Riverbrian

I’m ready for the Royals… I’m really not ready for much else right now. I’m riding Amtrak and sleep deprived as a result. Yeah… go ahead and try to sleep all curled up in a chair. Five-year-olds can do it… 50 year olds… not so much. Not sure what to think about because I’m not sure I remember how to think at the moment. Amtrak stressed Wi-Fi as a selling point when I bought my ticket… turns out that they don’t have Wi-Fi on this train. On others they do… but not this one. So the following thoughts are the ramblings of a guy running on no sleep and no way to verify those ramblings via the internet. And with that… Here are some things to think about:1. Kansas City – It’s a nice enough city… just a step above Tulsa, Oklahoma in my opinion, and we all know how average Tulsa is. So… clearly Kansas City is someplace we all must go to visit. In order to properly think about Kansas City with a clear mind, sing a couple verses of any Beatles song in your head… this will remove previous stuff that was rolling around your brain and give you a fresh palate. Then stop singing that Beatles song and immediately think Kansas City and whatever pops into your head first is what you think about Kansas City. I did that and I thought it was going to be Barbecue or George Brett but it turned out to be Yoko Ono. It’s a fun exercise… Give it a try and see what you come up with. 2. The Royals – I’m happy for them… World Series champions. And they did it without spending gobs of money. Lots of speed… great defense… contact hitters up and down the lineup... and a bullpen that knows how to hold a lead. I have no problem with these AL Central rivals winning the World Series. If it was the White Sox… I would have had a problem. The Royals were always the harmless little koala bears of baseball. That’s over now… they had their day in the sun. They are no longer cute and cuddly… they are like a child actor all grown up. We know what they are about… we can typecast them and read the tabloids for the reports of their demise. 3. Strikeouts– Many have been concerned about how our Twins have whiffed their way through the first 3 games. To Whom It May Concern: Don’t worry about it… it’s only been 3 games. Plenty of time for them to strike out more or less over the next 159 games. That’s right… I said “Less”. Always try to look at things on the bright side of life. The Twins struck out so much in the first 3 games. It is now possible for them to strike out less in the next 159. 4. Koala Bears – In Thought #2, I compared the Royals to koala bears so now koala bears have become my Fourth Thought. Actually koala bears mixed in with Yoko Ono. There she is… Yoko Ono… all furry and sitting in a tree eating leaves and those leaves have caused her persistent cough to be sufficiently suppressed. 5. A $76 Seat on Amtrak – Leaving Grand Forks bound for Milwaukee on Amtrak at 1:07AM is going to mess with your day. Well, at least it’s going to mess with mine because I can tell by the snoring going on around me that some people are going to be somewhat functional when they arrive wherever they are going. I found it absolutely impossible to get any sleep at all. I brought a pillow… my seat tipped back just fine but there is just no way to get comfortable enough to get any sleep close to what can be termed as restorative. Eventually… it’s 6 in the morning and you just fall asleep and wake up 5 seconds later because you are not comfortable and then you repeat the process. Kind of like trying to get a good night's sleep when you are in church Sunday morning. I found sleeping in this environment to be one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. Here’s an updated list of the 10 hardest things I’ve ever attempted to do. Moving away from my Family to live by myself for a job. Sleeping in a $76 seat on Amtrak in the middle of the night. Cleaning up barf produced by someone else without adding to the pile. Coming up with the correct answer for any question asked by my wife that she already knows the answer to. Like why is the kitchen light on in the middle of the day? Trying to convince someone that the Twins roster will be OK with Eduardo Nunez on it. Getting out of a small space without making a noise that lets everyone know that it was hard for me to get out of that small space. Teaching a cat English. Trying to figure out what is draining your cell phone battery. Trying to read and comprehend the language in any written contract. Staying clothed when you really just want to be naked. -------------------- Lineups: TWINS Brian Dozier 2B Danny Santana LF Joe Mauer 1B Miguel Sano RF Trevor Plouffe 3B Byung-ho Park DH Eduardo Escobar SS Kurt Suzuki C Byron Buxton CF Santana P ROYALS Alcides Escobar SS Mike Moustakas 3B Lorenzo Cain CF Eric Hosmer 1B Kendrys Morales DH Alex Gordon LF Salvador Perez C Omar Infante 2B Reymond Fuentes RF Ventura P Game-time forecast: Mostly sunny/partly cloudy, 0% chance of precipitation, winds at 15 mph from NNW. Click here to view the article

Dude... You are opening the season like a jack in the box.

