Grienke, Lombo and Delmon Young

Tragic number update: Stuck on 13, with the Twins and Tigers set to begin today a three-game series in the Metrodome.

Detroit lost Thursday 9-2 to Kansas City. There's no shame in getting shut down by Zack Greinke (left) — he's only the best pitcher in the league this year — but the Tigers got shelled twice in this series by a pathetically weak lineup.

A colleague pointed out to me today that Grienke has yet to face the Twins. Of course, the Twins have two series left against Kansas City. Meanwhile, Detroit's faced him five times (and the White Sox and Indians also five times each).

Hardly seems fair, does it?

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The latest issue of Baseball America reports that second baseman Steve Lombardozzi had a big year for the Hagerstown Suns, the Low A affiliate of the Washington Nationals.

No, not the Steve Lombardozzi who played second base for the 1987 Twins. Not the Steve Lombardozzi who hit ,344 in the postseason that year, including .412 in the World Series. Not the Steve Lombardozzi who lost his starting job the next year and complained so much about it that Dan Gladden punched him out.

It's his son, known to Baseball Reference.com as Stephen.

It is to be hoped the younger Lombo (above) proves a better hitter than his dad. The elder Lombadozzi's stats make Nick Punto look good.

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You may know that the Twins have two player who were the first overall pick in baseball's amateur draft — Joe Mauer (2001) and Delmon Young (2003).

Baseball America annually picks a minor league player of the year — as described by executive editor Jim Callis, it's "essentially the elite prospect who had the best season." This year's winner is Jason Hayward of the Braves organization.

The Twins have three of them on their roster: Mauer (2003), Young (2005) and Jon Rauch, the recently-added middle reliever, who won the award in 2000 when he was seen as a rising ace in the White Sox system. It obviously didn't happen for the big guy.

For that matter, it hasn't happened for Young either. That Young won that award two years before the Twins traded for him underlines the high regard the scouting world had for his talent at the time.