Article: Game Thread: Twins @ Indians, 9/28 @ 6:10pm CT

[Riverbrian]

Tick, Tock, Tick, Tock, Tick, Tock...

The Season is gonna be done before we know it. This is the final week. Seven games in a row with no break. Win... Go to Bed... get up... Win... Go to Bed... Get Up... Win. That's what it's gonna take and it's possible... It's very possible.

Every one link arms... Get Behind your Twins and let's collectively wish this thing to fruition.

Here are some things to think about:

 

1. Cleveland -- I've done so many of these game thread openers that I'm running out of things to think about when it comes to Cleveland. I'm gonna have to think about Cleveland one more time. It's easy to make fun of Cleveland but this location was the place where Lifesavers candy was invented. The Twins are gonna need one of those lifesavers to get really hot and roll us onward. BTW... if anyone ever falls overboard, the candy doesn't really work. I tried it once... The guy who was drowning was getting pissed because I was plugging him in the face with lifesavers.

2. The Wild Card Chase -- The Twins are 1.5 games back with 7 to go. It's clearly still possible, but the Twins are gonna have to kick it in gear and the Astros will have to drop some games to the Mariners and D-Backs while the Angels can't get hot against the A's and Rangers. I still say 7-0 gets us in.

3. Kluber vs Hughes -- The Twins are gonna have to hit one of the best in the league in Mr. Kluber and Hughes is gonna have to put together another decent start to keep up. It's been done before... fairly recently, actually. It can happen again.
(NOTE: After the writing and posting of this Game Thread start we learned that Phil Hughes is out with the flu.)

4. Buxton Home Run #1 -- I was sitting at Comerica on a nice Sunday afternoon when Byron Buxton clubbed his first career home run. It took me about 2 seconds to realize that I just saw the first from a future hall of famer. Eighty years from now when I'm the oldest person on earth and the TV crews come around to ask about my life... I'll be able to say that I was there for Byron Buxton's first home run. I won't remember who I am... but I'll remember that I was there for his first.

5.Headaches -- My niece has a couple of young children who are constantly in motion and it's Mommy this and Mommy that. One day all this was causing a terrible headache. She went to get some pain reliever and on the bottle it says, "Keep Away From Children."

---------------------
Game-time forecast: 75 deg F, mostly cloudy with a 15% chance of rain ... and that 15% keeps going up throughout the game, winds from the SSE at 9mph.

Lineups:

TWINS
Dozier 2B
Hicks CF
Mauer 1B
Sano DH
Plouffe 3B
Rosario LF
Hunter RF
Hermann C
Escobar SS

Milone P (Hughes is out with the flu)

INDIANS
Kipnis 2B
Lindor SS
Brantley LF
Santana 1B
Raburn RF
Gomes C
Johnson DH
Almonte CF
Aviles 3B

Kluber P

Go Twins! Plaaaaaaaay baaaaaallll!

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[Craig Arko]

"80 Years from now when I'm the oldest person on earth..."

 

You mean except for Sid Hartman and Abe Vigoda, of course.

[DRizzo]

Looks like something happened to Hughes and Milone is making the start now...

(Credit ESPN)

 

Anyone know what happened to Hughes?

[ScrapTheNickname]

Brian, who will make us laugh in the off-season? Who? I ask you, who? Who?

[woolywoolhouse]

According to LENIII Hughes has the stomach bug that kept Plouffe out yesterday. Duensing is unavailable because of the flu as well.

Edited September 28, 2015 by woolywoolhouse

[Squirrel]

 

"80 Years from now when I'm the oldest person on earth..."

 

You mean except for Sid Hartman and Abe Vigoda, of course.

I was thinking ... except for Chief.

[Squirrel]

 

Brian, who will make us laugh in the off-season? Who? I ask you, who? Who?

Geez, settle down there ... you're beginning to sound like a whoot owl.

[twinsnorth49]

According to LENIII Hughes has the stomach bug that kept Plouffe out yesterday. Duensing is unavailable because of the flu as well.

No Duensing?!!

 

Well, it's been a good season.

[Cap'n Piranha]

Molitor seems to enjoy taking the hitter who performed the best in the previous game, and sitting them on the bench for the next game.

[Kwak]

 

Looks like something happened to Hughes and Milone is making the start now...

(Credit ESPN)

 

Anyone know what happened to Hughes?

Or did the Twins notice that CLEV is LHH dominant and that matching Milhone vs CLEV might turn out out considerably better than using Hughes?

[NoCryingInBaseball]

After writing game thread starters over the weekend, I have a new appreciation for what you do starting each series off for us!

I wrote only two game thread starters and I understand what you mean when you say "...I'm running out of things to think about when it comes to Cleveland". Love what you do here Riverbrian!

[Circus Boy]

 

"80 Years from now when I'm the oldest person on earth..."

 

You mean except for Sid Hartman and Abe Vigoda, of course.

 

Or Joan Rivers. Oh, wait...

[Platoon]

Molitor seems to enjoy taking the hitter who performed the best in the previous game, and sitting them on the bench for the next game.

