Minnesota Twins

After taking Brian Stokes deep on Thursday, Jim Thome hit his 565th career home run, and is now only two shy of tying Rafeal Palmeiro for 11th on the all-time list.

But on another list, Jim Thome tied one of the hardest working Twins in recent memory.

Jason Tyner played eight major league seasons, and spent three with the Twins, but his most memorable moment came in a July 28th game in 2007.

In a game against the Cleveland Indians, Tyner took P Jake Westbrook deep for his first and only career home run.

The last time the Minnesota Twins won a series in Anaheim, Rick Reed and Eric Milton were the winning pitchers.

The last time the Minnesota Twins hit nine home runs in their first four games was...never.

After dropping the season opener to the Los Angeles Angels 6-3 last Monday night, the Twins won the last three games of the series, outscoring the Angels 19-6.

• On Saturday, the Twins Centric crew will be hosting their second viewing party of the year. The party will be tomorrow at the Majors in Blaine. The Twins Centric crew will be there to watch the Twins take on the Chicago White Sox at noon. Unfortunately, I don't think I'll be able to attend, but hopefully you get the chance to.

Jake Mauer has been around baseball for his entire life.

Of course he's known as "Joe's Brother" but it wasn't long ago that Jake was also trying to make a name for himself as a player. The Twins drafted Jake in the 23rd round of the 2001 draft, the same year they took Joe in the first round.

Originally published at TwinsMVB.com .

I participated in a Twitter debate last night that spanned several hours.

The topic? “Who should start the season as back-up catcher: Wilson Ramos or Drew Butera?”

While very intense, it also cast an illuminating light onto how badly the regular season is needed so we can all move on to more meaningful discussion topics.

Let me start by stating up front, as a Minnesota Alumni, I bleed Maroon and Gold.

John Anderson, Minnesota Head Coach, has done a tremendous job coaching the University Men's Baseball Team. In 2009 he became only the 39th coach win 1,000 games in Division I College Baseball.

"First and foremost I would like to thank the Minnesota Twins organization and Pohlads for giving us the opportunity to be part of the experience of bringing outdoor Major League baseball back to the state of Minnesota," said Anderson.

"The slow one now will later be fast...for the times they are a-changin'."—Bob Dylan

If anyone's curious as to what defines classic music, it's that some aspect—usually several—is almost impervious to the ravages of times and fad while applying to a myriad of life moments.

Bob Dylan's lyrics are a perfect example.

Written almost 47 years ago, they fit the 2010 American League Central like those black stretchy pants that are in style on the fairer sex.

I'm a National League guy for a variety of reasons so, being on the West Coast, the Junior Circuit's rep from the middle o

The Twins are coming off a very successful 2009 campaign in which they finished in a first-place tie with the Detroit Tigers (86-76), and then won a one-game playoff to move into the postseason.

This year they will open their new, open-air stadium, Target Field (pictured), which is reportedly a hitter-friendly ballpark… that fact may cause havoc with the club’s hope of repeating as division champs.

I recently asked for other bloggers and readers to post their predictions for the 2010 season. Several bloggers have already posted their predictions, so I definitely suggest that you cruise around the Twins blogosphere to see them (I am hoping to make a list of links to the sites at some point today).