Riverbrian

No flying or rental cars... i had mentioned that i preferred driving to flying but if i had a flying rental car.... id be all over that.

Absolutely...it only takes one whap

I gotta long drive home after the game so its a 5 buck Pepsi for me but instinct is to look for his body down below

Kendrys looks like a bad hitter until he whaps one. Hes not whapping today.

The Beer Vendor... when he yells Cold Beer... he sounds like he is falling off a cliff

How smelly and sweaty is the inside of TC Bears costume?

I continue to not be concerned about Nunez defense.

Nope... the Twins are shifting now... i get to stay for lefthanders

Sitting 3B line... the sun is shining on my cell phone screen so i cant read a word or what im posting... Go Twins and God Bite everythong

Game-time forecast: Clear, no chance of rain, 76 deg. ChiTown is going to post the lineups and forecast right here. C'mon ChiTown give me a good WX forecast. I'll be at the game today... Yeah... And a decent lineup to... While you are at it. Bri, well, it's not very warm (imo) but if you are sitting in the sun, should be nice; don't forget the sunscreen! Decent lineup? Well, um ... enjoy the sun! INDIANS: SP, Bauer Kipnis 2B Ramirez SS Brantley CF Santana 1B Chisenhall 3B Swisher DH Murphy RF Perez C Dickerson LF TWINS: SP, Swarzak Fuld LF Dozier 2B Plouffe 3B Morales DH Colabello 1B Arcia RF Nunez SS Fryer C Santana CF ------------------------------------------------- Things to think about: 1. Anthony Swarzak -- Maybe I've taken him for granted but I really haven't thought about Swarzak much. Typically when he's in the game... Something has gone wrong with a starter. So by the time Swarzak takes the mound I'm at the point where I'm just numb. Like novocaine directly into the brain. Brain novocaine time is usually when I say something stupid that causes my wife to not talk to me for a week and it's also causes over use of ellipses... So yeah... In case your wondering... The Twins starting pitching has caused most of the self inflicted problems in my life. Who were we talking about... I got off track... Oh yeah... That's right... Swarzak. Statistically he was pretty good last year and inconsistent this year. He draws the emergency start today after doctors told Kyle Gibson that he had a stiff back. 2. Trevor Bauer -- I used to read the articles on this kid... It was like a Three Dog Night song... Trevor's Coming... Better hide your heart. Just wait til Bauer hits the majors... He's going to dominate and not look back. He hit the majors but he did quite a bit of looking back and he still hasn't wrapped up that MLB job but he's getting closer. After some clunkers this year he has brought his ERA down to 3.89. Trevor is 23 years old and a California boy and from reports... Very cocky. I've read that he spends hours looking over video of his mechanics... He has a unique warm up routine where he long tosses from foul pole to foul pole. I've read that his stubbornness of doing things his way was a reason the D-Backs were willing to trade him. I don't know if its true but he's in the AL Central now and I'm betting that he puts it together. He was the third pick overall in the 2011 draft. It certainly didn't take that long for him to arrive. 3. Kyle Gibson - Kyle has an issue with his back so he won't be back on the mound. If you think back to his last start. The OF had their back to the wall on a few occasions. Where am I going with this? I have no idea... I'll have to get back to you but I hope you all back me by having my back. 4. Pick it up -- July is starting to feel like a grind. The Twins haven't been playing good exciting baseball lately. I hope they snap out of it because they didn't in 2013. 5. Gas station -- Yesterday morning I stopped at a Gas Station before driving to Eau Claire. Filled up my car... Got a coffee and stepped to the counter to pay for it. It was around 8AM... And the cashier handed me my receipt and said to me "Have a good night". It was a Minnesota Nice Pleasantry that I've heard a thousand times so I didn't think about it... I just returned a U2 at him and walked out the door. About half way to my car... It dawned on me. Good Night? It's 8AM... Have a good night? Well apparently he doesn't give a $&@& about the rest of my DAY. I'm clearly on my own this morning and afternoon and I have no well wishes stockpiled to get me through the day now. While driving I decided that I was going to start telling people to have a good next Thursday just to be different. So... Everyone reading this... Have a good next Thursday. BTW... I did have a good night. Hung out with Stringer Bell and talked baseball while watching the Twins lose.

