The Twins will have to go at least a couple days without first baseman Justin Morneau, who is headed back to the Twin Cities tonight to see a ear nose and throat specialist.

Morneau, who has been bothered by an inner ear infection for several days, said he feels fine when he’s still for awhile but begins to feel off-balance when  he tries to move around.

He sat on the bench during Wednesday’s game and felt better. He even thought he could pinch hit. But he tried to move around and the dizziness came back.

“Nothing has changed,” he said.

He was given medication in Texas and told that it would start to work in 24 hours.

“It has not,” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. “Now we go to the next level.”

Gardenhire is holding out hope that Morneau can join the team this weekend in Kansas City. But considering how Denard Span struggled with a similar problem, a longer recovery is possible. And that would mean a trip to the disabled list.

The only difference between Morneau’s and Span’s cases is that Span ended  up seeing a thyroid specialist. Morneau hasn’t reached that point yet. But the ENT specialist could recommend that.

There’s never a good time for something like this. But this cripples a team that’s holding onto hopes it can get  back in the postseason picture.

So Michael Cuddyer is back at first base. Joe Mauer, who took two foul tips off him last night, thought a DH day was a good idea.

Jose Mijares a few days ago, had a son born in Venezuela. His name is Javier Alejandro Mijares.

And Texas’ lineup got a little stronger today. They just activated Nelson Cruz.

One more thing: Now the Silver Slugger people are saying the only reason Huff was listed as a DH was that he won the award at that position in the past. I just hope it’s not the actual ballot. Will check tommorrow.

Lineups

Twins (58-62)

1. Deanrd Span, RF
2. Orlando Cabrera, SS
3. Joe Mauer, DH
4. Michael Cuddyer, 1B
5. Joe Crede, 3B
6. Delmon Young, LF
7. Mike Redmond, C
8. Carlos Gomez, CF
9. Nick Punto, 2B

Pitching: Swarzak

Rangers (67-52)

1. Julio Borbon, DH
2. Michael Young, 3B
3. Josh Hamilton, CF
4. Marlon Byrd, LF
5. Ian Kinsler, 2B
6. Nelson Cruz, RF
7. Hank Blalock, 1B
8. Taylor Teagarden, C
9. Elvis Andrus,  SS

Pitching: Derek Holland, LHP

Just a couple things:

 ESPN’s Kieth Law wrote about the best and worst drafts, based on who was signed before Monday’s deadline. Guess which team he thought had the second-best draft? The Twins.

Here’s what he wrote:

 “The Twins march to their own drummer in the draft, and this year that meant taking some guys who were more highly regarded in January than they were in June, including first-rounder Kyle Gibson, a probable top-15 pick whose season ended with a stress fracture in his throwing arm. He’s healthy now and throwing pain-free, so the Twins may have landed a player who should have been long gone by their first pick simply because they were willing to take on some risk. What their draft might have lacked in pure upside — they took mostly college players early, and only Gibson and Ben Tootle (whose spring was ruined by a bad stomach flu) really project as impact guys — it made up for in depth, with picks like Indiana sinkerballer Matt Bashore and Minnesota second baseman Derek McCallum.”

The Twins usually identify an area to attack each year, and this year they needed college arms who could get to the majors in a couple years. There’s been talk of Kyle Gibson being ready to help the Twins next year. That’s not how the Twins roll. Look for Gibson to pitch in instructional league, and spend a year in the minors.

 That’s not the end of the world. Matt Garza was drafted in 2005 and debuted in 2006, but he was able to pitch in the year he was drafted. Gibson has been injured, so the safe play is to take it easy with him next year.

Silver Slugger

The Silver Slugger ballots have been sent to major league managers and coaching staffs. Here’s who will lose to Joe Mauer and compete with Justin Morneau.

 Catchers - American League

Joe Mauer, Minnesota Twins

Victor Martinez, Boston Red Sox

A.J. Pierzynski, Chicago White Sox

Kurt Suzuki, Oakland Athletics

Mike Napoli, Los Angeles Angels

 First basemen - American League

Justin Morneau, Minnesota Twins

Mark Teixeira, New York Yankees

Miguel Cabrera, Detroit Tigers

Here’s where I have a problem:

Designated hitter:

Aubrey Huff, Detroit Tigers*

David Ortiz, Boston Red Sox*

Adam Lind, Toronto Blue Jays

Aubrey Huff has spent the majority of the season at first base. Jason Kubel isn’t listed on this ballot, which is wrong. Even if coaching staffs can write in whoever they want, not listing Kubel and having Huff as a DH  misleads people. Adam Lind. by the way, has had more at-bats as an outfielder than Kubel this season.

I’m not saying Kubel should win. But he deserves to be considered. If you do a straight DH search on ESPN.com, Kubel’s numbers put him in the mix.

The last two nights, there have been some questionable calls. I’m not talking about ball/strike calls (even while watching games on television, umpires seem to be inconsistent in this park for some reason).

Yesterday, it was clear that Carlos Gomez was hit with a Scott Feldman pitch - I think the sight of Gomez looking like he’d just been electrocuted sold the play. But home plate umpire Dale Scott, who has botched calls against the Twins in the past, claimed the ball ticked Gomez’s bat.

