The Twins have designated righthander Philip Humber for assignment and will take a chance on hard-throwing righthander Juan Morillo, whom they claimed off waivers from Colorado.

Morillo, 25, didn’t pitch in a game this year and was designated for assignment by the Rockies on Apr. 10. He has a 11.42 ERA in 8.2 innings in the majors.

“He’s got a big fastball, that’s all I can tell you,” Twins player personnel head Mike Radcliff said.

Morillo can throw in the mid 90’s - he has touched 96 - but control has been an issue.  Here’s his bio  - check out that 80- walk season in 2006. Can pitching coach Rick Anderson work his magic with Morillo?

Morillo will replace Humber on the roster. Humber, 26, gave up 6 runs in 4.1 innings with the Twins this year.

Humber and Morillo both are out of options, so it’s a case of a couple teams looking to try something different. Humber, of course, was one of four players the Twins received for Johan Santana before the 2008 season. With Humber and R. A. Dickey, the Twins had two innings-eaters. so one was expendable. If the Twins get anything out or Morillo, they have another pitcher who can match up with power hitters late in games, which would be a big boost.

Jesse Crain, by the way, hit 95 with his last pitch on Thursday, a very good sign.

Just a few things I wanted to discuss as I watch New Yankee Stadium coverage on the MLB Network.

I had just gotten off deadline last night when I checked our website and found this story.

It reminded me of a conversation I had with Twins owner Jim Pohlad during spring training when I ran into him outside the Twins offices at Hammond Stadium in Fort Myers, Fla.

Me: “How long are you staying?

JP: “I go back tomorrow.”

Me: “Really? You just got down today.”

JP: “I have to get back and solve the world’s economic problems.”

Talk about putting money where your mouth is. I believe the Pohald family should have built a retractable roof on Target Field. I think they should be more proactive in signing free agents or in going after top latin prospects. But you can’t deny that this is an impressive donation that will mean a lot to many needy people.

LAST NIGHT’S BEATDOWN

There are a few times during a season when the media will walk into a clubhouse after a game and find no one to talk to. That was the case last night after Toronto blasted the local nine 12-2.

Other than Scott Baker, who had to speak with us, Nick Blackburn and some coaches, the clubhouse was generally empty. This one ticked the fellas off a little bit.

So it will be interesting to see how they respond today.

 I found Ron Gardenhire’s comments about the starting pitching after the game to be very interesting. In case you missed it, here’s one of them:

“Sometimes this is a good thing when they get beat around,” he said. “They know they have to step back and go, `Hey.’ Can’t just throw your uniform out there. You can’t throw you glove out there. You have to work at it and make better pitches. Maybe say. `Hey, we’re five good starters and now we have to work.’  You have to make it work.

“I think they are all a pretty good bunch of guys. They don’t take anything for granted, but sometimes you get slapped in the face a little bit. It makes you step back and go at it a little harder.”

I don’t think the coaching staff is happy with that 5.80 starter’s ERA, do you? I sensed on Wednesday that they want Baker to understand that adjustments come during the game, not after.

SCOTT RICHMOND?

I was intrigued by the story of Toronto starter Scott Richmond. He began his college career late at Oklahoma State - sounds like he was just a 9-to-5er after high school for a couple years. After his career with the Cowboys, he signed with Edmonton of the Northern League and pitched there two-plus seasons.

Clark Griffith, yes, THAT Clark Griffith, is the commissioner of the Northern League and watched Richmond pitch in 2007 and tried to get the Twins to sign him.

 “I came back (to the Twin Cities) and went to go see (Twins GM) Terry Ryan,’’ Griffith said. “I said, `You’ve got to sign Scott Richmond.’ Terry was thinking about quitting at the time.
“I got in touch with Bill Smith a little later, but Toronto ended up getting him.’’

Richmond signed with the Jays as a 28-year old and started at Class AA New Hampshire - but eventually got called up to the majors. Toronto has some injury problems this year and Richmond is getting another chance.

“He throws a lot of breaking balls,” Twins pitching coach Rick Anderson said.

