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Good afternoon Twins fans and welcome back to more Game Thread fun! Well the big news that most everyone has already heard is Twins pitching coach Wes Johnson will be leaving the organization after Thursday's game against Cleveland to be the new pitching coach at LSU. I can't believe he would leave in the middle of the season but I guess he has his reasons. I suspect he wants to get there sooner in order to recruit new players to LSU. I've read he will be making more money but I doubt that was the reason. I know its all speculation at this point but I bet the MLB schedule, being away from family played a role. He might just like the amateur ranks more than the pro ranks...I guess we will find out later if it even matters. I hate to see him go but "it is what it is"....Pete Maki is being promoted and will take the place of Wes on Friday. Good luck Pete! We need this staff sharp for October! The Twins kick off a big 4 game series against division rival Cleveland tonight. With a 2 game lead over Cleveland it would be nice to see the Twins have a 6 game lead after Thursday's final contest. Cleveland has been in a mini-slump since leaving Minnesota last week and have lost 4 games in a row. Taking the mound tonight for the Twins is Sonny Gray (3-1, 2.53 ERA). Sonny will be pitching against Cleveland righty Triston McKenzie (4-5, 3.51 ERA). After the news of Wes Johnson leaving the Twins it will be interesting to see how the pitching staff responds. I read that Wes was a huge influence on Sonny getting his confidence back this year. Apologies for posting the Game Thread so early but I need to leave for a fishing trip this afternoon. "Need to leave" is maybe a little dramatic but if I don't get out of the office for a little break I may pull a Wes Johnson and leave for good....Heading to the upper Mississippi River north of Deerwood, MN to hammer some small mouth bass and walleye. I will be listening to the game on the radio in the boat though! I tried to post the lineups but at 2:30 only Cleveland had theirs posted...If someone could post the Twins lineup for me I'll send some frozen walleye fillets to your house. Let's go Twins!!! Today's Lineups: TWINS (41-33): TBD CLEVELAND (36-32): 1. Steven Kwan, LF 2. Amed Rosario, SS 3. Jose Ramirez, 3B 4. Josh Naylor, 1B 5. Oscar Gonzalez, RF 6. Andres Gimenez, 2B 7. Owen Miller, DH 8. Luke Maile, C 9. Myles Straw, CF SP - Triston McKenzie, (RHP) Weather: Game time temperature 74 degrees and sunny. 0% chance of rain. Wind 12mph blowing L-R.

Good evening Twins fans and welcome back to more Game Thread fun! Have you ever attended a MLB game and sat next to some over zealous fans? Did you sit next to fans that were knowledgable about the game and the teams that were playing? The Game Thread experience is all about that and more... As Twins fans this is our forum to debate and play arm chair quarterback. Don't be shy! Speak up and tell us your opinion about a specific play, umpire mistake or coaching move...Most of the Moderators on the site allow a little bit more leeway in what people say during the Game Thread. Please don't swear but remember, games that start this late a majority of Mods are asleep or 8 beers into the evening. Now for the game information: The Twins kick off a 3 game series against the NL West Arizona Diamondbacks. The Diamondbacks are 11 games behind the NL West leader San Diego Padres. Arizona has a 30-35 record (.462 winning average). The Twins are 37-28 (.569 winning average) with a 2 game lead over Cleveland. The Twins starter tonight is lefty Devin Smeltzer (3-0, 2.38 ERA) going up against Arizona southpaw Madison Bumgarner (2-6, 3.50 ERA). The lineup looks good for the Twins tonight. I foresee a lot of runs for the good guys. Bumgarner has not been as sharp as he has looked in the past. Tune in and find out what happens. Grab a favorite beverage and cheer for the Minnesota Twins today! Don't forget to share your opinions and participate in the Game Thread fun tonight! The Moderators will be asleep...trust me! Tonight's lineups: Minnesota Twins: 1. Byron Buxton, DH 2. Carlos Correa, SS 3. Gio Urshela, 3B 4. Gary Sanchez, C 5. Luis Arraez, 2B 6. Jose Miranda, 1B 7. Max Kepler, RF 8. Gilberto Celestino, CF 9. Trevor Larnach, LF SP - Devin Smeltzer (LHP) Arizona Diamondbacks: 1. Carson Kelly, C 2. Josh Rojas, 3B 3. Jordan Luplow, LF 4. C. Walker, 1B 5. Daulton Varsho, RF 6. Buddy Kennedy, DH 7. Alek Thomas, CF 8. Jake Hager, 2B 9. Geraldo Perdomo, SS SP - Madison Bumgarner (LHP) Weather: Hot! Like really hot.....106 degrees. Zero chance of rain.