Gomez’s hand was red and throbbing. Twins manager Ron Gardenhire asked Scott to just look at Gomez’s hand for proof that it hit him. Scott refused.

Funny…there was a memo on Gardy’s desk before the game talking about how hard umpires are working to get calls right and that managers should understand that. Hah!

Tonight, it looked like Julio Borbon missed third base as he scored on Michael Young’s single. The Twins bench threw their arms up in the air immediately, and Gardenhire had Scott Baker appeal the play. Safe. 

Now, I’m not close enough to see for sure, but it was clear Borbon didn’t touch much of the bag. Umpire - Dale Scott - claimed that Borbon’s foot landed on the inside of the bag but he felt the foot turned inward and brushed the bag as he went by. Whatever. No one has the guts to call those appeal plays, anyway.

The whopper was the ninth inning, when Andruw Jones clearly went around on a two-strike swing against Joe Nathan. I’ve had surgeries on both eyes and could see his wrists snap the bat across the plate - and the replays showed that it wasn’t even close.

Home plate umpire Ron Kulpa said Jones didn’t go around. An appeal to first base Jerry Meals got the same response. Gardy hit the roof, and I heard the language wasn’t very clean.

“You’ve got to be kidding me!” I barked in the pressbox. I was up against deadline. I didn’t care who was winning, I just wanted the game over so I could get in the clubhouse.

Nathan was hotter than I was. Joe Mauer - who got nicked up by a couple foul balls in the game, by the way - had to go out to the mound and put his arm around Nathan to calm him down. Jones, of course, then drives a Nathan pitch down the line that hooked foul. Whoa. But Nathan finally struck Jones out to end the game.

I try not to go Patrick Reusse on umpires. It’s a game played and judged by humans, and humans make mistakes.

But what game were those guys watching? And that memo……..bah!

Jason Kubel’s left knee felt good enough for him to be in tonight’s starting lineup. Justin Morneau, however, continues to battle an ear infection. Gardenhire is going to give Morneau another day to see if his condition improves. No one wants to see him land on the disabled list, and Gardenhire is trying to be as patient as he can.

Joe Mauer woke up today trailing only Albert Pujols in OPS. And, if you haven’t watched ESPN today, here’s the following note:

Mauer, with a .383 average and 25 homers, is one of five players to bat at least .380 with at least 25 homers this late in the season. The others: Ted Williams (1941 and 1957), Joe DiMaggio (1939), Lou Gehrig (1930 and 1936) and Babe Ruth (1931).

What Mauer is doing right now is sick.

He’s added 30 points to his batting average in the last 16 games. And while the Twins might not even finish .500 this season, Mauer (and Morneau) will be THE drawing card at the Dome in September.

As I wrote in today’s story, he….is…..on….everything….right….now.

And he won’t come out of the lineup. Gardenhire mentioned to him a couple days ago that it might be time for a break. Mauer looked at him and replied, “I’m good.”

Remember the arcade basketball game in which your player would turn on fire if he hit three straight shots. Mauer is in flames right now.

Forget about the season. Ignore where he might play in 2011. Enjoy the ride. 

Lineups

Twins (57-62)

1. Denard Span, RF
2. Orlando Cabrera, SS
3. Joe Mauer, C
4. Jason Kubel, DH
5. Michael Cuddyer, 1B
6. Joe Crede, 3B
7. Delmon Young, LF
8. Carlos Gomez, CF
9. Nick Punto, 2B

Pitching: Scott Baker

Rangers (67-51)

1. Julio Borborb, DH
2. Michael Young, 3B
3. Josh Hamilton, RF
4. Marlon Byrd, CF
5. David Murphy, LF
6. Ian Kinsler, 2B
7. Hank Blalock, 1B
8. Pudge, C
9. Elvis Andrus, SS

Pitching: Kevin Millwood, RHP

Jason Kubel walked slowly out of the clubhouse tonight, he left knee wrapped up. He fouled a pitch off the knee in his first at-bat.

When manager Ron Gardenhire rushed out and asked him how he felt, Kubel could only say, “Nope!”

“It felt like it did when I initially hurt it,” said Kubel, who tore three ligaments in his knee when he collided with Ryan Raburn during an Arizona Fall League game in 2004. “It felt heavy and I couldn’t move it.”

It felt much better after the game, of course. He said he’ll see what he can do before Wednesday’s game.

Justin Morneau said his right inner ear infection started during the plane ride back from Detroit a couple weeks ago but really started bothering him Monday.

“Tried to play and it just wasn’t better,” he said. “It’s about the same (Tuesday). It’s one of those weird things..it felt good when I woke up this morning. When I started moving around I started feeling dizzy again.

“He (the doc) gave me some new drugs today so, hopefully, I feel better tomorrow.”

It’s a tough time for Morneau and Kubel to go down. If they can’t play Wednesday the Twins will have a two-man bench of Mike Redmond and TBA. Who will DH?

Jesse Crain, who played at San Jacinto JC and the University of Houston, has thrown 18 scoreless innings in his career against Texas, including 8.1 scoreless in Arlington.

And Joe Mauer is on fire, batting .485 this month. His 25 homers are three behind Morneau for the team lead.

He’s batting .383 to lead the American League. Ichiro was 4-for-5 Tuesday and is second at .365.