Don Walcott

I want to bring this back to tacos. Soft shell? Hard shell? Deep fried?

A run is a run.

Tang

They got him.

Jake needed to slow down this inning after the first two outs, and soak up some of this humidity.

Nice grab, Jake!!

Well, ultimately he wants to be in the movies.

Come on, Nelson!! You need to drive in runs, not walk! Are trying to be Mauer?

I’m with you on that. Some apples get snapped up and flown far, far away from the tree.

Hip, hip!

Actually, I was picking up the tofu for my daughter.

My bad, I'm on MDT. Glad the powers that be corrected it.

You just ensured another marathon extra-inning game that won't be decided tonight.

Welcome to another Game Thread. A few thoughts: Big Momentum Shift Game This is a big game today. The Super Rosario homer last night was a turning point. It seemed like the lineup was able to relax and be themselves after that – and we got a couple more bombas as a result. It kind of reminded me of Brian Harper's 3-run homer against the A's in 1991 . . . . Baseball seasons are long. They’re like epic sagas. The teams are like the Fellowship of the Ring. There are going to be good stretches and bad stretches. But there are also defining moments. I’m hoping last night’s turnaround was one of those defining moments that launches this team back on the path to the WS. Former AL West Rivals In 1969, MLB went from simply having two leagues to having four divisions. The Twins won the AL West in 1969 and 1970. Then, the Swinging A’s won the division the next 5 years. I’m too young to remember if there was much of a rivalry at that time. However, I definitely remember when these teams both got good again. After what seemed like a miracle in 1987 for Twins fans, the A’s started dominating the division and the AL generally. They had dominant starting pitching, the best closer in the game, and the most fearsome lineup of the era. Looking back at those teams, it’s amazing the A’s didn’t win more than one World Series. I still think of 1991 as the best season the Twins had in my lifetime. One of the best parts of it was the regular season battle with the big bad A’s. At that point, the A’s had gone to three straight World Series. They were unlucky against the Dodgers, then they dominated the Bay (Earthquake) Series, then they got caught in the buzz-saw that was the 1990 Reds. They were clear favorites to go to the World Series again in 1991. I was living in San Francisco at the time, having moved up from LA, where I had just graduated from college. So I was able to see the Twins on local TV when they played the A’s. And I probably gloated a bit too much at parties around A’s fans. In my defense, I was 21, and kind of an idiot (that may be redundant). After the switch to 3 divisions, we lost that rivalry with the A’s. However, I continued to dislike them, and root against them. Especially when Moneyball came out, and the A’s got all the credit for winning despite a low payroll, when the Twins were doing just as well or better with a similar payroll. But even that reason for rivalry has all but faded into the ether, now that every front office is doing similar things with varying degrees of success. So this no longer feels like a rivalry. I don’t mind if the A’s succeed any more . . . just not against us! I still remember some of the key moments in those games against the A’s in August of 1991 as if they were yesterday. Speaking of yesterday . . . . Big Game Thread Win Yesterday!! I followed along with the Game Thread but didn’t participate. I guess I wanted to save my energy for tonight. Or maybe I was worried that things were going to get a little too negative around here. But what a great game that was! Our regular game thread stalwarts were all on their games. There definitely was some negativity, and even a bit of trolling. However, the game threaders persisted and were rewarded for their positive vibe. Free Tacos I live about 5.5 hours from Denver and 7 hours from Phoenix. So, on Comcast, these teams are both my “local” teams. For years, the Rockies have had a promotion with Taco Bell, where people get two tacos with the purchase of a regular-sized drink when the Rockies score 7 runs. This year, I noticed that Arizona has the same promotion when they get 6 runs. Earlier this year, I was thinking the bar would have to be set at about 10 runs for the Twins. For the Rockies, the promotion used to be pitched as “free tacos,” which always annoyed me since the tacos weren’t actually free. Someone must have complained, as they no longer market the tacos as free, they just say “We get tacos!” Alas, there is no such thing as free tacos. But there should be free tacos. When I first moved to Santa Fe in 1996, Taos Ski Valley was still one of the only holdouts among ski areas that did not allow snowboarding. I believe the original developer, Ernie Blake, put a prohibition against snowboarding in covenants on the area. Snowboarders campaigned to be allowed to ride in Taos, displaying bumper stickers that said “Free Taos.” Whenever you saw a “Free Taos” bumper sticker, you knew someone was a snowboarder (and probably had some weed on them). Anyway, apparently, one run of bumper stickers got messed up by the printer, and it came out “Free Tacos.” I saw this bumper sticker a few times, and it always made me happy. It’s a great concept, much better than “Whirled Peas.” If everyone had free tacos, the world would instantly be a better place. I’m a big fan of tacos. My Dad is from LA, and there was a place there called “Tito’s Tacos.” My uncle raved about the place and had to take me there to bond over deep fried ground beef tacos – evil, but good. My grandfather made an even better version of the deep fried ground beef tacos as his specialty. My favorite tacos currently, are fish tacos at a place called La Choza. They can either cook them in their super hot salsa, or in butter and you can get the salsa on the side. My wife and I often make shrimp tacos, grilling the shrimp with a homemade marinade of olive oil, chopped garlic and freshly squeezed lemon. It goes perfectly with Sadie’s Salsa (from Albuquerque). My 7-year-old daughter doesn’t usually like eating meat, so we make her tofu tacos. I’m mentioning all of this to show how truly incredible tacos are, and to emphasize that we should all envision the day when tacos, all tacos, are free. Tonight for dinner, my wife just informed me, we’re having chicken tacos!! GO TWINS!! Pitching for OAK Chris Bassitt 6-4, 3.98 ERA, 81 SO OAK Lineup Marcus Semien ® SS Jurickson Profar (S) 2B Matt Olson (L) 1B Mark Canha ® RF Ramon Laureano ® CF Khris Davis ® DH Robbie Grossman (S) LF Chris Herrmann (L) C Chad Pinder ® 3B PItching for Bomba Squad Jake Odorizzi 11-4, 3.06 ERA, 98 SO MIN Lineup Max Kepler (L) CF Jorge Polanco (S) SS Nelson Cruz ® DH Eddie Rosario (L) LF C.J. Cron ® 1B Marwin Gonzalez (S) RF Luis Arraez (L) 2B Miguel Sano ® 3B Jason Castro (L) C Weather: Looks like it's going to be hot and humid, slight chance of rain. Makes me sweat just thinking about the humidity you people tolerate up there.

Many of us need the coping mechanisms provided on TD. It's like free group therapy for otherwise anxious fans.

Can't wait to see how having Rosario back will help this lineup.

Arraez!!

The Indians announcers are losing their spit!

Snicker snack!!

Is that some kind of Eastern thing?

"I'm not an All-Star?" Oh, well.

Taylor is filthy!!

Wow! Three-pitch strikeout. Each pitch was perfect.

Let’s go Hader!! . . . er . . . I mean, Rogers!!!

Buxton is only 80% stealing this year. . . . What a disappointment.