I have landed here in advance of three days of fury between the Twins and Yankees, and it wasn’t the easiet trip.

The turbulence during the flight was expected. The cab ride was, well…it took two drivers to get me from the airport to the hotel. Driver No. 1 noticed that his engine was running too hot, so he flagged down driver No. 2 and pulled over ON THE HIGHWAY SHOULDER to conduct a passenger handoff. That was a first. I guess it could have been worse.

The Yankees just swept the A’s in a three-game series, winning one-run games the last two days. Andy Pettitte held Oakland to a run over eight innings on Sunday, so it may be a good thing the Twins miss him this series. The Twins will get the 5-1 Sidney Ponson, the 5-7 Darryl Rasner and the 12-6 Mike Mussina this week. Mussina tossed six strong innings on Friday.

It will be interesting to see if Yankees manager Joe Girardi tries to sneak Jorge Posada behind the plate during the series. His shoulder problems have led to a loss of arm strength, and the Twins 4 X 90 relay team of Nick Punto, Denard Span, Carlos Gomez and Alexi Casilla could eat him up. Posada also has a bruised hand.

Podsada has appeared behind the plate in 30 games and has thrown out just 8.1 percent of basestealers while Jose Molina has appeared in 58 games, throwing out a whopping 47.1 percent.  But Posada prefers to catch.

A Yankees writer earlier this year said that the young, fast and scrappy Tampa Bay Rays make the Yanks look old when the teams meet. That’s what the Twins must do in this series.

So it’s Nick Blackburn vs Sir Sid on Monday, Kevin Slowey vs Rasner on Tuesday and Glen Perkins vs Mussina on Wednesday.

How many games do the Twins win in New York? What say you?

Indications are that the Twins will not swing a deal with Seattle for third baseman Adrian Beltre.
The Twins recently contacted the Mariners about Beltre’s availability, but it looks like the Mariners’ price would be too high - something like the return the A’s got in the Joe Blanton deal. The Phillies gave up two of their top four prospects, along with a third minor leaguer, to get Blanton.
In the Twins’ case, it could mean one of their four young starters plus a couple prospects.
Although the Mariners kicked Richie Sexson to the curb, they want to contend in the near future. Beltre is one of their decent players in an underachieving lineup. And he’s their best glove in the infield. So it would take a lot to get him.
Two other things to consider: Seattle didn’t do well with the Erik Bedard trade and probably feel pressured to make up for it. And they have a new GM in Lee Pelekoudas who probably wants to make a big splash.

I mentioned recently that the Twins were very interested in Colorado third baseman Garrett Atkins last year. It doesn’t look like the Twins will be able to rekindle those talks this year because Atkins is doing so well the Rockies view him as a core player.

So the Twins will have to look elsewhere for a right-handed hitter. They are also on the lookout for bullpen help, an area some people in the organization feel is a greater need. There are a few out there. Jon Rauch of the Nationals is one. Fernando Rodney is available but he’s been injured, is having trouble finding the plate and trading within the division is hard.

I have no evidence that the Twins have asked for this player, but if Oakland is interested in dealing Huston Street, I think he’d be a great set up man - as long as he stays healthy.

4:44 Update: Nick Punto tonight will receive a cortisone shot in his sprained left ring finger. Since it takes a couple days for the shot to take effect, Punto probably will miss the series.

It’s too bad the diagnosis couldn’t have been made in Detroit, so he could have gotten a shot there and be ready for this series. But it sounds like no one expected Punto to still have problems with it when he returned from break.

5:17 update: Michael Cuddyer tomorrow will have a MRI exam of his left hand to make sure nothing more is wrong than a strained tendon in his left index finger. There’s more mobility, he said, but it’s still sore. The Twins need Cuddyer - and healthy hands - to help hold down the middle of the order. I think more opponents will follow Jim Leyland’s lead and intentionally walk Justin Morneau when first base is open, and someone needs to punish opponents when that happens. 

But the main issue is that Cuddyer is out indefinitely, and that’s not good.

Back to regular programming….. 

If you have an upper deck seat in right field tonight, there are about 20 balls hit by Josh Hamilton waiting for you when the gates open

Hamilton, Ian Kinsler and the misunderstood Milton Bradley are reasons why the Rangers lead the majors in scoring.

