My Thoughts

Right now, the Minnesota Twins are in 3rd place (5.5 games back) behind the Cleveland Indians & the Detroit Tigers for the American League Central Division lead. They are about to begin a 3 game series against the Florida Marlins. The Marlins are in 4th place (4.5 games back) behind the New York Mets.

6/22: Boof Bonser (5-3, 4.33) vs. Scott Olsen (5-6, 4.89)
6/23: Carlos Silva (4-8, 4.22) vs. Josh Johnson (0-1, 9.82)
6/24: Johan Santana (7-6, 2.91) vs. Dontrelle Willis (7-6, 4.90)

Boof Bonser has been fairly consistant this season, but since giving up 6 runs to the Los Angeles Angels, he hasn't been the same pitcher. He hasn't pitched poorly, but no where near as good as before the blowout. Hopefully the Twins can take advantage of Florida's vey young lineup, but unfortunately, it will be a very hard task. The Marlins are anchored down by two very young and tanlented players, Short Stop Hanley Ramirez & Third Baseman Miguel Cabrera. Both have had great seasons, and both will hae bright futures. It will be a hard task to silence these two.

This series marks the return of Luis Castillo to Miami. He was traded by the Florida Marlins before the 2006 season during the Marlins' "fire sale" where they traded players like Josh Beckett, Carlos Delgado, Mike Lowell, & Luis Castillo. Since Castillo's arrival, he has been an important member to the top of the Twins lineup and also in the middle of the infield on defense.

The Twins recently moved Nick Punto to the bench in favor of Jeff Cirillo. I personally think that this is a great move and shows that the Twins aren't affraid to lose defense in place of offense. Hopefully Jeff Cirillo can be the player he's been his entire career (good contact, low power). Of course the Twins would love to add a powerful bat at the hot corner, but I think we should take what we can get at this point, so we can (hopefully) move up in the standings.