Its a hot and humid day here at Busch Stadium with temperatures expected to reach close to 100 degrees in St. Louis. City officials asked the Cardinals earlier in the week  to move today and Sunday’s games to night games to try and avoid the worst of the heat but the Cardinals and MLB were unable to move the times on such short notice.

The lineups:

Twins (38-37)

Span 8
Harris 6
Morneau 3
Kubel 7
Cuddyer 9
Crede 5
Redmond 2
Tolbert 4
Slowey 1

Cardinals (40-35)

Schumaker 4
Rasmus 8
Pujols 3
Duncan 7
Molina 2
Ankiel 9
T.Greene 6
Wellemeyer 1
Thurston 5

*Twins catcher Joe Mauer was given the day off on Saturday after catching the game last night. Manager Ron Gardenhire said he would have DH’d the slugger if he was playing in the American League. He also said it wasn’t a day off – he just wasn’t starting.  Look for him to pinch hit if the Twins have a chance to win the game.

*Today’s pitcher Kevin Slowey is looking for his American League leading 11th win of the season. Only two Twins pitchers in the past 30 years reached double-digit wins faster than him.

*Last night’s game was the eighth time that Twins pitchers did not allow a walk. The Cardinals lead MLB with nine walkless games.

*St. Louisian Gerry Davis is the crewchief of the umpiring crew in town for the weekend series. He will ump second base today.

Thats all for now. Enjoy the game and try to stay cool.

-B.J. Rains

Twins ( 37-37)

Span 8
Harris 6
Mauer 2
Morneau 3
Kubel 7
Cuddyer 9
Crede 5
Tolbert 4
Perkins 1

Cardinals (40-34)

Schumaker 4
Rasmus 8
Pujols 3
Ludwick 9
Ankiel 7
Molina 2
Thurston 5
Wainwright 1
T. Greene 6

Twins notes:

*Nick Punto is back with the team after having an MRI in Minnesota on Thursday to check on his sore ribs. Nothing was found to be wrong and Punto hopes to be able to play on Sunday. He took some swings off the tee on Friday afternoon but didn’t take batting practice with the team. Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said ‘I doubt it’ when asked if Punto would appear in the series.

*The home plate umpire for Friday’s game is Todd Tichenor, who made headlines when he ejected Gardenhire and Joe Mauer of the Twins as well as the Red Sox’ Terry Francona and Jason Veretek in the Metrodome on May 28. The Twins lost that game 3-1.

*Several Twins players have family and friends in St. Louis for the weekend. Joe Mauer has his host family from when he was in Joplin, Missouri, for a National Tournament years ago in town for the series. St. Louisian Bobby Keppel, who was called up three days ago, will have close to 50 family andf friends in attendance for the series. Joe Crede, another local product, has had several ticket requests as well.

*The Temperature was 95 degrees at 5:15 when the Twins took the field for batting practice.

-B.J. Rains

Greetings and thanks for checking out my new blog. As an associate reporter for MLB.com, I cover the Cardinals but also some of the away teams that come to St. Louis. If the opposing team’s beat reporter doesn’t make the trip, I fill in and cover them for the series. I will be doing that this weekend when I cover the Twins as they make a trip to STL.