This is just my fourth time at Wrigley Field.

The first time was my junior year at UIC. The Cubs had a college sports editors day, and I jumped at the chance. We got a tour of the field and a gift bag. But the highlight was when Jimmy Piersall spoke to us.

“The one thing I can tell you is to write whatever the hell you want and don’t give a —- if you piss somebody off,” he said. “That’s what I did, and look at me now.”

A couple months later, it was Father’s Day. Unfortunately, the White Sox weren’t in town (I was a Sox fan as a kid). But the Cubs were in town. So I took my father and grandfather to Wrigley to watch the Cubs and the Mets. I hated the Cubs, but the Wrigley Field experience can’t be beat.

Anyway, the game goes into extra innings. Goose Gossage (still believing he could get hitters out) gave up a grand slam to Kevin McReynolds, and the Cubs ended up losing something like 10-7. I started cheering after the gram slam, and some fan threw beer at me.

My third time at Wrigley was 10 years ago for interleague play. It was Paul Molitor’s last year, and the Twins stunk so bad that their media guide cover the next year was Molitor on deck at Wrigley. The Twins also stunk so bad that year that they called up Brad Thomas from Class AA. Thomas started one of the Wrigley games and got pounded. I remember him hitting a home run during batting practice and walking off the field smiling. That smile didn’t last long.

Now I’m back for visit No. 4. It’s a beautiful day for afternoon baseball.

BluesFest is going on. It just so happens that the great Koko Taylor’s funeral is today in Chicago. Caught her show once. What a singer.

 Kenny Chesney will sing Take Me Out To The Ballgame. Kanye West had a free concert here yesterday.  There are Twins fans all over the  place.

This town ROCKS.

Update: Denard Span will remain in the Twin Cities this weekend as he deals with dizziness. He’s back on the medication he was on before. Apparently, Span stopped taking the medication because it made him feel wierd. Span also missed an appointment with a specialist and will see him on Tuesday.

So manager Ron Gardenhire is short-handed again - this time in a N.L. park.

Joe Mauer is sick, but in the lineup. He said he started feeling bad in Seattle. He looked and sounded horrible when I saw him this morning.

“Just pull a Michael Jordan.” I said to him.

“Sometimes you play better when you’re not feeling well.” Mauer said. “Maybe it will help.”

No Cubs lineup yet. Here’s the Twins:

Twins (30-32)

1. Brendan Harris, SS
2. Joe Mauer, C
3. Justin Morneau, 1B
4. Jason Kubel, RF
5. Joe Crede, 3B
6. Michael Cuddyer, CF
7. Delmon Young, LF
8. Nick Punto, 2B
9, Kevin Slowey, RHP

Da Cubz (29-28)

1. Alfonso Soriano, LF
2. Mike Fontenot, 3B
3. Milton Bradley, RF
4. Derek Lee, 1B
5. Geovany Soto, C
6. Kosuke Fuikudome, CF
7. Ryan Theriot, SS
8. Aaron Miles, 2B
9. Randy Wells, RHP

Just checked into the hotel. There were several Twins fans on the flight to O’Hare Airport - and I’m sure there will be thousands more to come! It’s going to be quite an atmosphere at Wrigley this weekend.

I just tried to reach scouting director Deron Johnson but he’s working - at the Perfect Game National Showcase that’s at the Dome this weekend.

I won’t be able to get his rundown of the final day of the draft for a couple more hours.

Meanwhile, check here for details about the showcase. If you’re bored this weekend and want to sharpen your scouting skills, I think anyone can watch games.

Thank goodness for blogs so I have an outlet to dish out the information that can’t make the ink version.

Baseball America pointed out that Derek McCallum played hockey in high school and brought that mentality to baseball. That kind of baffled me (is he a grinder or a finesse player?) so I asked McCallum what did that mean.

“Honestly, I’ve never watched myself play,” he said as I laughed. “I’m not sure.”

Deron Johnson, the Twins scouting director, tried to explain.

“Just aggressiveness in the box,” Johnson said. “He takes his hacks but he has plate discipline and uses the whole field.”

I imagine that it also points to some grittiness in the field -but how can middle infielders not have that trait?

I got Johnson on the phone for a few minutes after the draft yesterday while he walked to dinner (I think his goal was to eat half a cow). Here are his takes on some of the players drafted on Day 2.

On sixth rounder Chris Herrmann, who was drafted as a catcher but will play elsewhere: “He’s a hitter, a really good hitter, We took a gamble on him as a conversion guy.”

On 11th rounder Ronnie Richardson, a center fielder who just started switch hitting this year: “He can run and is a really good baseball player. He’s a Chone Figgins type. We really like his athleticism.”

On 14th rounder Matt Tone: “Our area scout identified him. He has  a pretty good fastball and a good slider from the left side. He’ll be a bullpen guy, a two-pitch pitcher.”

