Some thoughts on the Twins' 8-1 loss to Kansas City last night. I may be wrong a lot, but there's no way I swing and miss as much as your Twins:

1. Joe Mauer won't be back for a while. No matter what they say, they're not going to rush a $184 million player at the end of a lost season when he has a concussion. Maybe he'll be back in a week. Maybe not.

2. The Twins set a record for strikeouts in a season on Tuesday night, with more than a month remaining in the season. As some people in the organization have noted, it's one thing to strike out because you hit a lot of home runs. It's another thing to strike out when you're just trying to put the ball in play.

3. Why worry about whether Miguel Sano is ready for the big leagues when the guy he would replace still isn't ready for the big leagues? Trevor Plouffe made two sloppy errors last night and his OPS is .675. Sano is not only better than Plouffe offensively, he's already better defensively.

4. I love watching Andrew Albers pitch. He allowed two earned runs in seven innings to a decent team. Through four big-league starts he'd had one big innings. He pitches with guts and intelligence and he doesn't walk people. I'll take guys like Albers and Sam Deduno in my rotation. They're competitors, and while Albers lacks velocity, his pitches seem to sneak up on hitters the way Eddie Guardado's did.

5. Doing radio on 1500ESPN at the Fair on Sunday. Gardenhire Show 9:30-10, then Sunday Sports Talk with myself and Scott Korzenowski from 10-noon.

6. I'll also be hosting Talking Twins on Saturday from 9-10, with Terry Ryan as my guest.