Squirrel

That sounds like it's blacked out in your area. Since I don't know your area, I can't even guess as to why that would be.

smart ... I keep a notebook and don't mind sharing

He was activated from the DL today.

Game-time forecast: Mostly sunny. Winds blowing in from left field at 5-10 m.p.h. Temperature around 75. TWINS: SP, Hughes Dozier 2B Nunez 3B Suzuki C (!) Morales DH Willingham LF Arcia RF Colabello 1B Escobar SS Fuld CF MARINERS: SP, Young Saunders RF Jones CF Cano 2B Seager 3B Morrison 1B Hart DH Ackley LF Zunino C Miller SS --------------------------------- Brian will be with us shortly ... --------------------------------- Shortly? I'm 5-9... I am always with you shortly. Things to Think About: 1. Jenny Jenny -- If Gardenhire would have done this... Some would have crucified him but when Joe Maddon of the Rays does it... He is seen as colorful. Last Thursday against Max Scherzer and the Tigers... Joe Maddon threw together a batting order of 867(Pause)5309. Which you know stands for CF SS LF 3B 1B DH(0) RF... You also know it comes from the Tommy Tutone song Jenny Jenny(867-5309). It didn't work... They lost 8 to 1. I think they lost because they didn't have a 2B or Catcher in that lineup. If Gardy were have tried it last Thursday against Tanaka... The Batting order would have been Fuld, Escobar, Willingham, Plouffe, Parmelee, Morales, Arcia. How bout... the 25 or 6 to 4 lineup... Suzuki, Plouffe followed by Escobar and Dozier. "If 6 was 9" by Jimi Hendrix... That wouldn't be a batting order idea but it would signify Escobar moving to Right Field and as the Metric folks will tell you... Moving Escobar to RF would plummet his value. Wilson Pickett has a song called... "634-5789". (Breaks Applied)... Well... That's about as far as I can go with this. Moving on. 2. Iwakuma -- I didn't see a single pitch of the game last night... I was exhausted from my trip and I came home tired and I knew I was going to bed early. I knew it was going to be a rough night for the Twins. Iwakuma owns us... Everytime he pitches against us he shuts us down in embarrassing fashion. Nothing but zero's time and time again. 3. Correia -- I didn't see a single pitch of the game last night... But It was two solo shots that Correia gave up for a 2-0 lost. I know we love to hate him but he certainly gave the Twins a chance to win and he has been pitching a lot better lately. 4. Chris Young -- Once again we get to face the 6-10 control pitcher. It just sounds odd to type that... 6-10 Control Pitcher... Why is it odd? Well... 6-10 is a lot of length to keep control off. The Ability to throw consistent strikes where you want them comes down to mechanics and repeating your stroke. Repeating your stroke is all about keeping your body together and 6-10 is a lot of body to keep together... Tall pitchers typically... Just let it rip... The lanky frame can generate power... Yet not Chris Young. He's like Peter Dinklage all stretched out. He probably doesn't bump his head on doorways either. Someone may have told him along the way to "act his height" and he wasn't listening. 5. Dreams -- I was over-tired from the long road trip over the weekend. When you are over-tired... I find that you have strange dreams. Case in point... Last night... I had a dream... I was eating this huge marshmallow... When I woke up my pillow was gone. Just to show that wasn't a cheap joke... Turned out the pillow was knocked on the floor... But my wife was pissed... She slept on the couch because I was repeatedly biting her.

And what a great song and dance it was! Welcome, and please post as often as you like. A little dose of perspective is always good to add to the balance. Thank you!