Good afternoon Twins fans and welcome back to more Game Thread fun! Yesterday's game was fun to watch and almost got out of hand but in the end the Twins prevailed. As I posted on yesterdays game recap, Ryan and Duran are going to be exciting to watch. Unfortunately, Buxton had to leave early due to a right knee strain. According to the Athletic's Ken Rosenthal, Buxton isn't believed to have suffered any structural damage but may be off for a week or so. Phil Miller of the Star Tribune reported that the Twins do not intend to make a roster move which hopefully means the injury is minor. What excitement will be in store for today's game? Not really sure but Sonny Gray takes the mound against Boston hurler Tanner Houck (0-0) 8.10 ERA. I suspect the Twins are going to light this kid up. I predict an early exit for Tanner as Sonny gives us hopefully 6 or more "Snapper Mow em' Down" innings. Speaking of lighting up, tomorrow is Easter Sunday. I plan on firing up the Big Green Egg to grill a leg of lamb. Throw in some cheesy potatoes, asparagus and garlic bread and I'll have the makings of a small feast. The price of the lamb was crazy by the way......my grocery bill looks like I'm feeding 50 people vs. 6 people. I hope you enjoy your Easter celebrations tomorrow! Let's smoke the Red Sox today! Today's lineups: TWINS: 1. Luis Arraez, DH 2. Jorge Polanco, 2B 3. C. Correa, SS 4. Max Kepler, RF 5. T. Larch, LF 6. Gio Urshela, 3B 7. Nick Gordon, CF 8. Miguel Sano, 1B 9. Ryan Jeffers, C SP - Sonny Gray, (R) 0-0, 3.86 ERA RED SOX: 1. E Hernandez, CF 2. R. Devers, 3B 3. X. Bogaerts, SS 4. J. Martinez, DH 5. Alex Verdugo, LF 6. Trevor Story, 2B 7. Bobby Dalbec, 1B 8. J. Bradley, RF 9. C. Vazquez, C SP - Tanner Houck, (R) 0-0, 8.10ERA Weather: Cloudy and 62 degrees with a 15mph wind blowing out

Good morning Twins fans and welcome back to more Game Thread fun! It was so nice seeing the Twins play again yesterday! I hate that we lost but one game in the scheme of things doesn't really matter this time of year. However, I really believe we have a strong foundation and a group of players that will compete well this year. I'm still standing by my prediction that the Twins will win the AL Central this year. By the way, I love this time of year in Minnesota. We have the Masters on TV, the weather is warming, the ice is melting off the lakes, the grass is beginning to green, MLB is starting up and hope "springs" eternal for my favorite team the Minnesota Twins. It will be interesting to see how Sonny Gray stacks up today against this Mariner's offense. Hopefully his first start as a Minnesota Twin will result in a big W! How will the rest of the bullpen do? Will our offense start seeing the ball and make more contact? Will the dynamic duo of Buxton and Correa become the most dangerous one-two punch in MLB? Well, pull up a chair, crack a beer or your favorite beverage and tune in to find out. Today's game is gonna be a good one! Speaking of ice melting...Here are some fast facts on one of Minnesota's most celebrated lakes, Lake Minnetonka. Ice-out on Lake Minnetonka is declared when officials can boat through all channels and bays without being obstructed by ice. The earliest ice-out was March 11, 1878. The latest ice-out was May 5, 1857. The average ice-out date historically has been April 17th, 18th and 19th. The median ice-out date is April 14th (half of ice-outs are before that date and half are after that date). Coincidentally, for many years the latest ice-out date was attributed to May 8th, 1856. The Minnesota Climatology Working Group raised questions about the accuracy of that date based on temperature records showing that April 1856 was very warm. My guess is we will have ice-out on Lake Minnetonka April 15th this year. I can hardly wait to start Crappie fishing in a few weeks! Just like I can hardly wait to see this Minnesota Twins franchise win another World Series. Win Twins! Today's Lineups: MINNESOTA TWINS: 1. Byron Buxton, CF 2. Luis Arraez, 3B 3. C. Correa, SS 4. J. Polanco, 2B 5. Alex Kirilloff, DH 6. Miguel Sano, 1B 7. Max Kepler, RF 8. Ryan Jeffers, C 9. Nick Gordon, LF SP - Sonny Gray (R) SEATTLE MARINERS 1. Adam Frazier, 2B 2. Ty France, 1B 3. Jesse Winker, DH 4. M. Haniger, RF 5. Abraham Toro, 3B 6. J. Kelenic, LF 7. J. Rodriguez, CF 8. J. Crawford, SS 9. Tom Murphy, C SP - Logan Gilbert (R) Weather: Sunny and warming up to a balmy 50 degrees. Wind blowing out today at about 3mph.

Good Morning Twins fans! We have an early Monday game today. This is a make-up game from earlier this year against the Detroit Tigers. After the ugly loss against Milwaukee yesterday the Twins will try to get back on track today against the lowly Tigers. For the rest of the year I'm somewhat hesitant to cheer for my beloved Twins. At this point being 18 games behind the White Sox I'm cheering for a better draft pick next year. However, I'd still like to see the new kids being pulled up from minors perform well and build that confidence for next year. I'm encouraging people to post comments to the Game Thread from work today (for those of us working). Make sure you leave out any NSFW comments today if posting from work. Keep it clean and professional. For those of you posting from home you can take a little more risk. Beware however, Twins Daily Moderators are always patrolling these Game Thread waters. If you are posting from work, it would be fun to share what you do for a living. If you are participating today from home and looking for a full-time job in manufacturing, PM me and we can discuss job opportunities. We need more people asap, especially 2nd shift! Maybe Twins Daily can start a job posting section??? Subject to Moderator approval of course. Enjoy today's early matinee ballgame! I'll be listening to it on the radio. Go Twins! Today's Lineups: TWINS: 1. Luis Arraez, 3B 2. Byron Buxton, CF 3. Jorge Polanco, 2B 4. Josh Donaldson, DH 5. Max Kepler, RF 6. Miguel Sano, 1B 7. Nick Gordon, LF 8. Ryan Jeffers, C 9. A. Simmons, SS P - Baily "it ain't" Ober (R) TIGERS: 1. Akil Baddoo, LF 2. J. Schoop, 1B 3. J. Candelario, 3B 4. M. Cabrera, DH 5. Eric Haase, C 6. H. Castro, 2B 7. Victor Reyes, RF 8. Zach Short, SS 9. Derek Hill, CF P - Casey Mize (R) Weather: Partly cloudy and 83 degrees.

