PDX Twin

Well, what about the rumors about swapping Royce Lewis for the modern-day equivalent of Matt Capps at the deadline?

This is a decent team. Neither (yet) a champion nor the embarrassment that they were last year. Enjoy the wins. Accept the losses. In baseball, there will always be a lot of both.

Well, we all saw that coming, right?????

But perhaps not tonight... What would happen if the Twins sent Duffey back out for the 9th?

Maybe Hamilton for a Twins debut without pressure?

Interesting graphic on BSNO. Bundy and Berrios have the same record, and the better ERA belongs to ......... Bundy!

Guerrero makes Sano look positively svelte.

I know what the radar gun says, but those pitches sure seem to get to the plate quickly.

Twins' chances are Arraezing!

Given the circumstances, this may be the only game this weekend in which we have a chance to win. I'd use Duran tonight.

But 20 pitches means RB won't be tempted to give him the 9th.

Cedar Rapids leading against the Lansing Lugnuts. One of the great names of MiLB, although I do think that Lansing Boils would be a good alternative.

Because Duffey is out of options?

And to think that he'll be behind the plate tomorrow.

And we all thought that the only downside of Buxton was missing lots of games. I'm really tired of his Sano imitation.

This could be a very long inning!

Anybody else sick of "We all know he's a better hitter than that."?

Prediction: Twins' total over three games = 11 hits, 4 runs, 0 wins.

Actually ... down. Toronto is south of Minneapolis, though it's up from Detroit.

I haven't heard a leak, but if Duran goes two innings I'm betting he doesn't go to Canada.

That seems more likely than the Twins scoring 6...

That looked like a "Twins inning." 21 and counting.

Delighted to see him succeed. I hope that he and Spencer Steer can get along (Ducks vs. Beavers) once the latter gets promoted!

It's his second cousin. See today's game thread for details.

Good morning! Welcome to yet another day game in a week full of them. Six day games in eight days, though most all Twins’ games are day games in my time zone. Today the Twins finish up a five-game set at Comerica Park, which is located less than a mile from Canada, to which most of the team will escape after the game. Presumably a centerfielder chasing a hypothetical 5,000-foot fly ball today would have to be vaccinated to go into Windsor to catch it. * * * Before we get to the Twins and their desperate quest for runs, I have a question to throw out to all of you: What sports did you play growing up and what sports do you play now? From past banter, I know that tennis and golf are popular among TD folk and that many played baseball in high school, but what else? My own baseball career maxed out about the time my age reached double digits. Back then, we had a somewhat organized playground league of two stable teams (with daily comings and goings just like the Twins!). We played nearly every non-rainy day all summer in a vacant field next to a neighborhood playground. Twins vs. Tigers, every day. My team lost the coin toss at the beginning of the first season, so we were the Tigers and the #6 in magic marker on the back of my tee-shirt was Al Kaline, not Tony Oliva. Once every couple of weeks one of us would bike downtown to the hardware store to buy a new baseball. I still remember the rapture of throwing around a clean, white ball for a few minutes before we started smashing it into the weeds and mud puddles on its way to becoming the inevitable soggy, brown mess. I played at football and basketball in junior high, but being short, slow, and not particularly strong, I wasn't very successful. By the time I reached high school, the unanimous consensus of my coaches was that my best sport was pep band. (Though I did earn three varsity letters in golf.) Nowadays? As a lazy, novice retiree I mostly just do my daily training for the superannuated pentathlon: (1) the 100-meter stroll, (2) the 10000-meter drive, (3) the hands-free stair climb, (4) the sock put (into the laundry basket, my favorite event!), and (5) the treacherous free-standing underwear don. So tell us a little about your own sports stories, then and now. * * * On the mound for the Twins today is Chris Archer, who is 0-2 (partly because he’s never allowed to get a win by pitching the fifth inning even if he’s ahead) with a 4.19 ERA. For the Tigers, it’s Alex Faedo. That’s a familiar name for Twins’ fans with long memories: Lenny Faedo was a Twins’ first-round draft pick in 1978 who accumulated 529 AB for the Twins from 1980 to 1984. He was a shortstop who batted .251 with no power or on-base skills, and was out of organized baseball by 1987 after a couple of minor-league seasons with the Royals and Dodgers. Alex, who is Lenny’s second cousin, takes the ball for the Tigers today. Alex was a first-round pick and former CWS MVP (Florida). He debuted less than a month ago for Detroit and is making his 6th MLB start, with a 1-2 record and a 3.00 ERA. How long can he continue the Twins’ scoreless inning streak that is at 20 and counting? Today’s starting lineups are below. It does not look like a getaway-day lineup for the Twins. I guess maybe Rocco wants the team to score a run today. Twins: 1. Arraez, 1b 2. Buxton, cf 3. Kepler, dh 4. Polanco, 2b 5. Larnach, rf 6. Sánchez, c 7. Gordon, lf 8. Urshela, 3b 9. Palacios, ss SP: Archer (R) Tigers: 1. W. Castro, cf 2. H. Castro, ss 3. Schoop, 2b 4. Cabrera, dh 5. Torkelson, 1b 6. Clemens the Younger, lf 7. Candelario, 3b 8. Haase, c 9. Cameron, rf SP: Faedo (R) In place of the traditional "Go, Twins" ending, I offer something from my memory banks. Sing along if you remember! We're gonna win, Twins. We're gonna score (I hope). We're gonna win, Twins. Watch that baseball soar. Crack out a homerun. Shout a hip-hooray! Cheer for the Minnesota Twins today!