So late last night, Joe Christensen and I stop by a drug store. I've got a cold; Joe apparently believes he's at Lourdes and only Canadian bottled water will rescue him.

Anyway, we're standing in line, and facing the drug store window, and a huge brawl breaks out. Now, in theory, fights are pretty cool. In movies, they're cool. In action novels, they're cool. In retrospect they might even be cool. In person, they're horrific, animalistic.

Five guys were kicking and punching another guy outside of a sports bar on Yonge Street, which is kind of the Toronto version of First Ave. Then, suddenly, the fight stopped, and most of the combatants went back inside the bar.

Not sure what to make of this. During my strolls around Toronto on Thursday and Friday afternoon, I saw a bunch of thugs, and even saw one guy jump in a cab to chase another guy who had just jumped into a cab.

My former experiences in Toronto were wonderful. I always thought Blue Jay crowds during the team's glory years were like theater crowds - civil, well-dressed. My experience in Vancouver for the Olympics was wonderful, in terms of the city and its people.

Last night, there were a couple of big fights in the stands and a bunch of idiots throwing stuff on the field, leading to this great line from Gardy about a lime landing near him: ``If you're going to throw a lime, you should throw a cocktail with it."

I also have a question: How come if you throw a free t-shirt into the stands, fans will fight over it, but if you hand them a free item at the turnstile, they'll throw it onto the field?

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Lineup question: Gardy didn't give a precise answer when asked about this, this morning: Why, when the Twins are facing a righty today and a lefty tomorrow, would he play Cuddyer today, resting Kubel? Wouldn't you play Kubel today, then rest Kubel tomorrow?

The only rationale I can come up with is he wanted Thome to get to face a righty today. Which isn't a bad rationale. But I'd get Kubel as many at-bats against lefties as I could, and Cuddyer is coming off a foot problem. I would think Cuddyer would be the logical guy to rest today.

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Gardenhire said Mauer came in last night and told him he wanted to play today, that he feels ``great."

Twins lineup: Span, Nishioka, Mauer, Morneau, Young, Thome, Cuddyer, Valencia, Casilla, Liriano.

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I'm tweeting at @Souhanstrib. The Gardenhire show starts at 9:30 a.m. Sunday on 1500espn, followed by Sunday Morning Sports Talk with Tom Pelissero and me.