Amazing! A win (albeit an ugly one), AND we actually gained a game on the competition. Take that, bitches.

This is what I like to see. Even if one of our key players has a bad day, the rest of the team doesn't fold.

:)

You better run, Charles!

Good job, Justin!

(And Will. Mustn't forget the photoshop experts amongst us.)

Alternate Title: Goin' long like Donkey Kong.

neut: that sounds obscene! Just sayin'.

Actually, I think Burgos from the Royals deserved this. :D

twins15,

Exactly. Hilarious.

really, is a win against the royals a huge accomplishment?

Yes, Burgos is a bit shaky; but he only played up through A ball before being called up. He's young. Oh god, I sound like Royals' management.

Besides, it wasn't really Burgos that screwed the game up; it was Buddy Bell who put Andy Sisco in before having to pull him out and putting Burgos in instead.

There was a lot of horrible in that game, much of it previously noted: Buddy Bell's managment, Burgos, the velcro-like grass, the weather... too much, really.

But the horrible that took the cake was the home plate ump. Joe got some gift strikes, and that just a few innings after Santana grooved a few fast "balls" right down the middle. Terribly inconsistent, on both sides.

And now for the best pitching faceoff since Liriano/Clemens...

Boof "Boof" Bonser v Jimmy "Jimmy" Gobble

Who cares if it was a sprawling, ugly mess? It allows us (with proper respect to Spinal Tap) to trot out a great win-streak line:

"Ours goes to 11."

If "winning ugly" is what it takes to gain ground on the Bitches and the Pussycats, then I say win ugly every damn day.

Amen, JimCrikket, amen.

Ya, I mean the that game last night was not at all pretty, and we got a few "gifts". But isn't it "a win is a win, a loss is a loss".

So, go twins, and thank-you JimCrikket!

"I'm the Doctor, bitch!"

TQD: and Spinal Tap reference is a good one!

I was thinking the game yesterday should have been called "How to lose a game in 10 pitches." What a crazy 8th. Watching the Burger Roy-als implode it is easy to see why their record is so poor.

Style points are for figure skaters.

A wins a win & any win that helps break down that deficit (single digits, ya'all!) is pretty.

Can Cuddyer be like...the runner-up B.O.D. or first alternate or somethin'? Aggressive baserunning is HOT!

I'm the Doctor, bitch, I hitchoo wit yer own pimp!

And not just ground gained on the division -- everyone ahead of us in the wildcard lost, too. Yea!

Isn't it beautiful?

Don't be messing with my batting helmut Charles. HILARIOUS. My two favorite things mashed together!!!

LNP's headfirst slide finally pays off!

Looks like our road team is back. We're sputtering.

yeah, it's over.

We didn't have our best lineup or decent pitching tonight. I will give them more time then declaring the old road team back after this game. This is not the lineup we had when we were successful was it? No.

Why is Shannon Stewart in LF. He needs to DH. Kubel should be in left, or Lew Ford.

Gardy messed with what was working with the lineup. He left Boof out there too long and then proceeded to leave our unreliable pitchers throughout the ballgame. Boof, Lohse, Eyre. Not a good pitching lineup to throw out there and expect to win. Lohse did well today but damage had already been done in 4 innings. That changed the approach of the hitters from patient to overanxious and aggressive to get us back in the ballgame.

I am so sick and tired of gardenhire's idiocy! he's a mental midget who has literally no concept of flow, timing, or momentum. no mauer, kubel, or castillo? lew ford leading off? stewart in left field? HUNTER DH-ING? WTF?!?! he clearly was paid off to sabotage us, because nobody could be this stupid to screw with what got us to where we were. what a jackass

I'm bummed by the loss today, but I'm not going to let it nag. Because that's what causes slumps.

I'm hoping the Twins look at this loss, figure out that he "tweaked" the heck out of this lineup, and hopefully he'll take some time between this start and Boof's next to give him some bullpen time...or SOMETHING so that he doesn't work on 10 days rest.

Because seriously, we saw that totally fail with Baker too.

Dear Batlings,

I do not believe we can be upset about losing one game in 12.

Sincerely,
Batgirl

Jeb, I agree but it would have been nice if we put our best lineup out there esp. when the pitching we put out tonight was less then reliable. Though Lew did his part in being a Royal killer. I had a bad feeling about the game when I saw the lineup and the pitcher. I was unfortunately right. Oh well. Hopefully start a new streak tomorrow.

BG, I agree... hard to be upset about a loss (even if it was to what could, at best, be considered a decent AAA team). But what is upsetting is the lineup that was trotted out there in this game. Pretty hard to figure out why any manager would take a lineup that had been so successful and completely turn it on its ear. Tweaking is one thing and giving this or that guy a day of rest occasionally is OK... but that lineup tonight almost looked like something you would throw out there at the end of the year when it just didnt matter any more. I was disappointed before the first pitch was thrown.

