Another casual Sunday morning at the park as the Twins prepare to face Cleveland’s Paul Byrd, who was 4-0 against then last season.

Twins manager Ron Gardenhire expects Adam Everett to need at least a week of rehab for his shoulder tendinitis. He won’t hit or throw so he can focus on regaining the strength he’s lost in the shoulder.

Gardy thought about starting Matt Tolbert today but decided to give Brendan Harris another start at second after he played well there yesterday. The Twins are still trying to get their new players to buy into their defensive standards but Gardy praised Harris for how hard he’s worked on his defense since joining the club.

Mauer is getting a day off so Mike Redmond gets his third start of the season.

Justin Morneau asked Gardy for a DH day and got one. So Mike Lamb is at first.

A chunk of the pre-game was spent talking about defense, so Nick Punto’s name came up because he’s the focus of so much anger from fans. Punto was terrible at the plate last year and hits the ball in the air too much for someone with no power. But what can’t be denied is that he’s an excellent defensive player.

When it was mentioned how much Punto gets ripped by fans, Gardy replied: “That’s because he doesn’t help fantasy teams but he can help you win baseball games.”

Gardy, Twins players and media members were surprised by the news that Frank Thomas was released by the Blue Jays. Sounds like the Big Hurt’s mouth got him in trouble again.

Thomas must have really ticked off manager Jay Gibbons. I will contend that three weeks is not long enough to evaluate someone like Thomas before deciding to reduce his playing time.

Someone has to take a chance on the 39-year old future Hall of Famer, right? I initially thought that Thomas was placed on release waivers. But I just looked into this, and the Blue Jays are on the hook for the remainder of his 2008 salary while Thomas can work out a deal with any team. The belief is that Thomas’ agent will try to get something like a two-year deal.

Correction: Now I have been told that the Blue Jays officially designated Thomas for assignment, so they have ten days to trade him, send him down to the minors or release him. No one will trade for that contract or claim him off waivers, I’m guessing, so he will be released and then seek a deal elsewhere. 

I’m not saying the Twins are interested. They’ve got DH candidates in Jason Kubel and Craig Monroe, especially when Michael Cuddyer returns from the DL.

Lineups

Cleveland (7-11): 1. Grady Sizemore, CF. 2. David Dellucci, LF. 3. Travis Hafner, DH. 4. Victor Martinez, C. 5. Jhonny Peralta, SS. 6. Ryan Garko, 1B. 7. Asdrubal Cabrera, 2B. 8. Franklin Gutierrez, RF. 9.  Casey Blake, 3B. Pitching: Paul Byrd.

Twins (8-10): 1. Carlos Gomez, CF. 2. Brendan Harris, 2B. 3. Jason Kubel, RF. 4. Justin Morneau, 1B. 5. Delmon Young, LF. 6. Brian Buscher, 3B. 7. Mike Redmond, C. 8. Mike Lamb, 1B. 9. Nick Punto, SS. Pitching: Scott Baker.

Running late today. Here are the lineups. Updates to follow.

Cleveland (6-10): 1. Grady Sizemore, CF. 2. Jamey Carroll, 2B. 3. Victor Martinez, DH. 4. Ryan Garko, 1B. 5. Jhonny Peralta, SS. 6. Franklin Gutierrez, RF. 7. Jason Michaels, LF. 8. Casey Blake, 3B. 9. Kelly Shoppach, C.  Pitching: Cliff Lee.

Twins (7-9): 1. Carlos Gomez, CF. 2. Matt Tolbert, SS. 3. Joe Mauer, C. 4. Justin Morneau, 1B. 5. Delmon Young, LF. 6. Jason Kubel, RF. 7. Craig Monroe, DH. 8. Brendan Harris, 2B. Nick Punto, 3B. Pitching: Fransisco Liriano.

Righthander Brian Bass left tonight’s game in the fifth inning with some sort of injury. He had just completed an intentional walk to Eric Hinske when he motioned to the Twins dugout for help. Never seen that before.

Matt Guerrier has replaced Bass. We’ll update you here when we’re given an update.

Update: Bass left the game with a lower back strain and is listed as day-to-day.

Speaking of updates, Carlos Pena left the game after four innings with a tight right hamstring…. 

 Twins starter Boof Bonser had trouble throwing strikes all night and was removed after he loaded the bases in the fifth. But Bass lasted just 14 pitches.

I love Carl Crawford’s skills but he’s got to slow the game down a little bit and remember game situations. I spoke to some people after the game and they said the mistakes he’s made at the Dome since 2007 are examples of why things have been even tougher on the Rays (it’s bad enough they’re in the AL East). Crawford hasn’t been the only cuprit over there.

I’ve talked with Joe Maddon a couple times and I think he’s got things headed in the right direction. But Crawford can’t let his brain fall behind his body.

In a highly unusual move, the Twins were on the field at 3:45 p.m. this afternoon - about 45 minutes earlier that they normally are. They are going over all kinds of fielding drills. I know there have been a couple miscues in recent games but I don’t think there’s been a rash of mistakes.