So.... When exactly did Tillman become the greatest pitcher in the entire world?

Reno Bush Like I could tell them apart.

I'm lap topping Not with the Drunk Cousins... My Computer I mean.

I appreciated the effort but yeah... It was like Janet Reno doing stand up. I don't know why I picked Janet Reno for an example... I just did

Dozier is in the Box And I am Giddy

I drove that stretch of Indiana multiple times. The Roads were terrible... truck tires and dead deer from months ago piled up on the roads. Now I understand... It was Hawk's fault.

This weather forecast was brought to you by Carl Spackler.

I agree... You got like a 3 block cushion.

Chief Takes Tommy Milone

Precipitation Emitting Diodes?

Isn't doing only away games... backwards? That's like cutting down to half a coconut and your half is the hard part that Tom Hanks couldn't open.

I'm not sure

At 2:05 a pitch will be thrown and the baseball season will be opened. The contents of what is inside will slowly spill out and bit by bit the contents will be revealed. We don't know the contents right now. We assume what the contents are but we really don't know. I'm hoping it's sunshine in a can. It might be dog crap in a can... I don't know... But I do know this. You open this can... it is certainly not a jack in the box that will surprise you. It comes out slow... It takes a while to identify it. Here are some things to think about!!! 1. Opening Day - Every Opening Day I type on this game thread opener that Opening Day should be a national holiday. So... I'm just typing that to get it out of the away and keep the tradition going. I am completely sincere! Opening Day should be a holiday! I promise to type it again next year on opening day. One thing that makes opening day special is that it's the only game of the 162 game schedule that is named... Only opening day is called opening day. None of the other 161 games have a name like that. Game 162 isn't called closing day for example. Anyway... it's opening day and to celebrate... I'm walking around the house just opening stuff. I've opened doors... our luggage... cans of soup and whatever the stuff in the Green Giant cans were. I opened the curtains... A couple of Christmas gifts still in boxes after we unwrapped them and said "Thank You... This is Fantastic... We love it... you know us so well". Yep... I'm opening stuff because today is the day to do that and with this thought #1... I also officially open the opening day game thread opener. 2. Twins 2016 -- Personally... I don't spend a lot of time looking for potential regression candidates. If you show me that you can play this game for one hot month... I"ll continue to believe in that player and believe that that player can get back to doing it... no matter how hard they regress and almost everybody regresses so I choose not to search for it prematurely. This is why I believe in Arcia and Santana. They have shown me that they can do it and it's this belief in Arcia and Santana that causes me to love the Twins depth and it's this depth that makes me believe that 2016 could be special. If Molly chooses to utilize that depth and play the hot hand when the hand gets hot. Yeah... I'm positive about the Twins but I wish they would have acquired a big name bullpen piece... really really big and I wish we were in the National League so we could play the Phillies, Braves, Brewers, Reds, Padres and Rockies. 3. Orioles 2016 -- My thoughts on the Orioles are pretty simple. They need better starting pitching but they are trying to overcome that with more power than anybody else in the majors. 1 through 8 are capable of going deep on any pitch in almost any wind condition. Murderers Row is a lot longer in Baltimore. Davis, Schoop, Hardy, Machado, Alverez, Trumbo, Jones and Weiters... Back to Back to Back to Back to Back to Back to Back to Back. Keep the ball down Ervin!!! On a positive note... These teams built on crazy power... rarely win it all. It's been tried before because it's fun and it looks good on paper. In reality... You still need a little speed for a little balance to win a little. 4. Baltimore Parking-- I went to Camden Yards last summer and it's a beautiful park. Maybe a month prior... I had arranged for parking through ParkWhiz or Parking Panda or someplace like that online.... I should remember who it was because they have been sending me emails every day to let me know of every parking deal that happens in Baltimore. If I should get the urge to get in my car and drive to Baltimore to take advantage of 5 dollars off a parking ramp tomorrow... I am now fully aware of every possibility because I provided my email address when I booked a parking space. I was once offered a 75% off deal and I decided that was too good to pass up. I just got in the car and drove to Baltimore for the parking. Had some crab cakes and drove back home.... my hub cabs disappeared but it was really good crab cake. Thank You ParkWhiz. 5. Will Do -- You may not realize this but "Will Do" sounds a lot like "Mildew". There really isn't an easily thought of context where any human should confuse the two in any simple conversation but... my wife asked my to take out the garbage and I responded "Will Do" and this sent her running over to the garbage container which she immediately lifted up. She got down on all fours and scanned the entire kitchen and didn't find anything before she asked exactly where it was. Now this misunderstanding was funny until I realized that my wife obviously now believes I've become so lazy that I can't be troubled to speak an entire sentence when describing the mildew situation. -------------------- Lineups: TWINS Dozier 2B Mauer 1B Sano RF Plouffe 3B Rosario LF Park DH Escobar SS Suzuki C Buxton RF Santana P ORIOLES Machado 3B Jones CF Davis 1B Trumbo RF Wieters C Alvarez DH Hardy SS Schoop 2B Rickard LF Tillman P Umpires: HP - Winters, 1B - Wegner, 2B - Foster, 3B - Muchlinski Game-time forecast: 69 deg, overcast with a 50% chance of rain (with that percentage rising through the afternoon), winds from the west at 3mph. Yay baseball! Go Twins! Click here to view the article