Good evening Twins fans and welcome back to more Game Thread excitement! The Twins did a nice job in Houston and now kick off a 9 game home stand against the Chicago White Sox tonight. Hopefully they can keep up the momentum. Not that it really matters this year but I would like to see some of our younger players start getting into the groove and build some confidence heading into 2022. Speaking of confidence, I'd like to see the following players hit above .220 so I can have confidence we can actually score runs in 2022. I know batting average stats are no longer in vogue but let's look at some averages. The players: Kepler (.211), Rooker (.176), Garver (.220), Sano (.211), Simmons (.216), Cave (.186), Larnach (.229 on the bubble). Speaking of guys that seem to have confidence....they include the following: Polanco (.272), Arraez (.318). Unfortunately it's a short list. Enough complaining, Let's start this home stand strong and see some younger guys get more playing time just so they can build their confidence. Did you pick up on the confidence theme tonight? I have all the confidence in the world that big Miguel Sano will go yard tonight and maybe drive in 4-5 runs. Now that's confidence! I might be delusional too but who cares. Go Twins! Tonight's Lineups: TWINS: 1. Max Kepler, RF 2. B. Rooker, DH 3. Jorge Polanco, 2B 4. Luis Arraez, 3B 5. Miguel Sano, 1B 6. Jake Cave, CF 7. R. Jeffers, C 8. T. Larnach, LF 9. A. Simmons, SS P - Beau Burrows, 0-0 with a 11.00 ERA YIKES! WHITE SOX: 1. T. Anderson, SS 2. C. Hernandez, 2B 3. J. Abreu, 1B 4. E. Jimenez, DH 5. Y. Moncada, 3B 6. B. Goodwin, RF 7. L. Robert, CF 8. L. Garcia, LF 9. S. Zavala, C P - Lucas Giolito, 8-8 with a 3.98 ERA Weather: Hot and humid, 85 degrees

Good Morning Twins fans and welcome back to more Game Thread banter and fun! We have moved past July and are now entering the hot month of August. The Twins ended July on a high note with a win last night. Hopefully they can start the month with a win this afternoon. Entering August 1st our team is dead last in the Central with a .419 winning percentage...Got to admit I didn't see that coming when we started in April. Oh well, we have each other to entertain us and a bunch of new young talent from the Rays and Blue Jays to watch. Speaking of game thread fun, it was suggested in last nights game thread I do a survey on what your favorite beverage is while watching the Twins play. I'll tell you I prefer a nice bourbon poured over one large ice cube during evening games. Afternoon games might be a cold beer or a Tito's and soda with a lime. I have to say my consumption during this putrid season has increased. Funny how that happens...By the way, does anyone want to trade me a bottle of Pappy Van Winkle for a home wrecker (1.75 liter of Windsor Canadian)? PM me if interested! What's your favorite beverage while watching the Twins play? Go ahead and post your beverage of choice below. Don't be shy! "You do you and we won't judge" (stole the Tito's slogan). Go Twins!! This afternoon's lineups: TWINS: 1. Max Kepler, CF 2. Brent Rooker, LF 3. Jorge Polanco, 2B 4. Luis Arraez, 3B 5. Mitch Garver, C 6. Miguel Sano, 1B 7. Trevor Larnach, RF 8. A. Simmons, SS 9. Michael Pineda, P CARDINALS: (expected lineup, not posted as of 11:30am) 1. D. Carlson, RF 2. P. Goldschmidt, 1B 3. N. Arenado, 3B 4. T. O'Neil, LF 5. Y. Molina, C 6. H. Bader, CF 7. Tommy Edman, 2B 8. Paul Dejong, SS 9. Adam Wainwright, P Today's weather: 80 degrees and partly cloudy.

