Article: Game Thread: Twins v White Sox, 9/1 @ 7:10pm CT

[Riverbrian]

The Twins vs. the White Sox

 

It's not just an important game for the Twins. It's important for the White Sox as well.

 

We can all talk about playoff contention for the Twins because it's so obvious just being 1 game back. However... it's not like the White Sox are out of it. The Twins would be silly to focus all that attention on the Rangers and it would be silly to focus on any of the other teams in striking distance. Too many to keep track and too many possibilities. All the Twins can do is focus on themselves.

 

Win games and keep winning games.

 

Here are some things to Think About:

 

1. September -- Well... that's it... August is over and things start changing now. Football has started, the kids are back in school, and they are placing ice houses on Lake of the Woods. As a sure sign of the changing seasons... I was struck in the head yesterday by a falling leaf. When you consider the height of the tree, the laws of gravity and the thickness of my skull... my doctor says I was lucky to survive it. The word September is derived from the Latin word "Septem" which means seven. There was a time when we used a 10 month calendar and during that time September was the 7th month but with only 10 months they found that people were aging too quickly so a couple of months were added on and this has resulted in longer life spans. The "ber" in September, October, November and December is also Latin and it means "Brr... I'm freezing my nuts off." "Uary" in JanUARY and FebrUARY means "Move to Florida and Arizona." This September... means something. The Twins are firmly in the playoff race.

 

2. Room to Breathe -- Breathing room is gonna be hard to come by. Currently the Rangers have the last playoff spot but the Twins are just 1 game behind. The Rays and Angels are 2.5 games behind the Twins. If you look at it closely... every team is just one big winning streak from getting into serious contention. If you think about the phrase "Room to Breathe"... I think every house should have a room to breathe... actually, all rooms need to be rooms to breathe. If you have a room that isn't equipped this way, I'd never enter... If you need to retrieve something from it, ask your neighbor to get it... the neighbor that mows his lawn at 6AM.

 

3. The White Sox -- There was considerable optimism on the South Side this year because of the additions of Samardzjia, LaRoche, Melky and Robertson. That optimism has waned and turned into a long look at the pocketbook and asking questions like... why did we spend all that money on Adam LaRoche? We all do the same thing when we spend 100 dollars to get into a water park just to wait in line all day. I guess it just seemed like a good idea at the time.

 

4. Lefties -- The White Sox in a stunning lack of creativity will start nothing but left-handers against the Twins. Sale tonight... Rodon tomorrow night... Danks on Thursday. Scientists are not sure why people become left-handed. There is no specific left-handed gene... it just kind of happens to people. Much like there is no cock-eyed gene... it just kind of happens to people. Also... like there is no gene that will keep you from getting hit by a safe falling from the 20th floor above... it just kind of happens.

 

5. More Left Hand -- Around 10 years ago... I invented a left-handed hammer and I was sure that I was going to get rich. Turns out there were no left-handed nails and the venture failed miserably.

 

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

Game-time forecast: 86 deg F, mostly cloudy, 1% chance of precipitation, winds from the SSW at 6mph.

 

Lineups:

 

WHITE SOX

1. Adam Eaton CF

2. Tyler Saladino 3B

3. Jose Abreu DH

4. Melky Cabrera LF

5. Avisail Garcia RF

6. Adam LaRoche 1B

7. Alexei Ramirez SS

8. Carlos Sanchez 2B

9. Tyler Flowers C

 

Sale P

 

TWINS

1. Brian Dozier 2B

2. Joe Mauer 1B

3. Trevor Plouffe 3B

4. Miguel Sano DH

5. Torii Hunter RF

6. Eddie Rosario LF

7. Eduardo Escobar SS

8. Kurt Suzuki C

9. Byron Buxton CF

 

Duffey P

 

Go Twins! Play ball!

 

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[Blake]

Go Twins!

[Craig Arko]

INIGO: I'm going to do him left-handed.
VIZZINI: You KNOW what a hurry we're in!
INIGO: Eh- it's the only way I can be satisfied. If I use my right... over too quickly.
VIZZINI: Oh, have it your way.

[David HK]

 

INIGO: I'm going to do him left-handed.
VIZZINI: You KNOW what a hurry we're in!
INIGO: Eh- it's the only way I can be satisfied. If I use my right... over too quickly.
VIZZINI: Oh, have it your way.

Inconceivable we lose this series to the Sox.

[Dantes929]

 

Inconceivable we lose this series to the Sox.

I hope that word means what you think it means.

[James]

http://s3.amazonaws.com/rapgenius/leftorium.jpg

As a fellow lefty, I have to love a sport that really appreciates that lefties are wonderful people. 

 

It just so happens that I want these three particular lefties (Sale, Rodon and Danks) to fail miserably in the three days to come as the Twins pound the pitches thrown their direction all over the field, sending the White Sox back to the windy city to where they can cry in their deep dish pizzas and hot dogs.  

[Craig Arko]

You guys are mean.  I like it.

 

 

 

P.S. - Extra credit for anyone who can capture and post a sound bite of the Hawk after Sano hits a skyscraper.

[big dog]

 

You guys are mean.  I like it.

 

 

 

P.S. - Extra credit for anyone who can capture and post a sound bite of the Hawk after Sano hits a skyscraper.

Here's the telecast:

{Crack}...crowd roars...silence..."dadgummit"...sound of shuffling papers, door closing.  Fade to commercial.

