AlwaysinModeration

Will not be able to make it up to NY from D.C. Tomorrow night. Anyone in DC that wants to meet up for the game?

John, you wrote: To go 11-8 down the stretch, this seems reasonable: [*]Win four of six this week versus the Padres and Blue Jays [*]Win five of 10 on their upcoming road trip to Cleveland (one of three?), Detroit (three of four?), and Yankees Stadium (one of three?). [*]Take two of three versus Detroit in the final home series of the year. ..... Pretty good guess. They took 4 of 6 from from the first homestand, 5 on the road trip, and 2 of 3 from Detroit, and finished at 85. The only thin you had wrong was sweeping 4 at Detroit and losing all three in NY. Now, before you go getting a big head...the Twins only needed to get to 81 to win the Wild Card, so the whole premise of the article was flawed.

Buxton has stolen 25 consecutive bases, which is halfway to the record of 50 set by Vince Coleman. Paul Molitor stole 36 in a row. If Buxton keeps up his career rates (41 of 46), his rate of 89.1% would be the highest steal % (assuming minimal levels) in major league history.

I was hoping Mauer would get two hits to finish up on 1987, but he only got one, which leaves him at 1986 to end the season. 1986 brought us: The Space Shuttle Challenger explosion, Mike Tyson, Bill Buckner, the Simpsons, glasnost, the "Hand of God" goal, Pixar, the Super Bowl Shuffle (and the Fridge), and Halley's Comet.

1987 Twins: 85-77 2017 Twins: 85-77

The Jaime Garcia game, obviously.

I don't mind the Romine thing at all. I remember as a kid seeing José Oquendo do it for the Cardinals and thinking it was kind of cool. It's a game. I certainly don't think it warranted the kind of constant complaining Beemer did throughout the game...while they covered it faithfully, complete with checkmark graphics. I will dispute, though, that it didn't matter. Since they were playing the Romine bit, they had to try to win to avoid being criticized as a farce (for example if Romine had pitched an inning and given up the lead). It did matter, as the Tigers just fell out of a tie for the first draft pick; winning while the Giants lost. So thank you for this parting gift, Brad Ausmus!

Actually, can they install small fans in the flowers boxes that only operate in the top half of the inning?

I nominate RiverBrian

Detroit has an incentive to lose all of the games this weekend; they have one more win than SF for the top draft pick.

Twins fans be like....[insert Wendy Pfeffercorn picture here]

Let me fix that for you.... This is a thread.

Who cares? Not me. Actually, kind of disappointed they didn't get shut out on hangover day. Damn you Mitch "Triple" Garver!

You guys are making it hard to keep track, what with the lack of numbering and the duplicates, but...a player who signed a ball for my son in spring training years ago, and told him "if you sign one, you gotta sign em all, or else you're a bad guy".... 360. D-Span

The answer is no one. This was a team effort from top to bottom. Great contributions on offense, defense, and pitching, early in the season, and down the stretch. Big offensive wins, comeback wins, team small-ball wins. Bounce back wins after demoralizing "the season is over" losses. The whole package.

How about those little cards that all of the outfielders consult before each hitter? I don't remember those last year.

Your 2016 Wild Card team, the Minnesota Twins. Of COURSE they backed in. Down the stretch, no other team remotely stepped up. Am I'm totally fine with it. We'll see you in New York in 5 days!

We could become soccer fans?

You left out the most brilliant move: retaining Molitor!

Agreed. The Joes got a little heated.

I forgot to add this note. The other day I was talking to a friend of mine who happens to be a Yankees fan, and I mentioned that it appeared the teams were headed towards the Wild Card. He said it was impressive the Twins had done this well this year, and I said it might be moot, as the Yankees always seem to have the Twins' number. His reaction....they do? When? That must be a long time ago now. Just goes to show the maybe the Twins' Yankee bugaboo is all in the mind...of Twins fans only.

