Riverbrian

What's your favorite cake?

Piece of cake... Book it... Why do they call it a piece of cake? When something is easy to do.

Hotel Room... Twins on... Take out from a BBQ Joint. I'm gonna be alright with that.

Game-time forecast: Partly cloudy with a 30-percent chance of rain. Winds blowing in from center field at 10-15 m.p.h. Temperature near 90. Getting an early start on the game thread today in a hotel room because I'm not sure what I'm doing later. I don't think Gardy has the lineup ready yet. ChiTown will post it later. INDIANS: SP, House Jason Kipnis 2B Asdrubal Cabrera SS Yan Gomes DH Carlos Santana 1B Ryan Raburn LF Nick Swisher RF Roberto Perez C Lonnie Chisenhall 3B Mike Aviles CF TWINS: SP, Johnson Danny Santana CF Brian Dozier 2B Trevor Plouffe 3B Kendrys Morales 1B Josh Willingham LF Kurt Suzuki C Chris Colabello DH Chris Parmelee RF Eduardo Escobar SS -------------------------------- Things to Think About: 1. Indians -- Indian is a brand of Motorcycle that used to rule the Motorcycle world in the early 1900's. They eventually went bankrupt because Cleveland is a low budget operation and they were strapped for cash after purchasing Nick Swisher and Swisher Sweets isn't as profitable as they once were. The Indian brand was purchased by Polaris out of Roseau. Harley Davidson is still the good standard but Indians have improved performance on snow. On the baseball field they are 2 games over .500... Just a couple of games out of a wild card spot. They are in this thing. 2. T.J. House -- T.J. House I guess sounds better than G.A. House. Glenn Anthony House is his real name so TJ makes all the sense in the world. TJ stands for... I don't know... Tomato Juice? Tommy John? Toe Jam? Regardless... Mr. House is in the house tonight... Called up from the minors to make a spot start. He has about 45 innings in the majors this year and has posted a 4.40 ERA... He was a 16th round draft pick in 2008 out of Picayune Mississippi. Picayune is part of the New Orleans Metropolitan Area and that's smart... This way you can live in New Orleans without actually living in New Orleans. 3. Terry Francona -- The Indians have been winning since he's come to town. Terry is 55 years old and was born in Aberdeen South Dakota. Aberdeen is also where Motel 6 got its start. It's amazing that Motel 6 was able to expand the way it did because Aberdeen is a tourist Mecca. Terry Francona lacks hair. 4. Kris Johnson -- His last start in Colorado didn't go so well... But it was Colorado. It's good he gets another start in a place a little closer to sea level. Hopefully this one goes better. 5. Directions -- In a strange city last night... I had to ask for directions. I stopped a guy and he preceding to give me directions with about 45 different changes of directions. While listening... I saw a guy with one leg hobbling down the street. I said "Excuse me"... Then I went over to the one legged guy and asked him... I figured he had to know a faster way.

Partly cloudy. Winds blowing in from right field at 10-15 m.p.h. Temperature around 85. Can we beat the Rays? Just Once Before they leave our hospitality. It all starts with a line-up and that beginning will be posted by ChiTown right here. Sorry I'm a tad behind, folks ... the summer commute to work is a beast ... RAYS: SP, Archer Jennings CF Zobrist 2B Joyce LF Longoria 3B Loney 1B Guyer DH Escobar SS Casali C Kiermaier RF TWINS: SP, Correia Dozier 2B Nunez 3B Plouffe DH Morales 1B Arcia RF Willingham LF Escobar SS Fryer C Fuld CF ---------------------------------------------------- Things to Think About: 1. Swept? -- I hate waking up and starting my day thinking about the possibility of getting swept but look at that large grey thing standing in the corner. It's the Elephant in the Room... If the Twins don't beat a very tough Tampa Bay starter... They get to ride around on their brooms. Getting swept is the Elephant in the Room and there is a larger Humpback Whale in the room behind the Elephant. What happens if the Twins get swept and fall further back in the playoff chase. There is little doubt that the rubberband snapped awhile back. 2. Chris Archer -- Back in the old days... Archers were important to a nations war efforts. They would draw their bows to the sky and fire arrows high and they would rain down on the other side. There isn't much need for Archers these days with all the modern advancements in warfare. On the mound the Rays still have a real need for an Archer. Chris Archer... 25 Years old Right handed and from Raleigh North Carolina. Every city in North Carolina is named after cigarettes. Chris was drafted in the 5th round by the Cleveland Indians and soon began his career has professional trade bait. He was traded to the Cubs so the Indians could acquire Vodkadave's favorite player Mark DeRosa and later on was traded to the Rays so the Cubs could acquire Matt Garza. Sam Fuld was also part of that trade package so you can see how big it was. Archer has become the prize acquisition of that trade. He is currently holding a 3.51 ERA in 2014 and with all the injuries to the Rays rotation... Archer has done his best to keep a finger in the dike. He's a typical fastball, slider, change guy but his fastball has some extra gas... as does his slider. 3. Kevin Correia -- There is no question that Kevin Correia has done something awful in his life because very few seem to say nice things about him. Since arriving in Minnesota he has been a target of many. His current ERA isn't going to quiet the crowd but if you step back and look at his last 9 starts. 7 of them have been very good. He's been on a roll and dare I say it... Since May 31st... He's been our best starter. OK... I'll duck and hide somewhere after saying that. 4. Hit the Flipping Ball -- All of our All-Stars must be tired out from the extra work after the break. We don't seem to be hitting the ball very well. Speaking of the All-Star break... How bout that Derek Jeter. 5. Airport Security -- I don't fly that much but I'm off on a road trip today and I was thinking about how I'd rather drive than fly. I'm not afraid of flying... I'm annoyed by flying. 1. I like the scenery. 2. The seats are two small. 3. The Food sucks and you can't stop at a convenience store on the way to get what you want. 4. Airport Security is a pain. Don't get me wrong... In this day and age with everything that has happened. I'm all for Airport security... Check everybody out... Check them twice... Profile... Check the Old ladies... I don't care... Make it safe but all in all... It's a pain. The worst part is the shoes... I gotta take off my shoes and then I gotta put them back on again because of one guy who put a bomb in his shoe. If we have to do this... We need the Bra Bomber. To me... that would make airport security more interesting.

