Manager Trey Hillman

This Royals dismissed manager Trey Hillman earlier this week. By my count, Twins manager Ron Gardenhire has won four games against Hillman and the Royals in 2010. Meanwhile, during his entire tenure as manager, Gardenhire has 9 regular season wins against the Yankees. I've seen the hype about how this weekend is a "statement" series and how this year the Twins have the talent to beat the Yankees. First of all, the 2010 version is just the 2010 team with marginal improvements in the middle infield. Secondly, the Twins have always had the talent to beat the Yankees. While Gardy has managed the Twins, the Yankees have lost over 400 games. Evidently, somebody out there is beating the Yankees. The Yankees are just another team, and this is just another series. Paradoxically, that's exactly what makes it so different.

Let's hope Kubel can climb out of his slump before Gardy permanently benches Young in order to give Kubel enough at bats to get going. Remember how much Gardy used to hate Kubel? I wonder if he still does. I tip my cap to Billy Smith. When Gardy fills out the lineup card, Gardy has to use at least one player he hates. To bench Young and Kubel, he would have to play somebody out of position and use Harris or Casilla. Maybe Nick Punto is a just a pacifier. I guess one perk of having Punto as an everyday player is there is no looming threat of who Gardy will bench for making Nicky look bad.