Article: Game Thread: Twins v Royals, 4/3 @ 3:10pm CT

[Riverbrian]

Shakespeare sets the scene at the very beginning of Richard III. That’s right… I’m pulling out Shakespeare on the opening game thread of the 2017 season. Shakespeare uses a lot of fancy words with unnecessary apostrophes, but after someone explains it all to you, the realization is that our Twins are a lot like Richard III. "An Ace! An Ace! My Kingdom for an Ace."

 

Like the soon to be King Richard, our Twins are introduced to us as deformed, unfinished, sent before their time into this breathing 2017 season. It is supposed to be a time of happiness, a time of peace, because our family troubles have come to an end with the removal of King Ryan but yet, here we are anyway, an actor on the stage talking to himself, preparing the upcoming misery.

Another comparable… Actors who portray Richard III tend to overact significantly and the construction of these Twins has caused severe overreacting on TD.

Overreacting just like I over-wrote this beginning by starting 2017 with Shakespeare. I could have gone anywhere else. It’s 2017 and the Twins return with the same rotation and with minimal improvement to the bullpen… that was our off-season… that was “The winter of OUR discontent.”

Here are some things to think about:

1. Opening Day – Despite the obvious negative tone of the introduction, it is opening day and the possibility of 162-0 still exists no matter how unlikely and that alone should be cause for the slightest of optimism. There are many ways to skin a cat so it’s possible that we are about to witness a new way to do exactly that. Although, we would all feel better about that possibility if they actually located a cat and if they were not holding a spoon while waiting for one to come near.

2. Our Twins – We are curious to see if Dozier can come close to duplicating last year. We are curious to see if this is the year that Buxton and Sano breakout. We are curious to see if Kepler, Rosario and Polanco can demonstrate major league capability. (Pause)… I just realized that it was curiosity that killed the cat. No wonder Falvey/Levine can’t find the damn cat.

3. The Royals – The Royals will be an interesting team to watch this year. The Royals hit a fork in the road this off-season with two paths to choose from. With Hosmer, Moustakas, Cain and others heading to free agency at the end of the year, one path was to trade these players with value remaining for younger talent and start the rebuilding process right away. The other path was to hang on to these players and go for it one more time and this was the path they chose. A baseball season is a long run and like Led Zeppelin said, “In the long run… there’s still time to change the road you’re on.” I had to make a similar decision once… Should I get some more gas before my car runs out or keep driving hoping to reach my destination before it does. I chose to keep driving my car and it worked just fine. The moral to that story is this: Never buy gas for your car!!!

4. Today’s Joe M Conversation (For all of 2017… I’ve decided that thought #4 will be a conversation between Joe Mauer, Joe Maddon and Joe McCarthy) --

Maddon: Hey Joe, what are you doing.

Mauer: Well… McCarthy was hungry and I needed to work on my hitting to left field so I’m dropping apples into my Joe Mauer quick swing while McCarthy waits for the apple chunks to eat in left field.

Maddon: That’s brilliant… The apple is the right size for the tubing. You are getting your hitting in and McCarthy gets some food… That’s a great idea.

Mauer: It also works with those nice round dinner rolls but they don’t go as far so McCarthy has to move in a little.

McCarthy: (Coming in from left field to join the conversation). Yep… Apples and Dinner Rolls work great. We also tried Meat Loaf but it got stuck and it didn’t work.

Maddon: Ahh… yes… I suppose… Meat Loaf… well… Two Out of Three Ain’t Bad.

5. Perfection – I read a lot of resumes in my job. I've come to the conclusion that these pieces of paper are the closest to perfection that these people will ever come to.
____________________

Game-time forecast: 53 deg F, cloudy with a 55-65% chance of rain, winds from the NE at 11mph.

Lineups:

ROYALS
Alex Gordon (L) LF
Mike Moustakas (L) 3B
Lorenzo Cain (R ) CF
Eric Hosmer (L) 1B
Salvador Perez (R ) C
Brandon Moss (L) DH
Paulo Orlando (R ) RF
Alcides Escobar (R ) SS
Raul Mondesi (S) 2B

Duffy, P

TWINS
Dozier (R ) 2B
Robbie Grossman (S) DH
Byron Buxton (R ) CF
Joe Mauer (L) 1B
Miguel Sano (R ) 3B
Jason Castro (L) C
Jorge Polanco (S) SS
Max Kepler (L) RF
Eddie Rosario (L) LF

Santana, P

Win Twins! Play ball!

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[NoCryingInBaseball]

OK, Opening Day....Giddy-Up!!!!

[diehardtwinsfan]

162-0 here we come...

[Craig Arko]

I read somewhere the last time the Twins won the opener was 2008. Time to put that bugger to rest.

[theBOMisthebomb]

Bring back the Metrodome is my only thought as I prepare to dodge raindrops at Target Field today. A record of 75-87 is my prediction for 2017.

[Joe A. Preusser]

Remember TDers...

[Brock Beauchamp]

Finally, a game that matters.

[USAFChief]

 

Bring back the Metrodome is my only thought as I prepare to dodge raindrops at Target Field today. A record of 75-87 is my prediction for 2017.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O85UfVX7bSk

 

Be not afraid of sucking, some are born sucky, some achieve suckitude, and some have teh suck thrust upon them.

