Kickin' Booty

THE JURY'S STILL out on Jacque Jones as a lead-off hitter. He's still producing runs (.306 batting average through Monday, with 20 runs and 20 RBI). But he's still mostly futile against lefthanders (batting a lusty .135) and is averaging about a walk a week. The Twins don't have anybody else, however, who's uniquely qualified to lead off, and it's hard to argue with the results so far.

ALL THREE OF Detroit Tiger Craig Paquette's home runs have come against the Twins. The Tigers had no saves in the entire month of April. Of the first nine home runs hit by Boston's Manny Ramirez, all nine came in a different inning.

CONGRATULATIONS TO GOPHER baseball coach John Anderson: After sweeping Purdue over the weekend, Anderson has moved into a tie with Dick Siebert for most wins in school history. He's now 754-467-3 in his career at Minnesota.

CONTRACTION WATCH: The Brewers are 9-23, having picked up a couple victories since last week. They're in last place, nine and a half games back in the NL Central. Attendance in Miller Park is down 149,670 from last year after 16 games.

Brad Zellar goes Yard every Monday afternoon--and perhaps more often--for as long as he (and the Twins) are up to it.