On 29th rounder James `Beau’ Wright, a lefty who was better as a junior than senior: “Good arm. Good curveball. He fell in the draft. We like his ceiling and upside. He got hit in the head by a line drive during the area code games.”

On 30th rounder Trayvone Johnson, a catcher: “He came out of high school and went to junior college, then he went to a small school in Texas. He came back and has been working out at Compton. Our scout there saw him. This kid has a well above average arm and is a strong kid. He can really throw. This is a straight-out scout’s pickup.”

Other notes:

• Several players drafted during Day 2: like 15th rounder Steven Liddle, 19th rounder John Stilson and 23rd rounder Eduardo Encinosa, will be followed through summer league action before the Twins decide to sign them.
• Encinosa (Miami) and Wright (Cal-Irvine) are among the players who may opt for college instead of signing with the Twins.
• Johnson said there was some tension in the draft room as they waited for their turn in the fourth round. They were worried another team would take McCallum. “He’s one of the better local players, in our minds, in awhile,” Johnson said.
• The league has pushed back the deadline to sign drafted players to Aug. 17 - because Aug. 15 falls on a Saturday.
• McCallum is represented by Joe Speed of Sterling Sports Management.

A couple posters yesterday expressed concern about the pitching-heavy draft. To that I say: Easy!

The Twins have to field two short-season teams, Last year, 40 different pitchers were used at Elizabethton and the Twins’ Gulf Coast League team. There are injuries, promotions, demotions, etc. but you’ve got draft a bunch of pitchers every year.

As far as position players, there are a few guys I can think of off the top of my head - Aaron Hicks, Tyler Ladendorf and Reggie Williams are a few - who are waiting for the short season to begin. Then there are graduates from the Latin American academy who are waiting. Plus players from Europe and Asia who are working out in Fort Myers, too. So there are prospects around.

Here’s another story about first-rounder Kyle Gibson. I hope this year was the last time he’ll hide an injury.

As for today, I’m flying to Chicago to prepare for the Twins-Cubs series. So I won’t be able to post draft updates until this evening. Feel free to track it from where you are at and discuss the picks here. Later…

The Twins have just selected Gophers second baseman Derek McCallum.

McCallum wass ranked as the 136th- best prospect by Baseball America. He hit .409 this year with 18 homers and 89 RBI.

The Twins have had their eye on McCallum, and have said many times that they want good players from this area in their system.  McCallum, who’s from Shoreview, certainly fits that description.

Update: The Twins have just selected Eric Decker in the 27th round. Decker is a better pro football prospects than the sweet science, but you never know how things will shake out.

I’ll have more later….

Update: The Twins have selected catcher Tobias Streich, out of West Virginia Univ.., with their fifth round pick. Just found a recent story about him.

6th round: Christopher Herrmann, C, Miami: Interesting. Well, you can’t have enough good catching. And they can become tradeable commodities of they pan out.

7th round: Bradley Stillings, RHP, Kent State: Based on this story, Stillings is another pitcher with a pretty good fastball.

8th round: James Dozier, SS, So Miss: Isn’t So. Miss in the CWS? You all can size him up for yourselves…..

9th round: Nick Lockwood, SS, Tampa (Fla.) Jesuit High: Whew! Was worried for a minute that the Twins had totally forgotten that they are the team that drafts high schoolers. Just kidding! The Twins now are stocking up on shortstops, which isn’t a bad idea because you can move them anywhere if the bat is legit. Michael Cuddyer and Dan Gladden were drafted as shortstops, for example. I think this is Brad Radke’s old high school. Good program.

10th round: Michael Dean, OF, LSU: Batted .333. His 15 homers were second on the team. His 65 RBI led the Tigers. Second in walks. Strikeouts OK. Another kid to watch at the CWS. All these college players. What is going on with this organization!!!!

11th round: Ronnie Richardson, CF, Lake Region (Fla.) High: Listed at 5 feet, 6 inches, 171 pounds. Switch hitter. Sounds like another speed guy. BTW, MLB.com has scouting videos of a lot of these picks, if you want to check some out.

12th round: Anthony Davis, LHP, Florida: Was 5-0 with a 2.25 ERA out of the bullpen for the Gators this season. Held opponents to a .190 batting average. Twins are pillaging the Gators bullpen, with Davis and first-day selection Billy Bullock.

13th round: Clarence Davis, SS, Campbell (Ga,) High: Another middle infielder.

14th round: Matt Tone, LHP, SUNY-Cortland: Was a D-III All-American after going 8-0 with a 3.07 ERA. Walked 32 and struck out 84 in 67.1 innings. Guess Cortland is small-school power.

15th round: Steven Liddle, OF, Vanderbilt: This should create some talk. He’s the nephew of the Twins’ bench coach.

