Liriano on the mound as Twins wrap up series with Royals

We should know right at noon who will represent the Twins at the July 10 All-Star Game in Kansas City. Josh Willingham and Joe Mauer have been the most consistent performers for the Twins this half-season.

Scott Diamond has been one of their best players, too. He's 7-3 with a 2.63 ERA. He's walked just 11 batters in 72 innings. With a couple more starts, he'll qualify to be among the league's statistical leaders. His ERA would be fourth in the American League.

"His numbers are as good as anyone's," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said.

This is not a plug for him to make the team, but his emergence has been impressive.

Gardenhire, by the way, is two wins shy of 900 wins for his career. Tom Kelly leads with 1,140.

The Twins finished June with a 14-13 record, their first winning month since July of last year. The fact they are 13 games under .500 shows just how crummy they played the first two months of the season.

Outfielder Romy Jimenez is the Twins minor league player of the week. He batted .450 with three home runs in five games last week for Elizabethton of the Appalachian League.

While the team was in Jupiter yesterday, I slid over the minor league fields and watched some camp day action. Watched an outfielder named Romy Jimenez clobber back-to-back homers (the wind was blowing out) with a sweet swing. Jimenez, 20, was injured part of last year and played in just eight games for the Gulf Coast League rookie team. I'm guessing he'll start there again this year (wrong!). He's listed at 6-2 and 170 but clearly is filling out. Too early to tell if he amounts to anything but at least I'll recognize the name.

Royals (35-41)

1. Alex Gordon, LF
2. Alcides Escobar, SS
3. Billy Butler, DH
4. Jeff Francoeur, RF
5. Yuniesky Betancourt, 3B
6. Eric Hosmer, 1B
7. Brayan Pena, C
8. Jason Bourgeois, CF
9. Irving Falu, 2B

Pitching: Bruce Chen, LHP

Twins (32-45)