Riverbrian

That was the Jackson 1

Alright Plouffe How we doing Halsey?

OK... I'll say it again as well. Where would the Jackson 5 be without him?

I like how I can tell the difference between you and VodkaDave

That Escobar single will make the MLB Quick Pitch Highlights because they love the umpire confusion on the pitch count to add any drama they can find.

I'd rewind and look at the pitch sequence but I figured that FSN would do it for us. But... Apparently not.

I know... Where would the Jackson 5 be without him?

Twins need a leadoff hitter so Dozier can move down in the lineup and one bat that just kills to put in the 3 spot. Santana would have been great in the lead off spot if he wasn't busy not being great for the lead off spot this year. Buxton eventually... I assume. For the 3 spot... Gonna have to find him. Somewhere. I could live with and I think the Twins could also live with 1. Leadoff guy who gets on base and runs like a fast thing. 2. Mauer 3. Big Scary guy who hits the crap out of the Ball 4. Sano 5. Dozier 6. Hunter/Plouffe whoever plays a position that the Big Scary guy doesn't play 7. Rosario 8. Catcher who gets the most out of the rotation. 9. Hicks/Escobar whoever plays a position that the guy who gets on base and runs like a fast thing doesn't.

That worked out

In a slump... Mix it up... Although... I wish he would have chosen the Robin's Egg Blue!!!

Did the Twins do enough at the trade deadline? This is something that has been debated on Twins Daily since Jepsen was acquired. Did the Blue Jays do too much at the trade deadline? After watching the 4 game series it looks like overkill. It looked like the Blue Jays got more than what they needed? When trying to compare the carnage... let's do it this way... If I walked onto Pebble Beach and challenged Rory McIlroy to a game and I spotted him 10 strokes. What would be the result of that is what the Blue Jays series looked like. I offer this for debate... Should the Twins have gone into Toronto and spotted them runs before playing them? In Hindsight... that looks like a mistake. We may have spotted them some runs at the trade deadline Here are some things to think about: 1. Cleveland -- The Twins visit a place that is affectionately called the "Mistake by the Lake." Getting to Cleveland from Toronto is interesting because you have to drive across Lake Erie and there isn't a bridge. It's a good thing they arrived late last night because you have to worry about the team's safety. According to the News... last night Cleveland was over run by Republican thugs. The GOP Gang is ten times more threatening than the Bloods and the Cripps. They have descended upon Cleveland and they are fighting to determine who will be the alpha male. I've watched the Nat Geo Wild Channel and we all know what happens when the Alpha Male is challenged in a troop of Baboons. Sharp teeth are shown... Horns are locked... Bluffs... Throats are enlarged and exotic colors are displayed. Whoever comes out on top of this battle will earn mating rights for the entire country. Which is a nice way of saying... they will get to (blank) the entire Country. 2. Let the Debate Begin -- When discussing the current state of the Minnesota Twins... Donald Trump said "We don't have time for Tone... We gotta go out and get the job done". That was a pretty convincing squishing we just endured at the hands of the Blue Jays. Undoubtedly there are a few of us who felt that the Blue Jays went out and acquired the pieces necessary to reach the playoffs while the Twins didn't and this 4 game series is proof positive of what will be the result of that. Let the debate begin... Who knows... Maybe... Maybe Not... but I'm not going to worry about the Blue Jays anymore... they are going to do what they are going to do. I'm going to worry about the Twins. The Twins control their destiny... not the Blue Jays. It's up to them. If the Twins are going to make the playoffs… they've got to make it happen. The Blue Jays will not be standing in their way. Every team in the American League is standing in their way. It's one game at a time like it always has been. As Donald Trump said: "This Team Doesn't win anymore... We lose to the A's". 3. Mental Strength -- How mentally strong is this team? We are about to find out. In the baseball business... this is called a "5-game losing streak". Five-game losing streak is a technical term that means that they have failed to win a game in 5 straight games. The losses against the Blue Jays were not just losses... they were muggings... manhood was removed along with bones and cartilage... leaving a puddle of what used to be a winning team. Can the Twins recover from this or will the memory of it be psychologically crippling? The Indians are not a team to be feared. If the team needs rehab... the Indians are a friendly environment to learn how to walk again. 4. Cody Anderson -- The Twins face Cody Anderson tonight. Cody was a 14th-round pick by the Indians back in 2011. He's from Quincy, California; and this surprises me because I naturally assumed that he is from Minnesota. Every single town in Minnesota has someone named Cody Anderson living in it. There are 3 of them in Bagley alone. Regardless of Cody being from California... I'm sure like most Anderson's... he enjoys a good hot dish. Here's hoping the Twins can get hot at the dish!!! 5. Debating with my Wife -- I was recently debating with my wife and after the debate we held a vote. My position lost 1-1. -------------------- Game-time forecast: 77 deg F, clear and sunny, 0% chance of precipitation, winds from the NE at 13mph. Lineups: TWINS Dozier 2B Mauer 1B Sano DH Plouffe 3B Hunter RF Rosario LF Hicks CF Suzuki C Escobar SS Pelfrey P INDIANS Ramirez 2B Lindor SS Brantley LF Santana DH Gomes C Chisenhall RF Sands 1B Urshela 3B Holt CF Anderson P Click here to view the article

Wow... 16 pages of stuff to read. Doesn't anybody have a job?

