Hosken Bombo Disco

Duensing just twisted his ankle throwing a pitch. Ladies and gentlemen, your Twins bullpen

Pelfrey should go to the bullpen too.

really, really tired of all the bunting.

And, I had no idea, but Blanton was retired last season. He actually operated a vineyard in California, apparently. He seems like one of those journeyman guys who's always coming and going, but I had no idea he was completely out of the league. I guess the money is better in MLB?

CBU: Now 12-28, 1.198 OPS

Waiting for that first Circus Boy update

I would have preferred Pelfrey to the pen but process of elimination didn't leave many options. Like jorgenswest said, they probably counted it out and May made the most sense to them.

How many more games before he is a qualifier?

Twins try to rebound after an entertaining loss last night. Also, Perkins will be fresh to go a minimum 4 innings tonight. Pitching probables: Mike Pelfrey (5-5, 3.81) versus Joe Blanton (2-1, 3.14). Also probable: Glen Perkins. Weather: Absolutely gorgeous day for baseball in KC. Lineups TWINS 2B Dozier 1B Mauer RF Hunter 3B Plouffe LF Rosario DH Sano CF Hicks C Herrmann SS Santana Third Base Coach: Gene Glynn* * why list third base coach, you ask? Read on... ROYALS SS A. Escobar 3B Moustakas CF Cain 1B Hosmer DH Morales LF Gordon C Perez RF Rios 2B Infante Third Base Coach: Dick Jirschele Happy 4th of July to everyone. As Riverbrian says, try not to blow your fingers off. This is for your own good, because you’ll find it much harder to gripe about Joe Mauer without your fingers positioned on the asdf jkl;. TRIVIA: When was the last time the Twins played in KC over the 4th? Answer at bottom. (Hint #1: The Twins won the division that season) Other things to think about: 1. There are many good write-ups tying baseball to the 4th of July and the American experience; some more romantic than others, here and here are a couple, if you are in the mood. And of course there was the famous Chevy commercial. As for me, I’m just looking for another good, entertaining, cleanly-played ballgame tonight, and ideally it will end in a win. 2. There is reason to be optimistic again tonight. The Twins have had very good results against Blanton. Mauer is hitting 11-27 versus Blanton with a 1.059 OPS. Trevor Plouffe is 3-9 with two homers. Torii Hunter is 4-16, but also with 2 homers. Even Aaron Hicks is 2-2 against Blanton. So this figures to be one of those games KC intends to go to the bullpen right after the 5th inning, regardless of the score. We need to get to him early, so it will be interesting to watch if Molitor and the Twins play for the big inning and let guys swing away, or resort to more small ball, such as sacrifice bunts. (Hint #2: Last time the Twins played in KC over the 4th, Joe Mauer had the day off.) 3. Then we have the slumping guys, like Brian Dozier, who is 0-9 in the series. He’s had a couple line drive outs, but he’s also missed on a couple of his high inside fastballs, which are his specialty. And of course, the bullpen is in a prolonged slump. But perhaps the guy in the biggest slump right now is Gene Glynn. That’s right; the third base coach. 4. The guys on the radio said that Rosario had to run through a stop sign to score on Sano’s single last night, and there was the game in Cincinnati where a throw from the outfield hit Glynn’s foot with no one backing up third. Clearly Glynn needs a day off, or even a stint on the DL. But as bad a slump as Glynn is in, it’s nothing compared to the guy on the other side of the field, Dick Jirschele. What Jirschele did to that bushy-tailed rookie last night, Dusty Coleman, was downright cruel. Letting him tag up on that shallow fly ball and allowing him to be put out easily on the throw. 5. We all know what kind of villain Dick Jirschele is. It’s common knowledge that in the World Series last year the Royals came within one frantic windmill motion of Jirschele’s right arm* from losing Game 7 in the most exciting way possible, a play at the plate. Or perhaps it would have been a rundown. Either way, it was an exciting finish to the World Series and an incredible run by the Royals last year. There’s nothing saying the Twins can’t do something like that this year or next. Life is funny. And whatever your opinions on the team, it’s good to watch fun, meaningful games in July for a change. * or left arm, not sure. TRIVIA: So when was the last time the Twins played in KC on the 4th? Hint #1. The Twins won the division. Hint #2. Mauer had the day off that day. Hint #3. But, Mauer was batting .391 on the season. The last time the Twins played in Kansas City was 2006. They were 9 games behind the Tigers at that point, and would actually fall further back than that, before that season’s remarkable finish, winning the division on the final day. If the Twins can do it in 2006, and the Royals in 2014, there's no reason to think the Twins might not do it again, too. Enjoy the fireworks, and don’t let the third base coaches ruin your 4th of July tonight!

