Monitoring the outfield

Monday morning I predicted that Aaron Hicks would be out of the starting lineup for that day's game. Instead it was Byron Buxton, for the second time in four games.

And, of course, Hicks led off the game with a home run, prompting me to tell my wife: "Once again, Eddie doesn't know what he's talking about."

Meanwhile, Torii Hunter had a good game -- two hits, one of them a double -- despite a matchup against a very hard thrower that didn't figure to particularly fruitful. That will make it easier for Paul Molitor to continue to put Hunter in the lineup.

I return here to first principles. I want the outfield defense. This pitching staff needs an outfield that can turn hits into outs and extra-base hits into singles. I said that at the start of the season, when the Twins opened the year with an outfield of Oswaldo Arcia in left, Jordan Schafer in center and Hunter in right. And I say it in the final month, with Arcia's season over, Schafer teamless and Hunter somewhere between being a regular and being a part-timer.