GAME THREAD: Baltimore Orioles at Minnesota Twins, 7/2/2022, 1:10 PM CDT (Delayed until 2:15)

[Nine of twelve]

Hi everybody, and welcome to today's game thread. I will follow my usual format of five topics. I don't typically include analysis or predictions because that type of thing can be found elsewhere on this site written by people more skilled at those things than I am.

1. Happy middle day! Today is the middle of 2022. There have been 182 days this year before today and there will be 182 days after today. To be more precise, 1:00 PM CDT marks the midpoint, which by coincidence happens very near the start time of today's game.

2. Today's game is the middle game of a three-game series between the Twins and the Orioles. Our team will secure a series win if we come out on top.

3. This being the 81st game of the Twins' 2022 season, the period of time between the end of today's game and the start of tomorrow's game is the middle of their season.

4. I like this song.

 

5. I hope everyone has at worst a fair-to-middling day.

The current guess for weather is partly cloudy, 72º F, with a 50% chance of showers during the afternoon. The expected starting pitchers are RHP Jordan Lyles (4-7, 4.94) for the Orioles and RHP Sonny Gray (4-1, 2.17) for the Twins. Lineups and batting orders have not been announced at the time this is being written, so that will have to be posted later.

[Dave The Dastardly]

 

[Richie the Rally Goat]

FWIW Median is my favorite measure of average. Mean is so passé 

[Doctor Gast]

Gotta luv our chances today

[Nine of twelve]

Lineups and batting orders (edited):

 

Baltimore:

1. Cedric Mullins (L) CF

2. Trey Mancini (R) RF

3. Anthony Santander (S) LF

4. Austin Hays (R) DH

5. Ryan Mountcastle (R) 1B

6. Rougned Odor (L) 2B

7. Robinson Chirinos (R) C

8. Tyler Nevin (R) 3B

9. Jorge Mateo (R) SS

 

Minnesota:

1. Luis Arraez (L) 1B

2. Byron Buxton (R) DH

3. Carlos Correa (R) SS

4. Max Kepler (L) RF

5. Jorge Polanco (S) 2B

6. Nick Gordon (L) CF

7. Alex Kirilloff (L) LF

8. Gary Sanchez (R) C

9. Gio Urshela (R) 3B

[Nine of twelve]

Based on current radar it appears rain will impact the game. It would not be a surprise if it starts late.

[PDX Twin]

Good to see Jeffers back in the lineup. Anybody hear why he left early yesterday?

[Nine of twelve]

Bonus (in the view of some) video:

I was going to include this on the intro. However, because it used the word center instead of middle I decided not to. But it's still interesting (in the view of some) to know that there are four centers of a triangle.

 

[CRF]

20 minutes ago, PDX Twin said:

Good to see Jeffers back in the lineup. Anybody hear why he left early yesterday?

He came out of the game right after he took that shot to the mask, so Bremer and Perk thought it might have something to do with that. Haven't seen anything about it today. If he's in, he must be ok.  

[lecroy24fan]

23 minutes ago, Nine of twelve said:

Based on current radar it appears rain will impact the game. It would not be a surprise if it starts late.

At worse it would be a brief delay. The rain is not heavy and not expected to be.

[Nine of twelve]

2 hours ago, Richie the Rally Goat said:

FWIW Median is my favorite measure of average. Mean is so passé 

But mode is the one the most people like best.

[Mortimerkenny21]

Gotta love the 1. 2. 3./A. B. C. lineup!

[raindog]

Man, you can't underestimate what a good 7 inning start does for the bullpen. Pretty much fully rested with Gray on the bump to start. I like the Twins chances to sweep this series. 

[stringer bell]

1 hour ago, PDX Twin said:

48 minutes ago, CRF said:

He came out of the game right after he took that shot to the mask, so Bremer and Perk thought it might have something to do with that. Haven't seen anything about it today. If he's in, he must be ok.  

Good to see Jeffers back in the lineup. Anybody hear why he left early yesterday?

The game report said that Jeffers suffered a bruised thumb. It appears that both Jeffers and Sanchez are a bit banged up right now, but that is life with two catchers on the roster. 

[stringer bell]

As a middle child (I have often joked that I was the second of three only children) I appreciate and approve of this game thread introduction.

[Dave The Dastardly]

40 minutes ago, Nine of twelve said:

But mode is the one the most people like best.

You are of course referring to a la mode.

Which brings to mind a story from years ago. A bunch of us were down in Iowa touring fellow hobbyists' country places and we stopped for lunch at a small country restaurant. Food was good and when the waitress informed us that fresh-baked apple pie was available for dessert we all ordered dessert. As the waitress went around the table asking if we wanted it plain or a la mode she finally came to this slow-talking, deep-voiced gentleman from Missouri. "Plain or a la mode?" she asked.