O.K., he’s a junk baller. But he’s gone from being a Northern League vet to making the major league minimum. Looks a like a victory to me.

JACKIE ROBINSON

I’ll get into this a little more on Sunday, but for all the nice things MLB does to celebrate Robinson’s career I think it’s goofy to have every major leaguer wear his number. Let the players decide for themselves instead of forcing it on them. Have them wear a patch. I’m just not feeling the impact of 50-60 people wearing No. 42 - like at the Dome on Wednesday.

Being the only African-American full-time baseball beat writer for a newspaper, Robinson’s legacy is important to me. MLB deserves credit for its initiatives to cultivate interest in the game among African-Americans. You don’t have to splash his number on every jersey to impress me. Investing in fields, instruction and professional development within the game impresses me.

 The Lapchick study reports that 10.2 percent of all major leaguers are African-American, which is the first increase since 1995 it was 8.2 percent last year). Don’t know if it’s a reflection of an inevitable cycle or if MLB’s efforts are working. But it’s nice to see.

Your Twins, by the way, are in the middle of an impressive run of black center fielders from Kirby Puckett to Torii Hunter to Denard Span (CF is his best position) to prospects like Ben Revere and Aaron Hicks.

There were a few years where Hunter was still developing and Puckett, whose career was cut short by glaucoma, was out of the game. But Puckett was still a mentor to Hunter, who was a mentor to Span, who surely will mentor the kids coming up behind him. And, trust me, Revere and Hicks smiles light up a room just like Puckett’s did.

A COUPLE MINOR LEAGUE NOTES

I talked with a Twins minor league pitching coach who also believes that righthander Carlos Gutierrez, who was one of two first-round picks last year, will move fast through the system. He’s a starter right now at Class A Fort Myers. He gave up one run over five innings on Wednesday in what turned out to be a loss to Jupiter.

Asked the same coach if Shooter Hunt will rise as fast. “He won’t throw it over,” the coach said. Hunt walked seven batters over 32/3 innings on Wednesday during a loss to Quad Cities in one game of a doubleheader.

Beloit was no-hit in the other game of that twin-bill. The Beloit team has a bunch of players from the E-Town team that set a Appalachian League record for homers last year.

Manager Ron Gardenhire will now go with a bullpen that includes one lefty in Craig Breslow. It’s not the best situation to be in.

We have to remember that Breslow, in a sense, is still the new kid on the block but there was no way the front office was going to risk losing righthander Philip Humber on waivers. (I hope it’s obvious that there’s a difference of opinion going on with the Duensing demotion).

Gardenhire said he’ll use knuckleballer R.A. Dickey against some left-handed hitters. We’ll see how it goes.

I want to make sure it’s clear that Joe Mauer will play in extended spring training games next week if his running program goes well this week. The manager mentioned GCL where I think he meant to say GCL spring training which is actually extended spring training. I’m not sure how many games Mauer will play there before he moves on - but I don’t think the Twins know yet, either.

Lefties hit .426 against Scott Richmond last year, so I kind of anticipated Brian Buscher being in the lineup. But the manager has gone with Joe Crede at third tonight.

Blue Jays (6-3)

1. Marco Scutaro, SS
2. Aaron Hill, 2B
3. Alex Rios, RF
4. Vernon Wells, CF
5. Adam Lind, DH
6. Scott Rolen, 3B
7. Lyle Overbay, 1B
8.  Michael Barrett, C
9. Travis Snider,LF

Pitching: Scott Richmond

Twins (4-5)

1. Denard Span, LF
2. Alexi Casilla, 2B
3. Justin Morneau, 1B
4. Jason Kubel, DH
5. Michael Cuddyer, RF
6. Joe Crede. 3B
7. Mike Redmond, C
8. Nick Punto, SS
9. Carlos Gomez, CF

Pitching: Scott Baker

Glen Perkins huddled with pitching coach Rick Anderson and righthander Kevin Slowey after Slowey was knocked around on Monday by the Blue Jays. He came out of that meeting realizing that he had to pitch effectively inside on Tuesday if he was going to slow down the Blue Jays.

