As much as my old-fashioned baseball loving mind hates the idea of inter-league play, I must admit it provides me with a convenient opportunity to see the Twins on the road in a real stadium. I’ll be heading to Milwaukee with a couple friends for Friday and Saturday nights’ games at Miller Park. I’ve never been to Miller Park (or really Milwaukee for that matter), so I’m definitely excited about the trip, despite how the Twins are playing heading into the weekend.

The Brewers started out the season on fire and at a point they held the best record in baseball. They’ve fallen off recently though. They lost 2 of 3 to the Mets and then lost 3 of 4 to the Phillies. The truth is, they play in the weaker of two leagues and they play in a division in which every other team has gotten off to a slow start. Normally the Twins would have no reason to fear the Brewers, but right now I’m not sure they could win 2 of 3 from the Gophers baseball team.

Boof Bonser will open up the series on a day that would’ve been Sidney Ponson’s start. On Saturday we’ll likely see the season debut of Scott Baker (however no official announcement has come regarding that). The pitching matchups for the series will be:

• Friday: Boof Bonser (1-1, 4.33) vs. Chris Capuano (5-1, 2.93). Capuano is coming off his worst start of the year 4 ER in 4 IP, but he was near brilliant before then. He’s also a lefty. Bonser will need to keep the walks down and try to keep the ball in the park if he hopes to win.
• Saturday: Scott Baker??? (NR) vs. Dave Bush (3-3, 5.47). Dave Bush isn’t spectacular, but he’s put together a handful of starts that gave the Brewers a good chance to win. It should be an opportunity for the Twins to get Scott Baker some run support in his first start.
• Sunday: Ramon Ortiz (3-4, 4.89) vs. Claudio Vargas (3-0, 2.93). Vargas is in his first season with Milwaukee after being a career mediocre to poor starter. Ortiz is coming off an embarrassing start in Cleveland in which he allowed 6 runs in 1 inning.

J.J. Hardy has had a breakout season as the young shortstop for the Brewers. He’s batting .321 with 13 homers on the season. Combined with Prince Fielder’s power at the plate and a quality supporting cast, the Brewers offense has been one of the most prolific offenses in baseball so far. Imagine if they still had Carlos Lee.

Derrick Turnbow and Francisco Cordero had been a fearsome duo at the end of games for the Brewers. While Cordero has continued to be nearly flawless while recording 15 saves, Turnbow had a rough series against Philadelphia. He got the loss in back-to-back games.