Game Thread: Twins @ Indians. 8/2 @ 6:10pm CT

[gocgo]

I've never done a game thread before and I'm only starting this one because no one else has.  Apologies for overstepping my bounds.  I can only assume that we are all suffering from a trade deadline hangover which brings me to the topic of this thread - the hangover.

 

From the Mayo Clinic website -

 

Various factors may contribute to a hangover. For example:

 

- Alcohol causes your body to produce more urine. In turn, urinating more than usual can lead to dehydration — often indicated by thirst, dizziness and lightheadedness.
- Alcohol triggers an inflammatory response from your immune system. Your immune system may trigger certain agents that commonly produce physical symptoms, such as an inability to concentrate, memory problems, decreased appetite and loss of interest in usual activities.
- Alcohol irritates the lining of your stomach. Alcohol increases the production of stomach acid and delays stomach emptying. Any of these factors can cause abdominal pain, nausea or vomiting.
- Alcohol can cause your blood sugar to fall. If your blood sugar dips too low, you may experience fatigue, weakness, shakiness, mood disturbances and even seizures.
- Alcohol causes your blood vessels to expand, which can lead to headaches.
- Alcohol can make you sleepy, but your quality of sleep will decrease. This may leave you groggy and tired.
- Alcoholic beverages contain ingredients called congeners, which give many types of alcoholic beverages their flavor and can contribute to hangovers. Congeners are found in larger amounts in dark liquors, such as brandy and whiskey, than in clear liquors, such as vodka and gin.

 

Notice that the common factor in all of these symptoms is alcohol.  Nowhere on the Mayo site is the baseball trade deadline even mentioned.  Unbelievable!

 

Hangovers for me these days last for days...let me rephrase that - hangovers for me these days last four days.  The older I get, the longer it takes to bounce back.  As far as today goes, I didn't imbibe too much in the trade deadline banter.  Therefore, I can only assume that I have bounced back sooner than the rest of you.

 

One last hangover reference...the movie.  I was going to insert an image of the movie here, but, on second thought, all I need is to say is:

 

You guys might not know this, but I consider myself a bit of a loner.  I tend to think of myself as a one-man wolf pack.  But when my sister brought Doug home, I knew he was one of my own.  And my wolf pack, it grew by one.  So, there were two of us in the wolf pack.  I was alone first in the pack, and then Doug joined in later.  And six months ago, when Doug introduced me to you guys, I thought, "Wait a second, could it be?"  And now I know for sure, I just added two more guys to my wolf pack.  Four of us wolves, running around the desert together, in Las Vegas, looking for strippers and cocaine.  So tonight, I make a toast!...to the Minnesota Twins wolfpack!  

 

Starting lineups:

 

Twins

1. Brian Dozier ® 2B
2. Joe Mauer (L) 1B
3. Max Kepler (L) RF
4. Miguel Sano ® DH
5. Kurt Suzuki ® C
6. Eduardo Escobar (S) SS
7. Eddie Rosario (L) CF
8. Jorge Polanco (S) 3B
9. Danny Santana (S) LF

 

sp - Kyle Gibson

 

Indians

1. Carlos Santana (S) DH
2. Jason Kipnis (L) 2B
3. Francisco Lindor (S) SS
4. Mike Napoli ® 1B
5. Jose Ramirez (S) 3B
6. Lonnie Chisenhall (L) RF
7. Tyler Naquin (L) CF
8. Abraham Almonte (S) LF
9. Roberto Perez ® C

 

sp - Carlos Carrasco

[sampleSizeOfOne]

Nailed that hang(ov)er... er... game thread intro!

 

I like.

[Vanimal46]

Is D Santana back to being an every day player with us? Ugh.

[HitInAPinch]

I avoid hangovers like headaches...

[James]

Let's hope that Max doesn't have a homerun hangover after yesterday.  

[gocgo]

 

Is D Santana back to being an every day player with us? Ugh.

I think he's listed as day to day...but aren't we all?

[James]

 

Notice that the common factor in all of these symptoms is alcohol.  Nowhere on the Mayo site is the baseball trade deadline even mentioned.  Unbelievable!

http://www.panicposters.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/f63dc5ec28f3175f8a7f615bd217eb71/f/p/fp1259-simpsons-alcohol-poster.jpg

[ashbury]

Chief runs the game thread volunteer program, so I can't speak for him, but the person assigned to this date hasn't posted yet, so unless and until a squawk is raised, we can leave this one here for the game.