[James]

Pictured: Chicago White Sox rotation after the Twins beat up on them all weekend

 

[Dantes929]

"More Left Hand -- Around 10 years ago... I invented a left-handed hammer and I was sure that I was going to get rich. Turns out there were no left-handed nails and the venture failed miserably."

Reminds me of when my brother tried hanging a picture.    He put the head of the nail against the wall and started hitting the point, obviously with no success.    He said " A real idiot made this nail.   He put the head on the wrong end"    I said "You're the idiot.    That nail was made to go on the opposite wall".

[ashbury]

We can all talk about playoff contention for the Twins because it's so obvious just being 1 game back. However... it's not like the White Sox are out of it.

From a purely mathematical standpoint, the Sox may be in it if they win all their games.

 

I look at it this way. With 32-33 games to go for most teams, some team in the AL is going to get hot and go 23-10. We just don't know which one, but it happens every year. It could be some first place team that proceeds to run away with the regular season title, or some last place team that gets hot and salvages a near-.500 record.

 

If it happens to be the White Sox, it will put their season record at 84-78. I don't think that's going to be enough wins. So for my purposes, the Sox are out of it. It would take more than just a hot final month, but a miracle.

[Comrade Bork]

Do any of the pitchers happen to have six fingers on their left hand?

[ashbury]

I hope that word means what you think it means.

As you wish.

[jimbo92107]

 

Do any of the pitchers happen to have six fingers on their left hand?

There's actually a word for that: pterodactyl. Some of them have wings, too!

[jimbo92107]

I can hardly wait to throw some shapeless, nameless slab of meat on the grill for tonight's game. Extra E is bringing Big Bend tonight. Can he actually make the ball curve all the way back to his glove? That's what I heard..!

[spinowner]

 

 Extra credit for anyone who can capture and post a sound bite of the Hawk after Sano hits a skyscraper.

The Sox radio guys are great. How did they come to have such a buffoon doing TV for all these years?

[mickeymental]

 

I can hardly wait to throw some shapeless, nameless slab of meat on the grill for tonight's game. Extra E is bringing Big Bend tonight. Can he actually make the ball curve all the way back to his glove? That's what I heard..!

sounds like you just invented the boomerang ball.

[Blake]

 

The Sox radio guys are great. How did they come to have such a buffoon doing TV for all these years?

Broadcasters needed a bar by which they are all measured and decided to set the bar very low?

[Craig Arko]

 

sounds like you just invented the boomerang ball.

[Dr. Evil]

Back in the day, when they discovered that a person was left handed, they would chop their left hand off and make them a regular person. Cruel, but true story.

[gocgo]

Looking at a comparison between the two teams:

 

BA - .248, .251

OBP - .303, .305

SLG - .401, .380

 

Twins are the first number, Sox are the 2nd.  Fairly even there, but the runs scored give the Twins a 564 to 493 advantage.  Not a lot of pop in the Chicago lineup as the Twins have 65 more extra base hits than them, but they have 24 more hits than us.  A bunch of singles hitters.

 

Our pitchers have the worst BAA in the league at .272 with the Sox at .261 and our fielding percentages are nearly even at .986 and .984.

 

So, anyone thinking that we will run away with this series should think again.  Keep the ball in the park and make them hit a bunch of singles to score runs.

[Shaitan]

The Twins with more XHB than the White Sox? What a strange year 2015 is.

[TwinsCD]

2 out of 3 is the absolute minimum to win in this series.  Gotta keep the heat on Texas.  At this point, the goals are the same -- win your games and root against the team that you're chasing.  Pointless to worry about the Angels or the Rays or anyone else because if they catch the Twins, that means the Twins are losing and if the Twins are losing, they're not going anywhere.

[David HK]

 

You guys are mean.  I like it.

 

 

 

P.S. - Extra credit for anyone who can capture and post a sound bite of the Hawk after Sano hits a skyscraper.

[gopherman23]

Interesting Lineup Tonight

 

Dozier

Mauer

Plouffe

Sano

Hunter

Rosario

Escobar

Suzuki

Buxton

[D. Hocking]

 

Hard to believe but Harrelson was once the GM of the White Sox to. 

 

Not as hard to believe -- he once hung upside down as the undead haunting ball fields everywhere.

 

[stringer bell]

The Twins did very well against left handers early this year, but not so much lately. Their power is basically all right handed, but the power hitters haven't put up big platoon splits.

[SwainZag]

Hard to believe but Harrelson was once the GM of the White Sox to.

Player to announcer to GM and back to announcer. Strange.

 

Harrelson served as a Chicago White Sox announcer from 1982 to 1985 and briefly left broadcasting during the 1986 season to become the White Sox's General Manager. During his one season as GM, Harrelson fired field manager Tony La Russa (who was soon hired by the Oakland Athletics) and assistant general manager Dave Dombrowski (who became baseball's youngest general manager with the Montreal Expos just two years later). Harrelson also traded rookie Bobby Bonilla, later a six-time All-Star, to the Pittsburgh Pirates for pitcher José DeLeón.

Not the best 1-year stint.

[drock2190]

Why can't Hicks come back early?

 

Facing 3 lefties this series, kinda could use his bat, not in Rochester.

[Platoon]

Back in the day, when they discovered that a person was left handed, they would chop their left hand off and make them a regular person. Cruel, but true story.

You're right, that was a cruel story! . Fortunately they discontinued this barbaric practice, or the instruction, "left turn Clyde" would not have had anywhere the same comedic (and jaw) impact!