Notes

The Twins took the series from division-leading Detroit. Albers was pretty good until the sixth, but the "relief" he got from Josh Roenecke cost him the game. Chris Herman's homer late gave the Twins the win. I watched most of it, but those last 3 innings were tough.

The Vikings play another preseason game Sunday night against the Niners. Usually I don't get too excited about preseason, but this one is different. The THIRD preseason game is the one every team tries to win. It's the dress rehearsal for the regular season. Most of the starters will play the entire first half just to get the feel of a real game and then take most or all of next week off.

I think the Niners are the best team in football so I'm really anxious to see how we stack up against them. Colin Kaepernick is just getting started. IF the Vikings defense can slow him down, I think it will be a pretty good indication of how good this team's defense might be. On the other hand, if he runs all over us, it'll also let us know what we can expect when the real games start.

I'm not sure if Adrian Peterson is scheduled to play at all in preseason. The Vikes want to protect him at all costs for games that matter. If he doesn't play, it really won't be much of a Vikings game either way. He has been so much of our offense since he has became a Viking that without him, nothing about the game will be very easy to judge. If we punt a lot without him, our defense won't stand a chance. Without a sustained offense, the defense will be on the field way too much.

As an example of how important the third game is you don't have to look any further than last night's Detroit-New England matchup. Detroit looked great. The Pats looked awful. And both teams had most starters playing the entire first half. Commentators were obviously looking at this game as a harbinger of things to come for the Patriots this season.

Vikings in prime time Sunday. The world will be watching.