TWINS, TIGERS AND TIP-TOEING THROUGH THE TULIPS Thank you Buck Owens for predicting the Twins 2021 future so far in advance. Love the nighttime highway construction worker “don’t-hit-me” suit. I wonder if it comes with a plug-in cord or if it’s battery operated. The Twins are sort of like Buck; deceased but still playing. The Twins chances of making the play-offs are dead, fini, zilcho. In other words, their buck stops here. And though Buck still sounds good, the Twins… well, they don’t even smell good. Those big birds circling over the stadium? Buzzards. It’s just a question of which current Twins players are dead meat, trade bait, or building blocks for a hopefully much better 2022 season. The Tigers are only mostly dead, there’s a difference between all dead and mostly dead. The 3rd place Tigers are drifting more slowly down the River Styx whereas the Twins have a 190 hp motor on the back of their pontoon. No question as to which team is going to reach the far shore first. So bet on a lot of carrion in the stadium tonight. No, not "carry-on", as in luggage, though the Twins do seem to have a lot of baggage; "carrion" as in dead meat. Dead meat. The phrase begs it’s own question; does anybody eat live meat? Maybe other than a cannibal whose Weber is on the fritz? I had a Webber once. He was married to my first cousin. Actually she wasn’t my “first” cousin. More like the twentieth or twenty-first if I list them by age. I come from a large family. We could start our own country. One of my uncles was large enough to play football for both the Packers and the Detroit Lions. Not at the same time. Nobody’s that large. But my large uncle’s Detroit playing time gives me the bone-a-fidos to write this game thread. Arrf! Anyway, Webber was blind as a bat (little baseball talk there). But it didn’t stop him from driving. He drove out to our place for a family reunion once and I had to stand out at the end of the driveway and flag him down after he drove right by a half dozen times. That was despite the sign on the road with our family name and a florescent arrow pointing at our house. Still took three passes to get him to pull in after I started flagging him down. Felt like I was one of those guys with the ping pong paddles and the old-fashion leather football helmet that stands on the deck of an aircraft carrier in those old World War II movies and guides planes in for a landing. “Pull up! Pull up g@%$#&it!” Clowns hold an annual event they call Grimaldi’s Funeral. It’s a festival recognizing some clown named Joseph Grimaldi who’s considered the father of clowning. Clowns come from miles around to join in the fun. Sort of like the 3rd place Tigers coming to play the last place Twins. Though with all the speculative trade talk, this series could prove to be more funeral-like for some of the ball players, others might just be clowning around. You know, like they’ve been doing all season. In the meantime the buzzards will be circling… “Pull up! Pull up g@%$#&it!” Bring your forks. Mound Clowns Twins: Pure Happ - enstance 4-4 6.09 ERA 59K Tigraes: Turik "Screwball" Skubal 4-4 4.35 ERA 100K WWE Lineups Twins "Handsome" Jorge Polanco 2B Josh "Hamstring" Donaldson 3B Nelson "The Hammer" Cruz DH Trevor "Long Ball" Larnach LF Ryan "The Ripper" Jeffers C Miguel "The Whiffer" Sano 1B Max "Panzerfaust" Kepler RF Gilberto "The Gunner" Celestino CF Andrelton "Where's My Glove" Simmons SS Tigers Niko "Should've Kept Me" Goodrum SS Jonathan "Goes For Me Too" Schoop 1B Eric "Hasenpfeffer" Haase LF Miguel "Missing In Action" Cabrera DH Jeimer "Can-Can" Candelario 3B Zack "A Dollar" Short SS Willi "Wonka" Castro 2B Nomar "The Nomad" Mazara RF Jake "Shake 'n Bake" Rogers C

Good afternoon Twins fans and welcome back to more Game Thread fun and excitement! Can our Minnesota Twins win tonight in front of a full stadium? Local media in Minneapolis report that tonight's game is sold out and the stands will be full. Personally I'm glad I'm not going as it's hot as Hades here...game time temperatures will be almost 94 degrees with a heat index near 100. I think I prefer watching tonight's game in a dark bar with a few cold ones lined up. Happy July 5th by the way! It is the officially observed holiday at least according to my iPhone calendar. Hope most of you had the day off today. I had the day off and didn't do much. Getting ready to grill up some burgers and brats for dinner tonight and listen to the game on WCCO. I like listening to the game on the radio, it's so old school. In case you wanted to know, all my kids along with a few of their significant others are home tonight and they eat literally everything in the house. Four pounds of burger just doesn't seem to go as far as it did...It's time they all get real jobs and help their old man out with the groceries. Big game tonight! Can the Twins get past the White Sox? Not sure but that's why I'll listen to the game and find out. The lineup tonight is somewhat underwhelming...I'll let you decide. Gotta run now, college kids say we are low on beer. I'll throw them a $20 and tell them to buy a case of Hamms. I'll be drinking the good stuff. Go Twins! Tonight's lineups: TWINS: 1. Luis Arraez, 3B 2. T. Larnach, LF 3. Jorge Polanco, 2B 4. Alex Kirilloff, 1B 5. Max Kepler, RF 6. Miguel Sano, DH 7. Nick Gordon, CF 8. Ben Rortvedt, C 9. A. Simmons, SS P - Bailey Ober, R WHITE SOX: 1. Tim Anderson, SS 2. Yoan Moncado, 3B 3. Jose Abreu, 1B 4. B. Goodwin, CF 5. Y. Grandal, C 6. Gavin Sheets, DH 7. A. Vaughn, LF 8. Adam Eaton, RF 9. Leury Garcia, 2B P - Dylan Cease, R Weather: HOT! HUMID! SWEAT FACTORY!