My guess is that some guys needed time off today, because I think some of them are getting a bit banged up. Most of the guys who were in there are capable, and it didn't happen today. It's bound to happen every once in awhile. Cheer up; we didn't lose any ground to the teams ahead of us, and tomorrow is another game against the Royals.

And I'll come to Gardy's defense a little more. This is limited to offense, not defense, because I want to get to bed. :-)

I'm going to assume Mauer really needed a day off, so putting in Redmond (who is having a fine year for himself anyway) was a necessity, and can't be counted against Gardy.

Next, you essentially have Tiffee in for Castillo, because LNP's playing regardless. I think this is at worst a push, because Castillo has been struggling a bit (though perhaps he's coming around), while Tiffee has been at least decent.

Torii's bat was in the lineup, so essentially the other offensive substitution was Lew for Kubel. Generally, this is a net loss, but the fact is that Lew did provide us with our only runs of the night. It's possible Kubel would've provided more, but the odds are relatively low.

So perhaps it wasn't Gardy's fault. And regardless, a BOD thread from a previous game probably isn't the best place to argue over it. I suggest that anyone interested check out the BatCave, as always, for a wide variety of perspectives.

At most we could say Lew, Redmond, Tiffee, and Stewart were not 'regulars' in the lineup today. All of these guys have contributed during this awesome run (which isn't over yet!) Joe's sick, Castillo was unavailable, Hunter tweaked his ankle. There were not a lot of options today and there is no need to debate two possible line-up changes; they would not have changed the game's outcome.

Boof melted down today in the 3rd; he hasn't pitched in 10 days and also, it happens. But you can't just give up on him after the first walk. Sure, you warm somebody up during or after the second, but you can't get them ready that quickly. And do you really want the bullpen pitching 7 innings? Kyle gave us four solid today and he's almost a hero for saving the pen. The runs in the eighth were essentially garbage.

I can't believe I feel a need to defend Gardi because we lost one game to the Royals in Kansas City (who, coincidentally, are playing their best baseball in ages). Yes, the winning streak is over, but gone are the nerves of maintaining it. Bert got me over this game with one sentence in the eigth: "And I thought the Twins would never lose again."

Remember the goal: win series. Bradke, I entrust this task to you. Please excuse my bluntness; Liriano is still not guaranteed an All-Star spot.

Earth to Nick! we have Thursday off, a Major League baseball catcher needs to get himself out there unless he's vomitously ill, especially if that Major League catcher is leading the world in hitting.

Tiffee in for castillo is not a push, because you can't just compare results. baseball is a game of chemistry and momentum and regardless of his numbers during the stretch, castillo was leading off and it was working. torii has been one of our worst hitters and his main redeeming feature is his spectacular defense. why in the hell is he EVER batting but not in the field. stewart is the opposite. he completely sucks in the field but has a decent bat.

and no it is not okay to lose this way even 1 out of 100 games. you should NEVER lose a big league ballgame because of your manager's insistence to get crappy players some at-bats. the line between winning and losing is so fine that you simply cannot afford to be screwed over by your manager before the game even begins.

I'm not of a mind to rant over something like this. It's just disappointing when the opportunities to gain a game on the Tigers come so seldom and then when one does, you look out at the batting order and it looks completely unlike anything that's been used during the past 3 weeks. When youve dug a hole as deep as that which the Twins dug in April, there are no 'throw away' games, especially against the lower tier teams in the league.

Just my humble opinion, of course.

I'm not upset at the loss, I mean, you can't win 'em all, right? But when I saw the lineup, with who was starting, I commented to my buddy that it looked like we were conceding the game. With a day off the next day, it was odd to see various players getting rest, especially considering the all star break is less than a week away. Very odd lineup.

oh god not that thing again -_-

I feel bad for Boof. They rest him for ten days and then expect him to go out there and pitch an awesome game. I know it's important for the other pitchers to pitch on their normal days rest, but it's hard on Boof. They need to have him pitch a simulated game or something in between starts. Or even bring him in out of the bullpen.

As I understood it: Lew was in because he's had good results against Gobble (and I think that proved out)and Hunter hurt his ankle. Mauer is battling some kind of stomach problem, so I guess "vomitously ill" is not all that far from the truth. I think Gardy went with what he had to, ugly though it was. And it was. True, it sucks to lose when the freakin' Tigers dropped another one and we could have gained some ground, but s**t happens.

I just want to know why Kubel was sitting.

You could see the momentum slowing against the Brewers. A couple of the most recent wins were the result of good fortune as opposed to sterling play.

Whatever bongo. 2 wins we won with some help from other teams but those teams lost the game and Twins took advantage of mistakes it is what you have to do sometimes. You have to have some luck in going on long streaks. Tigers and White Sox have good records I am sure there are a few they won on just mistakes from other teams. That is what good teams do take advantage of silly mistake by other teams.

You will see. You must read the signs. It's okay, we can't win 95%. We'll all learn together.

Nora, oops we lost again. It's okay. I am a big Twins fan. Now we get to see what we have here.