Hello Twins Fans! Today’s game is being brought to you by the number 5. Entering today, the Twins have a 5 game lead over the Angels for the 5th seed in the American League with 5 games to play. As we all know, they can wrap up a playoff seed tonight. This is also the 5th week that #5, Eduardo Escobar, has taken over the #5 position on the diamond (3B) after Miguel Sano went on the DL with a stress reaction Aug 21. In the time-honored tradition of RiverBrian’s revered format, here are 5 Things To Think About: 1. The Last 5 games of the final 55. Exactly 50 games ago, as some of you may recall, I posted “My Wish List for the Last 55 Games,” http://twinsdaily.com/topic/27053-my-wish-list-for-the-last-55-games-of-the-season/page-2?do=findComment&comment=675676, which I thought was a reasonable, and somewhat ambitious, set of goals for the team to finish out the last two months of the season. I hoped for Buxton to raise his average to .240 and hit some triples, Mauer to get his average up to .290 and set himself up for next year for another .300 season and be the veteran presence for a playoff team, Dozier to get on a roll and approach 30 home runs, Mejia and Gibson (I hadn’t given up on Gibson, in fact thought he was showing signs of improving) to make some good starts, a few of the bullpen arms like Hildenberger and Busenitz to emerge, and for the team to win as much as they could, going at least 30-25 to finish the season above .500. I also hoped to see as few Colon starts as possible. And I noted that by winning a lot of games down the stretch, it would be hard for Falvey and Levine not to bring Molitor back. Now, if I had known that all of my wish list was going to come true, I’ll be honest, I might have gone with a different list, perhaps focusing more on world affairs or personal wealth or whatnot. However, I am sure none of you are complaining with these results. Let's see…Buxton, yep, Mauer, absolutely, Dozier, yes, Gibson, right on, Mejia…ok, working on it, today is another chance, bullpen, excellent, and wins, wow. Instead of going 30-25, they have gone 31-19, with, as noted, 5 to go. As they said in the Renaissance, Huzzah! Granted, we got a lot more Colón starts than we may have wanted, but perhaps last night was the last one? 2. 5 star plays. Last night Byron Buxton cashed his third 5-star play of the season with an amazing diving catch at a crucial time. There is a cool website (https://baseballsavant.mlb.com/catch_probability_leaderboard) that has all of the 5-star, 4-star, 3-star, 2-star, and 1-star plays listed. Buxton is lapping the field in these plays. He only has made three 5-star plays this year, but he has caught 26 of 27 4-star plays chances (only Mookie Betts also has more than 20), 21 of 22 3-star chances, and all 88 of his 2-star and 1-star opportunities. If he doesn’t win the gold glove this year, there will be riots in the streets, or at least on the TD forums. 3. 5 key position players. These five position players have turned it on in the second half, each playing a crucial part in the late season turnaround: · Mauer PreASG: 286/360/402 Post ASG: 332/410/440 · Buxton PreASG: 5HR, 594OPS Post ASG: 11HR, 921OPS · Polanco PreASG: 3HR, 596OPS Post ASG: 9HR, 878OPS · Dozier PreASG: 13HR, 745OPS Post ASG: 20HR, 946OPS · Rosario PreASG: 10HR, 784OPS Post ASG: 17HR, 917OPS (Aside: Last night during the game, my 9-year old, who is quickly learning to root for the Twins, asked "Why is Dozier batting lead-off? He should be batting third, and Buxton should be leading off!") 4. 5 pitchers. Here are five pitchers who have been the key to the second half surge: Alan Busenitz: PresASG. 6 Games, 2.08 ERA, 1.50 WHIP PostASG: 21 games 1.21ERA, 0.72WHIP Ryan Pressly: PreASG 27 Games, 7.33 ERA, 1.50 WHIP PostASG 28 games 2.73 ERA, 0.72WHIP Trevor Hildenberger PreASG 5 Games, 2.16ERA, 1.32WHIP PostASG 30 games 3.06ERA, 0.96WHIP Matt Belisle PreASG 37 Games, 5.82 ERA, 1.56WHIP PostASG 24 games 1.78 ERA, 0.67WHIP Kyle Gibson preasg: 16 Games, 6.32 ERA, 1.77WHIP Postasg. 12 games 3.58 ERA, 1.25WHIP 5. And of course, today's Joe M. conversation: Joe Mategna: Hey guys, can I join your foursome on the links this afternoon? Joe Montana: We already booked our tee time for four, Joe, like we always do. Joe Morgan: Yeah, Joe, it’s always just the four of us, Joe, Joe , Joe, and me. Mantegna: But guys, it’s #5 day on the Game Thread! You have to let me play! Joe Mauer: I’m sorry, Joe. Mantegna: I’ll tell you what, I will only use my 5-iron all day! Montana: I'm not even sure the course allows groups of five. Joe McCarthy: Plus, we only rented two carts. Get in Joe, I’m driving. Mantegna: Guys, come on! I’ll even walk! Hey! Wait a second, Joe, you are a ghost! How can you drive, let alone play golf? Are you guys really going to let him drive? McCarthy: Man, enough with the making broad generalizations and indicting everyone, Joe. It's like your trying to turn us Joes against each other! Morgan: And anyway, quit trying to be such a 5th wheel. Let’s go Twins! Punch your playoff ticket today (celebrate like crazy), win in New York, then get ready to return to Cleveland...on October 5!

Joe's up to 1985, which brought us "We are the World", Mikhail Gorbachev, New Coke, Amadeus, Calvin and Hobbes, Back to the Future, the Iran-Contra affair, Nintendo, with Super Mario Brothers, and Madonna.

Was this game over when the Bulgarians built Rome in a day? Hell no!

It's not so much the practicing of moderation, per se, it's more about always being in it. I hate all of the g**d*** moderators around this place.