The locals here tell me the weather has been rather crummy this summer, but not last few days.

People have left their umbrellas at home and have been out to play. Things were bustling when I checked into the hotel at 11-ish last night. The Killers were in concert last night and post-concert partying was in full force.

When I left the hotel this morning to walk to the park, I couldn’t help but chuckle at all the red-eyed souls lined up at the front desk to check out.

The way Twins manager Ron Gardenhire talked, his hitters have looked a little worn out lately. Especially yesterday in a big loss to Cleveland.

“Some slow poles out there,” he said.

So Brian Buscher is starting at third, Nick Punto at short and Delmon Young is in left. Will it work. Will it matter? They need the Tigers to cool off and they need their bats to get going before they can prove everyone wrong. They also have to prove they can win a game here, where they are 1-9 over their last 10 game.

The Twins are taking batting practice before the game, one reason is so they can figure out how the ball plays off the bat here. There are a lot of visible seams in the turf and, as someone with the team told me, the field is like an old basketball floor; you have to figure where the soft spots are.

Joe Crede is taking b.p. and fielding grounders at third. Everything appears to be set for Crede to face Francisco Liriano tomorrow in a simulated game. Good, it’s time for Crede to get back on the field instead of telling me how great Blaine Gabbert is.

Lineups

Twins (68-68)

1. Denard Span, CF
2. Nick Punto, SS
3. Joe Mauer, C
4. Justin Morneau, 1B
5. Jason Kubel, DH
6. Michael Cuddyer, RF
7. Delmon Young, LF
8. Brian Buscher, 3B
9. Alexi Casilla, 2B

Pitching: Jeff Manship, RHP

Toronto (61-75)

1.  Marco Scutaro, SS
2. Aaron Hill, 2B
3. Adam Lind, DH
4. Lyle Overbay, 1B
5. Vernon Wells, CF
6. Rod Barajas, C
7. Edwin Encarnacion, 3B
8. Travis Snider, LF
9. Joe Inglett, RF

This entry was posted on Monday, September 7th, 2009 at 11:02 am and is filed under Game threads. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.