NEITHER HERE NOR THERE I always liked the Royals. No, not Thee Royals, although you have to admire the Queen Mum and her recently deceased husband, Prince Phillip. As young folks they both did their bit in World War II, the Queen serving in the Motor Pool and Phillip in the British Navy. No, I’m talking about the KC Royals. I actually followed them quite heavily back in the late 70’s - early 80's, mostly because Tom Poquette’s brother was a frequent visitor to my Eau Claire office. I knew if Tom had a good day at the plate his brother was going to pop in to talk baseball and ogle my secretary. Not sure which drew most of his attention but my secretary might have had the edge. But even now as well as back then you can’t talk about the Royals without mentioning George Brett. Brett is one of four players in MLB history to accumulate 3,000 hits, 300 home runs, and a career .300 batting average (the others are Stan Musial, Willie Mays, and Hank Aaron). Says something about how great a player he was. Brett was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1999, with what was then the fourth-highest voting percentage in baseball history (98.2%), trailing only Tom Seaver, Nolan Ryan, and Ty Cobb and he was AL MVP in 1980 batting .390, the highest batting average over a full season since Ted Williams batted .406 in 1941. Here’s a Twins connection: Brett won his first batting title in 1976 with a .333 average but the title wasn’t decided until the final game of the season. There were four contenders for the title that year, all with a shot at taking the title in the last game of the season. And they met on the same field that last day. Brett and Royals teammate Hal McRae as well as Minnesota Twins teammates Rod Carew and Lyman Bostock were the contenders. Brett went 2-4 including an inside-the-park home run. McRae, batting just behind Brett in the line up, grounded out thus giving Brett his first batting title by something like .001. And we can't forget the infamous “pine tar” incident. Brett hit a 9th inning homerun against the Yankees and as soon as he crossed the plate the Yankee Manager, the peripatetic Billy Martin, challenged the play saying the pine tar on Brett’s bat exceeded the 18” maximum. It did, by about 6”. The umpire disallowed the homerun, sending Brett into a tizzy that got him ejected. The ruling was eventually overturned by the Commissioner who said the bat should have been disallowed from further use but the homerun should’ve counted. The two teams were then ordered to replay the game at a later date beginning at that 9th inning point of the game. The Royals won. You gotta like it anytime anyone beats the Evil Empire even if takes the Commissioner to step in. On the lighter side, Brett’s also credited by many sources to be the originator of the “Mendoza Line”; ie, batting .200. The Mendoza line has since become the de facto measurement for separating “good” hitters from poor hitters. If you're at or under .200, you're under the Mendoza line. I don't expect to see four players contending for the batting title on the field today. Nelson Cruz is in 6th place in the American League with a .305 average and KC’s Whit Merrifield comes in 16th sporting a .289 batting average. No .390 hitter on either side. Gotta apologize for not listing pitchers and lineups as my internet provider keeps going down this morning. Gotta post this now just in case it goes out completely. Again. Sometimes it doesn't pay to live in the country. Oh< for the Game Threaders: Is there a way to edit your posting before final posting like there was in the old days?

SPITSBERGEN - Baseball Style I had this buddy growing up; we called him LB, though it wasn’t his real name. He became LB when a high school nun who made a habit (chuckle) of misremembering names called him “Little Boy” because he was only five and a half feet tall. We teased him about it of course, but out of the kindness of our hearts we eventually cut Little Boy down to LB and he was thus christened from there on ever after. Me and LB were a Mutt and Jeff team. I hit six feet in junior high while LB labored to reach 5’4”. We took a lot of kidding about the discrepancy in our heights, but LB had a bigger heart than I did, so I overlooked his shortcomings. As he did mine. We played on the same city league baseball team. I played short and batted clean-up and LB was our everyday third baseman, our second pitcher in our two-man rotation and our back-up catcher. He was also our unanimous pick for team captain, partly because he knew more about baseball than the rest of the team put together but mostly because he had this small gap between his front teeth and he could spit better than any of us. Thhht! And a stream of spit would come flying out between those front teeth to land unerringly on the chosen target. If LB was playing third, thhht, he’d spit on third base, unless there was a base-runner. Then he’d spit on the runner’s shoes. If he was catching, thhht, the batter’s shoes would get it. When he was pitching it was a risky proposition for us infielders to conference on the mound. “LB, we got a slow guy on first and this next batter is a dribbler. Keep it low and let’s go for the double-play.” Thhht! Shoe toe - direct hit. “Dammit, LB!” Thhht! Knee cap. LB was no Gaylord Perry, but he did have a peculiar nasty curveball for our level of play. Fortunately our umpires, whichever adult happen to walk by when the game started, never thought to check the ball for foreign substances. Me, I tried spitting, but didn’t have a talent for it. What didn’t dribble down my chin wound up on my shirt front. If we’d been old enough to chaw tobaccy my uniform would have looked like it’d seen service in a porta-potty. Twisty, another buddy who often hung around with me and LB, was our first baseman and our team’s second-best spitter, but he had to be armed with sunflower seeds or he went dry. His cheeks loaded, Twisty could bury the first base area in sunflower shells by game’s end. Thuugh! And a pair of split shells would be ejected, tumbling aimlessly into the dirt. When LB was on the mound and Twisty at first us infielders were treated to a spitting concerto. Thhht! Thuugh! Thhth! Thuugh! Thhth! Thhth! Thuugh! Twisty kept a pack of sunflower seeds in his back pocket and would reload between pitches. He had it timed out perfectly. LB would toe the rubber, spit twice, check the sign, spit twice again, then go into his wind-up. But right in the middle of one game LB decided not to spit and went straight into his wind-up instead. The abrupt change of pattern threw off Twisty’s timing. The first baseman still had his glove tucked under one arm and was in the process of pouring a fresh batch of seeds down the hatch when the batter laced a hot grounder to short. I scooped it up on a short hop and accurately, which was usually about a 70-30 proposition for me, flamed the ball right into Twisty’s glove, which as mentioned, was not on his hand but rather tucked up under one elbow. The glove flew in the air, the ball flew down the baseline, the sunflower seeds flew to the ground and the runner flew down to second base, then third base as Twisty tripped over his glove and finally home while Twisty, back on his feet, chased the ball down the right field line. Probably the only time in history a guy scored an inside-the-infield homerun on account of a missed spit and a perfect throw into a bag of sunflower seeds. So why do I bother to relate this story? Well, because we’re playing the Evil Empire who always seem to find some ungodly way of embarrassing the Twins. Or maybe its the Twins who always find some ungodly way to embarrass themselves when playing the much-despised Yankees; misjudged fly balls, stumbling base-runners, cut-off throws that are either missed or thrown into the stands, horrendous fielding errors, wild flailing strikeouts with loaded bases, etc. etc. Whatever. My advice to the Twins; just try not to embarrass yourselves. We’ve all had enough of this losing thhht! Purely coincidentally, the Yankees are sending Gerrit Cole to the mound today just after “Ribs” Donaldson squawked about modern day pitchers he claimed were loading up the ball, Cole being on such pitcher. Should be interesting if the two face each other tonight. Pitching Matchup Twins: Keep Your Dobnak Up 1-5 6.17 ERA 22K Yankees: “Gooberball” Cole 6-3 2.26 ERA 104K Line-Ups To be posted later by an erstwhile reader after Rocco finishes comparing his spreadsheets to the results him and Falvey get from asking the Ouija Ball. Yankees: D. LeMahieu1B 58-227 15 3 2 .256 A. JudgeRF 59-204 34 14 0 .289 G. TorresSS 52-189 23 3 4 .275 G. StantonDH 41-160 24 9 0 .256 G. Urshela3B 53-198 26 6 1 .268 R. Odor2B 21-114 13 5 0 .184 M. AndujarLF 22-89 6 4 0 .247 K. HigashiokaC 14-76 9 5 0 .184 B. GardnerCF 25-129 5 1 1 .194 Twins: J. Polanco2B 48-202 24 6 3 .238 J. Donaldson3B 41-163 22 7 0 .252 T. LarnachLF 20-77 8 3 0 .260 N. CruzDH 49-175 25 10 1 .280 R. JeffersC 12-54 7 2 0 .222 A. KirilloffRF 26-106 18 4 0 .245 M. Sano1B 25-153 28 11 0 .163 A. SimmonsSS 39-151 13 2 0 .258 G. CelestinoCF 0-12 0 0 0 .000

