necessary.

[Craig Arko]

Big series, big game tonight!

I overheard that Pelfrey will be starting tomorrow night on one day's rest, and is available out of the bullpen tonight if necessary.

Using his newly developed knuckleball.

[Halsey Hall]

Should have Nunez at 3rd.  Poof is in a terrible slump and we need all the runs we can get. 

 

Now watch poof hit a couple of dingers. 

[JB_Iowa]

95 here today.  Needless to say, the A/C will stay on tonight.  The only good thing about early season heat is that it doesn't usually liinger for long.

 

Oh, and SB, you don't have to remember to only space once after punctuation on TD -- it wil do it for you whether you want it or not!!!!

[JB_Iowa]

So hot the talking heads are in short sleeves!

[Gibby]

 

 

95 here today.  Needless to say, the A/C will stay on tonight.  The only good thing about early season heat is that it doesn't usually liinger for long.

 

Oh, and SB, you don't have to remember to only space once after punctuation on TD -- it wil do it for you whether you want it or not!!!!

 

 

  It was...ok, I guess I'm going to have a line through my words...It was hotter than hell here too. It kills my how many people were pissing and moaning about the heat. It's not like we just spent 5 months freezing our asses off. I did hard labor, building stuff my wife wanted, but I had no business tackling. It was successful, and I sweat my arse off, and loved every minute of it.

 

[JB_Iowa]

Question to Ponder:

If Gardenhire were still the manager, would he have his jacket on tonight????

[JB_Iowa]

Just keep hydrated, Gibby.  Preferably with the non-alcoholic stuff!

[Gibby]

 

Question to Ponder:

If Gardenhire were still the manager, would he have his jacket on tonight????

 

 Is Christian a Game Threader?

[Gibby]

 

Just keep hydrated, Gibby.  Preferably with the non-alcoholic stuff!

 

  Yep, just cracked my first beer, and I drank out of the dog's kiddie pool all day.

[JB_Iowa]

Not the way to start, Trev.

[JB_Iowa]

Sassi doesn't want a kiddie pool.

 

She likes to go  out and bake her black/white skin & hair on the sidewalk.  Not necessarily a great judge of how much she can take  although later this afternoon, she had her head in the sun and body in the shade.

[Blake]

And the game starts with a blunder. 

 

Lull, baby, lull.

[USAFChief]

It took exactly one hitter to give up an 0-2 hit...for extra bases no less.

[JB_Iowa]

Damage Contained.

 

CBU

 

KC 1

Minnesota coming to bat in the 1st.

[stringer bell]

Three quick outs after the run-scoring single.

[Boom Boom]

Yep, just cracked my first beer, and I drank out of the dog's kiddie pool all day.

Out of the kiddie pool? That's pretty aggressive... I prefer drinking out of a glass.

[JB_Iowa]

And the Twins go down 1-2-3 in the 1st.

 

CBU

[Gibby]

 

Sassi doesn't want a kiddie pool.

 

She likes to go  out and bake her black/white skin & hair on the sidewalk.  Not necessarily a great judge of how much she can take  although later this afternoon, she had her head in the sun and body in the shade.

 

  Mine is half Weimer. They have pink skin, and sunburn easily. She digs the kiddie pool in the shade.

[Blake]

I am getting really tired of Joe Mauer giving away a strike when he's batting third.

 

It appears the rest of the league has adjusted to Mauer but Mauer is incapable of making his own adjustments.

[gocgo]

I'm thinking that we are good in this series no matter what happens.  Lose all 3, media says "See, we told you so" and then we go on a run because there is no pressure other than the chip on our shoulder.  Lose 1, and we are tied for first, win 2 and we get to extend our lead a bit and give the Royals a little smackdown.

[Gibby]

 

Out of the kiddie pool? That's pretty aggressive... I prefer drinking out of a glass.

 

  I'm not a barbarian!  I dipped my glass in the pool.

[gocgo]

For all the hype about Alex Rios, has he ever played on a winning team?

 

Not saying he's a bad player, but I'm not sure he's all that.

[notoriousgod71]

Dick: "I'm not sure there's anything out there that you'd want to tinker with right now."

[Pius Jefferson]

 

Question to Ponder:

If Gardenhire were still the manager, would he have his jacket on tonight????

 

He'd have his trusty short sleeved jacket on.