Sid Hartman: Twins need to beat demons of the East

The Twins have won just three of the previous 26 games they have played at Yankee Stadium.

Their record against the Boston Red Sox and the Toronto Blue Jays also isn't very good. At both Fenway Park and Rogers Centre during the past five seasons, the Twins have an identical 4-11 record. Their overall record in that time is 15-13 against the Red Sox, 13-23 against the Blue Jays, including 0-6 in 2008.

So this upcoming road trip -- three games at New York, two in Toronto and two in Boston -- will give a good indication of just how good these Minnesota Twins are.

They did get a break in the schedule this year, already having played three games with the Red Sox at Target Field, going 2-1, and they don't play again in the regular season after next week. And they will play only two more at Toronto in July before closing the first regular season at Target Field against the Blue Jays in a four-game homestand. With the Yankees, it will be the three at Yankee Stadium and three at Target Field at the end of May.

Manager Ron Gardenhire is optimistic about this road trip, even though he won't have J.J. Hardy to play shortstop and will have a number of other players banged up.

"We played Boston all spring, we know exactly what to expect of them," said Gardenhire. "We've already played them here and beat them two out of three. The Yankees we saw in spring training a few times -- we know they're a great baseball team. You have to go in there and you have to attack, and that's what we're going to do is go in there when we get there and try to attack."

Gardenhire believes this current Twins roster has more leadership than any of the other Twins teams he has managed.

Has Gardenhire changed his managing style with this team?

"Yeah, I'm not running as much as they used to, but that's because we've got guys that can bang the ball around, know how to handle the bats, and you don't have to force the issue as much," he said.

One place the Twins must improve is their batting with bases loaded. They are 8-for-50 (.160 average) in that situation. Another negative statistic is the runners they've left on base. To date, they have left 271 runners on base, compared to 205 in 2008 and 245 in 2009 at the same point in the season.

That's one reason that, despite being in first place in the AL Central, they are fifth in the American League in runs scored. The four teams ahead of them? The Yankees, Red Sox, Blue Jays and Tampa Bay Rays.

Well, they go into New York this week and can't have any fond memories of last year's playoffs, when they were swept three games in a row even though they played the world champions very close.

"Every ballpark in America has certain areas that we would say are restricted seats, or maybe even obstructed view," Twins President Dave St. Peter said. "We've made no mistake, or we haven't tried to hide that. We've said that throughout the process, that there's going to be certain seats that are impacted. We certainly worked with a lot of fans over the course of the last several weeks, dating back to even the Gopher game, to try to rectify some situations. It's one of those things that a ballpark, due to certain codes about railings, with certainly some of the great ballparks in America have restricted view seats in terms of Fenway Park and Wrigley Field, Target Field is no different."

You have to give this organization a lot of credit for the way they have corrected the normal problems you have when you open a new stadium.

Jottings The word is that former Timberwolves employees Kevin McHale and Flip Saunders, who were close to Jimmy Williams when Williams was involved in both the Wolves and Gophers basketball teams, will be called to testify in the current trial where Williams is suing the University of Minnesota athletic department. He is claiming that he was hired as an assistant coach when Tubby Smith took the head coaching job and that athletic director Joel Maturi refused to approve the hiring.

The Vikings have zero interest in making a deal with the Redskins for veteran defensive lineman Albert Haynesworth as rumored by one of the websites.

While Glen Perkins continues to struggle at Class AAA Rochester, with an 0-4 record and 10.72 ERA in six starts, Twin General Manager Billy Smith is hopeful that the former Gophers lefthander will regain the form he had in 2008, when he had a 12-4 record and a 4.41 ERA "It's an adjustment," Smith said. "He's working at it. His last start, [former GM and special adviser] Terry Ryan said his last start was better. We know what Glen can do at this level, he just has to regain all of his mechanics and all of his stuff, and do it down there in Rochester and be ready when we need some help up here."

The Timberwolves have three offers from firms who are interested in putting signs on the wall of Target Center that faces Target Field. They are in the process of getting permits for the signs now. The firm or firms who buy the space will pay in excess of $300,000 for the display.

Meanwhile, more than 9,000 tickets have been sold for the Sunday debut of Lindsay Whalen with the Lynx.

Gophers reliever Scott Matyas was named the Big Ten pitcher of the week for the fourth time in his career. Last week Matyas was 1-0 with a save, an 0.00 ERA and a save in 3 2/3 innings. Matyas has a 3-1 record with five saves, a team leading 2.88 ERA and 36 strikeouts in 25 innings.