The Twins haven’t swept the Brewers here since 1978.

Lineups

Twins

1. Castillo, 2B. 2. Punto, 3B. 3. Cuddyer, RF. 4. Morneau, 1B. 5.Hunter, CF. 6. Ford, LF. 7. Heintz, C. 8. Bartlett, SS. 9. Ortiz, P.

Brew Crew

1.Gwynn, RF. 2. Hardy, SS. 3. Fielder, 1B. 4. Hall. 5. Jenkins, LF. 6. Miller, C. 7. Graffanino, 2B. 8. Counsell, 3B. 9. Vargas, P.

Gardy went with Cirillo and Ford over Punto and Kubel today. Lefthanders are batting just .235 against Dave Bush but righthanders are hitting .346 off him.

Everybody is getting haircuts this weekend. Some players are kicking and screaming while doing it. I’ll have more on that later.

The Twins also want to get Garret Jones back up. They like the idea of having another non-Piranha in the lineup, and they think they can unlock something in his swing to help his power.

All reports suggest that Baker is a different pitcher than the last version. We’ll see tonight.

Twins fans are here in force this weekend. I visited some friends in the stands on Friday and there were Twins logos all over the place. Gardy praised the fans before today’s game, noting how great the atmosphere was.

 

Twins

1. Castillo, 2B. 2. Cirillo, 3B. 3. Cuddyer, RF. 4. Morneau, 1B. 5. Hunter, CF. 6. Redmond, C. 7. Ford, LF. 8. Bartlett, SS. 9. Baker, P.

Brew Crew

1. Gywnn, RF. 2. Hardy, SS. 3. Fielder, 1B. 4. Hall, CF. 5. Estrada, C. 6. Jenkins, LF. 7. Graffanino, 2B. 8. Counsell, 3B. 9. Bush, P.

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Doctors have reccommended surgery that would knock reliever Jesse Crain out of action for the rest of the season. Recovery would take eight months, so he would be able to pitch at the start of next season - if all goes well.

Crain is going to take some time before making a decision. It’s a tough blow because its getting easier to come back from Tommy John surgery than it is from labrum and rotator cuff tears.

Bartlett is getting a day off. 

Oh, and it’s Paul Molitor bobblehead night here. 

 

Lineups

Twins: 1. Castillo, 2B. 2. Cirillo, 3B. 3. Cuddyer, RF. 4.  Morneau, 1B. 5. Hunter, CF. 6. Redmond, C. 7. Ford, LF. 8.  Punto, SS. 9. Bonser P.

Brewers: 1. Gross, RF. 2. Hardy, SS. 3. Fielder, !B. 4. Hall, CF. 5. Estrada, C. 6. Jenkins, LF. 7. Graffanino, 2B. 8. Counsell, 3B. Capuano, P.

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This is the dark side of baseball writing.

Two nights of going to bed around 2 a.m. after leaving the park at midnight. Then getting up at 7 a.m. Thursday to get to the park by 8:30 a.m. so I can cover Cleveland’s sweep of the Twins.

I was up at 4:45 a.m. this morning to get to the airport to catch a 6:30 a.m. flight. The fluctuating sleep patterns get to you sometimes in this gig. Now I’m changing planes in Detroit to get to Milwaukee for the start of the Twins-Brewers series.

A lefty, Chris Capuano, is waiting at Miller Park for the Twins, who can’t hit lefties like Kirk Hinrich couldn’t hit open jumpers last night against the Pistons (yes, I’m still a Bulls fan). Of course, I’ve got a Detroit Free Press in front me with Mitch Albom making fun of my squad. At least Flip is close to the finals, I guess.

The Brewers have stumbled a little lately, but the Twins still need to pack a lunch if they want to win this series. It should be a great atmosphere because Twins Nation travels well to Milwaukee. The question that needs to be raised: Will the Twins give them anything to cheer about? The Twins need to get out to a lead and hold it for a few innngs so 1) they can remember what that feels like and 2) so they can relax and let their talent show.

Before I go, I’ve got to give Seth Stohs a little grief. He’s posted a Q & A with Kevin Slowey (link below and to the right) for which he asked me to suggest a question to ask. So I suggested a question I asked Slowey during spring training - which program is better at Winthrop, hoops or baseball?

I had no idea Seth was going present the Q & A the way he did. I thought Seth was doing the interviewing. Shame on you, Seth!
That’s all I’ve got. I may try to sneak in a nap before I board my flight in about an hour. See ya…. 

 

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The Twins talked about bunting on C.C. Sabathia last night but only one, Jason Bartlett, tried it - and popped out to C.C.

So Sabathia foils the Twins again and is quite pleased about it, as you can read here in the Cleveland Plain-Dealer.

I’m headed down to the clubhouse right now to see how the lads are doing. There were some pretty ticked off baseball players in there last night. And they should be because they won’t sniff any part of the postseason with what they are throwing out on the field right now. Will be back with lineups soon…. 

Twins: 1. Castillo, 2B. 2. Bartlett, SS. 3. Cuddyer, RF. 4. Morneau, 1B. 5. Hunter, CF. 6. Kubel, LF. 7. Redmond, C. 8. Jones, DH. 9. Punto, 3B. Pitching: Santana.

 

Indians:1. Sizemore, CF. 2. Blake, 3B. 3. Hafner, DH. 4. Martinez, C. 5. Garko, 1B. 6. Nixon, RF. 7. Michaels, LF. 8. Barfield, 2B. 9. Rouse, SS. Pitching: Carmona.

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