Nine of twelve

*Exhale.*

Don't push your luck or you could wind up on everyone's ignore list.

I worry that this works as a counterjinx when attempted by a fan of the other team.

Sale NOT getting squeezed.

I know the strike zone superimposed on the video feed isn't sacrosanct, but it looks like this umpire is squeezing Berrios.

OK boys, your starter manned up in the top of 1. Now it's time for the batters to man up in the bottom of 1.

Red Sox have 49 wins on June 19. Orioles are on a pace to have 46 wins by Sept. 30.

The term Greenwich Mean Time (GMT) has been superseded by the term Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). It's the same thing on the clock, though. But that's not the big error. The big error is that tonight's game starts at 12:10 AM UTC, 6/20/2018.

Other major professional sports are not baseball. The rules that are in place right now to determine who can come in when keep the game from getting crazy. No change needed.

Let's see if the Twins can revisit 2015: 7.36 ERA, 30 runs (27 earned) in 33.0 IP vs Twins 2.73 ERA, 47 runs (47 earned) in 154.2 IP vs everyone else

Do that every inning and we'll be in good position to win the game.

OK boys, let's be ready to play from the start!

Keep your drink out of reach of infants or you'd have to take Chianti from a baby.

A joke worthy (for lack of the right word) of Chief.

Free substitution? That means any player can bat at any time. Is that really what you are advocating?

WINNAH! I'm now 1-1 in game thread intros. I hope to improve that record as the season progresses!

Dick bringing up the idea of the Twins having a AAA team in Rochester, MN. That will not happen. Not even close. There are not enough people there to even come close to supporting a AAA team. They don't even have a Midwest League team there. That, by the way, would make sense for the Twins, but Cedar Rapids is not a bad place for a team and that city has worked hard to have the Twins' low A team there.

The rule states that the starter has to go 5+ innings to get the win.

Prbably Magill. Scorer's discretion.

LoMo!

!

OK, here's Rosario's opportunity to counteract his mistakes.

That was a case where the bunt was a good play. It was much more likely to get the runner over than having him swing away.

You must have done that with my original post. I accidentally posted the same video twice. After I realized the error I corrected it. But I think I'll try what you suggested just for the experience of doing it.

Hello, and welcome to today's game thread. I'm going to use the time-honored five-point format. 1.) Wednesday and Thursday in Detroit provided us with two very disheartening losses. But after last night https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CIZUS5rBtFE I think many of us have renewed hope. There is still plenty of time for us to catch and pass Cleveland. 2.) I'm not a stat-head, but in recent years I've come to look at WPA (Win Probability Added) as one of the most important ways to measure how good a player is because it places a higher importance on performance in key situations. However, I have come to think that this needs to be refined. Players who play for very good teams and players who play for very bad teams will come out undervalued using this statistic. If a player's team is often very far ahead or very far behind it becomes more difficult to generate a large WPA. A better way to determine a player's value is to determine the highest possible WPA and the lowest possible WPA for each situation and measure the actual outcome relative to those benchmarks. I suppose you could call it marginal WPA or something like that. I haven't done enough research to know whether anyone is generating such a statistic but I have to believe somebody else must have thought of this already. 3.) At this juncture there will be those who say they were told there would be no math. If someone has said that to you that person was either in denial, ignorant, or just plain lying. There was, is, and ever shall be math. I'd like to recommend the Numberphile videos on YouTube. I find them to be quite accessible to those of us with an interest in the subject. 4.) Today's Joe M. conversation: For those of you who think nothing was there, please do research on virtual particles. Or, alternatively, watch this: 5.) I want to express my admiration for journalists and others who work on deadline. As today's deadline for posting this intro was starting to draw near I received a text message from my editor wondering where it was. That little bit of added pressure provided inspiration for me to think of this, my fifth point for today's intro. So thank you to that person for inadvertently becoming my muse for today. Starting pitchers: Minnesota: Fernando Romero ®, 3-2, 3.92 Cleveland: Carlos Carrasco ®, 8-4, 3.90 Lineups and batting orders: Minnesota: 1. Joe Mauer (L) DH 2. Eddie Rosario (L) LF 3. Eduardo Escobar (S) 3B 4. Logan Morrison (L) 1B 5. Brian Dozier ® 2B 6. Robbie Grossman (S) RF 7. Max Kepler (L) CF 8. Ehire Adrianza (S) SS 9. Bobby Wilson ® C Cleveland: 1. Francisco Lindor (S) DH 2. Michael Brantley (L) LF 3. Jose Ramirez (S) 3B 4. Edwin Encarnacion ® 1B 5. Jason Kipnis (L) 2B 6. Yan Gomes ® C 7. Lonnie Chisenhall (L) RF 8. Tyler Naquin (L) CF 9. Erik Gonzalez ® SS Expected game time weather conditions: Partly sunny, 80F, 64F dew point, west wind at 7mph, 0% precipitation probability