Game Thread: Twins @ Blue Jays, 6/3/22, 6:07PM CDT (4:07PM PDT)

[Puckett34]

Our Minnesota Twins head up to the Great White North for the first and only time this year for a three game set looking to find some momentum.  Seems that they’ve been spinning their wheels of late. It doesn’t seem like it but the Twins are 6-4 in their last ten versus the Blue Jays dating back to 2019.

Covid news: Kepler, Thielbar, Pagán, and Megill inactive for Toronto series.

Speaking of Canada, here are some random Canada facts:

1. Canada has less gravity than anywhere else in the world.
2. Santa Claus's official address is in Canada.
3. Canada is the number one donut consumer in the world.
4. It is illegal to kill a Sasquatch in British Columbia.
5. Canadian money is vision impaired friendly. (helpful for umpires)

Today’s game starts off a bit of a tough stretch for our hometown nine.  Especially with how the last five games have gone. With three games with Toronto, three with New York, and three with Tampa these next nine games are quite important.  I’d like to see them win at least four to five.  I think they can, provided they can get healthy quick. Injuries/Covid have been especially rough the past week or so. Luckily, the White Sox and Guardians have been scuffling of late. Beginning to have the feeling of the summer 2019 again, but without all the dingers.

Pitchers- MIN: Chi Chi Gonzalez RHP, 2022 MLB debut. 2022 Minors 2-2, 3.48 ERA, 35 K, 1.25 WHIP

                 TOR: Yusei Kikuchi LHP 2-1, 3.48 ERA, 4.09 FIP, 44 K, 1.35 WHIP

Lineup

                MIN:

                1- Buxton, Byron CF, .207 AVG, 11 HR, 21 RBI, 1 SB

                2- Polanco, Jorge 2B, .224 AVG, 5 HR, 26 RBI, 3 SB

                3- Garlick, Kyle LF, .211 AVG, 4 HR, 11 RBI, 0 SB

                4- Sanchez, Gary DH, .224 AVG, 6 HR, 25 RBI, 1 SB

                5- Urshela, Gio 3B,  .268 AVG, 5 HR, 23 RBI, 0 SB

                6- Miranda, Jose 1B, .169 AVG, 2 HR, 7 RBI, 0 SB 

                7- Larnach, Trevor RF, .282 AVG, 3 HR, 15 RBI, 0 SB

                8- Jeffers, Ryan C, .184 AVG, 3 HR, 14 RBI, 0 SB

                9- Palacios, Jermaine SS, .167 AVG, 0 HR, 0 RBI, 0 SB

                0 P Chi Chi Gonzalez

TOR:

                1- Springer, George CF, .277 AVG, 9 HR, 26 RBI, 2 SB

                2- Bichette, Bo SS, .254 AVG, 7 HR, 26 RBI, 4 SB

                3- Guerrero Jr., Vladimir 1B, .253 AVG 10 HR, 26 RBI, 0 SB

                4- Hernandex, Teoscar DH, .210 AVG, 3 HR, 13 RBI, 1 SB

                5- Jansen, Danny C, .283 AVG, 7 HR, 12 RBI, 0 SB 

                6- Tapia, Raimel RF, .252 AVG, 1 HR, 13 RBI 3 SB 

                7- Gurriel Jr., Lourdex LF, .241 AVG, 2 HR, 18 RBI, 2 SB

                8- Espinal, Santiago 3B, .272 AVG, 3 HR, 22 RBI, 3 SB 

                9- Biggio, Ccavan 2B, .125 AVG, 0 HR, 2 RBI, 1 SB

                0 P Yusei Kikuchi

Weather: 70 F (21 C) Precipitation 85 % (Roof Closed?)

First Pitch 6:07 CDT

Go Twins!

Happy Weekend!

[USAFChief]

Yusei Kikuchi.

I say Kicketchee.

Let's call the whole thing off.

[PDX Twin]

14 minutes ago, Puckett34 said:

Our Minnesota Twins head up to the Great White North for the first and only time this year for a three game set looking to find some momentum. 

Actually ... down. Toronto is south of Minneapolis, though it's up from Detroit.

[CRF]

Let's all make sure to put on our seat belts...it's gonna be a bumpy ride. 

[sampleSizeOfOne]

16 minutes ago, USAFChief said:

Yusei Kikuchi.

I say Kicketchee.