A Byrd In Hand The Byrds. No, not the Birds, the Byrds, the folk-rock band of the ’60’s. You know, “Roger McQuinn had a 12-string guitar it was like nothing I’d ever heard.” - David Alan Coe lyrics from his song “Willie, Waylon and Me”. I was always envious of Roger McQuinn of the Byrds. He could make a Rickenbacker 12-string guitar jingle-jangle while I had trouble plucking your basic 6-string. That’s how I wound up a bass man. Only had to pluck four strings. It was said I could play the bass by ear, but to be honest, I only ever used my fingers. I had a buddy, our rhythm guitar player, who also liked to play bass and sometimes the two of us would get together to drink a little beer and try to create a two-bass riff. Usually, after a couple hours of intense “practice”, the basses were loaded. The runs often came later. We both played in a garage band, that’s like Low A ball in the music world. We were just good enough to play cheap taverns for all the surreptitious beer we could drink, but occasionally we’d get real cash in payment; sometimes to stop playing. But there was one small town tavern that booked us every couple of months because we always packed the place. I often wondered if the semi-isolated town was that hard up for entertainment or if the local population was tone deaf. If so it could've been genetic. They kept calling each other “Cousin”. One of the cousins, a dishwater blonde with chapped hands, had a thing for me. I once told her an off-color joke during one of our frequent intermissions and she wrinkled up her face in disgust and scornfully demanded “God! How low can you go?” “Well, I am a bass man,” I told her. Needless to say I struck out. “So what the hell does all this have to do with the Twins game?” you demand impatiently, suspecting the Dastard is about to throw you a curve ball. “Patience, Grasshopper,” I reply in my best impression of a learned Shaolin monk. “A master weaver threads carefully.” Or should that be “treads carefully”? You know, so you don’t tear the rice paper as you run away from irate dishwater blondes. However I will graciously concede Roger McQuinn has nothing to do with today’s game or the Baltimore Orioles for that matter. But he does have something to do with Minnesota. You see the Byrds first hit was “Mr. Tambourine Man” which was composed by none other than Bob Dylan, a native Minnesotan who actually has musical talent. Dylan, according to legend, began writing “Tambourine Man” while attending Mardi Gras and completed it during a cross-country trip from New Orleans to New York with friends. One of those friends, according to Dylan, was none other than the ubiquitous yet often inspiring Mary Jane. Anyway, if you drive cross-country from New Orleans to New York City, you have to go through or around Baltimore. And if you’re into one of those wide-eyed driving-stupors that come on after too many hours behind the wheel, with or without Mary Jane, and get caught up in Baltimore rush-hour traffic you just might see a bird or two. Not a baseball player. Or Roger McQuinn. The middle finger kind. I know this from personal experience. Which, circuitously brings us back to today’s game with the Orioles; aka in sports writer slang; The Birds. It seems John Means, today’s pitcher for the Birds, recently got the Flying Fickle Finger of Fate award for almost throwing a Perfect Game. Apparently Means did throw a Perfect Game, but since his catcher dropped a third strike pitch and the batter made it safely down to first, a runner did reach base and therefore technically Means threw a Perfect Game that can’t be scored as a Perfect Game. Talk about getting the middle finger. Just goes to show you that the end doesn’t always justify the Means. I know, I went a long way to get that one in and lend this effort a somewhat tenuous connection to baseball, but in my own defense I would like to point out that I devilishly turned the phrase “basses were loaded” and also used such iconic baseball words as “Low A”, “struck out”, "runs" and “curve ball” while threading my way to this denouement. I guess you could say I’ve been stringing you along. Whatever, it's time for the Twins to stop stringing us along and turn this season around if they want to avoid getting "birded" by their fans. Today's Duelists on the Mound Orioles - John “What Does It” Means 4-0 ERA 1.70 K- 59 Twins - Matt “The Cobbler” Shoemaker 2-5 ERA 6.08 K - 25

