Read More: twins baseball, tigers baseball, minnesota twins baseball, detroit tigers baseball, twins at tigers, twins vs tigers, Jhonny Peralta (SS – DET), Delmon Young (LF – MIN), Max Scherzer (P – DET), Brian Duensing (P – MIN), Alex Avila (C – DET), Minnesota Twins, Detroit Tigers, Minnesota Twins at Detroit Tigers, May 31, 2011 6:05 PM CDT

After a controversial 6-5 loss to the Detroit Tigers on Memorial Day, the Minnesota Twins will attempt to bounce back and snap their most recent losing streak on Tuesday night at Comerica Park.

The Twins lost on Monday due to a bad call by third base umpire Gary Darling in the bottom of the eighth inning that allowed Jhonny Peralta to score on what wound up being a ground rule double by Alex Avila that a fan had interfered with. Peralta should have been made to stop at third, but the umpires conferred and allowed Peralta to score what wound up being the winning run.  The loss was the second in a row for the Twins, and again dropped them to the worst record in Major League Baseball.

Tonight’s pitching match-up will feature lefty Brian Duensing (2-5, 4.83 ERA) taking the mound for the Twins, with the Tigers sending righty Max Scherzer (6-2, 3.86 ERA) to the hill.

Thanks to a slight delay in getting this posted, they are already underway at Comerica Park, with the Twins holding a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second thanks to an RBI single by Delmon Young. Be sure to follow all of the action in tonight’s Game Thread over at Twinkie Town, and we’ll have your recap back here for you when everything finishes up in Detroit.

Thanks to the Minnesota Twins and their mascot, T.C. Bear, the long-pondered question —  “Does a bear dig in the woods?” — has finally been answered.

Sorry, fur ball, but there will be no great escape from the Twinned Cities in 2011. And let’s pick up the digging, T.C. Deeper! Wider! Faster! Bah! You couldn’t bury Delmon Young’s(notes) pet turtle in that mud puddle!

Really, it’s a dirty, rotten shame the Twins season has come down to this. Winners of the past two AL Central championships, and six titles since 2002, the franchise has fallen on hard times in 2011. Reigning MVP Joe Mauer(notes) has been hurt, other players have been injured, and most others are under-performing.

So how can we blame the Twins for their marching orders? Collectively being put down humanely and returned to the forest for eternity is the dignified way to end things.

OK, we’re kidding! The mascot is not really going Goodfellas on the Twins.

The photo only makes it seem like T.C. is digging a grave for the team, which sports a major-league worst record of 17-35 (yikes) and already finds itself 14 1/2 games out of first place in the AL Central (zoinks!) as of Tuesday afternoon.

Mr. Bear really is digging a hole so that a spruce tree — a former resident of the batting eye at Target Field — can be transplanted to a berm at the Zumbrota Mazeppa High School baseball field.

(Zumbrota Mazeppa: An underrated album by the Police, or the long-lost Marx Brother?)

The spruce, one of 14 removed from an area beyond center field because they supposedly interfered with batters’ concentration at Target, was won by a season-ticket holder who is donating it to the high school.

Yes, Twins authorities: Tree branches swaying in the downtown Minneapolis breeze is obviously why the team is bringing up the major league rear in offense.

Can you dig where we’re coming from?

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Related: Joe Mauer, Delmon Young, Minnesota Twins, Cool Photos

Alex Wimmers (Pioneer Press, file)

The Minnesota Twins won’t get to draft until No. 30 in the first round Monday. But the departure of Orlando Hudson to San Diego and Jesse Crain to the Chicago White Sox as free agents last year will give the Twins the Nos. 50 and 55 overall picks, too.

“So we’ll get three good players; it’s a decent crop to pick from in the early part of the draft,” Mike Radcliff, who oversees the Twins’ draft, said this morning.

The Twins’ first-round pick last year, Ohio State pitcher Alex Wimmers (21st overall), has been a bust in his first full minor league season.

The 22-year-old right-hander has pitched in just one game for Class A Fort Myers, getting no one out, walking six and giving up four earned runs in a start. Wimmers, who received a signing bonus of $1.33 million, has an ERA of infinity.

“He’s struggling right now,” said Radcliff, the Twins’ vice president for player personnel. “He’s got some issues with health (groin), issues with command and issues with his delivery. He had to get shut down for a while and get him started again. He’s not on track right now.”

Radcliff admits Wimmers’ start has been a disappointment.

“The best-case scenario is, you want a guy, no matter where he starts – the lowest level or some other level – you want him to do good,” he said. “The worst-case scenario is to struggle. You want guys to have confidence when they’re starting their pro careers.

“Everybody’s going to struggle at some point, but you hate to see it right

out of the chute.”

The Twins’ 2009 first-round pick, Missouri right-pitcher Kyle Gibson out of Missouri (22nd overall), is 3-3 with a 3.60 ERA in 10 starts at Class AAA Rochester and is expected to be promoted to the major leagues before the end of the season. Gibson, who received a $1.85 million signing bonus, has struck out 59 in 55 innings while walking just 11.

The Twins, devoid of catching depth in the major leagues as well as at Triple-A and Double-A, won’t necessarily approach next week’s draft by position, Radcliff said. Nor will the Twins necessarily draft with Target Field’s dimensions in mind.

The Twins’ approach will be to “evaluate the best players and get the best players,” Radcliff said. “There’s no team that doesn’t need everything. When you’re talking about the draft, most players don’t impact the major league team for three, four, five, six years. So we don’t worry too much about what’s going on today.

“It’s one thing when you’re picking first or second or fourth or something, then it’s a little different approach. And 30th, nobody knows who will be available at 30, so you just have to prepare for whatever comes your way.”

The Twins have chosen late in the first round on other occasions. They drafted Chuck Knoblauch at No. 25 in 1989 and Matt Garza at No. 25 in 2005.

“There’s still good players, big leaguers, good guys, lower down,” Radcliff said. “You just have to be ready for every scenario, and that’s what we’ll be doing this next week, getting them in order.”

Read More: Nick Punto (SS – STL), Minnesota Twins, Detroit Tigers

It has been a while since we did our last update of the Major League Baseball standings, and specifically the standings in the American League Central. The reason for that is because. . .well, in the case of our Minnesota Twins, not a whole heck of a lot has changed. They still have the worst record in all of Major League Baseball, and are falling farther off the map with each passing day, it seems.

Here are the American League Central standings as they look right now.

Yes, the Twins are five and a half games out. . .of fourth place.

Things haven’t gotten much better statistically for the Twins, either. Their 180 runs through 52 games is still the lowest total in baseball, though their team batting average has gone all the way up to .238, which puts them 26th in the majors in that category. They’re second-to-last in on-base percentage (.298), and third from the bottom in baseball in slugging percentage with a .339 mark.

How bad is that slugging percentage number? This season, former Twin Nick Punto has a slugging percentage of .385. Yeah. . .it’s that bad.

Things aren’t any better on the pitching side, either. . .the Twins’ collective ERA of 4.80 is the worst in baseball. They have just 26 quality starts in their 52 games this year, and are allowing opposing teams to bat .268 against them, which is 27th in the Major Leagues.

So, to review, the Twins have scored fewer runs than any team in baseball, allowed more runs than any team in baseball, and they have baseball’s worst record. One can’t help but think all those things are connected somehow.

Things won’t get any easier for the Twins, as they’re in the midst of a ten-game road trip that will see them taking on nothing but AL Central opponents. They have two games remaining with the Tigers at Comerica Park, and they will follow that up with four games in Kansas City against the Royals and three against the division-leading Cleveland Indians before returning to Target Field for a ten-game homestand.