IndianaTwin

Don't you just mean that the Argument for Moderation fallacy is good enough?

Power outage, schmower outage.

Prescient.

Right forearm contusion. X-rays negative. Edit: Either ninja’ed or getting a second opinion.

You’re saying attendance is less than 18,021?

Technical adjustment: Something must have happened with the radio feed. My MLB Audio is using the TV audio feed rather than the radio feed. Notice I said technical adjustment. It is not a technical problem. Provus & Morneau > Atteberry & Gladden

Footnotes in a Game Thread? What has this site come to? Next thing we know, there will be math.

But what did the cannibal that was late to the wedding feast get?

Top picture makes it look like he should be the guy nicknamed “Turtle.”

But yes, the baserunning mistakes were egregious. Bell’s was particularly damaging, in that the next guy hit a double, which would have scored Bell. Larnach’s bad jump/Gray’s running through a sign may not have cost them a run. It should have runners on second and third with one out, instead of bases empty with two outs. You can’t count on the same stuff happening, but if it had, Larnach would have scored on Clemens’ fly ball and Buxton would have made the third out of the inning. Buxton’s was just weird. The RF will often through towards third in that situation, but he threw behind Buxton instead. I don’t know whether he was doing this, but the third base coach should have been yelling/signally to stay on the bag at second. And the Wallner challenge on strike three was also costly. They are learning about challenges on the fly, but that one wasn’t even close and was by someone who usually has a good eye. .

There were off days Friday and again on Tuesday. If they don’t piggy back Abel and wait to start him on Wednesday, Ryan doesn’t go until Thursday and is pitching on SIX days rest, followed by Bradley, Ober and SWR on five days rest. Abel would be on seven days since his last spring training game if he waited until Wednesday. As it is, after SWR tomorrow, Ryan will go on Wednesday on five days rest, Bradley will be on four days rest on Thursday, either Ober or Abel will go on four days rest on Friday and the other on five on Saturday. SWR will go on five days on Sunday and then they will be on four days rest for a while, unless there are rainouts. Additionally, Ober hadn’t gone more than 4.1 innings during spring training, so there was a good chance they were not going to get more than five innings at most from him, the day after they’d used five relievers and the day before starting SWR, who doesn’t have a history of going long. Given how the game played out to that point, pulling him after he’d just given up three runs in a 22-pitch fourth was probably a good move And while Abel isn’t going to be a reliever long term, they had indeed pitched him in relief in his last spring training, apparently in preparation for this. I can agree with an argument that says based on the game situation, Abel should have been pulled while the damage was happening in the seventh, but I think the decision to piggyback them today made plenty of sense. And as it turns out, though this decision to piggyback appears to have been made a week or more ago, the weather forecast for Kansas City makes it an even better call. There’s a 95 percent chance of rain for both Wednesday and Thursday, with a high of 54 on Wednesday, when there is a night game. It sounds like there is a pretty good likelihood of one or perhaps even two rainouts. If they had not pitched Abel and held him until Wednesday, he already would have been pitching on something like seven days rest, with a pretty good chance he wouldn’t have gone until Thursday or even Friday on eight or nine days rest.

I’d add that the three singles which led to the run off of Brito included one solidly hit single up the middle and two grounders into the 5.5 hole that were only hits because Culpepper was playing up the middle. The last was a definitely a dribbler, so a tough luck run. His first inning was especially sharp, just 10 pitches.

It was definitely chilly, but fun to take in Opening Night. It was also fun to see a lineup topped by their Nos. 1, 7, 2 and 4 prospects, followed by five guys with MLB time. On the mound it was the No. 5 prospect starting, with excellent outings by Brito, Altavilla and Bowman. Given the reality of injuries, I suspect all four of the pitchers will get a call up. There is skepticism on the MLB bullpen, but they will be able to swap out guys pretty quickly as needed. Good seats were still available 20 minutes before game time (like, Row 4), making it a good spot to get some shots. Here’s Culpepper’s first AAA hit, a blooper in real life, but a line drive in the box score.

It is a great park. We have just under 3 hours, so I don’t get here as often as I’d like. Toledo is a little closer for me and also a great park, so I tend to go there a little more.

Good seats were still available 15 minutes before game time. I’m ready to step in as needed.

@ashbury, note how I said I'm "planning to go" as opposed "catching the game." 😀 I was trying to come up with a snappy comeback on the other comment, but my wit is apparently at the level of my catching.

From the OP: That idea of different roles is a big part of what makes Klein such an interesting piece of this system heading into 2026. The season begins tonight at CHS Field when the Saints host a three-game weekend series against speedy Braiden Ward, old friend Mickey Gasper, top prospects Payton Tolle, Mikey Romero, and the Worcester Red Sox. Tickets are still available. ------------------------------------ @Sam Caulder, I would encourage not going to CHS Field tonight to try seeing the Saints, given that they will actually be in Indianapolis for a three-game series with the Indians. The Worcester series starts on Tuesday. (You had me panicked, because I am planning to go to tonight's game in Indy!)

Spiffy -- I like it!

I’m looking forward to catching the opener in Indy tomorrow evening.

To pinch run in the ninth.

I love it when Buxton hits stand-up doubles and ends up on third.

Agreed. And to add, I didn't question him coming back so early. The Twins were in a bit of a desperate situation -- it was the time of year when they were picking up Clemens and having to run with Gasper and Julien with Castro and Keaschall on the IL. They pretty much had to roll the dice on Lewis being close enough to contribute. If either Castro or Keaschall hadn't gone on the IL, I suspect Lewis would have had a longer rehab -- it was only about 10 days, after having an abbreviated spring training.

Another potential similarity is that the second-best pitcher was a 23-YO Jose Berrios turning in 1.9bWAR coming off an 8.10 ERA season in 2016. Abel is a 24-YO coming off an 8.36 ERA season during his stint with the Twins. It's not hard to imagine him or Bradley (or both) turning in a 1.9 bWAR. And for the record, SWR turned in a 2.2 last year, which would have been second best on the 2017 team.

The 2017 version of Taylor Rogers didn't get any saves. Ryan Pressley wasn't particularly impressive that year. I don't remember which part of this riffraff was the Opening Day bullpen, but I doubt it was viewed much more highly than this year's collection:

And if you are a LH OF, prepare for the wrath of TD.