Game time: 9:05 PM CDT
Scheduled Starters: Scott "Light Rail" Baker (21st Start, 119.7IP, 4.11xFIP) v. Jon Lackey (18th Start, 120.3IP, 3.96xFIP)
I was listening to KSTP on a Sunday morning back in March and Patrick Reusse proclaimed that Delmon Young would have better numbers than Torii Hunter in 2008. I don't know what I was [...]

Inspired by Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau's clutch hits in the ninth inning against a left hander on Saturday, I took a little look at the Twins two stars.
WGOM Radio #2

My teeth are gritted and I'm strapped into my chair. Time to read a week's worth of columns from the six columnists in town and summarize them for you. I do it because I love you and believe me, it hurts me more than it hurts you.

TJ makes some sense, and says he'll take the Twins All-Stars over Josh Hamilton.
Redemption is a glamorous story-line, but isn't it better this way, following three model athletes with no need for it?
Yeah, I can get behind that.

I mentioned in the Cup of Coffee today that the 7th Game of the World Series would be played in Minneapolis. It seems that a certain first baseman was thinking the same thing.

I don't know if the All-Star game was particularly good, but it was long. Justin Morneau had quite the week at the festivities, and it would have been great had he put a ball in the seats and won the MVP. Oh well, he did score the winning run and between he and [...]

I probably wrote almost the same thing last year, but here goes nothing:
I like the All-Star Game. We get a bunch of the best players in baseball together and have them face off against each other. Any other game I watch during the rest of the year will have less star power. [...]

I wasn't going to post anything, but I guess Joe Vavra is pitching, so people will be intrigued. I think that the HR Derby is kind of interesting as a novelty, but it could definitely use a format tweak. I'd much rather see players go head-to-head in 3 "innings" of 3 "outs" each, [...]

Some facts:
.284/.344/.419 -- MN vs. RHP, 10th best OPS in baseball
.266/.332/.413 -- AL vs. RHP
.262/.334/.404 -- AL vs. LHP
.261/.309/.375 -- MN vs. LHP, 28th best OPS in baseball
This might lead one to believe that the Twins have a ton of left-handed hitters on the team, making them especially susceptible to left-handed pitching, but that's not [...]

McClung vs. Blackburn
Blackburn looked pretty good at the convention, but I'm posting this a fair bit in advance so I can't be 100% sure he's going to make this start. His xFIP of 4.19 would look a little better in recent years gone by. This year, it makes him just a bit above [...]

Slowey vs. Peavy
Going into the series, team leaders in VORP:
30.1 -- Adrian Gonzalez
18.5 -- Brian Giles
9.2 -- Jody Gerut
6.5 -- Edgar V Gonzalez
5,4 -- Kevin Kouzmanoff
22.4 -- Joe Mauer
19.8 -- Justin Morneau
7.7 -- Alexi Casilla
7.5 -- Jason Kubel
2.9 -- Nick Punto (this is not a typo)
I heard someone recently say that Adrian Gonzalez might be [...]

Andrew provides a photo recap of the 2nd Annual SBG Convention.

[contributed by: Rhubarb_Runner]

2007 The BIGS™ (limited edition Canadian version)

Dice-K vs. Glen Perkins
Dice-K has 27 walks in 40.7 IP this year. Holy walks, batman. I've got a good feeling about Morneau vs. Dice-K today.
For all the same reasons I don't really believe that much in Jon Lester as a top pitching prospect, I have serious doubts about Perkins. Mainly, I just [...]

I read Reusse this morning talking about Justin Morneau's weightlifting routine. Apparently, he got a tip from Torii Hunter at some point after the start of last season -- keep lifting hard through spring training and don't go into maintenance until the season starts. I read that and wondered, "You mean to tell [...]

as a supplement to ubes' fine, current 3-part series on first basemen, I thought I'd contribute a little salary data (from Cot's). Entries are ordered as in ubelmann's 2006 table.

#
NAME
TEAM
LG
Experience*
Years/Dollars
Signed

1
Albert Pujols
[...]

In the last week the Twins have taken control of the American League Central, running out to a five game lead over their nearest rival, the Chicago White Sox. Despite a brutal schedule in August, I feel confident that the Twins will be able to win their third consecutive divisional title. I feel this way [...]