Ron Gardenhire

Who should be the Twins' third baseman?

Coming out of Spring Training, Brendan Harris had the edge statistically after batting .326 with three doubles, a triple, and a home-run. 

Punto ended the exhibition season with a .233 average, one double, and 12 strike outs. 

When the season opened Ron Gardenhire named Punto his starting third baseman and the debate began.

The answer now seems obvious—give it to Michael Cuddyer.

Thanks to Nick Blackburn and Jason Kubel, the hold that the Yankees had over the Minnesota Twins may have been broken.

Going 2-4 against the reigning World Champs, although not as great as we had hoped, is significantly better than the 0-10 of 2009.

Blackburn was the benefactor of three Kubel home runs that resulted in the two victories over the Bronx Bombers.  

As the Twins say good riddance to the Yankees, at least until the inevitable matchup in October, they can focus on ten games against the American League West.

Championships are not won or lost in May, but if the Minnesota Twins plan on making a serious playoff run and contend for the World Series this year, the next seven games could tell us plenty.

The Twins embark on a three-city road trip with three games against the Yankees and two each at Toronto and Boston.

The old baseball adage is that pitching and defense wins championships. That being the case, the Minnesota Twins appear to be going in the right direction in 2010.

The starting pitching, led by Francisco Liriano, appears to be the strongest and deepest staff the Twins have had in ten seasons. Four of the starters have spent their entire major-league careers with the Twins. Liriano, Scott Baker, Nick Blackburn and Kevin Slowey have all been a part of the rotation since 2008.

To most he is known as Ron Gardenhire. To his players he is simply, Gardy. He is what is commonly known as “a player’s manager”. However, this is not always a good thing.Most “player’s managers,” or “players coaches” in other sports, are not usually all that successful.

But there are exceptions.

What I’m Reading

• Get ready for some comic mischief and summer-hijinks – and all of it outdoors! What I’m trying to say here is that the Twins are planning on using a closer-by-committee strategy in Joe Nathan’s absence.

Some things are so right, so true, so meant to be, that there is no conceivable way they can play out other than expected.

Warm chocolate chip cookies go with milk.

Sunflower seeds cater to the word "spit."

City-defining athletes should remain home.

Thanksgiving is upon us once again.

We all know that Thanksgiving is supposed to be about families and turkeys and a rapidly-depleting supply of shopping days until Christmas, but—in the minds of baseball fans—Thanksgiving is just a pit stop between the end of awards season and the beginning of the Winter Meetings.

I’ve decided to combine the more traditional Thanksgiving festivities with my burning need for more baseball.

In doing so, I’ve created a list of things that the Twins have given me to be thankful for in 2009.

• AL Central
• Baseball
• Delmon Young
• Joe Mauer
• Michael Cuddyer
• Minnesota Twins
• MLB
• Opinion
• Ron Gardenhire
• Scott Baker