 

- William Shakespeare, noted Twins fan (posts under a psued...sudo...fake name on TD)

[Blake]

I just realized how low I've set the bar. The pitching is what it is. What interests me is fielding, in that I will be more than pleased if there is competence displayed by everyone who is tasked with catching the ball. 

 

Which would be 1 out of three. The other two being pitching and hitting. 

 

Brian shows more optimism than I do, what with his "2 out of 3 ain't bad" line. 

[LimestoneBaggy]

 

I read somewhere the last time the Twins won the opener was 2008. Time to put that bugger to rest.

I've taken a couple hours off work since about 2008 to watch the opener in the closest watering hole to my house with my wife. This year I'm staying at work. You're all welcome in advance.

[Pardon My Dinger]

I'll locate the cat if someone can find us a chicken for dinner.

[terrydactyls]

I never thought I would see the day when a Meatloaf song is quoted in a baseball article.

[ashbury]

Kudos to Brian. He outdood himself on this one.

[stringer bell]

A regular season Twins' game thread introed by Brian. Wow, this Monday just might be OK!

 

My ESPN app says that the Twins are favorites in this one. I'm shocked.

[spinowner]

Ah, opening day, when the game threads actually count. Unfortunately for me (and probably fortunately for everyone else) I'll be behind the wheel during much of the game so you'll all have to pick up the slack for me. But I'll make up for my absence today by contributing my abscess to future threads.

[spinowner]

 

I never thought I would see the day when a Meatloaf song is quoted in a baseball article.

It's kind of sweet how naive and innocent the newbies are when it comes to game thread content.

[Brock Beauchamp]

I have to figure out a way to listen to the game on the radio.

 

Damn you, T-Mobile! I love you for giving me MLB.tv for free again but hate you for doing it the day after Opening Day!

[drjim]

A regular season Twins' game thread introed by Brian. Wow, this Monday just might be OK!

 

My ESPN app says that the Twins are favorites in this one. I'm shocked.

I was thinking the same thing about being favored. Won't happen all that often this year.

 

That's the main problem facing this squad, day in, day out they will face a better opponent...

[Respy]

Who kept saying that the weather was going to be gorgeous for the home opener?  Oh yeah, that was me.

 

On the radio this morning (93X) they were announcing the Twins lineup for home opener (and I was like, 'wow, already?') which they referenced the Star Tribune.  I come online this morning and it turns out yesterday afternoon the Star Tribune put out projected lineups for the home opener.

 

http://www.startribune.com/twins-kansas-city-projected-opening-day-lineups/417919003/

 

Twins

2B Brian Dozier

1B Joe Mauer

CF Byron Buxton

3B Miguel Sano

RF Max Kepler

LF Eddie Rosario

DH Robbie Grossman

C Jason Castro

SS Jorge Polanco

RHP Ervin Santana

 

Royals
LF Alex Gordon

3B Mike Moustakas

CF Lorenzo Cain 

1B Eric Hosmer 

C Salvador Perez 

DH Brandon Moss 

RF Paulo Orlando 

SS Alcides Escobar 

2B Raul Mondesi 

LHP Danny Duffy 

 

The positions are almost certainly right, but do we think we have that good of an idea on the lineup already?

[twinsnorth49]

Finally time to start paying attention again, whoo hoo!!

 

 

Good intro RB, man I love Jimmy Page.

[spinowner]

 

Finally time to start paying attention again, whoo hoo!!

 

 

Good intro RB, man I love Jimmy Page.

Led Zep? Jimmy Page? You mean the Frank Zappa version isn't the original?

[James]

WOOOHOO!  Opening day game thread!  I'll be at the game, so you won't have to deal with too many of my comments today.

 

You're welcome.

 

Go Twins!

[Jerr]

Listening on KSTP 1500 AM, live from Target Field, but they are talking Vikings and Wild, with some Twins talk  

 

Should be Twins and nothing, but Twins!!!!!

[James]

 

Finally time to start paying attention again, whoo hoo!!

 

 

Good intro RB, man I love Jimmy Page.

I didn't know Canadians listened to Led Zeppelin.  Unless Jimmy Page had a stint in Rush that I'm unaware of... That's how you know about Jimmy Page, right?

[Jerr]

National Anthem singer called in sick, per KSTP .....a bad omen?????

 

And they are back on baseball talk!

Edited April 3, 2017 by Jerr

[Jerr]

Minnesota Orchestra, rehearsing to pick up that spot.

[Dan In Real Life]

And what happened to Richard III soon after lamenting the lack of top tier starting pitching? May not be the best way to start off optimistically.

[Mike Sixel]

I predict a win today. It's my bday, they won't let me down on my bday. 

 

Grossman and Castro will be the hitting stars, with Haley pitching 6 shutout innings after Santana has an allergy attack.

[spinowner]

 

It's my bday, they won't let me down on my bday. 

[Blake]

 

I predict a win today. It's my bday, they won't let me down on my bday. 

 

Grossman and Castro will be the hitting stars, with Haley pitching 6 shutout innings after Santana has an allergy attack.