The Twins are 3-4 after a week of games, and you can look at it in two ways.

You can wonder how the Twins could come out of the longest spring training ever unable to play consistently good baseball.

Or you can remind yourself that its early, they are without Joe Mauer’s bat and arm behind the plate and that Scott Baker hasn’t made a start yet.

The Twins starting rotation has a 5.55 ERA. Glen Perkins pitched great on Thursday but the others didn’t have sparkling results. The coaching staff believes that Francisco Liriano was on the wrong end of some ball and strike calls on Saturday and that Nick Blackburn didn’t pitch that bad on Sunday.

I will point out that the Twins starters pitched better than they did in Chicago early last year - including that four-game sweep in June during which they were outscored 40-15.

The Twins offense is averaging 3.7 runs a game - and have already scored one run or less four times. Even without Mauer, the Twins should be more productive than that. They had chances on Saturday against Bartolo Colon but failed to convert and let Colon settle in. As Justin Morneau put it. they are better than that.

The Twins didn’t play great defense during the Sox series, which is unacceptable for the talent they have. Nick Punto and Michael Cuddyer missed plays on Sunday and Delmon Young and Jose Morales missed plays on Friday (Young did say he lost his fly ball in the lights).

Being 3-4 without looking particularly sharp isn’t the worst thing. But this is the same team that landed in a one-game playoff last season and learned a tough lesson about how every play counts. Now that they are back at the Dome -and have thawed out - perhaps they can find their groove against Toronto.

Twins manager Ron Gardenhire had some interesting lineup decisions to make today with the fast-working Mark Buehrle on the mound for the White Sox.  All four of his outfielders have good numbers against the Buehrle-man.

So Gardenhire sat Jason Kubel, who is 0-for-3 against Buehrle, moved Justin Morneau to DH and Michael Cuddyer to first.

Voila’  Here’s Gardenhire’s seventh different lineup in seven games.

Twins

1. Denard Span, RF - 2-for-6, HR vs Buehrle
2. Brendan Harris, 2B - 5-for-16 (.313) vs Buehrle
3. Justin Morneau, DH
4. Michael Cuddyer, 1B - .304 vs Buehrle
5. Joe Crede, 3B
6. Delmon Young, LF - .389/.421/.611 vs Buehrle
7. Carlos Gomez, CF - 6-for-11, HR vs Buehrle
8. Mike Redmond, C - 14-for-28 vs Buehrle
9. Nick Punto, SS - .303 vs Buehrle

Pitching: Nick Blackburn

White Sox

1. Chris Getz, 2B
2. Josh Fields, 3B
3. Carlos Quentin, LF
4. Jim Thome, DH
5. Jermaine Dye, RF
6. Paul Konerko, 1B
7. A.J., C
8. Alexei Ramirez, SS
9. DeWayne Wise, CF

Pitching: Mark Buehrle

Loaded with notes that deal and don’t deal with baseball….

Twins catcher Joe Mauer will begin a running program early next week. Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said things have gone from Mauer being the cautious one early to Mauer wanting to do more and more  - and the club not wanting Mauer to push himself too hard.

It sounds like good news, but it depends on how Mauer feels after running on the field a couple days.

Righthander Scott Baker will have his customary bullpen session on Sunday in Fort Myers then fly to the Twin Citites and wait for the club to return from Chicago. The Twins will make a roster move on Wednesday to clear space for Baker,

Mike Redmond is back in the lineup. So is Carlos Gomez. Delmon Young is 3-for-6 against Bartolo Colon but is not in the lineup.

Spoke with one of the White Sox beat writers about their offense. I said I knew DeWayne Wise couldn’t last as the leadoff hitter, and that the White Sox need someone like Chris Getz lead off because they need table-setters up top. The Sox writer pointed out that six of Chicago’s ten runs this year have come via the home run.

Typical White Sox.  

 It’s not always baseball talk during pre-game sessions with Gardy.

About twice a year, I forget to pack something for a road trip and have to scramble to a department store for replacement items. Sure enough, I didn’t pack enough underwear for this trip, so off to Nordstrom’s I went this morning.

I ripped myself to Twins PR maven Dustin Morse, who mentioned it to Gardy.

“I heard about your underwear, O.K.?” Gardy said when I walked into his office.

Then he made an admission.

“I looked in my bag, and there were two shirts instead of three,” he said. “When the bus drops us off (after the game) I might have to go straight to the North Face and buy another shirt.”