Let's call the whole thing off.

So close, yet so far

but because that's no haiku

whole thing remains on.

[Mander]

Toronto's home field advantage is Canada's covid restrictions. Every team losing players when they go play Toronto. If Twins can't even beat Detroit, this could get ugly. Will watch with one eye open and one closed.

[sampleSizeOfOne]

15 minutes ago, PDX Twin said:

Actually ... down. Toronto is south of Minneapolis, though it's up from Detroit.

I'm so confuséd.

Which way are the Twins heading?

To a win, i hope.

[rwilfong86]

No Arraez??

[Squirrel]

34 minutes ago, CRF said:

it's gonna be a bumpy ride

heh ... reminds me of the scene in HP and the Prisoner of Azkaban ... the night bus scene

[Squirrel]

1 hour ago, Puckett34 said:

Santa Claus's official address is in Canada.

Actually, Santa's official home is in Finland ... 

1 hour ago, Puckett34 said:

Canada is the number one donut consumer in the world.

Tim Horton's rules!  

[CRF]

5 minutes ago, Squirrel said:

heh ... reminds me of the scene in HP and the Prisoner of Azkaban ... the night bus scene

I remember those HP movies. My son and I read all the books too. I'm sure it's before your time, but it's kind of like the famous line from the 1950 film All About Eve. Bette Davis says "Fasten your seatbelts, it's going to be a bumpy night". 

[Scott51104]

"Canada has less gravity than anywhere else in the world."

I noticed that while watching Red Green.

[Richie the Rally Goat]

1 hour ago, sampleSizeOfOne said:

I'm so confuséd.

Which way are the Twins heading?

To a win, i hope.

From Minneapolis, east

[sampleSizeOfOne]

1 hour ago, Puckett34 said:

here are some random Canada facts

Your facts are not random enough for me.

 

Wasn't Canada named after a goose?

 

Don't they have a strategic Moose reserve, for when the oil runs out?

 

How big do the moose-quitos grow?

 

Wasn't there another MLB team from Canada?

But it was notoriously cheap, especially when it came to uniforms, so they were dubbed the Expose.

What with television regulations, they couldn't be aired, so they moved to somewhere else with more prudish sensibilities, as well as fabric.

[PDX Twin]

1 hour ago, CRF said:

Let's all make sure to put on our seat belts...it's gonna be a bumpy ride. 

Prediction: Twins' total over three games = 11 hits, 4 runs, 0 wins.

[Richie the Rally Goat]

1 hour ago, PDX Twin said:

Actually ... down. Toronto is south of Minneapolis, though it's up from Detroit.

Also fun, approximately 14 million of the 38 million Canadians live in the region between Toronto and Detroit.

so 1/3 of Canadians live south of Minneapolis 

[mrtwinsfan]

Chi Chi Gonzalez tonight, Dylan Bundy tomm, and Smeltzer on sunday?? ? Whats to Worry ??

[Mill1634]

This has potential to be very ugly.

 

Blue Jays 8, Twins 3

PTC: Nick Gordon's pitching performance

[Puckettsprintstofirst]

Goal is to win one game in Toronto.  Have 0.0 chance of winning tonite.  So is our best chance bundy beating berrios or smeltzer beating gaussman?

[Azviking101]

2-1 count, looking for a fastball down the middle, get it and isn’t even close. 
he’s absolutely hopeless 

[PDX Twin]

Anybody else sick of "We all know he's a better hitter than that."?

[Parfigliano]

1 minute ago, PDX Twin said:

Anybody else sick of "We all know he's a better hitter than that."?

He is spring training

[Parfigliano]

Spicey!!!!

[Mill1634]

I LOVE GARLICK

[sampleSizeOfOne]

Garlick strikes!!!!

[CRF]

Just a lil pinch of Garlick.

[rwilfong86]

Garlick!

[Dave The Dastardly]

Just filled up a couple gas cans at Slippery Al's so the Little Woman can mow half the county. Damn near $5 a gallon. A fill-up comes with a free jar of Vaseline though so it's sort of like being a Twins fan in Canada; you know you're going to take it in the shorts but it's going to be a quick in-and-out procedure.

 

[rwilfong86]

Already scored as many runs as the last 3 games in Detroit

[Azviking101]

Literally everyone else is crushing. IL stint or number 9. He’s making 100 million. This isn’t ok