"What's this here a la mode?" he drawled in low C, rattling the glasses on the table.

The waitress explained it meant the pie came with ice cream while the rest of us hooted with laughter and offering snide comments about backwoods Missouri hill-billies, all in good taste of course, you know, because we'd all been friends for years.

"Well, where I come from," the unperturbed Show-Me resident stated matter-of-factly, "we call pie with ice cream, pie with ice cream."

He's been Al Mode ever since.

[PDX Twin]

20 minutes ago, stringer bell said:

The game report said that Jeffers suffered a bruised thumb. It appears that both Jeffers and Sanchez are a bit banged up right now, but that is life with two catchers on the roster. 

And Gameday now says Sanchez starts.

[Dave The Dastardly]

Started raining here. Hour south of the stadium.

[Nine of twelve]

38 minutes ago, PDX Twin said:

And Gameday now says Sanchez starts.

Lineups and batting orders on an earlier post have been edited to reflect this change.

[Nine of twelve]

1 hour ago, Dave The Dastardly said:

"Well, where I come from," the unperturbed Show-Me resident stated matter-of-factly, "we call pie with ice cream, pie with ice cream."

The way he said this in turn reminds me of something my son once told me:

In theory, in theory and in practice are always the same. But in practice, in theory and in practice are often not the same.

[lecroy24fan]

Absurd that the game won't start on time. It's light rain. They've played in much. much worse this year.

[lecroy24fan]

15 minutes ago, Nine of twelve said:

Lineups and batting orders on an earlier post have been edited to reflect this change.

And the Twins pregame has Jeffers still in.

 

Expected start time is now 2:15 PM CT.

[LVTwinsfan]

5 hours ago, Nine of twelve said:

Hi everybody, and welcome to today's game thread. I will follow my usual format of five topics. I don't typically include analysis or predictions because that type of thing can be found elsewhere on this site written by people more skilled at those things than I am.

1. Happy middle day! Today is the middle of 2022. There have been 182 days this year before today and there will be 182 days after today. To be more precise, 1:00 PM CDT marks the midpoint, which by coincidence happens very near the start time of today's game.

2. Today's game is the middle game of a three-game series between the Twins and the Orioles. Our team will secure a series win if we come out on top.

3. This being the 81st game of the Twins' 2022 season, the period of time between the end of today's game and the start of tomorrow's game is the middle of their season.

4. I like this song.

 

5. I hope everyone has at worst a fair-to-middling day.

The current guess for weather is partly cloudy, 72º F, with a 50% chance of showers during the afternoon. The expected starting pitchers are RHP Jordan Lyles (4-7, 4.94) for the Orioles and RHP Sonny Gray (4-1, 2.17) for the Twins. Lineups and batting orders have not been announced at the time this is being written, so that will have to be posted later.

Great job! 
Go Twins!

[Nine of twelve]

4 minutes ago, lecroy24fan said:

Absurd that the game won't start on time. It's light rain. They've played in much. much worse this year.

I'm sure the reasoning is twofold. Make sure the weather has passed so that, one, the game doesn't get interrupted with associated disruptions to pitching deployment and, two, to keep the dirt surfaces from becoming too wet. 

[Nine of twelve]

6 minutes ago, lecroy24fan said:

And the Twins pregame has Jeffers still in.

 

Expected start time is now 2:15 PM CT.

Sanchez is in the lineup on the Twins website.

[CRF]

Just looked at the radar. Probably another 30-40 minutes of light rain before it moves out. 

[Nine of twelve]

The Guardians are down 6-2 in the top of the 6th in game 1 of their doubleheader with the evil empire in Cleveland.

[PDX Twin]

2 minutes ago, Nine of twelve said:

I'm sure the reasoning is twofold. Make sure the weather has passed so that, one, the game doesn't get interrupted with associated disruptions to pitching deployment and, two, to keep the dirt surfaces from becoming too wet. 

And my recollection is that it is up to the Twins until the first pitch. They certainly don't want Gray to pitch two innings and then get interrupted. Their choice might be different if they were sending out four-inning Archer against someone like Verlander.

[LVTwinsfan]

1 minute ago, Nine of twelve said:

The Guardians are down 6-2 in the top of the 6th in game 1 of their doubleheader with the evil empire in Cleveland.

Go Yankees

[PDX Twin]

Just now, LVTwinsfan said:

Go Yankees

and don't stop until you reach, say, Jupiter!