I’m headed to Detroit this morning, and it feels like Groundhog Day. I have made so many trips to Detroit since coming aboard the S.S. Star Tribune, my wife and I jokingly refer to it as Joe-Town.

I have come to enjoy staying in downtown Detroit and staying close to the action at Comerica Park, but because of hotel prices, I usually end up staying in Dearborn, right near the Henry Ford Museum.

There should be a real buzz in Detroit this weekend. On Saturday night alone, the city will host Twins/Tigers, Pistons/Celtics (Eastern Conference Finals), and Red Wings/Penguins (Game 1 of the Stanley Cup Finals).

I’m not worried about my focus, but I can’t promise anything for Justin Morneau, who takes great pride in the fact he’s caught the Stanley Cup clincher each of the past two years.

Anyway, I’m paging through my notes from Thursday, looking for a few extra nuggets to throw you beyond the game story, notebook, preview box, game recap and Souhan’s column from today’s editions.

I zeroed in on Brendan Harris’ performance at shortstop because I felt that was the big-picture development of the day. Morneau thought it was a big deal, too, saying, “It looked just natural [for Harris]. The double play — he turned it easy. And ground balls to his left and his right, his footwork — it didn’t look he had to think about it.”

Looking back, the Twins scored seven runs, but it was the kind of game where a good offensive team probably would have had 10-12. The run producers are the ones catching the wrath in the comments section, namely Delmon Young.

That’s a fair criticism. And heading to Detroit, this lineup better have it’s A-Game, as the Tigers are capable of turning each game into a shootout. They just scored 30 runs in a three-game sweep over the Mariners.

The Twins hope to continue riding the energy of Carlos Gomez and Alexi Casilla, but they have to be ready for continued ups and downs with both players. Manager Ron Gardenhire was really pleased with both of them Thursday.

Gardy noted the fact that Gomez took a first swing “out of his butt” before realizing it’d be a good idea to bunt with the Twins down 7-5 in the eighth inning. But he paid the 22-year-old center fielder the ultimate compliment.

“We’re a better team when he’s in our lineup,” he said. “And that says a lot about a young player.”

This entry was posted on Friday, May 23rd, 2008 at 8:20 am and is filed under Twins thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.