The Twins aren’t happy with the Red Sox.

They want today’s B-game at City of Palms Park to count in the Mayor’s Cup standings. Red Sox officials, however, claim that the game won’t count because admission isn’t being charged.

But concession stands are open, there’s a small crowd on hand and the national anthem has been played. Smells official to this well-traveled, well-worn scribe.

“They’ll say it counts if they win,” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. “If they lose, they’ll say it doesn’t count…and we’ll do the same.”

The Red Sox lead the series 2-1 and another win clinches the cup.

The only thing different was that I was in the Twins dugout seconds before the first pitch. A coach asked me if I was dressing out. Jason Kubel said I could sit next to him on the bench if I promised not to say anything.

Me? Be quiet? “Fat chance of that,” I said to myself as I headed for the press box.

Here’s the Twins’ lineup. Josh Beckett is starting for the Red Sox. He’s already swearing on the mound in the first inning. He needed 26 pitches, nine to Matt Tolbert, as the Twins scored an unearned run to take a 1-0 lead.

1. Denard Span, CF. 2. Matt Tolbert, SS.3. Jason Kubel, DH. 4. John Knott, 1B. 5. Garrett Jones, LF. 6. Alejandro Machado, 2B. 7. Jose Morales, C. 8. Howie Clark, 3B. 9. Jason Pridie, RF. Pitching: Baker, then Crain and a little Rincon.

This entry was posted on Monday, March 3rd, 2008 at 9:22 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.