Game-time forecast: Sunny. Winds blowing in from left field at 5-10 m.p.h. Temperature around 75. TWINS: SP, Correia Dozier 2B Escobar SS Plouffe 3B Morales 1B Willingham LF Arcia RF Colabello DH Fuld CF Fryer C Mariners: SP, Iwakuma Saunders RF Jones CF Cano 2B Hart DH Seager 3B Morrison 1B Zunino C Ackley LF Miller SS -------------------------- Brian is back home and thankfully did not crash while on the road yesterday, so thoughts will be up shortly. -------------------------------------------- While Driving through Wisconsin we did not crash at all. Although I was able to point out to my kids the places where others did. Wisconsin is a popular spot for crashing. As we drove down the interstate I was able to say... Just south of here... Stevie Ray Vaughan was killed in a helicopter crashed... Flew right into a hill side that looked just like those hills off in the distance... Over to the left is Madison Wisconsin... That's where Otis Redding's airplane crashed into Lake Monoma. If you keep going South and West... There's Iowa and that's where Buddy Holly was killed in a plane crash. If you keep going south... You got Ricky Nelson in Texas... Jim Croce in Louisana, Ronnie Van Zant in Mississippi and Randi Rhoads in Florida. The kids thought it was a nice to not be flying in Wisconsin. I was able to tell them that when he get across into Minnesota... I'll show them where Herb Brooks was killed in a car crash. They stopped looking at their Iphones for awhile and started watching for oncoming traffic. Things to think About: 1. Seattle -- When people from the State of Washington say they are from Washington... Everybody assumes that they are from Washington DC and people from Seattle, Spokane and everywhere in between have just learned to roll with it and have stopped trying to correct it. There was a time when Seattle was known as collection of lumberjacks... Then it became known as the Home of Boeing... Then it became known as the software capitol of the world with Microsoft... Then it became known as the Home of Starbucks... Then it became known as the cradle of the Grunge Movement and finally today it is known as "The City that gets rained on constantly while under constant threat of Volcanic Eruption and Pacific Tsunami or simply getting swallowed up by massive tectonic plates that comprise the ring of fire." This new city slogan makes for a long bumper sticker and the artwork will blow you away. Anywhere that you go in Seattle... You see the top of Mt. Rainier hanging over the city like a moon. You try to look down just to avoid seeing it and there it is on the license plates of cars. You Look to the west... There it is... You look to the North... There it is... You look to the South... There it is... You look to the East... There it is. Seattle is also home to the famed Pike Place Market and it is a very impressive market and worth the trip... At the Pike Place Fish Market... Employees throw fish back and forth to each other for the entertainment of all. I was able to anticipate one of the fish tosses as I ran across for a clean interception of a three foot salmon... They didn't like that at all... Especially after I spiked it... My touchdown dance seemed to entertain the crowd... But they still didn't like it. Apparently... You must be an employee to play with the fish in this fashion. 2. The Mariners -- Seattle has been my team to watch for in the coming years. It turns out... They might be the team watch right now. If the season ended today... The Mariners would be in the playoffs as a wild card. I'm waiting for Seattle to win a world series because they have pitching and more pitching on the way. King Felix... Iwakuma... Taijuan Walker, James Paxton are going to be a formidable rotation. All they have to do is add offense and the addition of Robinson Cano is a start. When Zunino... Miller... Franklin and Montero become a little more experienced... They might have the combination of Offense and Pitching to be scary. 3. Hisashi Iwakuma -- He's 33 Years old... From Higashiyamato Japan... Which is a bedroom community of Tokyo. I'm not sure what a bedroom community is... But in my head... I just see a bunch of bedrooms. Or if it's Japan... I've heard that they sleep in drawers... so maybe it's just a bunch of drawers stacked up on top of each other. I remember the first time I saw Iwakuma pitch... I didn't know anything about him... Not a thing... I had never read his name written anywhere. I know who he is now and this guy is a pitcher... He's not a thrower... but he pitches as well as anyone. He doesn't come at you with a bunch of velocity... He comes at you with movement and location. He has a wicked splitter that falls off the table. His fastball will move in on a hitter and cause balls to dribble off of bats. He signed with Seattle for 15 million over two years. I remember thinking that it was a steal. Based on how he pitches against the Twins he's worth 40 Million a year. 4. Kendrys Morales -- Not only is Kendrys returning to Seattle... He is going to play 1B. Being that Kendrys hit his only home run as a Twin in Anaheim... I'm hoping he has that same... Take it to his ex-employers attitude against the Mariners. I hope Kendrys takes that .216 Batting Average and is able to say... "Take That"!!! Or "Tomar Esa"!!! 5. Taxpayers -- I like good moods and I don't like bad moods. I've noticed that when someone says "I'm a taxpayer"... I should walk away immediately because the person who said it... Isn't in a good mood. They never say "I'm a taxpayer and look at this beautiful park that the children are enjoying".

Sounds like fun! Wish I still lived in the Cities to partake of some of these events! Enjoy!

Not really surprising to me that Perk and Suzuki would be there. Congrats to them both.

I'm with you on that. That's ish and ick multiplied to the nth degree.

Me too. :/

Well, I haven't lived in the TC in 17 yrs ... so I'm not sure. But when I first lived there, my money went a lot further when I had roommates. And I didn't make a lot of money.

Depends on where and how you want to live, as is with any city. Quite frankly, if I wanted to buy a similar condo in Mpls that I have in Chicago, in the same 'right' location I have here, I'd probably have to pay as much.

Okay ... this ... you said it better than I did.

I think they should make us co-GM's

I disagree with this. Not the change part ... but looking for someone to make us into another A's or another Rays or another Cardinals. I want someone to come in with fresh eyes, discern what is truly good and not, and create what works for the Twins; yes, using what has been successful for them in the past, but taking that to create a new direction and create a new 'Twins way' that works.

Yes. I've been saying this for a while now. If you want meaningful change, from the FO to the field, that starts at the top, with the GM. Nothing else in the Twins changes in a meaningful way without that. It's time to bring in someone from the outside to steer a new and different course. As for who that should be? I have no idea. And one day isn't long enough to conduct a meaningful search.

I'd rather have 90s in the summer than 60s.

Shhhhhh ... that was close to a jinx statement.

mid-80s, sunny or partly cloudy, light breeze ... that's perfect, imo. I'd be very happy if most days were like that.

What's it doing where you are? It's a good tell for what I'm in for in a day or two.

I like the Rally Rhino better. But that's me personally. And I think we need it every game. When we met the Yankees back in ... May/June ... the game Nolasco pitched against them he won. I'm hoping for a repeat. But yes, all rhinos and bunnies will need to be on hand anyway and always!

Game-time forecast: Partly cloudy with a 30-percent chance of rain. Winds blowing from right to left field at 10-15 m.p.h. Temperature around 85. YANKEES: SP, Kuroda Gardner LF Jeter SS Ellsbury CF Teixeira 1B McCann C Beltran DH Roberts 2B Suzuki RF Johnson 3B TWINS: SP, Nolasco Dozier 2B Nunez SS Parmelee 1B Willingham LF Arcia RF Suzuki C Plouffe 3B Colabello DH Fuld CF ------------------------------ Brian is on the road, and his thoughts are with him. So, no masterful '5 Things to Think About' from RB today. While a loss for us, maybe we all can bridge the gap. If you have 'something to think about' for today's game, feel free to share! Let's get this game thread rolling! Oh, and go Twins! Play ball!

In about 11-12 yrs, I'll be living back in Mpls, retired, and able to see the post-game report.

I'll take the win because ... a win's a win ... but it just seems so ... cheap ... to win a game that way.