The Twins’ annual fall instructional league wrapped up today. For two-plus weeks, Twins prospects worked on their skills at the club’s year-round headquarters in Fort Myers, Florida.

It also marked the professional debut (sort of) of righthander Kyle Gibson, the Twins’ first-round pick who was an injury concern during the draft. The Twins, however, checked him out, determined that his forearm problem was a stress fracture and not a strain (which can lead to elbow ligament problems),  drafted him and signed him for a $1.85 million bonus.

Twins scouting director Deron Johnson said Gibson threw four innings and looked good,

“The last two innings he threw really well,” Johnson said. “Threw strikes. Kept the ball down. Showed his full assortment of pitches. His slider is his money pitch.”

The Twins hope Gibson can start at Class A Fort Myers next year,  which gives him a chance to get on the fast track to the majors.

Johnson also was impressed with German outfielder Max Kepler, who is attending South Fort Myers high school while working out with at the Twins’ facility across the street.

“Looks like he’s going to be good,” Johnson said. “Good body. Good swing. Runs well for his size.”

I was  on the phone with Johnson for just five minutes (he was about to chow down on a Five Guys burger). But he made a point of bringing up sixth-round pick Chris Hermann, who played all 59 games in the outfield for rookie league Elizabethton but is being switched to catcher.

Hermann, Johnson said, looks like he’ll be able to handle the move. It’s an interesting move because Hermann’s bat looks promising. He hit .297 with 7 homers and 30 and was third in the Appalachian League with 33 walks.  

AFL begins

Seven Twins players - infielders Steve Singleton, Chris Parmelee, outfielder Rene Tosoni and pitchers Mike McCardell, Steve Hirschfeld, Alex Burnett and Spencer Steedley are playing with the Mesa Solar Sox of the Arizona Fall League. AFL action  runs until just before Thanksgiving.

Bill Smith & Co. will remain in Fort Myers this week for organizational meetings before returning to the Twin Cities.

I’m still working on my top ten prospects list for 2009. This year has been harder than usual. Part of the reason is the additions of Kyle Gibson, Max Kepler and Miguel Angel Sano. They haven’t played a game as pros, but, if you go on potential, they’re all big prospects.

The other part is, the Twins didn’t have many big seasons. Aaron Hicks, arguably, still is the top prospect but didn’t play well until the end of the Class A season. Wilson Ramos was slowed by injuries.

I’ve swapped e-mails about the Twins farm system with Baseball America’s John Manuel and will include some of his thoughts next week when I finally have the guts to post my list.

Update: Wilson Ramos has jumped into winter ball with a hot bat. He’s batting .393 with 2 homers and 7 RBI in seven games for Aragua of the Venezuelan Winter League. You know, he’s going to be the best Venezuelan prospect the Twins have produced, not that there’s a lot of competition.

Getting close to game time, but I wanted to pass this along.

After beating the Red Sox on Sunday to complete a three-game sweep in the ALDS. There’s little doubt which team Torii Hunter prefers to play in the ALCS.

For details, check out Danny Knobler’s blog here.

The Twins have announced that if they win today that the first pitch of Game 4 on Monday will be moved to 6:37 p.m., central time.

The Twins-Yankees and Rockies-Phillies would be the only Division Series in action. That has forced TBS to juggle its schedule.

We were just told by the Twins that they have released single seats for tonight’s game. My guess is that these are tickets that were returned by season ticket holders who didn’t use the entire strip.

So call the Twins ticket office at 612-33-Twins or 1-800-33-Twins if you’re interested. Or go to www.twinsbaseball.com.

I was in Yankee Stadium in 1996 when Derek Jeter sent a drive to right that Baltimore outfielder Tony Tarasco thought he had a chance to catch.

As he reached up at the wall, the glove of some kid named Jeffrey Maier reached down and caught the ball. Richie Garcia, the the umpire down the right field line that night, ruled  it a home run. I joked in the Kansas City Star the next day that Maier played a single into a homer (a slight exaggeration). 

Tarasco went nuts. But the call wasn’t changed. After the game, Garcia entered the media room and said, “Only I can get in trouble in right  field.”

Exactly 13 years later, Garcia isn’t alone. Another outfield ump has blown a call. I’ll give credit to Garcia for facing the music. But Phil Cuzzi was nowhere to be found last night to explain how he blundered the call on Joe Mauer’s liner down the left field line. Crew chief Tim Tschida, St. Paul’s own, appeared instead.

What’s the point in having six umps if they are going to make mistakes, especially on such an obvious call? And can instant replay be expanded?

But I’m done with that. Folks, the real culprits on Friday were the Twins, who had 17 runners on base but couldn’t score more than three runs. A.J. Burnett walked five and hit two batters himself and was set up for a big blow that never came.

And the 11th inning, in which the Twins loaded the bases with no outs, will go down as one of the worst moments in club history, Delmon Young lined one right at Mark Teixeira for the first out but the other two at-bats were awful. Where are the Midre Cummings or Jose Offermans to get a pinch hit when you need one? Food for thought as the Twins work on their 2010 roster.

What also can’t be overlooked is that Joe Nathan fell apart in the ninth. He opened with three sliders for balls to A-Rod, then when he had no choice but to come in with a fastball, he grooved one. That’s five earned runs in two appearances against the Yankees for Nathan, both of which ended in walk-offs.

The Twins said the right things after the game about playing in crucial games in September and knowing they can bounce back. That’s what they are embracing as they try not to get swept on Sunday.

But they don’t have the power, on the mound or the lineup, to compete with the Yankees. That means they can’t blow scoring chances and can’t fall behind 3-0 to A-Rod in the ninth inning.  

The Twins work out today at 10 am, followed by interview room sessions at around 11:30 that I’m pretty sure will be televised on the MLB Network. There should be updates on Matt Tolbert’s injury and Joe Mauer’s admission that he’s not feeling too good right now has to be a concern.

Carl Pavano will talk about facing the Yankees, the team he had four hugely unproductive years for.