Here are three thoughts following a bad loss at Kauffman Stadium


1. THIS WON'T BE THE FIRST TIME....: .....we have a game with shaky outfield play because it is not a team strength. Aaron Hicks can run it down in center. but remember that the projected corner outfielders were Josh Willingham and Oswaldo Arcia, but they are out with wrist injuries. Jason Kubel and Chris Colabello are Option B. Kubel can throw some but doesn't have the range he used to, especially before tearing his knee up before the 2005 season. Colabello is more suited for first base. And I will take this time to make this simple, declarative statement: JOE MAUER'S ATHLETIC ABILITY IS BEING WASTED AT FIRST BASE.

2. WHO'S GOT GAME?: Hicks came roaring in from center field in the fifth inning to make a leaping grab of Mike Moustakas' drive to the wall - although it looked like Colabello was about to make a play for the ball. With the crowd roaring, communication was impossible until they got close to each other. ``You can't hear anything," Colabello said. ``My focus was to try to get underneath the baseball. By the time I got under it, we were about three feet away from each other. That's when he jumped and tried to let me know he was there." Hicks caught the ball, collided with Colabello and both players fell down. ``Hicks dunked on Colabello," Gardy said, noting how high off the ground Hicks was when he caught the ball. Colabello agreed. ``I guess I was posterized," he said.

3. TONKIN GETTING THE HANG OF IT: Reliever Michael Tonkin pitched a 1-2-3 eighth inning, getting two strikeouts. He's getting the hang of mixing his pitches. The Twins will have an interesting decision when they decide which reliever goes down when they are ready to return to a 12-man pitching staff.