John Bonnes

Sponsored by Ticket King Given that the Twins’ season is balancing on the edge of a precipice, a showdown with the Yankees would usually be the last thing Minnesotans would want to see. But these are not your big brother’s Yankees; they lost a series to the Twins a month ago in Yankee Stadium. Add to that a long weekend, a retiring legend, an exciting new pitcher and (at least initially) gorgeous weather and you have a lot of reasons to grab some tickets to Target Field this weekend.Those Damn Yankees The Yankees have been stuck in the middle of the AL East since mid-May and their weaknesses start where we thought they would: an aging offense. Their lineup ranks 20th overall in runs scored, even behind the Twins. You’ll still recognize a lot of the names: Derek Jeter, Jacoby Ellsbury, Ichiro Suzuki, Carlos Beltran and Mark Teixeira – but they’re not the same guys you remember. The second highest OPS on the team belongs to leadoff hitter Brett Gardner. Teixera leads the club with an 810 OPS, which is lower than that of Josh Willingham (856) or even Yankees castoff Eduardo Nunez (841). The starting pitching isn’t a whole lot better, also ranking 20th overall in the majors in ERA. And even that is heavily skewed by the outstanding work of…well….let’s talk about him in a second. The rotation lost CC Sabathia to a degenerative knee condition and he won’t return until late July. Hideki Kuroda has been fairly average, and the Twins will try to prove that on Sunday. The back-end of the rotation is covered by household names like Phelps, Whitley and Nuno. THIS is the Ticket But the rotation has a hell of an anchor, making Thursday night’s ticket the prize of the weekend. Mashiro Tanaka will make his first appearance at Target Field. For both legitimate and illegitimate reasons, the Japanese rookie is in a strong position to win the AL Cy Young Award. The less legitimate reasons: he has eleven wins already and pitches in New York City. But he’s more than worthy. He enters this series with a 2.10 ERA. He has 127 strikeouts versus just 18 walks. And he’ll be among the league leaders in innings pitched after this, his seventeenth start. Not every guy that costs the Yankees $180 million is worth the cash, but Tanaka has matched and exceeded expectations. Plus, he’s facing Phil Hughes, the discarded Yankees prospect who has rejuvenated his career with the Twins. The last time he faced the Yankees he threw eight innings, giving up two runs and clinched the series winner in Yankee Stadium. You have my permission to get a little giddy about this game. Time To Say Goodbye The Yankees, Major League Baseball and the media have been keeping this very hush-hush, but Derek Jeter is going to retire after this year. So this will be your last chance to boo him. Make it count. MOR. The weather on Thursday night and Friday afternoon is going to be gorgeous. Saturday and Sunday look a little more cloudy, with a small chance of rain, so you might want to aim for the sunnier and warmer third base line for those games. Or, if you’re a complete pessimist, the covered seats in left field. Plus, the Twins are running holiday weekend promotions. Did you know on Thursdays the Twins offer $2 drafts from 5:30-6:30 to sip while watching batting practice? On Friday the Twins are giving away Lou Gehrig bobblehead dolls. You read that right – the Twins are giving away a Yankee bobblehead. They’re celebrating the 75th anniversary of Gehrig’s Farewell Speech. I offer this news without comment. The Twins regain a portion of their sanity on Saturday, offering Tom Brunansky bobbleheads to the first 10,000 fans. I should also mention that if you’re dating someone who has a Derek Jeter fetish, the Twins will be honoring him before this game. If that seems like an awful lot of celebration of a team that Minnesotans love to hate – and that the Twins need to beat – well, I agree with you. There is only one way to combat that, of course: show up. Even on a weekend like this, Ticket King has you covered. I count 140 Twins tickets available for Thursday night, including one block of 14 seats if you and a group want to have a happy hour to kick off the weekend and watch an awesome pitching matchup. Friday’s 4th of July afternoon game is perfect for the kids. Wow – there are Champion Club seats available for the Saturday afternoon game when they honor Jeter. Sunday looks like it might have the most availability. All are an even better deal if you use the promo code DAILYDOUBLE, which will get you 10% off and supports Twins Daily. Whatever your needs, your local ticket supplier, Ticket King, can help.

Aaron and John talk about the pleasure of dominating the White Sox, Yohan Pino's impressive debut, Aaron Hicks going back to switch-hitting, Kyle Gibson's good run, Joe Mauer showing signs of life, Oswaldo Arcia swinging "too hard," Tony Gwynn's lasting legacy, and how to have fun and injure yourself at a 25-year reunion. You can listen by downloading us from iTunes, Stitcher or find it at GleemanAndTheGeek.com. Twins win and so do you. On Monday, get a half price large or extra-large pizza from PapaJohns.com by using the promo code 'TWINSWIN'.