Good Morning Twins fans and welcome back to another game thread extravaganza! Happy May Day too! Last night we took home a great 9-1 victory over the Royals. We also got a glimpse of Alex Kirilloff's talent. Between Kirilloff's two homers and Buxton's defensive greatness I actually got excited about this teams potential over the next month or so. I think we'll climb our way back up in the standings in no time (assuming the bullpen can pick it up). Speaking of May Day, My daughter turns 21 today. I'm not sure how 21 years can go by so quickly but they do! If she wasn't away at college I'd take her to my favorite watering hole and buy a few rounds of beer and watch the Twins beat up on KC...Happy Birthday Sarah! OK, back to today's game. I'm liking the lineup. Interesting batting order but I sure would not enjoy pitching to our first 3 hitters and our #9 hitter. Nasty. Let's GO Twins! Lineups: TWINS: 1. Byron Buxton, CF 2. Josh Donaldson, 3B 3. Nelson Cruz, DH 4. Jorge Polanco, 2B 5. Kyle Garlick, RF 6. Mitch Garver, C 7. Alex Kirilloff, 1B 8. A. Simmons, SS 9. Luis Arraez, LF P - Matt Shoemaker ® ROYALS: 1. W. Merrifield, 2B 2. Carlos Santana, 1B 3. Salvador Perez, C 4. Jorge Soler, RF 5. Ryan O'Hearn, DH 6. Hunter Dozier, 3B 7. A. Benintendi, LF 8. M. Taylor, CF 9. Nicky Lopez, SS P - Danny Duffy (L) Weather: Beautiful spring day in Minnesota. 80 degrees and sunny. No rain expected.

Quick’s The Word And Sharp’s The Action Pirates Logo 1960-66 You gotta love the Pirates, if for no other reason than their team name and logo. I mean what kid hasn’t grown up playing pirates, jumping around the living room, slashing the air with a toy sword, maybe stabbing the kid brother a few times until he runs to momma crying like a baby? Advancing from playing pirates to becoming a Pirates baseball fan seemed like a natural transition for me back in 1960. You could say their logo shivered my timbers and because of that Pirate baseball cards were probably my first attempt at collecting anything. I’d save up my pennies (yeah, kids used to earn pennies for helping around the house back then) until I had enough dough to buy a five-pack of baseball cards for the princely sum of 25 cents. I’d slap my quarter down on the glass candy counter, rip open the card pack, pop the enclosed bubble gum into my mouth just to get it out of the way, then rifle through the cards with unconcealed excitement. Did I hit the mother-lode? Land one of the star Pirate baseball players; Roberto Clemente, Bill Mazeroski, NLMVP Dick Groat, Cy Young winner Vern Law, Roy Face, Harvey Haddix, or maybe even the colorfully named Vinegar Bend Mizell? Or had I been stuck with five unknown guys from teams I didn’t care about and who’d maybe already been banished back to the minor leagues? It was a feast or famine thing. Except for the bubble gum. And of course for the inevitable tooth cavities. My dad always swore baseball cards were invented by dentists. If the internet had been around back then he could’ve started another conspiracy theory for the weak-minded. This one might even have had a little bite to it. You know the drill. Arrrrgh! Sticking bubble gum aside for the moment, the 1960 Pirates was a heavily talented baseball team and when they met the Yankees in the World Series that year expectations for a nail-biting series were high. Few fans, however, expected the 1960 Series would turn out to be one of the weirdest World Series ever. Consider this: the Yankees outscored the Pirates over the Series 55-27, out-hit them 91-60, out-homered them 10-4, Yankee pitcher Whitey Ford threw two complete shutouts against them, and yet the Pirates won the title 4 games to 3. Arrrrgh! Other weird stuff: pitcher Harvey Haddix who won World Series Games 5 and 7 for the Pirates, was infamous for losing a perfect game in the 13th inning back in 1959; Game 7 is the only World Series game without a single strikeout by either team; Bill Mazeroski won Game 7 with a walk-off homerun in the 9th inning, the first (and maybe the only?) player to do so; the tapes for Games 1 thru 6 were erased when the Series was over (tapes were expensive back then so the TV studios reused them - and VCRs and DVRs hadn’t been invented yet) but Bing Crosby, who was a part-owner of the Pirates, was in Europe during the Series so he paid the Amex corporation to tape Game 7 at his California mansion so he could watch the final game when he returned home, but only if the Pirates won. Fortunately for baseball historians, the Pirates won both the game and the Series and after Bing came home and watched Game 7 on tape he tucked it away in his wine cellar where it remained, completely forgotten for 49 years. Rediscovered in 2009, its the only video record of any of the 1960 Series games. More weird stuff: Bobby Richardson, a member of the losing Yankee team, was chosen World Series MVP, the only time a player from the losing team was awarded the honor; Vinegar Bend Mizell, who went 13-5 for the Pirates during the regular season and took the loss in Game 3, was elected to the US House of Representatives after he retired from baseball; and Casey Stengel, the New York manager, was “retired” after this World Series for being too old and out of step with the times and thus made his famous comment, “I’ll never make the mistake of turning 70 again.” Oh, and Minnesota native (Winona) and former college pitcher for the Golden Gophers, Paul Giel, rode the bullpen pine for the Pittsburg Pirates during the Series and later spent a year (1961) on the Twins roster before retiring. Giel eventually became Athletic Director for the University of Minnesota where he served admirably for almost two entire decades. Nothing weird about that except Giel was a two-year (1952 and 1953) All-American football player for the Gophers and had turned down a $75,000 bonus to sign with a Canadian football team and instead was an MLB “Bonus Baby” taking a $60,000 bonus, a record at that time, to sign instead with the New York Giants baseball team. Arrrrgh! And now you know the rest of the story. Today’s story? Well, hopefully it won’t be as weird. But if the Twins go into ten innings again… Katie bar the door! On the Non-grassy Knoll Today, Two Shooters; Hurling for the Stars of Late Inning Histrionics: Michael Pineda 1-0 ERA 1.0 WHIP .72 AVG .159 Sword Fighting For the Swashbucklers: Trevor Cahill 0-2 ERA 9.69 WHIP 1.77 AVG .357 Just eyeballing the pitching match-up it looks like the Pirates will be walking the plank. But remember, weird, not bird, is the word. Today's Line-up Arraez Donaldson Cruz Buxton Kirilloff Polanco Astudillo Cave Jeffers

