Take the Morning Off

Ron Gardenhire was lamenting his team’s bad baserunning again Sunday morning, when a strange voice from just outside his office door began a booming chant that soon consumed the entire clubhouse: “No B-P! No B-P! No B-P!”
The Twins’ manager hopped up, ran out of his office … and quickly gave in. “OK,” he said with a broad grin. “I’m easy.”
Truthfully, it probably didn’t require an organized uprising to convince the manager; the Twins skip Sunday batting practice more often than they take it. But a not-so-subtle suggestion from a badly disguised voice made the decision that much easier for Gardenhire.
Funny, that voice sounded a lot like Torii Hunter with a bad accent. Didn’t it, Torii?
“Wasn’t me, wasn’t me,” Hunter protested, with a wry smile -- and the same accent.

Today’s lineups, after the Royals scratched leadoff hitter David DeJesus with a sprained ankle:

TWINS
Casilla 2b
Punto 3b
Mauer c
Cuddyer rf
Morneau 1b
Hunter cf
Redmond dh
Rabe lf
Bartlett ss

ROYALS
German 2b
Gload lf
Teahen cf
Sweeney dh
Gordon 3b
Sanders rf
Buck c
Shealy 1b
Pena ss

Pitchers: Ramon Ortiz vs. Jorge de la Rosa. (And keep in mind -- Cuddyer is 0-for-8 lifetime against de la Rosa.)
-- Phil Miller