The Twins’ Rick Anderson is one of baseball’s best pitching coaches, an authority on pitching to hitters.  I mentioned to him that the Twins’ Justin Morneau has so much plate coverage with his swing that he can reach for an outside pitch and stroke it for a base hit.

“Amazing,” Anderson said.  “And he’s a pitcher’s nightmare because you think, ‘Well, I am not going to come into him because he can hit one 400 feet to right field.’  But then you stay away…he can hit it 400 feet to left field. …He says, ‘When I am swinging the best, I use the whole field.’ When he’s not, he’s trying to pull home runs, but when he stays with his plan and trying to use the whole field, he’s tough to pitch to. …”

Anderson said if Morneau were on another team he wouldn’t “know how” to pitch to him.  The 6-foot-4, 230-pound Morneau is second in the American League in RBI with 89 while batting .311 with 18 home runs.

The Twins, who have a 24-30 road record and lost two of three games in Seattle earlier this week, are nearing their longest road trip of the year starting on August 21.  The Twins will play in Anaheim, Seattle, Oakland and Toronto before returning to Minneapolis for a series against Detroit starting on September 5.

Before the 2008 major league schedule was made the Twins communicated to major league baseball officials that Republican Convention organizers asked that the team be out of town during the convention, September 1-4.  Team president Dave St. Peter told Sports Headliners the first draft of the schedule had the team in town during the convention.  The final draft changed that but resulted in an unusually long time away from Minneapolis.

St. Peter described the Twins as “disappointed” the schedule wasn’t made more favorably but said MLB has requests from all 30 teams and faces a challenge in sorting things out.  He also said it’s a “quirk” in the schedule that the Twins didn’t play Seattle until this month and now play the Mariners nine times in August.

If general managers and scouts could pick one player to build a team around, Joe Mauer, 25, would be among the first names mentioned.   A recent Sports Illustrated story reported that a panel of such experts listed Mauer as the No. 5 choice in major league baseball after Florida shortstop Hanley Ramirez, New York Yankees shortstop Alex Rodriguez, Philadelphia second baseman Chase Utley and Seattle pitcher Felix Hernandez.

Last year a Sporting News article named Mauer the No. 1 player to build a team around.  That story resulted from input by general managers, scouts, an assistant general manager and a “Hall of Fame writer.”

Well documented to the public are Mauer’s sweet swing, high batting average and strong arm for throwing out potential base stealers.  A subtler asset is his ability to call a game and work with pitchers.  The latter has positively impacted the development of the Twins’ young starting pitchers this season, Scott Baker, 26, Nick Blackburn, 26, Glen Perkins, 25, and Kevin Slowey, 24.

Pitching coach Rick Anderson was asked about Mauer’s contribution to the success of the four pitchers who have been surprisingly effective and played a major role in the team’s contending for the Central Division title.  “It’s invaluable,” Anderson said. “You think about it, they’re all (the starters and Mauer) about the same age.  He was here a little bit before some of them, but they all kind of came in that same time. They’re all young and they’re all learning.  Our young pitchers trust him, and he’s learning how to call games with them.  And they’re jelling together and that’s the big thing.  He takes charge of these kids and these kids follow right along with him, and that’s the success part there.”

Anderson said when a pitcher trusts a catcher it’s so important because it allows the pitcher to concentrate on executing pitches.  Otherwise, the pitcher is thinking too much about what type of pitch to throw and/or maybe where to place the ball around home plate.  The pitcher doesn’t have to be thinking, “I have to do this, I have to do that.”

A catcher has to know his pitchers, and not just what pitches they throw, but as much about them as possible.  “That’s why the young ones are having success,” Anderson said of Mauer.  “He’s finding ways that’s going to get them success and get them through (the game).  Everyday they’re not going to have their best stuff and he’s finding ways to survive, and that’s pretty cool.”

Also, a catcher has to understand the opposing batters, not just his own pitchers.  Before a series Mauer and Anderson will talk about the other team’s hitters but during a game conversation is pretty minimal other than to analyze something on the spot.  Anderson said Mauer has improved his knowledge of other hitters.

“Joe is getting much, much better as far as retaining (information) and how we attack guys, and what they’re doing, and what they’re looking for,” Anderson said.  “And to me that’s tough because you got 12 pitchers (on the Twins staff).  You’ve got to (for example) remember how did (Twins reliever) Brian Bass get out Gary Shefflield (Detroit hitter) a month ago. …”

Tarvaris Jackson must make productive plays starting with preseason game No. 1 on Friday night in the Metrodome against Seattle.  The third year Vikings’ quarterback needs to be intent on building momentum and confidence during the team’s four preseason games leading up to the Game of the Century (sort of) on September 8 in Green Bay against the Packers, the regular season opener.

Not that Jackson, 25, doesn’t need to see his progress chart escalate beyond September 8.  Let’s be honest, to inspire himself, the coaches, teammates, fans, media and anyone else, he’s going to have to play in the first four preseason games and early regular season games like never before.

With the franchise having NFC North Division and playoff intent, much is expected of the young quarterback who is one of the most discussed athletes to ever play in this town.  The problem so far is that the discussion comes down to this: He hasn’t accomplished much.

A Jacksonologist might recite his numbers like a grade schooler can spit out the alphabet.  In two seasons, 14 games started, 218 completions, 318 attempts, 16 interceptions and 11 touchdowns.

As the team’s only viable big-time play maker at quarterback, Jackson has to start performing with consistency and delivering the deliverables.  Anything less, will be, well, not confidence or momentum developing.

The Jackson support team will defend its man with numerous arguments, the most convincing of which is that it takes time and experience to be a productive No. 1 NFL quarterback.  Look, supporters argue, he played better last season than the year before.  He has athletic gifts including a quick release, strong arm and ability to elude tacklers.  He’s worked hard to understand the offense and himself in the quarterback role.  He wants the challenge he finds himself in starting Friday night.

It sounds good but it all sounds like potential to perform, too.  I guess that might be what Sports Illustrated sees.  In last week’s issue the magazine rated Jackson No. 31 among 32 NFL quarterbacks listed in its fantasy football preview.

Memo to S.I. and the rest of us: Check back after the Game of the Century.