Twins still have faith in struggling infielder Edouard Julien

TORONTO – Edouard Julien didn’t start for the Twins on Friday, but that’s because the Blue Jays started lefthander Yusei Kikuchi, not because of Julien’s two-week slump.

In fact, Rocco Baldelli said, he remains confident that the second-year second baseman eventually will produce at the level he did as a rookie.

“He’s battled himself a little bit this year. In my opinion, he’s fine. He’s doing his job,” the Twins manager said of Julien, who was 3-for-31 with 17 strikeouts in his previous 11 games. “It hasn’t come as easy for him, but that’s normal ups and downs. Especially as a guy in his second time through the league, that’s a fairly normal thing to be dealing with.”

Julien’s seven home runs in April, after hitting 16 last year, are especially impressive, given his size, Baldelli said.

“Combining his on-base abilities and the strength that he has in that frame, which is not a big frame” makes him especially difficult to pitch to, Baldelli said. “The way he impacts a baseball is impressive. He’s a very talented offensive player and a guy we have a tremendous amount of belief in.”

So do a number of Canadian fans: Julien spent several minutes before batting practice signing autographs for a large number of fans who had gathered near the Twins’ dugout, several of them wearing jerseys with his name on them.

“It’s nice. I’m glad they came out,” said Julien, who grew up in Quebec. “It makes me feel at home.”

But he was also a Twin for a month, a nonroster invitee to spring training in 2012 who made the team and played 10 games before being demoted. “I remember when he was let go while we were in Anaheim; Joe Mauer came over and shook his hand and told him to hang in there,” Twins broadcaster Cory Provus said.

Burroughs died Thursday in Long Beach, Calif., collapsing while coaching his son’s Little League team. He was 43.

“I played with Sean — we were all beat up hearing that news,” said Baldelli, a teammate of Burroughs with Tampa Bay in 2006. “It’s just sad, incredibly sad. We send our condolences to all his family and friends.”

Bench coach Jayce Tingler recalled being awed by Burroughs’ skill at the age of 14. Tingler’s youth team played in a tournament against Burroughs’ team, and “he was the best hitter I’d ever seen at the youth level. I just remember line drives, left-center, right-center,” Tingler said. “He was kind of the gold standard for hitters coming into high school.”

The Twins’ 12-game winning streak included a notable milestone: Their 11-5 victory over the Angels on April 28 was the 10,000th regular-season game they have played since moving to the Land of 10,000 Lakes in 1961.

That’s more victories than either of the other two AL teams created that year, both by expansion. The Angels reached 10,000 games on April 22 with a 4,967-5,030-3 record, while the second Senators, a team created to replace the Twins but who eventually became the Texas Rangers, played their 10,000th game Monday, owning a record of 4,760-5,234-6.

The Twins’ devotion to their lucky sausage reached new heights Friday — literally. Team photographer Brace Hemmelgarn and videographer Dan Coomey took the meat product to the top of the 1,815-foot CN Tower, next to Rogers Centre.

Their photos from high above the city sat on Baldelli’s desk, and the manager sounded tired of all the attention the sausage has received of late.

“There’s a nice family photo of it behind me on the top of the tower,” Baldelli said. “That will be the last I talk about the sausage over the next three days.”