There are two things that send me to the brink of road rage. One is when drivers don’t use their turn signals. The other is when drivers jump in front of me in the passing lane and force me to slow down.

The latter happened about eight times this morning as I drove across Alligator Alley. I had the cruise control set, had, `Mike and Mike in the Morning,’ on the radio and was minding my own business. Then a guy in an Escalade, a blonde in a Highlander and another guy in a Cherokee appear on the road. For over 30 miles, someone from the group would pass me but eventually slow down and force me to go around them. Eventually, they would accelerate and pass me again, and the process repeated itself over and over.

I got mad, accelerated to a high rate of speed and left them. But I came up on some other cars, and the whole jump-in-the-passing-lane bit began. So the two guys and the blonde eventually caught up. What a mess!

We weren’t in heavy traffic. Why can’t people maintain their rate of speed on a relatively open highway? I was pretty wound up by the time I got to ballpark.

Joe C. is back in Fort Myers, monitoring the Joe Mauer news. The sneaky guy was able to have his MR arthrogram yesterday to speed up the process, so I’m sure we’ll have an update today.

Justin Morneau and Jesse Crain were in the clubhouse this morning after Team Canada was booted from the World Baseball Classic. Bullpen coach Rick Stelmaszek was all over Morneau for getting kicked out of the tournament before Nick Punto.

I like the group of pitchers the Twins have here today.

 Twins: 1. Span, LF. 2. Casilla, 2B. 3. Crede, 3B. 4. Kubel, DH. 5.  Cuddy, RF. 6. Buscher, 1B. 7. Mike Redmond, C. 8. Harris, SS. 9. Gomez, CF. Pitching: Perkins, with Blackburn, Nathan, Dickey, Gosling, Delaney, Swarzak and Julianel on the trip.

Orioles: 1. Roberts, 2B. 2. Jones, CF. 3. Wigginton, 3B. 4. Huff, 1B. 5. Matt Wieters, the greatest catching prospect since Joe Mauer, C. 6. Scott, LF. 7. Freel, RF. 8. Zaun, C. 9. Cabrera, SS. Pitching: Pauley, with George Sherrill, Jim Johnson and friends.

Joe C. and I blitzed the clubhouse this morning to see if Joe Mauer was coming in for any kind of treatment (there were rumors that he was), but the clubhouse, batting cages and a gate to the field were all locked.

Moments later, someone with the club told me that Mauer was not coming in. So we’ll have to wait a day to get his thoughts of the latest developments as he recovers from kidney surgery.

It did give us time to produce the latest reporter’s notebook, which will be posted on our website sometime this afternoon. You won’t need any hints to guess what today’s topic is!

Someone on this blog asked for more information about kidney obstructions. If order for us to get into that subject, we would need more information from Mauer. He’s provided few details and, frankly, he has the right to disclose as much information as he wants.

For background, check out this story. After reading this, I’m not sure I want to hear all the gory details!

Twins catcher Joe Mauer on Tuesday Wednesday will have a magnetic resonance arthrogram to try to get to the bottom of why he’s still having discomfort in his back nearly three months after surgery to remove a kidney obstruction.

Mauer will have dye injected into his back and stomach area to help doctors detect any problems.

The decision was made after Mauer met with the Twins medical staff, including head physician Dr. John Steubs. The Twins and Mauer believed the he would be close to getting back on the field by now but Mauer recently stopped doing on-field activities because of the discomfort.

When asked early Monday morning if he was getting antsy to get on the field, he said. “I have moved well past that.”

Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said the club needs answers.

“We have to figure out what’s going on so we can get him better and get him on the field.” Gardenhire said. “This is another effort to try to figure out where we are at and what we need to do. He’s not on the field yet. He’s not able to consistently go out and do anything.

“Concerned? Yeah.”�

Checked in with three players this morning, and the news was all good.

Righthander Nick Blackburn said his left knee felt good one day after he threw in the bullpen. His next bullpen session is scheduled for Saturday. If that goes well, I would expect the Twins to slip him back into the spring training rotation.

Brendan Harris is back in the starting lineup today after getting plunked behind his left shoulder by Takashi Saito on Sunday, which led to a bruise and swelling.

And, because I feel I need to do this every so often, I checked in with Joe Crede, who making his third spring start at third base today. Crede said he feels great and it’s great to be able to move around again without back pain. He feels he’s on his normal path to being ready for the regular season.

I didn’t talk to Joe Mauer or Joe Nathan. But I saw Mauer through the doorway to the trainer’s room, getting his daily work in. That seemed normal. And Nathan was cheerful as he walked through the clubhouse. All seems to be well but we’ll make sure after the game.

