A few notes and observations

Delmon Young went 0 for 4 but hit two balls hard, one leading to a sacrifice fly. And he was robbed when Scott Podsednik made a diving catch of his sinking fly down the left field line in the second inning.

I think Orlando Hudson was hoping to get the neighborhood rule applied to his sweep tag on Alberto Callaspo in the second inning. No such luck.

I thought the Twins' everyday lineup was good, but it might be REALLY good. They executed their game plan by not swinging at Zack Greinke's breaking ball. They waited for something straight and hammered it. Greinke walked five batters for the first time in about two years.

When they saw that Greinke didn't have his best control, they locked in,

``Once we saw that, we have guys on this team who can exploit that," Michael Cuddyer said, ``Guys were able to do that. The left-handed hitters were able to do that. I swing at everything, so it didn't affect me at all."

Not true. Cuddyer, batting with the bases loaded, took a ball before swinging and missing a Greinke breaking ball. Cuddyer then worked the count to 2-2. I thought Greinke would throw Cuddy another breaking ball, but he grooved a fastball that was lined to right for a double.

The Twins drew a season-high nine walks.

Denard Span has reached base in 13 of his last 20 plate appearances.

In a few hours, the Twins will face Gil Meche. Meche, coming back from shoulder tightness, gave up seven runs in 3.1 innings to Boston last Sunday. He's 9-6 with a 4.64 ERA in his career against the Twins, Young is 2-for-23 lifetime against Meche while Jim Thome is 10-for-33 with a homer. So we'll see if Jason Kubel (7-for-27 against Meche) starts in left with Thome at DH on Saturday.