Gulp... The Blue Jays are loaded and everyone is tensing up in Minnesota. Get a grip on your guns... The Canadians are ready to attack. Tulo... Donaldson... Bautista... Encarnacion and Ben Revere in one lineup. Am I afraid? No more than usual. That's cuz every team can beat you and no matter what happens with this series... there is still time to right or wrong the ship afterwards. Here are some things to think about: 1. Toronto -- Toronto is the largest city in Canada, which is like saying that Fargo is the largest city in North Dakota. It's very obvious that everyone is trying to escape Canada because the entire population lives just a few miles from the United States. I'm sure our homeland security has been keeping an eye on this massive buildup at the border. I'm pretty sure that the Canadians plan to lull us to sleep by drinking a lot... telling jokes... wearing funny hats... peacefully coming to the states to shop and return back home. But... eventually they all are going to come to stay and we should not let our guard down. Yes... we need to stand on guard for thee. 2. The Blue Jays -- While the population is planning a massive move into the United States... the Jays front office is moving some of our finest Americans into the Rogers Centre. David Price... Troy Tulowitski... Ben Revere... Mark Lowe... LaTroy Hawkins and Lauren Holly. The Jays have loaded up for a run at the AL East title or our Wild Card Spot. Will it work? That's a good question and we won't know the answer until they get that magic number down to zero. This isn't the first time in history that a team has made moves at the deadline to position themselves for a run and it's important to note: It doesn't always work. Sometimes it does... sometimes it don't... Baseball is a funny game. 3. 12:07 Start Time -- It is very odd that we are starting a series at 12:07PM. I don't know for sure but I assume it's because the first Monday in August is a holiday in Canada. It's Civic Day and it's a celebration of Canada getting indoor plumbing in 1999. As much as I'd like to focus on the oddity of starting a series with an afternoon game, I'd like to focus on the oddity of starting the game at 7 minutes past the hour. Nobody ever starts a game at the top of the hour for some reason but a 12:07 start just says that starting at 5 minutes past or 10 minutes past just doesn't work either for some reason. How 'boot 12:05? Nope... That's too early... Well how 'boot 12:10 Eh? Nope... That's too late. How 'boot 12:08? Come on... nobody starts a baseball game at 12:08!!! 12:06? Nope... it doesn't feel right. OK... I've got it... How 'boot 12:07? Yes that's it. 4. David Price -- The Good News is that we won't have to face David Price pitching for the Tigers anymore... The Bad News is that we have to face David Price with the Blue Jays today; and in consideration of the current playoff chase, I think I'd rather have Price pitching for the Tigers right now. Price is pretty good... but that doesn't mean he doesn't meltdown every once in awhile. Hopefully today is one of those meltdown days. 5. Going to Work Drunk -- I had a co-worker who showed up to work drunk everyday and no one knew. He was very friendly... He always kept people in a good mood with a silly joke and a smile. This went on for years and we finally found out he was drunk because one day he made the mistake of showing up for work sober. ------------------- Game-time forecast: 23 deg C, 15% chance of precipitation, mostly cloudy skies, winds at 23km/h from the W Lineups: TWINS Dozier 2B Nunez 3B Plouffe 1B Sano DH Hunter RF Rosario LF Hicks CF Suzuki C Escobar SS Santana P JAYS Tulowitzki SS Donaldson 3B Bautista RF Encarnacion DH Smoak 1B Martin C Goins 2B Pillar CF Revere CF Price P Go Twins! Play ball! Click here to view the article

OK... It's Eastern Time.. I got like 4 pillows waiting for me... I gotta decide which one is going to feel right tonight. In Conclusion I just like to say I love Joe... Always have I completely understand when and why you IBB someone. Walking Hicks to pitch to Joe in that situation was goofy. McClendon may have been the only manager to ever consider doing that in that situation. Thank God we won tonight... It feels a little bit better... Here's to hoping that TR surprises us all with a couple of quality additions tomorrow.

Chief is always watching the Twins... as they play the Twins. How could he possibly watch another team play when he is always watching the Twins. Unless the Twins were to play another team like they did tonight.

I can't argue with that. I wouldn't have walked Hicks to get to Joe in the 7th inning down 4... not in a milion years.. But... If McClendon does that to get to Mike Trout. Then I know he's really crazy and not just disrespecting Joe.

OK... Back it up... Beep Beep Beep... Chief has been watching baseball since the Ty Cobb Era.

1. McClendon is crazy or McClendon has based decisons based on recent performance. 2. Plouffe doesn't scare anybody. 3. Mauer gets lots of PA's 4. Managers remember Joe of Old. 5. 10 and 100 are nice equal numbers so Joe's universe is completely in sync.

Cuz... It is Crazy... It's a key moment. If the Blue Jays race past the Twins. I personally won't say it was because of the moves or lack of moves. I've seen enough teams tank after big acquisitions. But if the Jays race past us... there will be a million people pointing fingers at Terry Ryan and this particular moment in time.

If I'm the manager... I don't like the percentages of an extra base runner with Joe up... If Joe is the 23 million dollar Joe. Walking him suggests to me... and I think Chief as well... That Joe ain't 23 million dollar Joe Anymore and an opposing manager just said it with this decision. I get the lefty on lefty bit and I get the force at every base. You are down 4 runs... I'm not putting an extra runner on base to get to the 3 hitter. The Percentage are an out 7 times out of 10. I think the move speaks volumes and I love Joe... Always have...

Everybody here is out of sight... They don't Bark and they don't bite... They keep things loose... They keep it tight.

Hey Now... No No... Don't tempt the thing from high a top the whatever.

Add some blueberries to it and you got a good night going.