[Vanimal46]

Youth and genes are holding strong for now... 26 and I can count the number of bad hangovers I've had on 1 hand. 

I'm slightly terrified of the time when hangovers do start kicking in. 

[HitInAPinch]

With Buxton being out with an injury that shall not be named, the alternatives are :

R. Grossman

D. Santana

M. Sano

 

OR

 

"Most characters in the novels refer to him as "You-Know-Who" or "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named" rather than say his name aloud."

 

[James]

 

Youth and genes are holding strong for now... 26 and I can count the number of bad hangovers I've had on 1 hand. 

I'm slightly terrified of the time when hangovers do start kicking in. 

Hangovers didn't really start to affect me until I was about 31 or 32.  

 

As a "wise" 33, I've been much better at avoiding them... but every once and a while, I still one still sneaks up on me.  

[James]

 

With Buxton being out with an injury that shall not be named, the alternatives are :

R. Grossman

D. Santana

M. Sano

 

OR

 

"Most characters in the novels refer to him as "You-Know-Who" or "He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named" rather than say his name aloud."

I was unaware that Ralph Fiennes was on the 25-man roster.  I must have missed that during this year's trade deadline. 

[diehardtwinsfan]

It is possible to drink large amounts of alcohol and never have a hangover... 

[HitInAPinch]

 

I was unaware that Ralph Fiennes was on the 25-man roster.  I must have missed that during this year's trade deadline. 

Ssshhh.....  He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named can NOT be named.  

 

Voldemort

[sampleSizeOfOne]

Ssshhh.....  He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named can NOT be named.  

 

Voldemort

 

Oh, you mean the wizard formerly known as Tom Riddle?

[Vanimal46]

 

It is possible to drink large amounts of alcohol and never have a hangover... 

Yes it is. I've been living in this world for 5 years*

*legally. 

[wsnydes]

 

Youth and genes are holding strong for now... 26 and I can count the number of bad hangovers I've had on 1 hand. 

I'm slightly terrified of the time when hangovers do start kicking in. 

They're coming...I think I've managed to have more in my 30's than I did in college.  I drink less, drink more responsibly, and I hate getting drunk.  The only reasoning for this that I can think of is my age.

 

I've learned to pace myself to near a professional level.  I get to the buzz point and then maintain really well.  It's my water and food intake that often gets forgotten.  Typically, I'm too busy talking to people that I forget to eat or drink water.  Other times, heavier red wines will kick my butt if I'm not careful.

[wsnydes]

 

It is possible to drink large amounts of alcohol and never have a hangover... 

If you drink enough at one time, you don't even have to worry about waking up in the morning.

[HitInAPinch]

 

Oh, you mean the wizard formerly known as Tom Riddle?

True.  But apparently, he didn't get smarter with age......

[HitInAPinch]

 

 

It is possible to drink large amounts of alcohol and never have a hangover... 

It's call embalming.....

[sampleSizeOfOne]

Is there such thing as a food hangover?

 

Or is that a leftover?

 

I should perhaps think of food, as i just "mostly" cleaned a fridge, and so it is empty.

[ashbury]

It is possible to drink large amounts of alcohol and never have a hangover... 

It is also possible to start feeling the hangover effects approximately halfway through the first beer. At least, that has been my particular cross to bear.

 

_{^{* though, to be honest, my solution for the past 20 years or so has been to just ignore it and continue}}

[Vanimal46]

 

Is there such thing as a food hangover?

Or is that a leftover?

I should perhaps think of food, as i just "mostly" cleaned a fridge, and so it is empty.

Haven't we all experienced food hangovers every Thanksgiving? Or is that a food coma? 

[Halsey Hall]

Huh........someone just described me for like a 20 year period.

 

My advice not to have a hangover - don't drink. 

[AlwaysinModeration]

Thanks gocgo for getting the thread up that I was supposed to have up two hours before first pitch.  Here is my now unofficial gamethread intro:

 

The Minnesota Baseball Club continues the month of August with the second game of a road-trip to Cleveland, looking to build on the win last night.

