Justin Morneau

Happy Canada Day to all!

For most Americans, Canada is the wilderness to our north, a place of moose and mounties. But in more recent times, Canada has also been a hotbed of baseball talent, giving us a Hall of Famer pitcher in Ferguson Jenkins and some great sluggers, like Larry Walker.

Today, Canadian ballplayers are some of the headliners on MVP ballots, Cy Young races, and could one day see Hall of Fame consideration. Who is the most talented Canadian major leaguer today?

Jim Thome is on the brink of a historic milestone. With his next home run, the 573rd of his career, he will tie Harmon Killebrew for 10th place all-time on the major league home run list.

The Twins have had a knack of signing veteran players just in time to make history.

On September 16, 1993 Dave Winfield became the 19th member of the 3,000 Hit Club with a single against the Oakland A's. It was Winfield's 20th season and first of two he played for the Minnesota Twins.

For the 2010 season the Minnesota Twins spent big money.

Their payroll, usually closer to the bottom of the league than to the top, is now the eleventh highest in Major League Baseball at $97.6 million.

They signed Joe Mauer to an eight year $184 million contract extension that will land him among the top five paid players in Major League Baseball in 2011.

All this and a new ball park has the expectations higher than ever for this perennial AL Central contender.

Yet, there is a hint of concern in the air of Twins fans.

A serious Triple Crown candidate is emerging in Detroit.

Miguel Cabrera's 18 homers and 53 runs batted in pace the American League and he ranks fourth in batting average (.339).

I know precisely what you're thinking. It's the second week of June.

How dare you utter "Triple Crown"!

Well, let's look at it this way—with each mention of the feat, writers offer a refresher course in history.

Who was the last player to earn the Triple Crown?

Carl Yastrzemski.

When was this feat last achieved?

Who should be the Twins' third baseman?

Coming out of Spring Training, Brendan Harris had the edge statistically after batting .326 with three doubles, a triple, and a home-run. 

Punto ended the exhibition season with a .233 average, one double, and 12 strike outs. 

When the season opened Ron Gardenhire named Punto his starting third baseman and the debate began.

The answer now seems obvious—give it to Michael Cuddyer.

With baseball a full two months in the books, teams are starting to make their runs toward the All-Star break.

With so much parity in MLB, teams with nearly identical records are separated by a few spots, sometimes more.

There are still many teams in realistic contention for their division title, but I will narrow it down to five teams right now that we could see playing in late October.

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Remember last October when the Yankees swept the Twins in the American League Playoffs? This was after the Twins had clawed their way back to win the Central Division crown while the league-leading Tigers swooned. Impossible to forget.

The old baseball adage is that pitching and defense wins championships. That being the case, the Minnesota Twins appear to be going in the right direction in 2010.

The starting pitching, led by Francisco Liriano, appears to be the strongest and deepest staff the Twins have had in ten seasons. Four of the starters have spent their entire major-league careers with the Twins. Liriano, Scott Baker, Nick Blackburn and Kevin Slowey have all been a part of the rotation since 2008.

Winning six of seven series to start the season, the signing of the hometown hero to a long-term contract, and the opening of a new ballpark has many fans thinking World Series.

The first Twins' first World Championship occurred in 1987. For many fans, this team will always have a special place in our hearts.

This was the first professional team to win a title for the state of Minnesota.

As then-second baseman Steve Lombardozzi proclaimed after the Twins defeated the St.

To most he is known as Ron Gardenhire. To his players he is simply, Gardy. He is what is commonly known as “a player’s manager”. However, this is not always a good thing.Most “player’s managers,” or “players coaches” in other sports, are not usually all that successful.

But there are exceptions.