Hosken Bombo Disco

one more strike........

Prescient. Come on Danny.

We didn't take very good care of this lead for you.

And Dozier almost lost that bouncer! Ugh. At least we are to Perkins for the ninth. This one's taking too much work.

Are we watching a baseball game or Nightmare on Elm Street?

True. Though he might have switched in Robinson for the pitcher spot and got Santana out of the game.

Did Molitor double switch there, and if not, why not?

What a bizarre game, but it'll work. SUZUKI !!!

120 pitches and counting for their starter. And that guy hasn't gotten a call all night. Update-- Descalfini's night is finally done.

Yeah, he was ahead 2-0 in the count, I might have given him three straight take signs

Ooof. You can tell Santana hasn't played CF in a while, almost running over Torii Hunter on a fly ball to straightaway right field. Molitor Molitor Molitor....

Benny Hill music, and it sounds good for a change!

First pitch 8:10 Minnesota time

Something about that image screams Kubrick / Nicholson / the Stanley Hotel

Those are the lineups---I had some trouble getting on to edit. Thanks for your help SS. You are right JB. The radar looks dry at the moment, but there is a pretty nasty cell bearing down on them in the next 10-20 minutes. As long as that thing keeps moving it sounds like it will be mostly clear after that. Your CBU

The Twins will try to close out June with a win tonight. The pitching probables are Phil Hughes (6-6, 4.20) versus Anthony DeSclafani (5-5, 3.35), both righties. Game starts at 6. Weather forecast: Summerlike, good chance of scattered t-storms. Lineups TBA. Note: With the Twins in a swoon, we will go light on baseball in this set up and instead celebrate the "Mid Season Game Thread Awards" in this post. This will attempt to pull some of the best of the best from the game threads from the season up to this point. Some posters may see their names (fake names) below. Read on... A couple quick things to think about: 1. Ever noticed how TD Posters only use their dogs as avatars? Yeah me too. Anyone who has the guts to use a picture of your cat as your avatar, please come forward! I will also accept your parakeet, gerbil, or komodo dragon. But don't put those all in the same cage, please. 2. Oh right—baseball. Despite last night's lopsided result, the Reds and the Twins are actually pretty similar teams this season. Both teams have a functional starting rotation, but with an underwhelming bullpen light on strikeouts, that is backed up by an All Star closer. Both teams have concerns at catcher and short stop. Both have an MVP first baseman who nonetheless has drawn the ire of the fan base for not hitting for power. Even the Reds outfield can be scary at times, though not as scary as the Twins and definitely not as scary as the Reds outfield back in 1998, when they played a handful of games with Dmitri Young in left field, rookie Mike Frank in center, and utility man Chris Stynes in right. Wouldn't that outfield scare you? (Hint: if you are still not scared, try just saying their last names, left to right.) 3. The number three thing to think about tonight is that there are only two things to think about. So let's get right to the Game Thread balloting! -------------------- The AWARDS CATEGORY: Best Riverbrian-ism THE NOMINEES: * When watching the Twins, I had a last four years flashback, but it was four years ago and in real time. Never lick a stranger in the face without explaining why. The dentist gave me some gum to chew, to remove the bacteria from my teeth, but when I thought of all that bacteria in my gum, I spit it out. WRITE IN: _____________________* write in votes are encouraged, for which single individual can keep track of every crazy thing he says? -------------------- CATEGORY: Best Game Thread-as-literary device THE NOMINEES: The Short Story (ashburyjohn) The Haiku (sampleSizeOfOne) The 475,000-word epic novel (always33) * The History Lesson (ChiTownTwinsFan) The Bob Uecker book review (Blake)* at least it was a novel about baseball -------------------- CATEGORY: Best Recurring Game Thread Meme THE NOMINEES: The Pre-game Science Update (CRArko) The Rally Avatar (Bark's Lounge) * The Nature Update (JB_Iowa) Grandpa Simpson (ashburyjohn) The Winner's Dance (twinsnorth49) CBU: The Circus Boy Update* note: voting for all rally avatar nominees is temporarily closed, to include the rally roger, Olsen Twins, bounce back bunny, or any other -------------------- CATEGORY: Best Pet Animal Avatar on Twins Daily THE NOMINEES: Dog Cat Rally Monkey -------------------- CATEGORY: Best Frankenstein * THE NOMINEES: Boris Karloff Fred Gwynne Marty Feldman* yeah I know Frankenstein was actually the name of the scientist not the monster. All copyrights etc etc. -------------------- This concludes the mid season Game thread ballot. Vote up to 35 times. Original poster reserves the right to throw out up to 60 million votes if any other one poster appears to be dominating the voting. TERMS AND CONDITIONS: Votes shall be certified by the Original Poster only (me). All disputes resolved by the Original Poster. All decisions final. However, let it be known that Original Poster at all times reserves the right to change mind about any subject as additional information or facts come to the fore regarding that subject, here on this thread or any other, now or in the future. One last term and condition: Enjoy the game!

Your post couldn't be more timely. It looks like the Twins intend to play Rosario full time in CF for the foreseeable future. Either Kepler or Walker could get called to play left any day now.

Perk is the slam dunk Twins all star, but if Perk doesn't go to the game for some reason, then you are looking at either Dozier or Plouffe. With Pelfrey and Gibson slipping, one else on the Twins really has a case. Unfortunately for Dozier, it's a competitive year for second baseman. So you are looking at a long two weeks of chin scratching / politics / horse trading before the all star game. Dozier could really make his case with a strong series vs KC this next weekend. Or if Perkins can't go. EDIT: Hunter has a case if he stays hot at the plate

Something about this game today doesn't sit right with me. It was winnable.

That RBI hit was a Line Drive with capital letters. It only landed 5-10 feet in front of Escobar but I can't fault him.

Yep. And it was an off speed pitch with two strikes. Ideally your relievers should rear back and throw fire in that situation.

The lineup Hu faced on the 26th included Tim Beckham and Grady Sizemore doing rehabs--experienced ballplayers. I'd really like to see Hu get the next promotion when Berrios gets his promotion, ideally this season.

Nice. Win-win!

Actually, my next guess was "didn't homer in their first big league at bat like Eddie Rosario did."

Torii!!!! He's seen a lot of good pitches batting in front of Chris Herrmann today.