Today's boxscore: Twins-Rays

Welcome to the Knutson Classic

We're bored with the Mayor's Cup, which goes to the winner of the Red Sox-Twins series winner every spring training. The Twins won the series last year and currently have the cup (yes, there is a trophy) stashed away somewhere. Twins manager Ron Gardenhire claims it's being held at Potts, the local watering hole.

The idea behind the cup was to have a fun competition between the city team (Sawx) and county team (Twinks). Now that the Red Sox have moved down the street, the city-county thing doesn't have the same feel.

Enter the Knutson Classic.

It's named after Dukes Knutson, the longtime press box attendant at Tropicana Field. He's an incredibly nice man who always greets us warmly when we roll into town to play the Rays.

It wasn't until a few years ago that I found out that Dukes was from Duluth and attended the U of M.

The big development came this offseason when Dukes was hired by the Twins to join the press box staff at Target Field. Dukes will work Rays spring training games this year before heading north. I just walked into the press box at Charlotte Sports Park and who was there to greet me? Dukes.

So Joe C. and I welcome Dukes back to Minnesota this spring with the creation of the Knutson Classic, a matchup of his two teams, the Rays and Twins.

This is the third of nine meetings between the teams this spring. Twins lead 2-0.

  • Scott Baker is on the mound for the Twins today. He pitched one inning in the B game on Thursday.
  • We're waiting for an update on Jerry White, who spent the night in a Fort Myers hospital with chest and stomach issues. UPDATE: Nothing serious with White, but he will undergo a stress test today as a precaution.
  • Luke Hughes, who has been the designated hitter the past two games while he waits for his shoulder to regain full strength, will take today off from throwing. He's thrown for six straight days, so the medical staff felt it was time for a break. ``It doesn't affect my swing," he said.
  • Joel Zumaya will have reconstructive elbow surgery on March 29 in Pensacola, Fla., Dr. James Andrews will perform the surgery.
  • Nick Blackburn will start the B game Wednesday at 10 a.m. Eastern at Hammond Stadium. Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau are scheduled to play in the game.

Now, the starting lineups:

Twins

Ben Revere, LF
Jamey Carroll, SS
Ryan Doumit, C
Chris Parmelee, 1B
Danny Valencia, 3B
Brian Dinkelman, RF
Steve Pearce, DH
Joe Benson, CF
Alexi Casilla, 2B

Scott Baker, RHP

Rays

Desmond Jennings, DH
Sean Rodriguez, SS
Carlos Pena, 1B
Brandon Guyer, RF
Jeff Salazar, CF
Chris Gimenez, C
Will Rhymes, 2B
Matt Mangini, 3B
Jesus Feliciano, LF

Jeff Niemann, RHP

First pitch at 1:05 p.m. Eastern, televised by Fox Sports North!!!!!