Game Thread: Twins vs. Tampa Bay 6/26/19 @ 7:10pm CST

[twinssporto]

 

Good afternoon to all of you wonderful Twins Daily Game Thread participants!  Beautiful day here in Minneapolis to watch a ball game. The bats woke up yesterday for our beloved Twins and I think it will continue tonight as well...  

 

Tampa Bay is a very good baseball team.  The fact we beat up the reining Cy Young award winner last night says a lot about the potency of this lineup.  The fact Tampa even has a Cy Young award winner seems crazy.  I was living in Tampa/St. Pete when that team came to be.  Went to a lot of games but just couldn't get excited about the team back then. I was then as I am now, too much of a Twins fan to switch allegiances that easily. 

 

This Tampa series did remind me of my time spent in Florida though and all the fun I had down there. Last night as I was grilling up my favorite steak dinner, it dawned on me that the very steak recipe I was cooking came from a good friend of mine down there.  It's so good I thought I would share it with you.  This is so simple you can't screw it up (unless you over cook your beef).

 

Recipe:

Go get yourself a nice thick sirloin steak between 1-1.5 lbs. and throw it in a big zip lock freezer bag.  Grab a bottle of cheap Italian dressing like Wishbone and pour the whole bottle in the bag.  Zip the bag up and toss in the refrigerator for at least 8 hours (overnight for best results).  While you're at the store grab a big bottle of Kraft parmesan cheese too.  After marinating this bad boy, throw it on your counter (still in the bag) and let it get to room temperature. Pro tip: Never put ice cold steaks on the grill.

 

Now, open your favorite beverage of choice and light the grill.  Hopefully you'll be lighting lump charcoal and not a gas grill but I won't judge how or what you decide to cook on.  Sorry but I'm a grilling purist.

 

Once the grill is hot and ready to go. Remove the steak from the bag and place it on a plate.  Take your new bottle of parmesan cheese and heap a ton of it all over the top of that bad boy steak.  When ready, place the cheese side down directly over the hot coals or grill grate and proceed to dump a massive amount of cheese on the other side of the steak facing you.  There will be flames galore but don't panic! Just close the lid and the fire should subside.  I like to eat sirloin medium rare so I only let it go about 4 min or so before flipping. Timing depends upon how thick your sirloin is cut. Once I flip the steak I pour even more parmesan cheese on it.  When you think it's done put on a plate and cover for 5 min or so and grab another cocktail.  After the steak has reseted, cut it into thin slices across the grain and serve to your friends and family. Trust me. This will probably end up being one of your favorite tasting steaks you've ever eaten.

 

Make sure you let me know how it turns out!

 

Go Twins!  

 

Lineups:

 

Twins:

1. Luis Arraez 3B (L)

2. J. Polanco SS (S)

3. Nelson Cruz DH ®

4. Eddie Rosario CF (L)

5. C.J. Cron 1B ®

6. W. Astudillo LF ®

7. Jason Castro C (L)

8. Jake Cave RF (L)

9. J. School 2B ®

Jake Odorizzi  SP ®

 

Tampa Bay

1. Brandon Lowe 2B (L)

2. Tommy Pham LF ®

3. Ji-Man Choi 1B (L)

4. A. Meadows RF (L)

5. A. Garcia DH ®

6. K. Kiermaier CF (L)

7. Willy Adames SS ®

8. Joey Wendle 3B (L)

9. Mike Zunino C ®

Charlie Morton SP ®

 

Weather: Partly cloudy and a warm 87degrees. 1% chance of rain.

 

[Mr. Brooks]

I feel sorry for Odor with that defense.

[Blake]

Pfft: charcoal.

 

Pellet grill for the win!

[sampleSizeOfOne]

Pfft: charcoal.

 

Pellet grill for the win!

Is that Odorizzi's nickname?

 

Due to the heat of the pellets he fires?

 

Oh, silly me. It's Castro behind the grill.

 

I coulda framed that better...

[james2334]

If Kepler is unavailable tonight and one of the starting outfielders gets hurt does that me we get to see either Sano, Garver, or Cruz play outfield? Oh joy!!!

[Dave The Dastardly]

Great looking steak! Gonna have to try that. But you lost me on that "bottle" of parmesan cheese. Is that "bottle" like what Grain Belt comes in? I thought that stuff came in a cardboard tube, but then I'm more of a colby man.