Sponsored by Ticket King Traditionally, a White Sox visit to Minnesota would be just what the doctor ordered for a struggling Twins team. Hopefully it will be again. The Twins are limping home after a 3-6 road trip and on a five-game losing streak, after losing in particularly gut-wrenching fashion on Thursday. But now they’re back in Target Field, playing on a warm summer weekend (with minimal rain forecast for most of the games) against a White Sox team they haven’t seen since early, frigid April.The White Sox are doing their best to help our boys out. For the second weekend in a row, the Twins are facing a division rival without seeing the opponent’s best pitcher. White Sox ace Chris Sale, who has a 2.20 ERA (that is not a typo), threw six innings yesterday so despite a four-game series, the Twins will miss him. (Or more accurately, it’s likely Sale that misses the Twins: he has a career record of 5-1 with an ERA of 2.42 against them in six games.) The Hot Ticket Remember last year when 27-year-old Andrew Albers blanked the Royals for 8.1 innings in his major league debut? That wasn’t just fun because Albers did well. It was fun because Albers wasn’t supposed to be here; there was almost no chance of him finding his way to The Show before the season started. The Twins are hoping to have lighting strike again on Thursday. Yohan Pino will be making his major league debut as a 30-year-old. Pino is also not supposed to be here, but the Venezuelan has been toiling between AA and AAA since 2007. This year is actually his second go-round with the Twins. He was a pitcher in their farm system until he was 25, when he was traded for Carl Pavano shortly after the trade deadline in 2009. Since then he has served time with Cleveland, Toronto and Cincinnati before returning to the Twins this year. His numbers in Rochester have been outstanding, no matter which ones you like. The traditionalists like the 9-1 record and the 1.92 ERA. Stats guys might be more impressed with 61 K in 61 innings, and a nearly 4:1 K:BB rate. Those numbers are even more impressive considering his “stuff” is considered less than pedestrian. He relies on a mid-80s fastball and a killer changeup. So you have the chance to see something special on Thursday: a guy who shouldn’t be here, with stuff that nobody thinks should play in the majors, could finish writing a dream story in his major league opener. Alternately, everyone could be right and he and his dreams could be crushed. You want drama? Go to a ballgame. A Legal Cuban Import The White Sox starting pitching ranks just above the Twins in ERA (27th overall) but their offense has been reborn since last year’s 29th ranked finish. This year they rank 8th, and a big part of that is their new slugging first baseman Jose Abreu. Abreu was signed out of Cuba this last offseason to a six-year, $68M contract, which is no small commitment to an unknown. It was the largest-ever contract given to a Cuban free agent – and it’s looking like a bargain. Abreu already has 19 home runs despite having an injury in May, and is slugging .596. Hitting right-handed, he’s actually been better against that side than against southpaws, and has shown no signs of slowing down as the league adjusts to him. The White Sox have essentially replaced Paul Konerko with Jose Abreu and not missed a beat, which is terrible news for the Twins, who haven’t had that kind of consistent power in the middle of their lineup since Justin Morneau’s relatively short-lived peak years. This will be Abreu’s first visit to Target Field. I wish I could say you better see him now of you might miss him, but he looks like he’s around to stay. Target Field Speaking of Target Field, in a pregame update with reporters last week, Twins GM Terry Ryan said that it looks like Target Field isn’t depressing home runs like it was in its opening year. A quick glance at the statistics shows he’s right. The Twins and their opponents have hit 56 home runs in games at Target Field. On the road they have hit 57. That’s a little misleading. The Twins have only played 32 of their first 69 games at home. But Target Field is certainly not depressing home runs the way it was early in its existence. Tickets look tight for Thursday night's game, but there are 10 tickets right behind the Twins dugout if you want to welcome Johan Pino to The Show. Friday your ticket could also get you a Harmon Killebrew 1965 All-Star Game bobblehead. If you want a closer view of Jose Abreu, there are lots of seats down the right field line on Saturday. And if you would rather get a home run ball from him, there are six sections in left field with some availability on Sunday. All are an even better deal if you use the promo code DAILYDOUBLE, which will get you 10% off and supports Twins Daily. Whatever your needs, your local ticket supplier, Ticket King, can help.

Aaron and John talk about Sam Deduno being on thin ice, pitching prospects Alex Meyer and Trevor May being almost ready, the Twins sending mixed messages about now vs. later, Josmil Pinto's demotion, weird phobias, Trevor Plouffe and Aaron Hicks getting hurt, the end of the line with Jason Kubel, Vance Worley rising from the ashes in Pittsburgh, and how to become a cat person in one week. You can listen by downloading us from iTunes, Stitcher or find it at GleemanAndTheGeek.com.