wsnydes

Hello Game Thread viewers, it's currently raining here in Minneapolis and slated to continue to rain forever, I'm told. The accuracy of that forecast remains to be seen, but we'll keep going with the forging ahead regardless! The Tigers are still in town, having been twice beaten this series already. The Twins have been a decidedly un-Minnesotan-esque host for them so far, and I don't think any of us here mind. In fact, I imagine that we hope that the unniceness continues. The squad maintains a 5.5 game lead in the division over those Pale Hose of Chicago and hope to add to it today. I'm not sure why, but this game is being broadcast on Youtube today. I guess this game was determined to be more interesting than the Rockies/Pirates tilt. This is great news for those of us cord cutters that never get to watch the local squad. Though, I'll be one of those suckers at work that can't benefit anyway. So, I hope those that can enjoy do actually enjoy it. Know that I'll be with you in spirit...and following on the radio. Enough of my aimless wandering babble. The Tigers will start a right handed slinging pitcher by the name of Rony Garcia, who has a solid 0-0 record. The Twins will counter with a right handed slinger of pitches of their own in Dylan Bundy, who sports a 3-2 record. Playing in the mud this afternoon are: From the visiting Tigers of Detroit 1 - Cameron, RF 2 - Castro, SS 3 - Schoop, 2B 4 - Baez, DH 5 - Candelario, 3B 6 - Torkelson, 1B 7 - Castro, LF 8 -Haase, C 9 -Hill, CF From the hosting Twins of Minnesota 1 - Buxton, DH 2 - Arraez, 1B 3 - Correa, SS 4 - Kepler, RF 5 - Sanchez, C 6 - Larnach, LF 7 - Urshela, 3B 8 - Gordon, 2B 9 - Celestino, CF Enjoy the game and the game thread!

Ick.

I'll allow it... ...but only because I enjoy the Game Thread Shopping Network.

What better way to motivate them!

St Louis?

Feels like a Monday to some, apparently. Right @shortround81?

Ha! That's a great way to describe him. That shoe fits for the good, bad and indifferent.

Of course, there's always option C... Buxton grounds out and Arraez flies out.

I wouldn't say old fashioned. That's not a wrong answer. The other way to look at it is Buxton gets on and he's scoring on an Arraez single. No real wrong choice there if you ask me.

mmmm, brats...

I agree. There's certainly no rush to do it. If they were extended now, I wouldn't mind. But it seems reasonable to do it during this upcoming offseason. And if you're going to do it, you probably should do it before going into the last year of the deal.

Agreed. You can't win a title if you don't first get to the playoffs to start with. I'm not saying they can't win, I'm just saying that I'm not as optimistic about it.

Hard to argue with what Garlick is doing. He's certainly shocked me by it. I don't know if it's sustainable or not, but credit him for taking the most of his opportunities. I'm enjoying the show, however long it lasts!

Not yet, but I lean towards yes. I do like what we're starting to see from the minor league guys, particularly the pitching. But, I don't think their task is done yet. We're really just starting to see their organizational changes taking shape and getting to the majors. To me, that's key. They were tasked with rebuilding the entire organization from the ground up. That's not going to be a quick process, but I think we're starting to see the fruits of that now. So, I want to see how those changes start to impact the big league club before actually pulling the trigger on an extension. When does their current deal actually expire?

Nice write-up, Seth! Good to see Martin and Kirilloff mentioned here. Martin may not be hitting for much power, but getting some hits is at least a good sign in his process. Kirilloff starting to come around with the bat is also encouraging. Good to see some pop coming back too. Has there been any new reports on his wrist and how it's responding lately?

The real answer to this quandary is likely that both are true. Yes, he probably could use a 3 or 4 game stretch to get his swing back. But it's also likely true that he's not healthy enough to do it. If it really is patellar tendinitis, that's not going away with a short IL stint or while playing every day. So, they've either got to shut him down for an extended IL stay or play through it and try to manage it as best they can. We know that Buxton wants nothing more than to play, so the resulting scenario is what we're currently seeing.

Cold as ice, is Buxton.

Funny you say that. I was actually curious when his last clean inning was.

I think the real jinx is that @USAFChiefis in attendance. That's got to be some bad karma somewhere, no? Even if for no other reason that we haven't been graced by a Chief joke tonight.

It'd be really swell if they could tack on a run or 6 through the remainder of this game...