Anyway, here are the lineups:

Tampa Bay (6-9):1.Akinori Iwamura, 2B. 2. Carl Crawford, LF. 3. B.J. Upton, CF. 4. Carlos Pena, 1B. 5. Evan Longoria, 3. 6. Eric Hinske, RF. 7. Jonny Gomes, DH. 8. Mike Difelice, C. 9. Jason Bartlett, SS. Pitching: Jason Hammel.

Twins (7-8): 1. Carlos Gomez, CF. 2. Matt Tolbert, SS. 3. Joe Mauer, C. 4. Justin Morneau, 1B. 5. Delmon Young, LF. 6. Jason Kubel, DH. 7. Brendan Harris, 2B. 8. Mike Lamb, 3B. 9. Denard Span, RF.  Pitching: Boff Bonser.

Since I wasn’t on the last road trip I’m trying to remember what it’s like to cover a team again. So I’m waiting for injury updates on Adam Everett, Kevin Slowey and Michael Cuddyer.

Here are the updates:

Everett: Had an MRI today and will confer with Twins doctors around 6 p.m. He’s frustrated because he doesn’t remember a play during which he injured it. (Reporter’s note: This means that we’ll likely get an update after the game, since the clubhouse is now closed. The only chance for an in-game update is if Everett is headed to the DL.)

Cuddy: Admitted that his finger injury is going slower than expected and he’s pretty bummed out about it. His right index finger, by the way, is Shaq-sized right now.  It doesn’t look like he’ll be ready to come off the disabled list in four days.

Slowey:  Threw in the bullpen today with no problems, but he will need to have at least two more pain-free sessions before they send him out for a rehab assignment.

Gardy seemed rather upbeat for someone who had just watched two rough games. His bullpen’s track record indicates that the relievers will shake off two bad days, and he’s seeing some fight from his lads.

He thought Mat Tolbert had a great at-bat going against Todd Jones before making the final out. He thinks Delmon Young is about to bust out and feels Mike Lamb will start hitting soon. I know Punto is a four-letter word around these parts, but Gardy thinks the infielder is starting to relax a little at the plate.

“I thought we played good baseball this road trip for the most part,” Gardenhire said. “We lost a few games late but we were getting after the game pretty good. Even in the game (Tuesday) with Detroit we got behind late and kept playing. They had to get us out at the end. ”

 Here are the lineups:

Tampa Bay (6-8): 1.Akinori Iwamura, 2B. 2. Carl Crawford, LF. 3. B.J. Upton, CF. 4. Carlos Pena, 1B. 5. Evan Longoria, 3B. 6. Eric Hinske, RF. 7. Jonny Gomes, DH. 8. Shawn Riggans, C. 9. Jason Bartlett, SS.  Pitching: James Shields.

Note: Rays have nine players on the disabled list. Wow.

Twins (6-8): 1. Carlos Gomez, CF. 2. Denard Span, RF. 3. Joe Mauer, C. 4. Justin Morneau, 1B. 5. Delmon Young, LF. 6. Jason Kubel, DH. 7. Brendan Harris, 2B. 8. Mike Lamb, 3B. Nick Punto, SS. Pitching: Livan Hernandez.

I’m not sure if everyone was aware of this story but I have several reactions.

1. I weep for us as a sports society because someone had the brainstorm to toss a perfectly good jersey into the concrete.

2. I weep for us as a sports society because the Yankees were so paranoid about it that they went in to retrieve it. Just read Hal Steinbrenner’s reaction in this AP story.

3.  Was the time capsule full?

4.  Why couldn’t the Yankees spin it their way and say it reflects how the Yankees have buried the Red Sox for a majority of the past century.

5. Big deal, someone threw a jersey in there. Some curses over the years have been documented but think of how many have failed. As a young sports fan, I attempted to place curses on the Cubs, Red Wings, Pistons, St. Rita High School, every sports team in Wisconsin and Dino Ciccarelli. None worked.

6. Um, who’s watching over the Twins’ construction site?

Seriously, I’ve heard the New Yankees Stadium will be the ultimate in opulence. For instance, the Yankees are basically getting two clubhouses. They will meet with the media in one area, but there will be a large separate area behind that first one where they can dress and unwind.

That seems unreal to me, but I was told during the Twins road trip there last year that the Yanks clubhouse will stretch to the right field foul pole. For Twins fans who have toured the clubhouse during TwinsFest, think about how big it would be if the current Twins clubhouse stretched to the foul pole. But that’s what $1.3 billion gets you. 

By the way, the New Twins Ballpark is going to be pretty nice too. Jim Souhan wrote a great column about the day we got a look at the ballpark model and looked through a downtown window at the construction site.

I’m impressed with how most of the lights are attached to the canopy that runs from foul pole to foul pole. There’s only one, `light tower,’ and it will be over the scoreboard. The scoreboard won’t be as large as the monster you’re seeing in Kansas City this weekend, but it will blow the Dome scoreboard away.

I like quirks, so I think the overhang in right field is a nice touch. And the plaza behind right field is a no-brainer, as it will be a key point of entry from First Avenue into the stadium

The concourses will always be open, so commuters can take the light rail to the stadium, get off the train and cut through the ballpark on the way to work.

It’s unfortunate that there’s not a retractable roof on the ballpark, but it should be a great place to watch a game. Just remember, the last row of the upper deck of the new ballpark is equal to where the first row of the Dome’s left field upper deck is. Wow.