You would think the veteran travelers would have their act together…

Twins

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. Carlos Gomez, CF
8. Mike Redmond, C
9. Nick Punto, SS

Pitching: Francisco Liriano

White Sox

1. Brent Lillibridge, 2B
2. Josh Fields, 3B
3. Carlos Quentin, Lf
4. Jermaine, Dye, RF
5. Paul Konerko, DH
6. Wilson Betemit, 1B
7. Alexei Ramirez, SS
8. Brian Anderson, CF
9. Corky Miller, C

Pitching: Bartolo Colon

Third baseman Joe Crede tried to downplay the homer he hit against his former team.

 “I wasn’t trying to get back at them, I was going out there and trying to help this club win a ballgame,” he said.

He does, however, intend to get back at former teammates Paul Konerko and Brian Anderson.

Crede, last season, played a prank on a slumping Anderson after he tapped back to the pitcher in a game. As he went to the plate before his next at-bat, Crede make sure a Lionel Richie song played over the soundsystem. Anderson tapped back to the pitcher again.

“He face was red!” Crede said while chuckling before the game.

But when Crede batted in the second inning on Friday, `All Out of Love,’ played over the sound system. Anderson was seen smiling in the dugout. It looked like Crede was smirking as he dug in at the plate.

Talk about Air Supply.

Crede homered, and fans at The Cell booed him around the bases. 

“ We have seen that so many times, him running the bases here, it was like, `shoot, he did it again,’ ” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said, “but this time it was for us.”

Crede can’t wait for the White Sox to come to the Dome so he can pay Anderson back. And he’s including Konerko in it too - he just figures Konerko had a part in the gag.

“I’ve got some good stuff for them,” Crede said. “Especially B.A. and Konerko because I know they had something to do with that. It was all in good fun.” 

SHAKE AND BAKE REPORT

Righthander Scott Baker allowed one run over seven innings on five hits, one walk and three strikeouts.

I was concerned about Baker throwing only 70 pitches during his outing. But he explained to Fort Myers News Press reporter David Dorsey after the game that he was fine.

“The thing is, it’s not the number of pitches I was throwing,” Baker said. “It was sitting down and getting back up and warming up again. I felt good about that.”

More from Dorsey:

Steve Singleton hit a two-run homer in the first and tripled in the seventh. He also combined on a double play.

After the game, Baker paid for the entire team meal - supplied by popular Italian restraunt Nino’s - approved by yours truly. 

“It’s nice to play with a big leaguer like that,” Singleton said of Baker. “You can just tell he’s a big league guy. He doesn’t really get himself into any trouble.”

Baker likes the Miracle team. (Ben Revere made a diving catch for him in the sixth inning with no one on, ending the inning).

“They played very well,” Baker said of the Miracle. “They had a couple of baserunning mistakes. But they play the game the right way. I see them doing very well this year.”

Righthander Carlos Gutierrez - one of the Twins’ two first-round picks last year  - followed Baker with two scoreless innings, including two strikeouts. The Twins were very impressed with Gutierrez during spring training and some people with the club wouldn’t be surprised if Gutierrez moves quickly through the system.

Five games. Five different lineups for the Twins.

Twins manager Ron Gardehire has moved Michael Cuddyer down to the No. 5 spot, partially because Cuddyer is batting .217 against Jose Contreras.

Batting third….Justin Morneau.

Neither Denard Span nor Carlos Gomez has faced Contreras. Span is in center. Gomez is on the bench.

Having grown up watching Frank Thomas give the White Sox numerous first-inning leads with the long ball, you can envision Morneau doing the same for the Twins.

“Why not?” Gardenhire said. “Just try to move people around and see what happens. You never know.  We didn’t exactly light it up yesterday and we haven’t scored a lot of runs yet.”

The wind, by the way, is gusting out to center/right center as of now.

Will Morneau stay in the No. 3 hole (until Joe Mauer returns)? Who knows? Gardy has quite the challenge in trying to push the right buttons with his lineup every day. Problem is, Morneau is just 3 for 26 against Contreras.

Twins

1. Denard Span. CF
2. Alexi Casilla, 2B.
3. Justin Morneau, 1B
4. Jason Kubel, DH - 5 for 11 vs Contreras
5. Michael Cuddyer,  RF
6. Joe Crede, 3B
7. Delmon Young, LF 2 for 3, HR vs Contreras, .404 AVG at The Cell.
8. Jose Morales, C - caught Dickey a lot during camp
9. Nick Punto, SS

Pitching: The Knuckler

Pale Hose

1. Chris Getz, 2B
2. Josh Fields, 3B
3. Carlos Quentin, LF
4. Jim Thome, DH
5. Jermaine Dye, RF
6. Paul Konerko, 1B
7. A.J., C
8. Alexei Ramirez, SS
9. DeWayne Wise, CF

Pitching: Jose Contreras