Game Thread: Twins vs Royals 9/6, 7:10pm @ Target Field

[ScrapTheNickname]

Twins versus Royals.

 

I'm in a hurry. Gotta right fast. Space bar sticking. I have been called into work due to an emergency. After having weeks to prepare I now virtually minutes.

 

The Twins! - er, Dozier and Buxton - have been fun to watch lately. The team is extremely young and however one feels about the front office 2016 has been one of the best years for checking out young players, A few retreads, but not as many as in the past, I don't think. 

 

The happiest teams in MLB.

Who is smiling? Who is joking? Who is the loosest? Who enjoys playing the game? Who enjoys each other’ company? There isn’t a cybermetrric for this yet, but I suppose one day there will be. The Texas Rangers seem to be the happiest team from from observation. Even though this isn't an official metric I feel it is one that counts very much. "Happiest" team" - an important concept that leads to wins, lessens the bruises of losses, and impels the fortunes of the otherwise myriad observable stats.

 

I'm not in a funny mood, I'm only wearing my underwear and I haven't had any coffee yet, so skip the funny stuff.

 

I don't know the lineup, so when would someone else please add them. Thank you.

 

I was all for trading Dozier, and now that his stock has risen so high I'm not sure. Oh, hell, trade him anyway - if you can get the right pitcher. Buxton seems have arrived - well, I told you so (just kidding.)

 

I have been reading "Batting," a book published in 1925 by F.C. Lane in which he interviews hundreds of major league ballplayers about stances and bats and bunts and things like that. I kept thinking I would find a gem of a quote to put in here but I didn't. It is interesting reading the old name and also finding out that they shared an enthusiasm fore the minutia of the game. It was republished by SABR in 2001.

 

1. I was feeling under the weather last week.The rain and clouds of a cold (or spray-on-glue poisoning) descended on me. The tarp was put on the field. All I could was wait it out. The energy is my brain was 1/10 of what it was before. Meaning 90% of my brain got in their cars and drove home.

 

2. Speaking of weather, (this is the prepared stuff), I sure am glad the Dome got demolished. It was the last in a series of combustible mistakes. Baseball was invented outdoors and it should always be played outdoors. In  line with that reasoning, however much I enjoy watch the Lynx, I can’t really adjust to summer basketball. It’s a sport meant to be played inside because it’s too cold to play outside. And now in Texas (I believe) they want to replace a newish park (opened  in1994?).

 

3. Names. Target Field. Oh,well, better than most corporate names. But you Minnesotans should revolted and called it Puckett Park under their noses. This isn’t the Soviet Union of the United States, you know.

 

3. Random thought #19. All-Star rosters are 25 and each team needs to be represented yet the game now means something very significant (home field advantage in the WS). There were 16 teams not that long ago and there 25 representatives. Now there are 30 teams. It's 3rd grade math to assume the All-Star squads would expand to 48 or 50. Write the commissioner!

 

I would have written more and better but I gotta run.

 

Go Twins, Etc.

 

 

4 Oh,Baseball is not a game. It’s a contest. It's work.

 

5. Offense and defense combined in the same person can be a novelty nowadays. Kepler!

 

 

 

[Halsey Hall]

So this is a contest thread.

 

Now, get to work!

[wsnydes]

I think that the frantic nature in which this was apparently written had me as equally frantic reading it.  In retrospect, that might be the purest way to read this intro.  Read as the writer had written it.  I like it!

[sampleSizeOfOne]

A quiver with anticipation.

 

How will the contest work out?

 

Any news of the recent call ups being in the line up?

[Mike Sixel]

I too read that intro very, very quickly. Was entertained for sure.

[Craig Arko]

 

A quiver with anticipation.

How will the contest work out?

Any news of the recent call ups being in the line up?

They are not.

[Bark's Lounge]

This year is the 20th Anniversary of Brady Anderson's you know what season. Pick up the pace Dozier, We need our own Brady Anderson WTF season.

 

Maybe it is already that.

[Pardon My Dinger]

Kim Ng all the way!

[sampleSizeOfOne]

They are not.

Oh well.

 

Patience is a virtue, supposedly.

