Happy Father's Day, everyone!....plus Morneau out of lineup

First off, I wanted to wish all of the fathers out there a very Happy Father's Day and that especially goes to my own dad. Growing up, the yearly tradition in my family on Father's Day was to go play golf together. So when I got a phone call early this morning as I was getting ready to head to the ballpark it was none other than my dad. He was already on the golf course and wanted to make me feel a part of it even if I wasn't there.

Fathers and daughters always share a special bond. For my dad and I, that bond always included sports. From competing with each other on the golf course to going to games and watching various sporting events on TV, I always had a partner for my passion with sports and that was my dad. So thanks Dad for always being there to push me, encourage me and share in the fun.

All right, back to baseball news.

Justin Morneau is getting his first full day off of the season. Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said Morneau was given the day off due to general soreness. It's the first day off for Morneau since he missed a stretch of five games from June 23-27, 2007 due to a bruised lung he suffered in a collision at home plate with Marlins catcher Miguel Olivo during a game in Florida. His streak is currently at 319 games played, the second longest in the Majors behind Ryan Howard (343).

Denard Span is headed off on a rehab assigment with Triple-A Rochester. He's going to play two games for the Red Wings, on Monday and Tuesday, and the hope is that he'll be ready to travel to Milwaukee on Wednesday so he can be activated in time for Thursday's day game.

Nick Punto's ribs were still sore on Sunday after he injured them while diving head-first into first base on Saturday night. Gardenhire doesn't believe it will require a DL stint, but just a couple of days to get better.

The Twins have also shuffled their pitching rotation for the Milwaukee series. Kevin Slowey has been pushed back to the end of the rotation.  due to the soreness in his right side, which Gardenhire described as cramping in the muscles. The club just wants to give him a few extra days to make sure he's fine. So the rotation vs. MIL will now go: Francisco Liriano, Nick Blackburn and Scott Baker. Glen Perkins will start the first game in St. Louis and Slowey will pitch Saturday.

Here are today's lineups.

Astros
Michael Bourn, CF
Jeff Keppinger, 3B
Miguel Tejada, SS
Carlos Lee, DH
Lance Berkman, 1B
Hunter Pence, RF
Ivan Rodriguez, C
Kazuo Matsui, 2B
Jason Michaels, LF
Pitching: Wandy Rodriguez, LHP

Twins
Carlos Gomez, CF
Brendan Harris, SS
Joe Mauer, DH
Michael Cuddyer, 1B
Jason Kubel, RF
Joe Crede, 3B
Delmon Young, LF
Mike Redmond, C
Matt Tolbert, 2B
Pitching: Glen Perkins, LHP