 

2nd question: I thought grillmeisters' favorite on-the-job beverage was a brewski or two, or three, you know, something you can sip while you stand by the grill pretending you know what you're doing so the wife doesn't get on your case about not burning the steaks; even though my Little Woman prefers steaks the consistency of shoe leather. So what you're saying is that's it's okay to hit the Jameson while slaving over a hot grill? Man... my steak won't be the only one that'll be fried.

 

Hey, I heard there's a game tonight. That means nacho cheese chips for a warm-up then grilled burgers and asparagus for supper. Gotta love those Twins!

[oldguywithanitch]

If Kepler is unavailable tonight and one of the starting outfielders gets hurt does that me we get to see either Sano, Garver, or Cruz play outfield? Oh joy!!!

with Garvers recent injury I'd rather see Castro or Cron out there. Cruz is DH, so don't want to have to have a pitcher hit. And Sano should never ever never play outfield again.

[james2334]

 

with Garvers recent injury I'd rather see Castro or Cron out there. Cruz is DH, so don't want to have to have a pitcher hit. And Sano should never ever never play outfield again.

No kidding. I was imagining an outfield with Sano in left and Astudillo in right and it reminded me of when we had Arcia and Sano in the outfield together...sorry I just threw up a little in my mouth.

[Blake]

 

If Kepler is unavailable tonight and one of the starting outfielders gets hurt does that me we get to see either Sano, Garver, or Cruz play outfield? Oh joy!!!

Yes!

 

I mean, NO!

[DocBauer]

Interesting lineup. A few guys out, and I still think it looks pretty good. First time for Arreaz at the top of the order, yes?

[twinsfanstreif]

Rough OF defense, let's hope Buxton and Kepler can get healthy soon because that could get ugly for more than a game or two

[mrtwinsfan]

Amen- to the outfield tonight, Delmon Young was always VERY ????? out there  Never Sano again

[Craig Arko]

[Danchat]

I’ll be at the game, got some free tickets down the first base line. It’s nice to see Arraez leading off.

[stringer bell]

As far as the OF defense is concerned, I guess I’m surprised that Cave isn’t in center, with Rosario in left and Astudillo in right. It will be nice when Adrianza and Gonzalez are back.

[snotboogie]

Is it just me or when you hear the name Ji-Man Choi, you hear G-Man Choi and think, "That is an awesome name."

[Brock Beauchamp]

This Arraez kid is aight.

[ScrapTheNickname]

I wou

 

Interesting lineup. A few guys out, and I still think it looks pretty good. First time for Arreaz at the top of the order, yes?

I would add that this is the first time the Twins have had a bonified lead off batter this year!

[Brock Beauchamp]

Okay, at this point which slow-ass Twins player hasn't gotten a ridiculous infield single over the past two games?

[Brock Beauchamp]

Entire Rays pitching staff after Rosie hits *another* 0-2 pitch for a single:

 

"What a dick."

[LaBombo]

The two fastball swinging strikes sort of looked like Rosario was told that Morton tops out at 88 instead of 98. Perfect adjustment on the RBI liner up the middle.

[Brock Beauchamp]

This is pretty unfair to the Rays. The Twins are playing every luck card possible for the past two games and just pounding the Rays' pitchers with absolute garbage hits.

 

But hey, I'll take it.

[snotboogie]

 

[LaBombo]

 

Is it just me or when you hear the name Ji-Man Choi, you hear G-Man Choi and think, "That is an awesome name."

 

That version when I hear it, but when I see it in print... 'Jumanji' Choi. Is there such a thing as atle-onset dyslexai?

[LVTwinsfan]

Nice little 1st inning ambush

[LVTwinsfan]

This is pretty unfair to the Rays. The Twins are playing every luck card possible for the past two games and just pounding the Rays' pitchers with absolute garbage hits.

 

But hey, I'll take it.

like that never happens to the Twins

[MVP Nick Punto]

I enjoy this combination of the Twins taking it to 'em and the other team shooting themselves in the foot. Don't need clutch hitting if they throw wild pitches with men on 3rd.

[snotboogie]

Honest question here. Is Meadows wearing his oven mitt for diving back to 1st base only? If he was to take a head first slide into 2nd wouldn't he want to use his left hand or would he slide into the home plate side of 2nd?

[LaBombo]

 

This is pretty unfair to the Rays.

 

"What do we want?!? UNFAIR!!!"

 

"When do we want it?!? CHANGE!!!"

 

[LVTwinsfan]

Odorizzi gave his buddy a cookie