Agree. I have a college degree in second guessing, but even I have to admit it was never realistic to bring Meyer into that game. Just fun to think about. However, I am hoping either Pelfrey or May are moved to the bullpen, and accepts it as a special assignment and not a demotion. Either of those guys would be capable of getting some late inning strikeouts for us.

Especially considering those were situations where an intentional walk might have been an option, to set up a helpful force play. In the back of my mind I started thinking "bring in Meyer for a couple batters and either they walk or strike out" Realistically I don't think Molitor was even considering Meyer though. Meyer needs to get a fairer shake than two hopeless mop up appearances next time.

Leadoff double for KC Here we go again, a hard way to live, in this league.

Yeah, I had a feeling that exact play would happen

One word sums up this situation: Dire.

We badly badly need a lefty reliever for situations like that.

Quick inning for Boyer, actually. Good job. In play, run(s) please

Leadoff man retired in bottom of 7th To continue with the KC bullpen cliche, trying to hold a one run lead in the 7th against KC is almost like trying to hold that lead in the 9th but giving KC 9 outs to score instead of 3 outs.* *not exactly, but whatever

Wow what an outing by Milone. Some craftiness mixed in with some line drive luck. CBU: 2-1 Good Guys, after six.

The high and inside pitch is always hard to lay off on 0-2 count, unfortunately.

Go ahead, Guthrie. Challenge Sano.

Gosh I hope this game doesn't come down to bullpens.

Chief will be updating these numbers as the night progresses

The Twins look to carry momentum from last night's win into tonight. Tommy Milone (4-1, 3.19) faces Jeremy Guthrie (6-5, 5.68) first pitch at 7:10. Weather: Beautiful. Lineups: Also beautiful: TWINS 2B Dozier RF Hunter 1B Mauer 3B Plouffe LF Rosario DH Sano C Suzuki SS Escobar CF Hicks ROYALS SS Escobar 3B Moustakas CF Cain 1B Hosmer DH Morales LF Gordon C Perez RF Rios 2B Infante The Royals have the 3rd best record in all of baseball, and with last night’s win the Twins are back within 3 ½ games of them for first place. 1. The Twins were swept when these teams last met. That was the early June series at Target Field that began with the Twins in 1st place and ended with Torii Hunter doing a striptease at home plate. The Twins had clearly hit the skids at that point. In 20 games since, they are 9-11 and have kept themselves on the rails, as opposed to going "off the rails" which many would have expected to happen by now. A 9-11 record is not perfect, and it's not even .500, but it's not the end of the season. 2. As you may have noticed, the Twins have a new #6 hitter. His name is Miguel Sano. Perhaps you’ve heard of him? This is a slight upgrade over their previous #6 hitters, Kurt Suzuki and Chris Herrmann. The Royals #6 hitter is Alex Gordon, which is an indication of how far apart the Twins and Royals are, at least on paper. But as they say, the games aren't played on paper. The Twins have many young power hitters who are very close to the Major Leagues, and have tried a couple, and hopefully Sano is the one who can add a spark immediately to the lineup. 3. What’s also impressive about Sano is how physically big he isn’t. I always had an image of Sano as a massive Ortiz-like human being, and indeed he may have been, reporting to camp this spring after a year of not playing baseball. Watching him in the batter’s box last night, however, I saw him as a big dude, but in a good way. Perhaps that personal training this spring has paid off. If this guy gets it together.... I will let you complete the thought. 4. Looking up and down the Royals lineup, you might see a few guys who are All-Stars—and a few guys who aren't. Rumor has it that a couple Royals have been overtaken in the voting. The final announcements will be made in a basketball bracket style show on the four letter network on Sunday night prior to the game of the week. Perkins will go, but will any other Twin? Let’s hope several guys put on a good show tonight and bring home a win. 5. The fifth thing to think about tonight is that it's currently 5 PM and I want to get this thread posted before I incur the wrath of a couple of the moderators. Enjoy the game!

This movie looks like it has a happy ending

Bummer for Robinson. Hope everything will be ok.