 

I can wait a wee bit longer for Mr. Beresford to see action...

[sampleSizeOfOne]

Royals

Dillon Gee ®

 

1. Jarrod Dyson (L) CF

2. Paulo Orlando ® RF

3. Eric Hosmer (L) 1B

4. Kendrys Morales (S) DH

5. Salvador Perez ® C

6. Alex Gordon (L) LF

7. Cheslor Cuthbert ® 3B

8. Alcides Escobar ® SS

9. Raul Mondesi (S) 2B

 

Twins

Ervin Santana ®

 

1. Brian Dozier ® 2B

2. Jorge Polanco (S) SS

3. Joe Mauer (L) DH

4. Trevor Plouffe ® 1B

5. Max Kepler (L) RF

6. Eduardo Escobar (S) 3B

7. Kurt Suzuki ® C

8. Eddie Rosario (L) LF

9. Byron Buxton ® CF

Gametime Forecast: 74°F • Mostly Cloudy • 14% PoP

[wsnydes]

Bigger crowd? Here or Target Field?

[Danchat]

And a former Twin hits a home run off a former Royal.

[big dog]

You know, Kendrys Morales was not a Twin long enough to get to torment us the way he does.  He hasn't earned that right.

[Willihammer]

 

This year is the 20th Anniversary of Brady Anderson's you know what season. Pick up the pace Dozier, We need our own Brady Anderson WTF season.

 

Maybe it is already that.

Ha thanks for the reminder, I forgot about that year. What a crazy HR spike.

[Willihammer]

Gee is garbage. We're gonna score tonight.

[LaBombo]

 

Bigger crowd? Here or Target Field?

 

"The answer is...

 

 

... four?!?"

[Willihammer]

And there we Doooooooooooo Dozier!

[Rosterman]

Man, I was hoping for the new Twins lineup of:

 

Schafer RF

Beresford 2B

Grossman LF

Sano 3B

Vargas 1B

Centeno DH

Escobar SS

Murphy C

Buxton CF

 

Let's give Ervin a sure fire victory!

 

[wsnydes]

Simply unreal.

[operation mindcrime]

Just incredible!

[operation mindcrime]

Man, I was hoping for the new Twins lineup of:

 

Schafer RF

Beresford 2B

Grossman LF

Sano 3B

Vargas 1B

Centeno DH

Escobar SS

Murphy C

Buxton CF

 

Let's give Ervin a sure fire victory!

Where's Levi Michael?

[Willihammer]

Paaaaaaaaaapa Plouffe!

[Danchat]

Dozier has hit a HR in his last 7 of 8 games with a total of 9 HRs in an 8 game span - and he's gonna get another 3-4 PAs today.

[LaBombo]

 

This year is the 20th Anniversary of Brady Anderson's you know what season. Pick up the pace Dozier, We need our own Brady Anderson WTF season.

 

Maybe it is already that.

 

Sitting at 13 right now, so he's gonna need the green light almost every time on base if he wants to surpass the 21 steals Brady had in '96...

[Willihammer]

 

Dozier has hit a HR in his last 7 of 8 games with a total of 9 HRs in an 8 game span - and he's gonna get another 3-4 HRs today.

FTFY

[wsnydes]

Dozier has hit a HR in his last 7 of 8 games with a total of 9 HRs in an 8 game span - and he's gonna get another 3-4 PAs today.

Oh, is that all?

[big dog]

 

Sitting at 13 right now, so he's gonna need the green light almost every time on base if he wants to surpass the 21 steals Brady had in '96...

His big "problem" is that when he gets a hit, he gets all four bases so he can't steal any.  He's going to have to start bunting once in a while and then stealing second and third.  I say he can do it.

 

Hey, we only have five hits in the first.  Why are we starting so slow?

[Willihammer]

Man, if I were a Royals fan, watching my team for the past month on the bubble of playoff contention, I'd be livid that Dillon f-ing Gee was taking starts every 5th day. This guy couldn't crack OUR rotation.

[big dog]

I say we send both runners.  Let's light this carousel on fire.

[wsnydes]

 

Hey, we only have five hits in the first. Why are we starting so slow?

First day back after a holiday.