Twins have high hopes for Kubel

ANAHEIM, Calif. – Minnesota Twins outfielder Michael Cuddyer recently announced the Twins starting lineup during a nationally televised game. When he got to Jason Kubel’s spot, Cuddyer described him as “probably the loudest man on the team.”

It was a big lie. You can get more out of a conversation with your house pet than Kubel, a pleasant fellow who just doesn’t say much or cause a ruckus.

He wants to make a little noise with his bat, and his nonverbal communication skills were sharp on Sunday when he went 3 for 4 with two hard-hit singles and a home run to center.

“Hopefully, more (hits) will start to fall in,” Kubel said with a a grin.

The Twins are pulling for Kubel, who started in left field on Monday, to get in a hot streak. He entered the game with just a .247 average, three home runs and 18 RBI. On a team that has relied on the middle order of Cuddyer, Justin Morneau and Torii Hunter to drive in runs, Kubel could boost the bottom third of the order if he can do what he did to Oakland righthander Chad Gaudin on Sunday more often.

“He’s been swinging it good,” Twins shortstop Jason Bartlett said. “Then he has the nerve to tell me, `is it hard to pick up the pitches here?’ after he had hit a bomb.”’

Kubel, a .320 hitter in the minors, still is trying to find his offensive game in his second season removed from reconstructive left knee surgery in 2004 that cost him all of the 2005 season, followed by arthroscopic surgery on his right knee after last season.

Bartlett, Kubel’s teammate in the minors, hasn’t forgotten those days and expects Kubel to revisit them.

“Oh yeah,” Bartlett said. “I think in Triple-A, he would hit a lot of stuff to left field. I think up here, people kept talking about home runs, so he’s been thinking about it. He’s a great hitter, man. He hit two balls to left-center (on Sunday). If he stays with that, then turns on one like his second-to-last at-bat. That’s how he hit .400 in the minor leagues.”