Livan Hernandez and Dennys Reyes were excused from Thursday’s workout, in addition to the three All-Stars.

Hitting coach Joe Vavra showed up in the clubhouse before the workout and was showered with congratulations for helping Justin Morneau win the Home Run Derby. Vavra said he heard the boos when he couldn’t throw the ball over the plate but still felt a lot of energy in the stadium.

Vavra said the plan was to pitch Morneau high and on the inner half of the plate and just let him drive the ball into the stands. It worked.

“Well, we didn’t go there to finish second,” Vavra joked. 

Lineups

Texas (50-46) 1. Ian Kinsler, 2B. 2. Michael Young, SS. 3. Josh Hamilton, CF. 4. Milton Bradley, DH. 5. Marlon Byrd, RF. 6. Hank Blalock, 3B. 7. Brandon Boggs, LF. 8. Chris Davis, 1B. 9. Taylor Teegarden, C. Pitching: Kevin Millwood.

Twins (53-42): 1. Carlos Gomez, CF. 2. Alexi Casilla, 2B. 3. Joe Mauer, C. 4. Home Run Derby King, 1B. 5. Jason Kubel, DH, 6. Delmon Young, LF. 7. Brian Buscher, 3B.  8.  Brendan Harris, SS. 9. Denard Span, RF. Pitching: Glen Perkins.

Just a couple notes from Wednesday night action…..

Righthander Shooter Hunt, the Twins’ supplemental pick between the first and second rounds of the June draft, entered his start with a 0.00 ERA and 16 strikeouts in eight innings for the Twins rookie league team in Elizabethton, Tenn.

Unfortunately, Hunt gave up two runs over his six-inning outing Wednesday — but he struck out 12 in six innings with no walks. So in three starts at E-Town, Hunt has two walks and 28 strikeouts in 14 innings. Looks like there’s a little room for improvement there.

And Class AA infielder Luke Hughes slammed a three-run homer for the North team at the Class AA All-Star Game. Hughes is having a great year (when healthy) for New Britain - and would have been considered for a call up when the Twins ran short of middle infielders in May. But word is that he doesn’t have a position and has been moved all over the place for the Rock Cats, mostly because of injuries. Sounds like second base is his best shot.

Twins manager Ron Gardenhire on Sunday talked about how he’d like to improve his team before the July 31 deadline for trades without waivers. I ran out of room to post his comments in today’s paper, mainly because I found out yesterday afternoon that the Twins have placed a call into the Mariners about third baseman Adrian Beltre.

Gardenhire said he would be in touch with general manger Bill Smith over the All-Star break about potential moves. He didn’t sound like anything was close, but at least the Twins are looking at options now.

I agree. Those are the two areas that should be addressed.

I still rank getting someone to help them with the eighth inning above getting a third baseman. But, I must admit, you wonder what’s in store for Justin Morneau the rest of the season after Detroit manager Jim Leyland intentionally walked him four times after he went 5 for 5 with a homer on Thursday.

Leyland won’t be the only manager to avoid Morneau and pitch to Jason Kubel, Craig Monroe or whoever bats behind the big Canadian.  Cuddyer, if his hand is healthy, can help. And, as of now, no one knows when Cuddyer is coming back. His hand isn’t getting better, which is a growing concern. He was really down in the dumps in Detroit because he couldn’t do anything other than run and get treatment.

Thursday’s workout will be important. That’s when Cuddy will try to grab a bat. If he’s still having trouble, he may not be back until August.

Anyway, I’ll make my usual Monday appearance with KFAN’s P.A. and Dubay at 11:05 a.m. today. BUT I’m also filling in from Noon-3 p.m. after that!!! We’re going to have a pretty good show.

We’re tying to get Justin Morneau on for five minutes during the noon hour. Class AAA Rochester manager Stan Cliburn will come on about 1:20 to talk about prospects. And Ken Lipshez of the New Britain Herald will follow Cliburn to talk about the Class AA Rock Cats.

During the final hour, we expect to check in with the T-Wolves’s Kevin Love as he prepares to play in the Las Vegas summer league. If you have nothing to do….