Twins postgame: Alexi Casilla. The loose cannon has become the Toy Cannon

The Japanese media wanted to know before Tuesday's game why Twins manager Ron Gardenhire moved Tsuyoshi Nishioka to eight-hole in the batting order. Gardy explained that it's good to put a speedy runner in front of the pitcher.

Then Gardy tossed out this nugget:

``Eventually I want to get Nishi toward the top of the lineup," Gardy said.

I have a message for Gardy: Skipper, you won't spark an international incident if you keep Nishi at the bottom of the order.

Who is Nishi going to replace at the top of the order? It's certainly not Alexi Casilla. Who is hitting like it's 2008....

....when everything was great.....

...and he smacked everything over the plate...

Casilla led off the game with a double, the start of the eight-run avalanche the Twins hit the Giants with. He later added a homer - his second is as many games.

Casilla is now batting .268 with 2 homers and 15 RBI. He entered the month batting .230 but has put up an impressive slash line of .328/.392/.433 this month. That doesn't count what he did at AT&T Park on Tuesday.

He should not be moved. If anyone, it should be Ben Revere, who was batting .194 over his last nine games before going 2-for-5 on Tuesday.

Actually, Nishioka should stay at the bottom of the order while he learns this league and its pitchers. It was refreshing to see his booming double in the first inning because I had forgotten what the sound of a well-hit bat off his bat was like.

The Casilla of 2008 is back. Today was the first day of summer.

Let the summer of 'Lexi commence.