Continued: Crede excited for St. Louis trip

MILWAUKEE — Twins third baseman Joe Crede was a Cardinals fan growing up in Westphalia, Mo., a town of 320 people between Kansas City and St. Louis.

He watched the Cardinals play the Twins in the 1987 World Series as a 9-year-old but was asleep before the end of Game 7. He didn't learn the Cardinals had lost until the next morning, when a buddy told him at school.

Crede said he is excited to return to St. Louis today with the Twins. It will be his first time playing at the new Busch Stadium. In 2001, when Crede got called up from the minors by the White Sox and played three games at the old Busch, busloads of fans from the Westphalia area came to watch.

That area remains home for Crede, who settled with his wife and three children in nearby Linn, Mo. (pop. 1,354).

After playing parts of nine seasons for the White Sox, Crede signed a one-year deal with the Twins. With back injuries limiting him to 144 games the previous two years, he agreed to a $2.5 million base salary with up to $4.5 million in incentives based on plate appearances.

So far, the back hasn't posed a serious problem, and after hitting another home run in Thursday's 6-4 victory over the Brewers, he is batting .232 with 11 homers and 35 RBI.

He has 225 plate appearances, and the first of six $500,000 incentive payments kick in at 250, followed at 300, 350, 400, 450 and 475. The payments reach $750,000 for 515 and 540 PA.

"We only had one other offer [from the Giants], so it wasn't like I had a choice of where I really wanted to go," Crede said. "But this has been a great fit here. I've been fortunate to be healthy. It worked out pretty good."

Crede, 31, again is eligible for free agency at season's end and said he hasn't given much thought to signing a long-term deal with the Twins.

"I've always been a year-to-year guy," he said. "I've never had anybody express any kind of commitment toward me for a contract, so this is a situation I'm used to.

"My door is always open. ... I'm happy with my situation, I'm going to try to help this team win; that's my main focus -- on the field. Let everything off the field take care of itself."

Punto update

Nick Punto will rejoin the team today after returning to Minnesota on Thursday for an MRI exam, which showed no structural damage in his left rib cage area.

Punto, who has raised his batting average from .187 to .224 this month, is day-to-day. He suffered the injury on a head-first slide into first base on Saturday against Houston and has missed three of the past four games.

Etc.

• Class AA New Britain outfielder Rene Tosoni, a Toronto native, was selected for the World Team in the All-Star Futures Game on July 12 in St. Louis.

• Matt Tolbert injured his leg turning a double play on Wednesday, and manager Ron Gardenhire said Michael Cuddyer is a candidate to play second base.

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