Watched some of the White Sox-Cubs game before I headed to the Dome. Caught all of the disastrous fourth inning for Jose Contreras. The Cubs hit four homers in the inning - including two by Jim Edmonds - as the Cubs rolled to a 11-7 win.

It was an example of how it doesn’t only happen to the Twins. The Cubs’ game plan clearly was take advantage of Contreras pitching away all the time and pound hits to the opposite field. Contreras never tried to back anyone off the plate to help his cause. When Jim Edmonds hits two opposite field homers, something has to be done.

Baseball Prospectus has updated postseason odds up. Notice how the third-place Tigers have better postseason odds than the Twins.

I don’t know how the Twins can finish better than a couple games over .500. I even pegged them for 78 wins at the beginning of the season. But who is going to run away with the division?

The White Sox smoked the Twins two weeks ago but haven’t played well since, expect for beating up on Pittsburgh. The Twins have stabilized. The big question is if Detroit can fix its pitching staff.

I keep reminding myself that it’s not who you play but when you play them.

Update: Matt Macri did all his pre-game work and seems to be fine, but the Twins were waiting for the results of the MRI to be read. With an off-day on Monday, there’s a chance Joe Mauer will start on Sunday. Michael Cuddyer not only is back with club following the birth of his son but he showed up in time for the autograph party too. 

Paul Molitor is here. Terry Steinbach is here. Even Jamie Ogden is here.

Lineups

D-Backs (39-35): 1. Stephen Drew, SS. 2. Conor Jackson, 1B. 3. Orlando Hudson, 2B. 4. Chad Tracy, DH. 5. Mark Reynolds, 3B. 6. Chris Young, CF. 7. Chris Snyder,, C. 8. Justin Upton, RF. 9. Alex Romero, LF. Pitching: Micah Owings.

Twins (38-36): 1. Carlos Gomez, CF. 2. Alexi Casilla, 2B. 3. Joe Mauer, C. 4. Justin Morneau, 1B. 5. Michael Cuddyer, RF. 6. Jason Kubel, DH. 7. Delmon Young, LF. 8. Brian Buscher, 3B. 9. Brendan Harris, SS. Pitching: Nick Blackburn.

Matt Macri is listed as day-to-day with a left calf strain. He hobbled to first while running out his two-run single in the third inning. He finished the inning but Brian Buscher pinch hit for him in the fourth inning. 

Dan Gladden bobblehead night has arrived. Rick Aguilera is on the field as I write this, one night before he’s inducted into the Twins Hall of Fame.

But this nostalgic weekend, to me, began after Thursday’s game when I watched Jack Morris, Ron Coomer and Paul Molitor play baseball.

While we wrote our stories for today’s paper, Coomer, Black Jack and Molly took the field in a special game for Twins sponsors. Molitor played short. Coomer and Morris pitched. Twins sponsors made up the rest of the teams.

Watched Morris give up a line drive single to center to Twins VP Eric Curry but he got Molitor to pop out to short. I’m like, `this is backwards.’  But the leg kick, the delivery, it was just like the Jack Morris who dominated the 1980’s.

I left after two innings. Morris told me today he pitched five innings. How did he feel?

“Horrible,” Morris said. “I knew my arm and my shoulder would be sore, but my legs are killing me. My calf muscles hurt! My calf muscles never hurt when I played!”

Guess the comeback is out of the question.

Update: Francisco Liriano is pitching tonight for Class AAA Rochester but it’s not going well. You can follow the game here. 

Reporter’s note: Guess I had a bad day yesterday. Had Cuddy’s triple hit to right field and Liriano breaking camp with the major league team. You would figure that when I’ve covered only 9 of the past 30 games I’d be a little sharper than that.  Sorry.

D-Backs (39-34): 1. Stephen Drew, SS. 2. Conor Jackson, 1B. 3. Orlando Hudson, 2B. 4. Chad Tracy, DH. 5. Mark Reynolds, 3B. 6. Chris Young, CF. 7. Miguel Montero, C. 8. Justin Upton, RF. 9. Jeff Salazar, LF. Pitching:The Big Unit

Twins (37-36): !. Carlos Gomez, CF. 2. Alexi Casilla, 2B. 3. Joe Mauer, C. 4. Justin Morneau. 1B. 5. Craig Monroe, RF. 6. Mike Redmond, DH. 7. Delmon Young, LF. 8. Brendan Harris, SS. 9. Matt Macri, 3B. Pitching: Scott Baker.

Joe Mauer does not, I repeat, does  not get Thursday off following Wednesday’s night game. He didn’t play Sunday, there was on off day Monday, there’s another off day next Monday and Mike Redmond may start Friday night against the The Big Unit. So Mauer plays today.

Mauer’s presence in today’s lineup helps the Twins’ chances to sweep an opponent for the first time since May 27-29 at Kansas City. They need a sweep because the AL West-leading Arizona Diamondbacks are coming to town this weekend. Even with a 38-34 record, the D-Backs are a dangerous team.