I’m going to post the lineup. MLB rules state that teams must travel with at least four regulars. The Reds must interpret that to mean former regulars.

Reds: 1. Chris Dickerson, CF. 2. Adam Rosales, 2B. 3. Jay Bruce, RF. 4, Juan Francisco, 3B. 5. Daryle Ward, 1B. 6. Jacque Jones, LF. 7. Paul Jarish, SS. 8. Ryan Hanigan, C. 9. Devin Mesoraco, DH. Pitching: Aaron Harang.

Twins: 1. Denard Span, RF. 2.Alexi Casilla, 2B. 3. Joe Crede, 3B. 4. Jason Kubel, DH. 5. Delmon Young, LF. 6. Brian Buscher, 1B. 7. Carlos Gomez, CF. 8.  Jose Morales, C. 9. Brendan Harris, SS. Pitching: Glen Perkins, then Jason Jones, Craig Breslow, Kevin Mulvey, Brian Duensing, Anthony Swarzak.

Don’t know if you had a chance to check it out, but the MLB Network yesterday aired the documentary. `We Are Young: A Baseball Family” a look at a couple years in the careers of Delmon and Dmitri Young.

Joe C., Jim Souhan and I watched a pilot of the film a while ago, and we came away with this observation: Their father, Larry Young, drove them hard and demanded perfection, and he became the first dad to have two sons who both were selected among the first four overall picks of the draft. The film also dealt with Delmon’s suspension for throwing a bat at an umpire and Dmirti’s battle with diabetes.

I talked to Delmon about the film on Sunday. He wanted to watch it again but there’s no cable in the house he’s staying at.

“I’ve seen it before,” he said. “They put on a good production. They followed me and my brother for a couple of years. It’s finally good for them to get it out there.”

I sure Twins fans are waiting to see the swing that Larry Young built launch a few more balls into the seats this season. Delmon tinkered with his approach during the offseason to get the most out of it. He’s more spread out in his stance, which has cut down on his leg kick and allows him to be a little quicker to the ball. Delmon told me Sunday that he thought his timing is a little off - and he said that one day after hitting three rockets against the Yanks.

Getting timing down is what spring is for. Let’s see how much Young’s approach helps him.

Gutierrez to throw

Heard last night that righthander Carlos Gutierrez, one of the Twins’ two first-round picks last year, will pitch today against the club that drafted him. Gutierrez is with Puerto Rico for the WBC.

I can’t wait to see him pitch. I watched him get knocked around during the College World Series last year and blogged my observations. The Twins have been letting me have it ever since. They better hope he doesn’t get knocked around again today!

Actually, I’m kidding a little bit. Gutierrez has a major league caliber sinker and should be in the majors within a year or two. I think the Twins are doing the right thing by making him a starter. That way, he can see a lot of hitters and work on other pitches. He still projects to be reliever but you never know if he’ll take off as a starter and become a Derek Lowe.

Third base race

I wrote about Luke Hughes in today’s ink editions. This is big year for him because other third base prospects are closing in.

Danny Valencia will start the season at Class AA New Britain but projects to be more well-rounded than Hughes.

Deibinson Romero will open the season at Class A Fort Myers. Romer drove in 10 runs in one game a couple years ago while at E-Town  but missed a chunk of last season after breaking a leg while playing at Class A Beloit. He’s raw but looks very athletic at third.

And the Twins are high on fifth round pick Nick Romero, who should open the season at Beloit. Romero got lost in the shuffle last season because he was on the E-Town bomb squad but the Twins like his bat.

So Hughes needs a big year in the race to replace Joe Crede after 2009.

Speaking of the minors

Was over at the minor league complex last week, and was told that this is the preferred infield at Class A Fort Myers.

1B Henry Sanchez

2B Drew Thompson

SS Paul Kelly

3B Deibinson Romero

Romero isn’t a surprise. Kelly isn’t either. But the other side of that infield….

Thompson was a second round pick in 2005 but has had bad problems the past two seasons. This might be his last chance.

Sanchez was a sandwich round pick in 2005 who has had wrist, knee - and weight - problems. Sanchez, considered one of the best prep power hitters in the draft when taken, weighed over 280 pounds at one point last year but word is that he’s under 260 and is serious about getting his career on track. We’ll see….

And finally….

Joe C. has arrived and is fired up to get started! We’ll be tag-teaming it the rest of camp, with plenty of video updates. And it looks like I’ll be part of a live chat with Howard on Thursday. Stay tuned….