I'm back

My vacation from the Twins, and your vacation from me, is OVAH. (Pardon the Hawk Harrelson imitation there.)

I listened to most of Monday's game while ferrying my mother from the Twins Cities airport to her home in Willmar and then myself home to Mankato, and it appears nothing much has changed since Wednesday except a couple of faces and names. Other than hitting, fielding, pitching and baserunning, the Twins have no problems.

The presence of Robbie Grossman on the roster, much less in the lineup, suggests that the front office has been reduced to throwing stuff at the wall to see what sticks. Giving him playing time is marginally better than the earlier notion of giving at-bats to David Murphy because Grossman is considerably younger, but still ... there is no upside to him. Grossman is not going to be a regular on a quality team. Not now, not four years from now, not ever.

Of course, my recent track record on Twins "insights" isn't particularly good. I expressed doubt before I left for California about the notion of Pat Dean starting against the Blue Jays; that game was the only one the Twins won. I urged the use of Byung Ho Park in a better RBI spot;the Twins did so almost immediately, and he hasn't driven in a run since.

And the Twins are 11-33, still playing .250 ball and reducing Cory and Danny to spending an inning discussing the intricacies of the station break. Incredible.