After a one day breather, your 16-40 Minnesota Twins rekindle their long slog toward winning baseball with a three-game tilt against the Miami Marlins beginning tonight at 7:10p in beautiful Target Field, Minneapolis.  The Twins promise to be a little feisty after dropping three of four against the Marlin’s Florida brethren, the Tampa Bay Rays.  Pat Dean on the mound for the Twins.  The Marlin’s bring their 30-27 record to Minnesota, however the Twins catch a break as Jose Fernandez pitched over the weekend and won’t be making an appearance in Minneapolis.

It promises to be a beautiful night at the ballpark.  No reason not to pick up a $7.00 ticket and just hang out.

The Bay area seems to be the center of U.S. sports universe with San Jose in the Stanley Cup Finals, Golden State in the NBA finals and our plucky Twins in the middle of a three day stint in Oakland.  What is a discerning Bay denizen going to do?  Well at least for tonight the Twins-Athletics have the attention all to themselves.  Even better, Byron Buxton is back and here’s some Gleeman if you are so inclined.  Tyler Duffy brings his 2-3 record against someone called Eric Surkamp and his 6.55 ERA to match his 0-3 record.  Game time is 9:05p Central so you have time to get the young ones in bed before settling down.

Admit it.  You had this one circled on your calendar for a while now didn’t you?  Phil Hughes v. Mike Pelfrey.  Sure they are a combined 1-10 but we all know wins and losses means nothing at the Major League Level.  This is Hughesy versus Big Pelf.  Former stable mates now going head-to-head for supremacy of the bottom of the AL Central.  It doesn’t get any better than this and after yesterday’s epic yet failed comeback by the Twins, you just know it’s payback time.  First pitch at 6:10p Central.

IT RAINED FOR four years, eleven months, and two days. There were periods of drizzle during which everyone put on his full dress and a convalescent look to celebrate the clearing, but the people soon grew accustomed to interpret the pauses as a sign of redoubled rain…  The worst part was that the rain was affecting everything and the driest of machines would have flowers popping out among their gears if they were not oiled every three days, and the threads in brocades rusted, and wet clothing would break out in a rash of saffron-colored moss. The air was so damp that fish could have come in through the doors and swum out the windows, floating through the atmosphere in the rooms.  -- Dave St. Peter channeling Gabriel Garcia Marquez

O.k.  Maybe it’s not that bad, but another rainy day must mean another Twin game at Target Field.  Jose Berrios on the mound and maybe Molitor has Mauer batting lead off again.  First pitch at 7:10p. I think it’s time to win a game again and appease the Titans (Puckett and Killebrew) whose tears have rained down upon us these last few days.

Tonight please tune in for the latest chapter in Who will have more career wins: Jose Berrios or Alex Meyer?  Last night Berrios finally took the lead with a dominant 5.1-inning outing in a 6-2 victory over the Houston Astros. With that victory, Berrios (career: 1-1) now has a one win lead over Meyer.  But don’t worry Alex Meyer (career: 0-3) fans, he will be facing those same said hapless Astros and odds are pretty good we will once again be tied with both pitchers finally getting their first MLB victory.  Is Alex Meyer up to the challenge in his first Major League start?  Can he stay neck-and-neck with the phenom?  First pitch at 7:10p with DicknRoy calling the game.

O.k.  I admit it, I was going to go on an epic rant about the Twins and their seemingly clueless front office: allowing the team to have 14 pitchers on the roster, losing John Hicks because they wanted to call up “I batted .194 in Triple-A” David Murphy and fielding a lousy outfield defense with an offense that strikes out at historic levels.  Plus those damn red uniforms. But then something miraculous happened.  The Twins won a game against the hated Clevelanders and all is right in the world.  So why get upset about John Hicks anyway?  Twins are on a winning streak, staff ace “Big Spot” Ricky Nolasco is on the mound against “I’m a Loser” (It’s his real nickname - look it up) Cody Anderson and you can get a cheeseburger in your Bloody Mary at Hrbek’s place.  So who cares if it might not hit 50 degrees at the ballpark.  What else you going to do, watch Nashville v. Anaheim in hockey?  Oh and did I mention Sano is playing 3rd base?  #winning

So c’mon Twins, let’s get that record to a solid .333 winning percentage and hand Cody (I really am a Loser) Anderson his hat.

I'm writing this from the Amsterdam airport with so-so free wi-fi.

The suddenly no one wants to play them Minnesota Twins take on the hated Brewers of Milwaukee.   Looking at the weather, not sure I'd this gets in or not.

Ervin Santana mound in his first start since shorning his hair.  Let's hope for good results. I can't let this post go by without mentioning how dumb MLB is to be scheduling this series against the Brew-crew midweek.  This should be on a nice June weekend where the crowds will be plentiful and boisterous. You know create excitement where a kids tells his mom, that was a blast, let's go back again soon.  But then we could write a treatise on MLB and marketing and I have some Heineken and cheese to buy.