Game-time forecast: Partly cloudy with a 30-percent chance of rain. Winds blowing from right to left field at 5-10 m.p.h. Temperature near 80. Bri: The Lineups are on their way... Being sent Fed-Ex to ChiTown... packaged along with a set of fancy spatulas. Chi: So, I didn't receive the fancy spatulas ... it makes me want to withhold the lineups. But since anyone can look them up, I have no leverage to hold out for the spatulas. RAYS: SP, Price Jennings CF Zobrist RF Guyer LF Longoria 3B Loney 1B Forsythe 2B Escobar SS Molina C Rodriguez DH TWINS: SP, Hughes Santana CF Dozier 2B Plouffe 3B Morales DH Suzuki C Colabello 1B Parmelee RF Escobar SS Nunez LF ----------------------------------------------------- Things to Think About: 1. Kyle Gibson -- All in all... I'm not concerned but it wasn't the best outing for our friend Kyle Gibson. Too many base runners mixed in with a couple of cookies and the Twins were playing from behind. Getting on base happens and sometimes it happens when you hit your spots and I've seen Kyle wiggle out of some base traffic jams before but last night he picked the worst times to groove a pitch or two. Two big swats... One by Longoria and one by Zobrist and the Rays had all the runs they needed to win. Kyle... Cookies are bad for you... Stay out of that aisle in the supermarket. 2. David Price -- Uff Da... Tonight the Twins face one of the best left handers in the game... 28 Year old David Price. That's fairly young for a guy who seems like he's been around forever. David is from Murfreesboro Tennessee... a suburb of Nashville. If you had to live in Nashville... Murfreesboro would be the place to live because you could tell people from other parts of the country that you live there instead of Nashville. If tell them that you live in Nashville... They automatically think that Minnie Pearl and Junior Samples are your neighbors. I've watched David Price pitch and I see no price tag hanging off his hat. However... you can assume that the Rays see a price tag hanging on him somewhere. He's gonna make some money in Arbitration next year and FA the year after that and the Rays simply don't pay the kind of money Price will get. So the trade rumors are swirling and people expect the Dodgers to pony up the prospects to get a deal done. They will have to get into the neighborhood of what the A's paid for Samardzija. The Dodgers can do it but a part of them has to hate that they can do it. Price is impressive... He throws hard and he mixes his speed. Good luck to the Twins tonight. 3. Arcia and Willingham -- Against a tough left hander... The lefty swinging Arcia will take a seat and be replaced by the lefty swinging Chris Parmelee. Chris was heard saying... Yeah thanks for getting me in Tonight against Price. Willingham is also taking a seat on the bench. It doesn't seem to matter if he is facing a lefty or righty right now. The Hammer is 4 for 32 in the past 15 games. 4. Derek Jeter -- I don't know why Derek Jeter is thought #4... It just seems like I'm supposed to after all the Derek Jeter talk before, during and after the all-star game. So let's all bow our heads and thing about #2. David Price is thought #2... Good Luck to the Twins Tonight. 5. Chicken -- Very tasty... I've been a fan my whole life. I was talking with someone who worked at a Chicken processing plant and he told me stuff that almost got me thinking about trying something else that is probably processed in a similar fashion but I don't know anyone who works there so I don't know about it. I think I should stop talking to anyone who works with food.

Actually... Gardy isn't alone... Is he.

Garry isn't happy with something.

And the Michael Stanley Band

Cleveland with hold out for Bob Dylan. Maybe throw in Drew Carey.

Right there with Abba... Roxette... Europe and Ingrid Bergman.

Maybe we can get Trevor Bauer in a Kevin Love deal. Love for Wiggins... Bennett... 2 1st. Round picks and Bauer from the Indians.

Willie Bloomquist... Coming to Minnesota

Maybe we can HBP to victory.

I think he gave it once and got stuck.

I wonder if any scouts are at the game... To watch the Hammer?

For two years in a row... It's like he went from butterfly to catapillar.

Dan Uggla released... The mighty have fallen

Now you got me Curious about George

Pat?

I got hit like that once at the plate... Broke my finger. While walking to school 6 miles in the snow... Uphill both ways.

Santana is back!!! He's so Smooth

Howd it go String... How many TD'ers were around?

And... We are not in the food chain.

Yeah... Or it's like having a mechanic bake a cake while totally screwing up your car.