The Twins Week Ahead - June 4

Here's your look at the game times, TV schedule, weekly opponents, and recap of just what the heck happened last week for the Twins.

What the heck happened?

• Tuesday, Josh Willingham hit a walk-off home run, which was kind of fun.
• Wednesday, Francisco Liriano threw six shutout innings, which was also nice.
• Friday, we decided everyone is a trade candidate.
• Sunday, the pitching staff aired their dirty laundry on Twitter. (Not really.)

You might notice something different: Nobody got released last week. Honestly, that may be the first time this year that's happened.

The Week Ahead

The MLB Draft starts tonight, about which more in our earlier post.

While that's going on, the Twins open a series in Kansas City that is pivotal, in the sense that a Twins sweep would bring them within a half-game of fourth place in the AL Central. The Royals are on a pretty good run, having won each of their last three series, including series at Baltimore and at Cleveland. Keep an eye on: Whether the Royals can get a hit in the clutch. Kansas City has the worst OPS in the American League with runners in scoring position, at .674, which explains how the team is a respectable 8th in OPS in the AL, but has scored just one more run than the Twins.

After an off day Thursday, Minnesota comes home for a series with the Cubs, who along with the godawful Padres are the only teams making the Twins look good. The Cubs are 18-35 and have lost ten straight games on the road. They have also lost fifteen straight to every team that is not San Diego. This is the pot calling the kettle black, but the Cubs are not good at baseball. Keep an eye on: Scheduled Saturday starter Jeff Samardzija. You remember him as a Notre Dame wide receiver, but he's a rare bright spot on the Cubs right now. At 5-3, he's the team's only pitcher with a winning record, and he's 11th in the NL with 65 strikeouts in 64 innings. Also, I know someone who has a story that ends with someone saying, "Did Jeff Samardzija just eat my goldfish?", which I think we can all agree is great.

The schedule:

• Monday: Kansas City, 7:10pm. TV: FSN. Probables: Cole De Vries vs. Will Smith
  
• Tuesday: Kansas City, 7:10pm. TV: FSN. Probables: Francisco Liriano vs. Bruce Chen
  
• Wednesday: Kansas City, 7:10pm. TV: FSN. Probables: Jeff Manship vs. Felipe Paulino
  
• Thursday: OFF
• Friday: Chicago Cubs, 7:10pm. TV: FSN. Probables: P.J. Walters vs. Kerry, I mean Travis Wood
  
• Saturday: Chicago Cubs, 1:10pm. TV: FSN. Probables: Scott Diamond vs. Jeff Samardzija
  
• Sunday: Chicago Cubs, 1:10pm. TV: FSN. Probables: De Vries vs. Ryan Dempster