Welcome back to the Twins Daily game thread party! After a rare Friday night off the Minnesota Twins will take on the Seattle Mariners this afternoon at Target Field for the second home game of the season. I have high hopes for the Twins today. Big Mike Pineda will be throwing the ball and our lineup looks decent. I still wish Donaldson was playing today, although I think he will be back in the lineup next week. I'll be listening to the game today and trying to post some as I pack up our basement. After 16 years in the same house my wife and I decided to sell our home as the kids have all moved out. Do you realize how much crap we accumulated over the years? I've made about 30 runs to Goodwill and probably have another 10 to do. The good news, we sold our house in one day. The bad news, purging and packing the stuff we've collected for the last 16 years. Word to the wise. Get rid of all that extra crap you have in your house now, before you decide to sell it. It's actually quite liberating to throw stuff out and purge closets and attics. It's almost like mental weight loss! A funny thought just crossed my mind...I think it's "moving day" at the Masters today as well. Go Twins! I want to win by 10 runs! Today's Lineups: Twins: 1. Jorge Polanco - 2B 2. Kyle Garlick - LF 3. Nelson Cruz - DH 4. Byron Buxton - CF 5. Mitch Garver - C 6. Max Kepler - RF 7. Miguel Sano - 1B 8. A. Simmons - SS 9. Luis Arraez - 3B SP - Big Mike Pineda (RHP) Seattle: 1. Mitch Haniger - RF 2. Ty France - DH 3. Kyle Seager - 3B 4. J. Marmolejos - 1B 5. Luis Torrens - C 6. Dylan Moore - 2B 7. T. Trammell - CF 8. Sam Haggerty - LF 9. J.P. Crawford - SS SP - Yusei Kikuchi (LHP) Today's weather: Partly sunny and 50 degrees. 2% chance of rain. 100% chance my wife will make me pack during the entire game.

Good morning Twins fans and welcome to the "just another manic Monday" workday edition of a Game Thread extravaganza! I'm writing this introduction sitting at my desk and trying to get WCCO to come in more clearly on the radio. The building I'm in does an excellent job of keeping out radio signals...I might have to migrate to internet radio so I can listen to the ball game this afternoon if I can't get the antenna dialed in. I am expecting another fun filled game like yesterday's Easter smack down on the Brewers. Detroit has been playing ok but I believe the Twins will run away with this today. It will be fun to see if Arraez can keep up the torrid pace of making it on base too. That kid really is an exciting hitter to watch. I'm also interested in seeing how Shoemaker does on the mound today. The pitching has been more than solid the last few games. Hopefully everyone who is at work today can join in the game thread fun without getting into trouble from some prying IT or HR person. Those of you working from home or that have the day off should have no excuses for not participating today...I'm sure the sunny 80 degree weather in Minneapolis won't be a distraction for most of you either. Todays line up looks ok. Would prefer to see Donaldson and Buxton but excited to see how Rooker plays. A lot of familiar faces in the lineup today with the Tigers...Grossman, Schoop, Baddoo. Here's what we have on tap for today's game: TWINS: 1. L. Arraez (3B) 2. J. Polanco (2B) 3. Nelson Cruz (DH) 4. Max Kepler (RF) 5. B. Rooker (LF) 6. J Cave (CF) 7. M. Sano (1B) 8. R. Jeffers © 9. A. Simmons (SS) SP - Matt Shoemaker (RHP) TIGERS: 1. R. Grossman (LF) 2. J. Candelario (3B) 3. W. Castro (SS) 4. M. Cabrera (DH) 5. N. Mazara (RF) 6. J. Schoop (1B) 7. W. Ramos © 8. N. Goodrum (2B) 9. A Baddoo (CF) SP - Jose Urena (RHP) Weather in Detroit: Game time temperature 60 degrees. 2% chance of precipitation.