Diesel

I’ve been kind of hanging in the lowlights for the past month. A lot of stress-induced games by the Twins have led me to stay away from the online keyboards so I don’t say anything I regret. However, I do have a few questions to start off this series finale. Why do teams have elephants as mascots, but not as the actual name of the team? (Looking at you, Oakland and Alabama) Is it bad that I’ve never heard of half of the pitchers on Oakland’s roster? (Blake Treinen and (gulp) Liam Hendriks are exceptions) Are there actually going to be five good teams in the National League this year? What a disaster! Why was the last game thread named after my dog?

The team hasn’t been blown out much lately. Just close losses. Once all cylinders are firing within the offense again, this team will be right back at the top!

Lineups for today: Twins 1. Mitch Garver C 2. Jorge Polanco SS 3. Nelson Cruz DH 4. Eddie Rosario LF 5. C.J. Cron 1B 6. Max Kepler CF 7. Marwin Gonzalez RF 8. Miguel Sano 3B 9. Luis Arraez 2B Dumpster Fires 1. Jeff McNeil RF 2. J.D. Davis LF 3. Pete Alonso 1B 4. Wilson Ramos C 5. Robinson Cano DH 6. Todd Frazier 3B 7. Michael Conforto CF 8. Amed Rosario SS 9. Adeiny Hechavarria 2B Pitchers: Martin Perez vs. Jason Vargas

Am I the only one that thinks robot umps are an absolutely terrible idea?

I'd rather have Stroman, Madbum, or Syndergaard/Wheeler. Royce Lewis seems like too much. Seems like a 2000s Twins pickup

Hi guys, how's it going? Let's not play any more AL East teams this year...

Gibby irritates fans. 1. He can be a little Jekyll-Hydeish but still is a good pitcher overall. It's not his fault he got drafted before Trout. Let's enjoy the guy in possibly his last year with this organization!

If you can make the playoffs, you have a shot at winning it all. Guys can get hot.

Maybe, I don't know. Who's on first?

Protect GarvSauce at all costs

Well, Sano... keep it up!

Adrianza is still due to get on base at some point today...

Theoretically a pitcher could now throw only 9 pitches in a game. Not impressed until we get to that point

Zombieland, a movie from 10 years ago. Bill Murray's cameo is incredible. Also: #GarvSauce

Solid movie reference. Can't wait for the sequel this year

Is this Terry Ryan in disguise?

The pitchers' duel we all expected!

Gibby is through 3 with less than 40 pitches.

I talked a lot about baseball yesterday, but I figured I had to get some positives out there after a debacle of a game

Uhhhhh

Breathe in. Breathe out. The Twins have been through a bit of a rough stretch, but I do feel that people are overreacting justttttt a bit. Yes, the Panic!! Thread is incredible, but I really don't think people should be too worried about this team. I'm just going to give a few reasons why to be hopeful about this team. The Twins have three guys at Rochester that would be on the majority of rosters leaguewide in Cave, Astudillo, and Arraez. As much as an injury to a star hitter would suck, the Twins have guys to fill in! The Twins have an impressive and deep prospect list. Through the next few years, many of these guys will turn into really good players, while others will be traded to help our current team! These past 12 or so games have been label as terrible by the fan base, yet the team is still around .500 during this time. If that is a rough stretch, I am scared to know what an extremely good stretch is for this team. Any team can win in baseball once the playoffs start. Look at dome teams that have recently won it all. The 1997 and 2003 Marlins. The 2006 Cardinals. The 2005 White Sox. Once you are in the playoffs, you have a chance to win it all. This team is still one of the best in baseball, and I expect that to continue throughout the year. The bats are still hot, the pitching will eventually be better again, and I promise you this team won't have 5 errors in a game again this year. This team still can win this series, guys. Pitchers: Yusei "Ohtani was great against me too" Kikuchi, SEA 3-4 4.99 ERA Big Mike "You know what you will get" Pineda, MIN 4-3 5.34 ERA Anyone else can chip in some positive thoughts about this team below. Lineups TBA, but someone can post them in the game thread. Let's Play Ball!

Yes

Adrianza seems to get out on the basepaths way more than anyone else I've seen.

Bombas? Bombas.

Eades?