Justin Morneau News

Chris Colabello never thought it would be easy. Not after all the hard work he put in playing seven years in the independent Canadian-American League without any clear path to the big leagues.

There is still an awful lot of baseball to be played in 2013, and the playoff picture won't begin to really take shape until after the All-Star break.

Twins rookie Oswaldo Arcia was left out of the starting lineup Thursday for the fourth straight game, even after producing the club's first pinch-hit homer in almost three full years a day earlier.

La Velle E. Neal III has covered baseball for the Star Tribune since 1998 . Born and raised in Chicago, he grew up following the White Sox and hating the Cubs.

With a quarter of the MLB season in the books, Memorial Day on the horizon and All-Star ballot boxes stuffed with candidates for the spectacle at Citi Field, the 2013 campaign is far from young at this point.

A major key to any team's success over the course of a long season is winning within the division.

Evan Gattis hit a grand slam and B.J. Upton had a solo homer as part of a five-run fourth inning that helped the Atlanta Braves down the slumping Minnesota Twins, 8-3, to complete a three-game interleague sweep at Turner Field.

The Twins called up Chris Colabello from the triple-A Rochester Red Wings and placed Trevor Plouffe on the seven-day concussion disabled list.

A House committee taking Congress' latest look at the Internal Revenue Service's mistreatment of tea party groups will apparently have to do so without input from the star witness.

The Twins-Red Sox series was as ugly a weekend of baseball as has been played so far this season by the home team.

The Twins' Justin Morneau sings an autograph during TwinsFest 2007 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis, Minn., on Friday, January 26th, 2007.

The Red Sox's all-or-nothing offense has seemed to hold much more potential energy than anything else over the past few weeks, with outbursts occasional but consistency lacking.

THE CONTENTS: The Red Sox continue their nine-game road trip with their only visit of the season to Minneapolis for three more with the Twins.

The Red Sox slugger remains a media favorite, his quotes frequently lighting up reporters' notebooks.

Through all of the controversy revolving around him, the Red Sox right-hander has amassed a sterling 6-0 record and 1.69 ERA through eight starts.

The Twins on Wednesday afternoon scored twice in the sixth inning to climb to within 5-4 of the White Sox, and it felt as if it would be only a matter of time before they would shove the worst team in the AL Central out of the way.

Entering the final year of his contract with the Minnesota Twins , Justin Morneau certainly has a lot to play for.

Not only does Twins manager Ron Gardenhire like the on-base machine in the No. 2 lineup slot, but he worries about putting added strain on his franchise catcher in the first inning of home games.

That all culminated with Monday's two-homer game and Hicks is now hitting .215/.333/.431 with three homers and a 15-to-12 strikeout-to-walk ratio in his last 22 games.

Adam Dunn and Dayan Viciedo left no doubt about the legitimacy of their home runs in the second inning Tuesday night.