SAN DIEGO — The Twins have a six-game winning streak, but tonight, they’ll face reigning NL Cy Young Award winner, Jake Peavy, as they begin a three-game series against the Padres.

Nick Punto is back from the disabled list, but he is not in the starting lineup.

Updates to come…

Update (7:55 p.m.): Manager Ron Gardenhire said he met with Mike Lamb on the last homestand and explained the situation. Lamb has not played in seven games and he is not in the lineup tonight.

“He’s been there before,” Gardenhire said. “He’s sat on the bench and done those things, and I’ll get him into this series some way or another, pinch hitting or whatever, try to mix him in here. I know I’ve got to use him, and he needs to play and all those things. We’re jurst trying to ride this thing as long as we can and go from there.”

The players are marveling at how beautiful this ballpark is, and how beautiful San Diego is in general.  Right field will be an adventure for Michael Cuddyer, however. A section of seats juts out from the foul pole, and balls hit into that corner are very tough to judge.

Gardenhire stood with Cuddyer in right field during early batting practice.

“I told Mike, ‘Good luck,’” Gardy said.

Also, the Padres have had a terrible time preventing the stolen base. That will be a critical element to this series. The Twins need Carlos Gomez and Alexi Casilla to do some damage out there, but first they need to get on first base.

“I think that’ll depend on the starting pitchers that they’re throwing,” Gardenhire said.

Peavy, Greg Maddux and sudden stalwart Josh Banks. That’s a tough draw for the Twins.

Twins (40-36)

1. Carlos Gomez, CF

2. Alexi Casilla, 2B

3. Joe Mauer, C

4. Justin Morneau, 1B

5. Michael Cuddyer, RF

6. Jason Kubel, LF

7. Brendan Harris, SS

8. Brian Buscher, 3B

9. Kevin Slowey, P

Padres (32-45)

1. Jody Gerut, CF

2. Edgar Gonzalez, 2B

3. Brian Giles, RF

4. Adrian Gonzalez, 1B

5. Kevin Kouzmanoff, 3B

6. Chase Headley, LF

7. Khalil Greene, SS

8. Michael Barrett, C

9. Jake Peavy, P

Petco Park. First pitch: 9:05 p.m.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 24th, 2008 at 5:47 pm 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.