Leyland comes away awfully impressed

Ask Detroit's Jim Leyland what he thinks of Twins first baseman Justin Morneau and catcher Joe Mauer, who wore out his pitching staff as his team lost two out of three here, and the Tigers manager says: "It's probably the best back-to-back tandem of anyone in baseball.

"I think Minnesota has two of the top 10 players in all of baseball, Mauer and Morneau. I think, if people said name me your top 10 players in all of baseball, I think Mauer and Morneau would be in the top 10. I think Mauer probably in the top five and Morneau in the top 10.

"Oh yes. No question about it," said Leyland who managed Pittsburgh for 11 years, Florida for two, Colorado for one and is in his fourth year in Detroit.

"One [Mauer] is going to lay the bat on the ball all the time, and the other guy [Morneau] has got lots of power. You know, he might not make quite as much contact as Mauer, but he's a great hitter, too.

"I think Mauer is one of the best hitters in the game by far and Morneau is one of the best hitters as far as producing runs," said Leyland about the two Twins, who were named to the American League All-Star team Sunday.

Asked to predict the winner of the Central Division, Leyland said: "I think it's going to go back and forth all year between us [Minnesota and Detroit] and the White Sox, I think Cleveland will get back in it at some point."

Great at first base Morneau gets most of his accolades for his ability to hit home runs and drive in runs. He has a league-leading 183 total bases and ranks second in the American League to Boston's Jason Bay (70) with 69 RBI. Morneau has hit 21 home runs, trailing league-leader Carlos Pena (23) of Tampa Bay.

He's batting .320 with a .398 on-base percentage, .592 slugging percentage and .991 OPS, all outstanding figures.

But Twins manager Ron Gardenhire also ranks Morneau one of the best fielding first baseman in the league, if not the best. He has made only one error this year.

Sunday he made three great defensive plays to back the stellar pitching of Nick Blackburn. Morneau made two nice catches of foul popups in the eighth inning, and then in the ninth when Blackburn was having a little problem, Morneau made a sensational grab of hard hit, low ground ball by Josh Anderson.

Morneau was a catcher when he signed, so the move to first base was an adjustment, something he has made to become one of the best at the position.

"Tom Kelly and Gardy [Ron Gardenhire] worked with me a lot," Morneau said. "Al Newman worked with me a lot. There was personal training sessions with Kelly every day in spring training.

The Twins are fortunate they have Morneau signed for six years, but now they have to find a way to sign Mauer to an extension. Mauer, who is signed through next year, is having one of the greatest years of any catcher in baseball ever.

Jottings The Twins had the reputation of not winning on the road until they went 6-3 on the recent trip to Milwaukee, St. Louis and Kansas City, and part of that poor record was blamed on the bullpen.

But things changed on the recent road trip. Bobby Keppel, (6.1 innings, two appearances) Jose Mijares (two innings, four appearances) and Joe Nathan (4.2 innings six appearances) had ERAs of 0.00 on the road trip. R.A. Dickey was at 1.29 (seven innings and six appearances) and Matt Guerrier at 2.45 (3.2 innings and five appearances). For the season Nathan's ERA is 1.35, Dickey 2.96, Guerrier 2.58, Keppel 0.00 and Mijares 2.16.

Most of the Twins will make their first tour of the new stadium on Wednesday. ... Twins President Dave St. Peter looks for attendance of 100,000 each for the three-game series with the Yankees this week and the weekend series with the White Sox. The Twins drew 93,880 this past weekend against Detroit. ... St. Peter and Eric Curry, vice president of corporate partnerships, were in Atlanta this week trying to complete a great commercial deal with Delta Airlines in connection with the new stadium.

There is a good chance that Stephen Marbury, who got his NBA start with the Wolves and Flip Saunders, will sign with the Wizards, who will be coached by Saunders this year. ... Kevin Kaufman, the former Gophers hockey player, has signed a three-year contract to play in Germany. ... Former Gophers pitcher John Gaub, now with the Chicago Cubs' Triple-A Iowa farm team, left Iowa's game on Wednesday in the top of the 14th inning because of a sore left elbow. He was placed on the disabled list Saturday.

Wild General Manager Chuck Fletcher was asked about Jeff Taffe, Alex Goligoski, and John Curry, the three local hockey players in the Pittsburgh system. Fletcher was an assistant GM with the Penguins before coming to Minnesota.

"Goligoski [he signed a big contract recently] is going to be a top offensive defensemen in the NHL, he is going to be a fulltime power-play guy next year and have great success," Fletcher said. "John Curry is a terrific kid, a hard working goalie, he is going to compete for the backup spot. He is kid that wasn't recruited by a lot of the Minnesota colleges. He has to go to Boston University as a walk-on and became a four year starter. So a character kid.

"Jeff Taffe is a player that has moved around the league a little bit and had a found a pretty good home in Pittsburgh. He played mainly on the farm team but has also spent considerable time in Pittsburgh."