And that’s right up his alley.

There might not be another starter on the team who’s willing to pitch inside more than Perkins.

 “Slowey made a lot of good pitches but they were in the same spot and they started getting out there and were able to hit those balls,” Perkins said. “They kind of made that four-spot (low, outside corner of the plate) down the middle.”

So Perkins attacked inside on Tuesday.  And that opened up the outer half of the plate for him. Once hitters realize that they might get busted inside, most won’t lean out over the plate to hit those pitches on the outer half of the plate.

 Saying it and executing it are two totally different things. A lot of pitchers in the game struggle to throw inside consistently.

Not Perkins.

“Just to be able to back them up, move their feet, stand up , make them jump…I’m definitely not trying to hit guys,” he said.

That’s how you slow down a hot-hitting team like the Blue Jays,

“If you look back on every guy I faced, at least every guy in their lineup, I moved them,” Perkins said. “I was going to take a shot inside and at least let them see that ball coming in there.”

Twins catcher Mike Redmond talked after the game about how much fun he had working with Perkins.

“He’s not even afraid to come inside to lefties,” Redmond said. “And that’s hard to do.”

I remembered looking up at the radar gun readings and seeing a lot of 78-81 mile an hour pitches - changeups. So I asked Redmond how many sliders did he call for, because Perkins really worked on that pitch during spring training as a weapon against right-handed  hitters.  Redmond said Perkins did most of his damage on Tuesday with his change.

We were all intoxicated by Slowey’s three walks and 22 strikeouts during spring training. But Perkins was 4-1 with a 2.03 ERA. Now he’s 0-1, 1.69 after two starts with a WHIP of 0.94.

“I wished we would have scored in the sixth inning (when they loaded the bases) and gotten the win for Perk,” Redmond said.

If Perkins keeps pitching like this, the offense will have plenty of chances to make him a winner.

“I’ve never started a season like this,” Perkins said. “This is the first time in my career where I wasn’t fighting for a spot. I was able to go into spring training and get ready for a season.”

Glen Perkins is coming off an impressive outing against Seattle. Can he become the stopper tonight against the swinging Jays?

The Twins have lost ten straight to the Blue Jays  - and I was there when it began.

It was before the 2007 trade deadline. The Twins were on a road trip to Toronto and Cleveland. The players wanted GM Terry Ryan to add a hitter to their lineup to help the playoff push.

Several players, most notably Juan Rincon and Luis Castillo, were wondering if they were going to be traded. The atmosphere in the Rogers Centre clubhouse before each game was strange as players waited for a deal. Not only did they not get what they wanted, they were steamed when Ryan moved his leadoff hitter - Castillo -for minor leaguers.

Shawn Marcum, Dustin McGowan and Jesse Litsch pitched the Jays to a sweep in that series. Johan Santana gave up four homers in game one, the first time in his career he had done that. Toronto hasn’t lost to the Twins since.

There should be a roster move after the game to make room for Scott Baker.

Hey, don’t forget about our super baseball fan contest! Get involved, you could win some $$$$. For more details, go here.

Update: After the game, the Twins optioned lefthander Brian Duensing to Class AAA Rochester to make room for Baker. The Twins will go with Craig Breslow as the primary lefthander, with some help from The Knuckler.

The roster move might not have been in some editions of today’s paper due to production problems. We apologize to for the omission…. 

 Toronto

1. Marco Scutaro, SS
2. Aaron Hill, 2B
3. Alex Rios, RF
4. Vernon Wells, CF
5. Adam Lind, DH
6, Sccott Rolen, 3B
7. Kevin Millar, 1B
8. Rod Barajas, C
9. Jose Bautista, LF

Pitching: Ricky Romero

Twins

1. Denard Span, RF
2. Alexi Casilla, 2B
3. Justin Morneau, 1B
4. Michael Cuddyer, DH
5. Joe Crede, 3B
6. Delmon Young, LF
7. Mike Redmond, C
8. Nick Punto, SS
9. Carlos Gomez, CF

Pitching Glen Perkins