After Randy Johnson on Friday, the Twins will face Micah Owings on Saturday then the 11-3 Brandon Webb on Sunday. The Twins will throw Scott Baker, Nick Blackburn and Livan Hernandez at Arizona.

Both teams blew off batting practice after two days of unblieveable offense.

Nationals (29-44): 1. Cristian Guzman, SS. 2 Elijah Dukes, RF. 3. Lastings Milledge, CF. 4.  Dmitri Young, DH. 5. Aaron Boone, 1B. 6. Ronnie Belliard, 3B. 7. Felipe Lopez, 2B. 8. Wily Mo Pena, LF. 9. Wil Nieves, C. Pitching: Shawn Hill.

Twins (36-36): 1. Carlos Gomez, CF. 2. Alexi Casilla, 2B. 3. Joe Mauer, C. 4. Justin Morneau, 1B. 5. Michael Cuddyer, RF. 6. Jason Kubel, DH. 7. Delmon Young, LF. 8. Brian Buscher, 3B. 9. Brendan Harris, SS. Pitching: Glen Perkins.

I’ve watched Miami righthander Carlos Gutierrez pitch twice during the NCAA tournament and I don’t like what I’ve seen.

The first time was Saturday after the Twins present closer, Joe Nathan, blew a save opportunity against the Brewers. Gutierrez came on to close out a potential win against Georgia in the College World Series, but all Gutierrez did was cough up the lead as the Bulldogs rallied for the win.

The second time came today, after the nationwide work slow-down to watch the U.S. Open. Gutierrez came in with Miami leading Florida State 7-2 - and promptly gave up three runs. He wanted no part of Buster Posey with the game on the line.

Gutierrez was ranked by Baseball America as the 82nd best prospect in the draft,  but the Twins took him at No. 27. Two Twins scouts saw him pitch in January and were very impressed with his sinking fastball.

He does have a good sinker but he really struggled to spot his four-seam fastball and what he uses as a slider. This guy needs some polish before he can get on the fast track to the majors and justify why the Twins would take him nearly 60 spots ahead of where he was ranked by one publication. Getting Shooter Hunt in the supplemental round, however, could make up for the Gutierrez pick….

Twins minor league director Jim Rantz made massive moves today. “These are the most I’ve made in one day in a long, long time.” he said.

From Class A Fort Myers to Class AA New Britain:

RHP Jeff Manship

RHP Rob Delaney

2B Brian Dinkleman

3B Danny Valencia

From New Britain to Fort Myers:

RHP Jay Rainville

RHP Oswaldo Sosa (43 walks in 62 innings!!)

From Low-A Beloit to Fort Myers:

  2B Steven Singleton

3B Garrett Olson

C Dan Lehmann

From Fort Myers to Beloit:

C Allan De San Miguel

LHP Henry Reyes

Activated from DL to Beloit:

SS Paul Kelly

3B Deibinson Romero

I suspect that Rantz may move some more players once the official halfway point of the season arrives. 

By the way, I’m not a fan of the Twins being careful with their prospects. How about Ben Revere to Fort Myers? And I don’t know why Aaron Hicks can’t at least start his career at Elizabethton, Tenn., which is in a league that’s a notch above the Gulf Coast League. But Hicks will open with the GCL Twins at Fort Myers. Based on everything I’ve heard, Hicks is good enough. They did it with Joe Mauer, why not Hicks?

And second round pick Tyler Ladendorf, despite having some college experience, is starting his pro career with the GCL team. Come on! Give these guys a challenge and find out what they are made of! 

One more thing. I sort of agree with BC Beneke’s assertion that the Twins may not be hurting for third base prospects with Valencia and Romero. But I don’t know if Plouffe will have enough pop to merit him playing third and Luke Hughes is more of a second baseman.

Still, you draft the you-know-what out of third basemen until you find a mainstay and use the rest as trade bait. It’s so hard to find a keeper at that position.

There’s tons of baseball at the Dome and Concordia University this weekend, as the Perfect Game national showcase is taking place here. More than 300 sophomore and junior prep players are in town to play elite games and be checked out by a bunch of major league scouts.

Here’s some info about the event.

I’ve asked several Twins officials if fans can watch these games, and no one has told me no. So if you want to check out the next Aaron Hicks, this could be the place.

I checked out the rosters, and there’s one area prep player, Cretin-Durham Hall’s David Bettenburg, on it. There are a couple players from Wisconsin. I also saw players listed from California, Florida, British Columbia, Venezuela and the Dominican Republic.

In other news, the Twins will promote four players from Class A Fort Myers to Class AA New Britain after Saturday’s Florida State League All-Star Game. Righthander Jeff Manship, third baseman Danny Valencia and second baseman Brian Dinkleman should be locks. I was told either Rob Delaney or Anthony Slama, not both, will go up to help the bullpen. My guess is Delaney.

Have a great weekend and remember, if you’re going to the Twins-Brewers series this weekend, send us your photos here.