Squirrel

Well, yeah ... but she could ask for help ... Van, what's her email and/or number at work? <totally serene look of innocence>

You know she's going to get you back, two fold.

I'm really not that much of a hot dog eater except for occasionally at a game. But I have had a chili dog with cheese in my past. It was okay. All depends on how good the chili is and the quality of hot dog.

Wrapped in sticky rice topped with some roe. Yeah, that works. (And if we had a vomit emoji, I'd put it here.)

And not that spicy brown stuff, either ... regular yellow mustard, as God intended!

No ... the only answer is mustard and chopped onion, the only exception being to leave off the onion

As opposed to bright green relish, wedges of tomato, chopped white onion, a dill pickle spear, pickled sport peppers and celery salt? Yeah ... no comment. I can't throw stones at what Seattle does with their hot dogs.

And hope wins the day!

That depends on who you talk to.

Yeah ... but you got yours up before he did ... that excitement took time.

Don't say that ... my evil side might have some real fun with that ...

I leave about 98% of your ellipses in tact. And I sometimes even add a few.

Yeah ... the game really changed, though, after Martina arrived on the scene. Women's tennis was never the same. And while I talk about finesse in the game, I am still completely in awe of Serena's serve. Man. She is an amazing player!

Depends on how well you deal with disappointment

And then there's this one, too ... it's like the same as the 2nd one I posted above, running concurrently in a lower position. These video/slide show ads really slow things down and muck up the works. I don't want to be a pita about this because I know you work on this, but these are really not good:

He is ... just posted above ... no Polanco and no Buxton today, Miguel over at 1st while Mauer DHs ... not sure that's the best way to go, but I'm hoping ... (Okay, yes, have I repeated this hope theme too much?)

There seem to be two ad blocs that are really wreaking havoc today ... at least for me: This one And this one

... is a good thing ...

It's not for everyone. I haven't adopted anyone myself, but I have helped to organize the forum a little. But I find it an interesting component. Prospects get mentioned all the time and it's a quick, one-stop shop to get up to speed on a prospect. Unforunately, there aren't threads on all of them ... yet. (A little purposeful shameless advertising on my part.) But if anyone follows a particular prospect, why not just start a thread and put down what you know/have seen?

Great ... to give posters an idea of 'where you're coming from,' could you post a bit about your experience as a scorer, i.e. how you got into it, how long have you been doing it? Thanks! Interested to see what you write.

Welcome to game thread #487! Okay, I made that up and didn't really count them all. And if you include ST threads, it's probably short a few. Then add on play off threads ... oh ... Anyway, I'm kind of at a loss of what to say. I had this thing all written up yesterday, then tossed it out. It started with the 'oh so clever' quote (aka trite), 'Ask not what TD can do for you, ask what you can do for TD.' I went into this whole thing how people could 'get involved' through Adopt-A-Prospect (a really cool and useful thing you should check out); volunteer to start a game thread (there are always dates to be had, until there aren't, so fill them up!); start a blog (hey, ranting and relieving frustration can be a good thing, so be creative, have at it in a blog, as long is it's not hateful toward anyone/thing or laced with profanity); post baseball news stories that you find interesting like this (or sometimes out of market writers have very different and interesting perspectives, so start a thread and share when you come across them; or even non-Twins baseball news is good, or just anything baseball, like this one); or just jump in and post, crossing that line from lurker to participent (game threads are actually a good place to jump in and get your feet wet, or this introduction thread.) But then I thought, meh, who wants a lengthy PSA? So then I thought maybe I'd talk about this positive/negative-optimistic/pessimistic line that seems to get drawn every year. Some want to remain on a high and don't want to be brought down, everything is good, while others want to focus on the details and explore weaknesses. Hey ... all is good. We can post without characterizing others on, imo, very subjective terms. Those things are just a matter of perspective ... who cares if someone is more optimistic or pessimistic than you, as you will always be more optimistic or pessimistic than someone else. Unless of course you are at one complete end of the spectrum, but I don't know anyone here that's that one-sided. And I could point out that you can't have one without the other. They have no meaning unless there is that opposite for contrast. I mean, imo, again, there is no happy without sad, no joy without sorrow, no frustration without contentment, anger without calm, etc. But sheesh ... who needs such a 'deep thoughts' discussion, especially from me? So, I'm left with talking about the game. I fell asleep early on as I was still on east coast time, and I had to get up early to play tennis today. Ervin ... sigh ... yeah, I want him to be perfect and lights out every time ... but that just isn't going to happen. Am I fretting about it? No. He might be older and not as powerful, but he's smart, he knows how to play to his strengths and how to find his opponents weaknesses ... much of the time, but not all, obviously. I'm going to wait before panicking, but I am a tad concerned. It's kind of like me and tennis. I'm an older player and I play against these youngsters who are quick and powerful. But these quick and powerful players forget that tennis is about finesse more than power. You hit it hard and fast at me, I'm going to change speeds and spin when I can, place the ball where you aren't; hit it hard and fast to me when I'm at the net, I'm going to use your power to deflect and volley it back at an impossible angle; yeah, and lob it up to me, when you know my overhead isn't impossibly hard, again, I'm going to angle it, hit it behind you, or right at you even (your feet, not your head). It's called 'hitting your spots.' From what I saw of the box score today, I'm guessing Erv just couldn't do that last night. And now I'm guessing and rambling ... kind of where my mind is today and why I'm finding this game thread start difficult. So, where does that leave us? With today. We haven't lost yet ... nor have we won yet. (See what I did there? Brought in that old yin-yang thing, sort of.) Berrios is on the mound for us today. I like this kid. I hope he has it all today. I hope Nolasco doesn't come in seeking vengeance, and doing a good job of it. I hope Molitor doesn't put up a lineup resting most of our starters. I hope the bats are alive and the gloves all have sticky in them. I hope ... remember, hope is a good thing, maybe the best of things, and no good thing ever dies. Okay ... lol ... a quote from one of my all-time favorite movies ... do you know it? You all should. Anyway ... I'm hoping for the win today ... 3 of 4 from the Angels is a good thing ... so let's do it! Do it! Just do it! Rah rah rah Twins! Lineups: TWINS Brian Dozier 2B Robbie Grossman LF Joe Mauer DH Miguel Sano 1B Max Kepler RF Eduardo Escobar 3B Eddie Rosario CF Ehire Adrianza SS Jason Castro C Jose Berrios P ANGELS Andrelton Simmons SS Kole Calhoun RF Yunel Escobar 3B Luis Valbuena DH C.J. Cron 1B Ben Revere LF Cliff Pennington 2B Eric Young Jr. CF Juan Graterol C Ricky Nolasco P Weather: 70s, overcast ... but no rain ... Southern California and all.

Well, *bleeeeeep*

Where've you been?

Either way ... not gonna make it. Waiting for 2nd train now. Then a 5 block walk to home

Lol ... I wish ... Chicago heading home. Was in Florida all week.