I assume you are referring to Buxton? I agree with your observation, this has happened numerous times, and not to just a sub like Buxton or Nunez.

[Riverbrian]

 

Or Joan Rivers. Oh, wait...

 

May she rest in peace. 

 

I've always had a soft spot in my heart for funny ladies. 

[ScrapTheNickname]

 

May she rest in peace. 

 

Edited September 28, 2015 by ScrapTheNickname

[ashbury]

Yesterday late in the game thread, a question arose about whether a player could have more than 3 assists in an inning. We concluded the answer was clearly Yes, because of the way the rule is constructed (you get credit for an assist even if a subsequent error results in no out being recorded). But I couldn't quickly locate any documented instances.

 

Well, SABR colleagues to the rescue. Here are three such instances:

 

4 for second base
Jason Kipnis CLE 6/22/2014 (5th inning)
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/CLE/CLE201406220.shtml

 

4 for third base
Craig Grebeck White Sox, 5/2/1995 (5th inning);
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/TOR/TOR199505020.shtml

 

4 for shortstop

Juan Uribe COL, 5/21 2002 (4th inning)
http://www.baseball-reference.com/boxes/COL/COL200205210.shtml

[David HK]

According to LENIII Hughes has the stomach bug that kept Plouffe out yesterday. Duensing is unavailable because of the flu as well.

So, you're saying it's not ALL bad...

[D. Hocking]

 

 

1. Cleveland -- I've done so many of these game thread openers that I'm running out of things to think about when it comes to Cleveland. 

 

It is a long season, no one associated with baseball feels 100% once it is September.  This is when you can see who the greats are when they turn in work product as if they are still as energized and sharp  as they were when they were coming out of spring training.

[ashbury]

It is a long season, no one associated with baseball feels 100% once it is September.  This is when you can see who the greats are when they turn in work product as if they are still as energized and sharp  as they were when they were coming out of spring training.

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/0toCMwEBwLo/maxresdefault.jpg

[Platoon]

Several years ago while driving through Cleveland from east to west, I decided to stay on I90 all the way through town to see what the central part of Cleveland looked like. Hmm Berlin circa 1945 comes to mind. To top it off, some jokester at the highway dept decided an interstate all the way through town was a waste of government resources, and the last part is a 4 and 6 lane divided city street. The good part, is that it made driving through Chicago on the way back far more enjoyable!

[Patrick Midthun]

Heck of a good ball by Joe Joe on that hit. Really barreled it up. Good to see. 

[Patrick Midthun]

Sano follows with a wall-ball double of his own. 1-0 Twins!

[DrNeau]

Plouffe there it is! 2-run homer to left. 3-0 Twins. 

[Craig Arko]

Not bad, guys. Don't let up.

[mikecgrimes]

Did anyone else think doizer applauding the great defensive play was about getting a mental edge. At this stage the opponent has no reason to care about winning, but they should have pride anything you can do to gain respect could help say convince a starting pitcher to groove 3 pitches and start polishing the golf clubs by the 5 the inning. Who knows either way great 1st inning.

[Riverbrian]

 

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/0toCMwEBwLo/maxresdefault.jpg

 

It's weird... That home run was one of those moments in life where I remember where I was when it was hit. 

 

At a friends house in Holt Minnesota... Population 8

 

I was sober enough to remember it and yet not enough to drive back home to Thief River Falls.  

 

Like a responsible young man... I stayed out of decent judgement. I would have probably been on my way home otherwise when it happened. 

 

All I could think was... Did that just a happen? A guy with no legs just won a world series game with a pinch hit home run.

 

I took a long look at the bottle of jack like it was playing tricks on me. 

 

 

 

 

[Riverbrian]

 

Did anyone else think doizer applauding the great defensive play was about getting a mental edge. At this stage the opponent has no reason to care about winning, but they should have pride anything you can do to gain respect could help say convince a starting pitcher to groove 3 pitches and start polishing the golf clubs by the 5 the inning. Who knows either way great 1st inning.

 

When I played and when I coached. I went out of my way to say nice play to the other team when they did something out of the ordinary. 

 

I'd also slide hard into 2nd and plow the catcher if I could as well. I think you play the game hard in both directions. It's all part of passion for the game. 

[Riverbrian]

C'mon Milone... Don't give it up. 

[Riverbrian]

Other Big Moments that I remember where I was.

 

Hrbek's Grand Slam against the Cardinals in Game 6 1987: Friends house again... I remember this one because as soon as it left the park I turned away from the TV to face everybody and I did the exact thing with my arms that Kent Hrbek did... I turned away and I had no idea that Hrbek was copying me. 

 

Jack Morris Game 7 in 1991: I was at my cheap apartment in Grand Forks watching with my wife. I could barely take it. I kept moving around the apartment to find a lucky chair or spot. It was about the 7th inning when my wife yelled at me to JUST STOP... FIND A SPOT AND STAY THERE. I think I was sitting on her lap when Gene Larkin drove in the game winner. I told her she was my lucky spot. She couldn't respond because she couldn't breath. 

[Squirrel]

I like to see the agressiveness ... jumping on Kluber fast and hard.