'More-pitchers-swinging-the-bat' fun as the Twins travel from Milwaukee to Cincinnati. The Reds combination of speed and power make them a fun team to watch. So lets watch them. Hopefully watch them lose!!! Here are some things to think about:1. The Big Red Hardly Works Anymore Machine -- For all of you trying to figure out the magic formula to produce winning baseball teams, you must take a look at both teams playing today; and then take all your ideas and roll them up in a ball and set them on fire before dropping them off a tall building with a landfill below. The Twins on paper don't have that big power hitter or that #1 Ace in the rotation but here they are above .500. The Reds they have that big power hitter in Todd Frazier and that Ace in Johnny Cueto and here they are below .500. Baseball is a funny game and both these teams are funny that way. It's been a long time for the Reds since the Big Red Machine was unstoppable in the 70's. Lately... the powers that be have been struggling to find that magic formula like the Cardinals have. 2. Todd Frazier -- This guy is stroking it!!! 25 Dingers with a .290 Average and yet he's a million votes behind Matt Carpenter in all star voting. The Reds can yard on you and it's Frazier... not Bruce or Votto leading the way. Frazier is a good example of why you don't give up on youngsters or expect too much of them. He didn't hit the majors until he was 25 and he did just Ok. At age 27 he hit .213 with 19 dingers but just look at him now. With a little seasoning he's found his stride. Pitch him carefully... He's the real deal. Actually... these are major league hitters... you should pitch everyone carefully. Except... Dustin Ackley... go ahead and throw Dustin anything you want. (Side Note: I don't know why I singled out Dustin Ackley... but I did). 3. Twins Starting Pitching -- Ervin Santana is coming back this week. They are paying him some big money so I'm sure they will be dropping him into the rotation somewhere. Paul Molitor would be crazy to take out Pelfrey, Milone, Gibson. Those three have been great... it's been a long time since the Twins had 3 starters with ERA's under 3.50. It ain't going to be Hughes because... he's starting to come around after a slow start and he was our perceived #1. So... unless it's a 6 man rotation and I don't think it will be... that leaves Trevor May as the guy out; and his meltdown in Milwaukee kinda made the difficult decision a little easier. Trevor will get at least one more start on Wednesday against the Reds. Trevor is going to have to show he belongs and when Ricky Nolasco comes back... the Twins will... OK... let's no go there. 4. Billy Hamilton -- I wonder if Kurt Suzuki and the pitching staff is ready for the base path terror that is Billy Hamilton. The guy is really fast... perhaps one of the best base runners in decades. I think the best approach to Billy Hamilton is to not walk him. Don't do it... don't even think about doing it. Walks can become triples with this guy. It's a good thing his on base percentage is .264 because if it was higher, those 36 steals would be around 50. Pitchers need to make a few throws over to 1st base to keep him honest. They will need to have that slide step down. Suzuki will need good pop time... no double clutching allowed. I love speed... Billy Hamilton has been fun to watch... Not so much fun when he's playing our team. 5. New Watch -- I bought a new watch... I'm now living in Eastern Time and my old watch was Central time. It was hard... there are a lot of watch choices and none of them blew me away. After a half hour of shopping ... I strongly considered keeping my old watch and moving back to Central Time. ----------------- Game-time forecast: 73 deg F, cloudy, with a 20% chance of rain/thunderstorms, winds from the WSW at 8 mph. That chance of rain goes up as the evening progresses, but it looks like we'll get it in. Better forecast than earlier today. Lineups: TWINS Dozier 2B Mauer 1B Hunter RF Plouffe 3B Rosario CF Suzuki C Escobar LF Pelfrey P Santana SS REDS Hamilton CF De Jesus 2B Votto 1B Frazier 3B Bruce RF Byrd LF Barnhart C Suarez SS Leake P Play ball! Go Twins! Click here to view the article