MIN 5, CHW 3: Nolasco Endures

After struggling with injuries last year, and through the start of this season, Ricky Nolasco returned to the Twins' rotation. He allowed eight hits and a walk in five innings. It amounted to three White Sox runs.

It was good enough. Torii Hunter hit a tying dong. Trevor Plouffe fought off some wicked stuff from touted rookie Bruce Rondon with the bases juiced and one out in the fifth. Curiously, the Twins' defense was solid behind Nolasco and the bullpen gave up no runs. No runs. That's odd. I'll take it.

We might as well get used to Nolasco, he's probably not going away. What are his goofy quirks? Does he believe in UFOs? Wear unmatching socks? I know he goes on trips with former teammates to, basically, Transylvania every off-season. That's terrific. I want more minutiae like this. I also want to go to Transylvania. Maybe it could be "Nolasco And twinsbrewer's Transylvanian Food Tour," like Coogan/Brydon in "The Trip." Someone make this happen.

Aaron Thompson, who's overcome a positive drug test for a drug that's legal in several states, pitched 2.1 no-run innings and has an ERA of 2.20. On my "MLB: The Show" he's terrible. I may have to adjust his attributes. Twins manager Paul Molitor said on a pre-game radio show that he'd use Thompson earlier in the game, Brian Duensing in later innings, and yep, that's what he did.

Your Gladtastic moment of the day. Announcer Cory Provus mentioned that ex-Twin Josh Willingham was in the stands. Co-announcer Dan Gladden yelled "NO, HE'S NOT!" then asked if Willingham visited the clubhouse. Provus said Willingham made that visit yesterday. HAHA NOBODY TELLS GLADDEN ANYTHING.

(Willingham visited the radio booth a few innings later, watching the Twins take their lead, he's a Lucky Charm, we should chain his family in creepy basements until the Twins stop winning.)

Your Comment of the game, since some people like them: wayback quoted a proverb "two ears, one mouth so listen twice as much as you speak," then added, "they never mentioned the ten fingers."

I liked this comment because it's what we're all doing on the Internet -- unwinding, right? So I don't want to pick "best comments." I'm hugely grateful to everyone who joins in these GameThreads. There are "rec" buttons for singling out super-smart stuff.

Robot Roll Call:

#	Commenter	# Comments
1	Brananorama	80
2	SooFoo Fan	73
3	twinsgirl197	51
4	DavidRF	33
5	less cowbell, more 'neau	23
6	wayback	21
7	kenzertz	21
8	Nick Rothe	16
9	sdsujacks	12
10	myjah	9
11	howdy111	4
12	domesticllama	2
13	b1	1
14	clutterheart	1
15	Dave Wales	1