Everyone... This is new territory for ChiTown... There is a learning curve... In my professional opinion. She pulled the Rally Cake out too soon. And turned it into a crab cake. Her timing will get better in time. I believe in ChiTown.

So you like your pizza without pizza on it.

Bad Jokes are awesome.

Game-time forecast: Mostly sunny. Winds blowing out to right field at 10-15 m.p.h. Temperature around 80. I just couldn't wait to get game thread up... ChiTown has to wait to post the lineups. Chi here. And I'm still waiting. You'd think they'd get these things up 5 hours in advance, but nooooooo ... but the game-time weather forecast is up. INDIANS: SP, Salazar Kipnis 2B Dickerson FL Brantley CF Santana 1B Chisenhall 3B Swisher DH Gomes C Murphy RF Aviles SS TWINS: SP, Pino Santana CF Dozier 2B Plouffe 3B Morales 1B Willingham DH Suzuki C Arcia RF Escobar SS Fuld LF ------------------------------------------------------ Things to Think About: 1. Entire Week -- They won last night... Prior to last night... They hadn't won a game since July 13... They went an entire week without winning a game. How a team can go an entire week without winning a game... I have no idea. It's almost like they are not trying. A week... How can a team do that. Wait... Oh yeah... The All Star Break. That makes more sense... Never mind. The Twins went 3 days without a win. How can a team go 3 days without winning a game? 2. Danny Salazar -- He's a young 24 year old right hander out of Santo Domingo in the Dominican Republic. Almost a million people live in Santo Domingo... If you include the surrounding area the population is around 2 million. Kind of Like... There are more people living in Duluth if you include Cloquet. Salazar made his debut last year and immediately became an effective pitcher. In 52 innings of work he tossed an ERA of 3.12 while punching out 65 batters. This year... He is still punching guys out but Runs allowed have ballooned. He's been so sub par this year... He has actually thrown more innings in AAA. When I've seen him... He was a two pitch guy. A fastball that gets to the plate quick and a change of pace that drops down. I'm sure he throws a breaking pitch... I don't remember it. I just remember his upper 90's fastball and what happens when he pulls the string. 3. Hammer -- Gardy has been saying that Hammer has been starting to put better swings on the ball. Last night... He finally went deep... And deep at a key moment. Let's just say it... Hammer wasn't signed for his defensive ability... He was signed for his speed... He wasn't even signed for his BA... He was signed to hit the long ball and I think he owes us a few. 4. Kris Johnson -- He pitched well but he looked sad when being interviewed after the game. He could be sad because he didn't get the win... He might be sad because they informed him that he was going back to Rochester after the game. Too bad... It was a good performance from someone who was waiting for the chance to contribute a good performance. Nice Job Kris... Now go see the traveling secretary... You are going to Rochester. It's a tough game. 5. Wink Wink -- I was at work on Saturday getting some stuff done. My phone rings and it's my wife. I detected a different tone in her voice. A softer... Gentler tone... Almost sultry. And She Says... "You should come home... There's nobody here". That was basically all she said. I returned to working and thought... The tone... No real reason to call just to tell me the boys are gone. They are mobile... They are gone a lot. Boom... The lightbulb went on... And then I figured it out. I looked at what I had left and said... I can do this later. And I took off for home. She was right... There was nobody home. She had gone shopping as well... She really meant... There is nobody home.

Will the invasion start from Manitoba or Ontario or Alberta?

There it is... We have a better record than we did yesterday.

Now that this one worked... I believe its protocol to use this one... Unaltered. That makes you in charge of the rally cake.

Yep... Right when I was posting. It was my greatest post ever but I'm too tired to redo it.

Good Times Bad Times... You know I've had my share.

I'm strangely OK with a rally cake. Bring it on!!!

HAMMER Bout Time

I thnk its awesome for Kris... Big Night for him.

Damn... You baked that fast!!!

Depends on what you ate

And That's Thielbar picking up Morales with a K. If Burton gives up a hit now... I'll be pissed.