 

Let's dive right in to the patented Five Things:

 

1. The Game
I assumed that by taking a game thread on August 2 of the Post-Ryan Era, I would be leading off the thread with the deadline doings.  That was before The Game.  Last night's match-up against the division-leading Indians is one that will be remembered, I believe, as the real beginning of the new era for the Twins.  Maybe the Twins will finish the season with 90 or 100 losses on the season.  But on August 1, 2016, when Jose Berrios made his triumphant return to the Twins rotation for good, when Max Kepler joined a Twins pantheon of Harmon, Morneau, Allison, and Oliva in homering thrice in a game, when Joe Mauer proved that he wasn't dead yet, when Jorge Polanco manned third and Trevor May nailed down the 9th inning...that was the 2016 game to mark down in your Surley-stained personal journals.

 

2. Trade Deadline Review

I was frankly a bit surprised to see the almost universal exultations over the fact that the Twins traded away Ricky Nolasco and Alex Meyer for Hector Santiago yesterday.  My take on the Rob Antony deadline dealing is somewhat mixed.  Sure, it seems like Nolasco is not going to be a productive pitcher for the Twins.  However, I can’t help wondering if Alex Meyer could have posted Hector Santiago-like numbers in 2017.  For me, I’d rather have seen a DFA of Nolasco to just see if Meyer could stick.  The Nunez deal was great, and flipping Abad seems just fine.  But I would love to know what the best offer on the table for Suzuki was, and if Reid-Foley was ever offered for Ervin Santana.  It was a better deadline day than Ryan ever managed, but it would have been nice to see a few more moves.  Did Cleveland not offer anything for Suzuki after failing to get Lucroy?  The one thing the deadline cemented, though, was how much of a repudiation of Terry Ryan there has been in the last couple of weeks.  Two of his three biggest moves were sending DSpan for Meyer, inking Nolasco to the then biggest ever FA contract. (The third, Santana, was almost moved.) In one quick move, both are gone for little return, paying millions for the privilege to give them away.  Ouch.

 

3. Cleveland, Ohio, 2016 zeitgeist

Cleveland has suddenly become the center of the storm in 2016.  First, Lebron brought home a championship to Cleveland, at long last.  Then, the Republicans held their convention, improbably nominating Donald J. Trump to be the party’s nominee.  Now the Indians have gone all in, dumping their farm system for Andrew Miller and Jonathan Lucroy in a matter of hours.  The second part didn’t take, but the effort was there.  Will Cleveland get to root for a World Series this year?  Will the Browns become a viable team this year? Too bad Cleveland isn't hosting the Olympics.

 

4. Damn Yankees

The Yankees deadline dealing was amazing.  Trading away Chapman, Miller, and Beltran in order to immediately stock their farm system was remarkable.  Remember that all they had to do was spend money on relievers to net elite prospects in return.  The Twins could have done this.  They had payroll space, from the statements of the front office.  I'm just glad that some of the new Yankee prospects came from the Indians' system.

 

5.  Camp

I just delivered my two oldest to camp in West Virginia, where they will be roughing it for the next two weeks.  Their counselors are mostly British, Irish, and Aussies, here for a summer of work and travel.  But can you imagine signing up for that job, psyched to go the U.S. of A for a great summer, and then land in very rural West Virginia, hours from a major city, with no cell phone or internet service, for 11 straight weeks? I'm thinking that the game theme of hangovers may apply to these fine folks.

 

Go Twins, stay undefeated in August!

[diehardtwinsfan]

 

Yes it is. I've been living in this world for 5 years*

*legally. 

 

well, a bit longer for me, but some genetics are pre-disposed against them.  I seem to have the right mix of genes

[ashbury]

Thanks gocgo for getting the thread up that I was supposed to have up two hours before first pitch.  Here is my now unofficial gamethread intro:

Good solution to the dilemma.

[sampleSizeOfOne]

Haven't we all experienced food hangovers every Thanksgiving? Or is that a food coma?

That sounds like a categorical affirmative to my question.

 

Thanks!

 

And after last night's excitement, i will try to give tonight's game my undivided attention.

 

Well, does food divide attention? I might make sure i don't miss my mouth with it...

 

That would be an eating problem, wouldn't it?

[diehardtwinsfan]

I'm not sure food missing mouth is an eating disorder... 

[AlwaysinModeration]

Mauer up to 760 OPS. Hopefully he can get on a hot streak after last night's game.