16th round: Dakota Watts, RHP, California St.- Stanislaus:Was 8-4 with a 3.65 ERA.

Gotta work on a story now, so I won’t be able to keep up with the picks as soon as they are made. But will catch up later.

Catching up..

17th round: Nicholas Tindall, C, O’Fallon (Ill.) High: Good size,6-4, 190.

18th round: Beau Stoker, SS, Bishop Ward High, Kansas:

19th round:  John Stilson, RHP, Texarkana CC (Texas): 10-1, 2.15. Had 21 walks and 78 strikeouts in 75.1 innings.

20th round: Thomas Mackoul, LHP, UC Riverside: Stats say he only pitched two innings this year. Hmmmm.

21st round: David Holbrooks, RHP, Texas St: Looks like he prefers to be called Kane. Was the Southland pitcher of the year.

22nd round: Stewart Munroe, C, Florida: Wow. Gators West.

23th round: Eduardo Encinosa, RHP, Coral Park High (Miami, Fla.): Listed at 6-4, 210. Like his size. Check this out.

24th round: Mario Hollands, LHP, UC Santa Barbara: Went 6-6, 4.74 this season, was conference freshman pitcher of the year in 2008.

25th round: Anthony Bryant. RHP, Kennewick (Wash.) High:

26th round: Michael Giovenco, RHP North Park (Ill.) Univ.: Here’s some video of him.

27th round: Eric Decker, OF, Gophers: Decker hit .319 with 4 homers, 25 RBI and 11 stolen bases as a member of a pretty good Gophers offense. Decker is one of the best receivers in the Big Ten and, batting injury, shoulder get drafted much higher in the NFL draft than he did today.

28th round: Pat Light, RHP, Cristian Brothers Academy (NJ):

29th round: James Wright, LHP, Los Alomitos (Calif.) High:  Plenty of upside here. Has committed to Cal-Irvine. Throws 88-92 with a big curveball.

30th round: Trayvone Johnson. C, No school: The only things I could find are that he worked out at the Urban Youth Academy in Compton, was drafted by the Phillies in 2006 (the same draft class as Kyle Gibson) didn’t sign was was playing junior college ball. The mystery continues….

Michael Young was a fifth round pick.

Matt Holliday was a  seventh round pick.

Kevin Youkilis, eighth round. Freddy Sanchez, 11th round. Roy Oswalt, 23rd round. Erik Bedard, sixth round. A.J. Burnett, eighth round. Ian Kinsler, 17th round.

Impact players can be found all over a draft, so the Twins have a chance to find some great today as the draft continues with rounds 4-30. There seemed to be some concern (Jaskson?) that the Twins didn’t address over areas when they took pitchers with all four of their picks. Calm down, calm down. They can still strike gold.

One thing I didn’t do last night was list the stats of the other three pitchers. I’ll do that now. 

Player                                             HT   WGT      W-L     ERA   G    IP   H    BB   SO

Matt Bashore, LHP, Indiana:      6-3    200        7-4     3.57   15   91   90   29  101

Billy Bullock, RHP Florida           6-6     225        2-2     2.06  30   44  36    20   44 

Ben Tootle, Jacksonville St.      6-1     185        3-4      4.56  12   51  N/A  35  58

Day One notes:

• Like most teams, the Twins had a list of five players they wanted to take with the first pick. But all five had been taken when it was time for them to pick. But they had done their homework on Gibson and went after him. I’m not sure if the Twins would have torn up their list if their, `Fav Five,’ would have still been in play with Gibson available.
• There was a moment where prep third baseman Bobby Bochering was dropping a little bit. The Twins would have had a tough decision if it came down to Gibson vs. Borchering.
• The Twins clocked Tootle’s fastball at 99 mph, but scouting director Deron Johnson said Tottle actually touched 100 mph during Cape Cod league play last year.
• Johnson wouldn’t comment on how fast these pitchers could move through the system, leaving that up to the coaches. “We have a saying in scouting,” he said. “You sign ‘em, then leave ‘em.”

  Baseball America’s John Manuel wrote that the Twins were one of three teams whose picks impressed him:

The Twins. Minnesota has drafted a hitter with its first pick every year since 2001, with the exception of 2005 (Matt Garza). Not this year. Second-year scouting director Deron Johnson and Co. went heavily after pitching, and it’s hard not to be impressed with the haul. Righthander Kyle Gibson dropped to No. 22 overall due to his forearm stress fracture, but if he’s healthy, he’s a steal at that spot, after ranking as high as fourth on BA’s initial Top 200 draft prospects list. At various points from last summer through this spring, the Twins’ other picks—Indiana lefty Matt Bashore, Florida closer Billy Bullock and Jacksonville State righty Ben Tootle—all were first-round possibilities. Bullock and Tootle were two of the hardest throwers in the college crop, as well.