The happiest power hitters that I've ever met were the ones that could hit to all fields. They'd throw that grass in the air and say... "Ahh... It's blowing out to RF tonight... Not a Problem... I can do that". I'd like to see Brian get happier like that.

Last night during the game Terry Ryan said that he thinks May will be a 7th/8th inning guy. My opinion ... May was Beautiful in the pen last year. He was OK as a starter last year but he was beautiful in the pen. I do agree that the Twins should have done more to strengthen the bullpen this year but... If they would have picked up Drew Pomeranz and Drew Storen for this year... I still would have put May in the pen and he'd be my top set up guy... Over Jepsen, Pomeranz and Storen.

In my opinion... It's crazy to do this without a safety net... but... the guy on the wire must be capable.

i think it's about depth and I think it's about options. Pitchers get hurt. You can't pick 5 of them and call it good for the year. You need to be able to stash a few on the farm if you can. You can't stash Nolasco in Rochester but you can stash Berrios and wait for the big league injury that will happen. If you cut your vets and put the kids with options on the big club. You kill your depth and you have nowhere to go. I also believe... Duffey is not a lock for the rotation... For this very reason. I also think this is a sensible way to manage the staff in consideration of the CBA.

Nolasco was necessary... Nolasco was impossible to escape. The Twins had no choice at the time. Deduno was our best pitcher... We needed 5 starters. The Twins could not stand still because Deduno was our best pitcher at the time. They had to pay the price. Tanaka was the top FA pitcher that year and the Yankees grabbed him for 155 million. The Twins can't spend 155 million on one pitcher when Deduno is your best pitcher and even if they did... It would most likely take more than 155 million to sign him because Deduno was your best pitcher and Tanaka would have preferred to pitch with others who can compete with him... At least you would imagine he would. Also... It was a horrible FA SP class that year. Nolasco was near the top of the available pile. I won't use Nolasco and Hughes as an example of conservative or bad decision making. Nolasco was an example of what has to happen when Deduno was your best pitcher the year before.

I will not give up on Vargas... As long as the ball leaves his bat at 339 MPH... I will not give up on Vargas.

I'm trying to be optimistic by comparing his upcoming adjustment to Kang. By The way... It took me three times to get "Kang" typed into this post. The first 2 times... Auto Correct changed it to Kangaroo. Auto Correct must have thought I meant Luke Hughes.

I agree I wanted to add to that discussion so I would have been the guy who would have driven it off track. So I started another topic. It's on me... Not you It's all good.