Here are three thoughts following the Twins 2-1 loss to the Royals
GROSSMAN'S SERIES: Robbie Grossman had two hits on Sunday but also had another shaky moment in the field. Lorenzo Cain lined a ball to left that Grossman Initially broke in on before scrambling back in an attempt to get to the drive. It was too late, as the ball got by him for a double. That was the second time this road trip that he broke the wrong way on batted ball. Twins manager Paul Molitor has been unhappy about the outfield defense, and plays like Sunday's don't help. Grossman can be an asset to an offense because of his ability to draw walks, but unless he's going to put up big numbers at the plate, he'll have a hard time proving he can be an everyday player.
POLANCO SHOULD HAVE BEEN CHARGED WITH AN ERROR: It wasn't too long ago that official scorer's would be razzed by the rest of the press box when a questionable scoring decision was made. Sometimes, arguments would break out between the writers and scorers. Things have changed in the last 15-20 years. But when Cain was given a hit in the sixth inning on the ball that Jorge Polanco couldn't handle, I wanted to scream. You can't take fielder off the hook when the play might have a slight degree of difficulty. Cain was slow getting out of the box as well. Polanco has to come up with the ball there.
SEPTEMBER CALL UPS: Molitor said that talks with interim GM Rob Antony on September call ups have begun. So this is a good time to attempt to manage expectations here. There might be one or two new faces called up - I'll put Adalberto Mejia in the group even though he was with the Twins for one game this weekend - but don't be surprised if most of the players promoted in September have already played here. Kennys Vargas, Byung Ho Park, Byron Buxton, John Ryan Murphy are the types I'm thinking of. Mitch Garver, Daniel Palka, Adam Brett Walker and Alan Busenitz could get a shot, but don't get your hopes too high for a wave of fresh faces in September. The Twins have used 27 pitchers this season. Hard to come up with new faces when that happens.
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La Velle E. Neal III has covered baseball for the Star Tribune since 1998 (the post-Knoblauch era). Born and raised in Chicago, he grew up following the White Sox and hating the Cubs. He attended both the University of Illinois and Illinois-Chicago and began his baseball writing career at the Kansas City Star. He can be heard occasionally on KFAN radio, lending his great baseball mind to Paul Allen and other hosts.
Phil Miller covered three seasons of Twins baseball, but that was at a different ballpark for a different newspaper. Now Miller returns to the baseball beat after joining the Star Tribune as the Gopher football writer in 2010, and he won't miss the dingy dome for a minute. In addition to the Twins and Gophers, Miller covered the Utah Jazz and the NBA for six years at The Salt Lake Tribune.
