Though this is an instance where I don’t think the agent is doing his client any favors, I’m also surprised Kyle Lohse hasn’t been traded already. From the St. Paul Pioneer Press’s Gordon Wittenmyer.

As Kyle Lohse prepared to make his third start since his demotion to the minor leagues, his agent, Scott Boras, said Monday his client should be in the majors and suggested he would rather have the Twins trade him sooner than later if they don’t plan to bring him back.

“We know there’s a lot of teams interested in him,” Boras said from his dugout suite at Angels Stadium before Monday night’s game. “We’ve been told the Twins want a lot for him. Our frustration is that Kyle’s a major league pitcher; the Minnesota Twins know that, and we know that.”

Boras stopped short of saying he and Lohse have asked for a trade. “Terry Ryan runs the team. I don’t,” he said. “I’m not going to tell teams how to do their business.”

Lohse pitched his second complete game in three starts for Class AAA Rochester on Monday night but lost 3-1 to Toledo. He gave up two earned runs on four hits and two walks while striking out three. He is 1-1 with a 1.42 earned-run average in his 19 innings (the game he didn’t complete he left after four scoreless innings because of a lengthy rain delay).

He was 2-4 with an 8.92 ERA in eight starts for the Twins before being demoted.

Boras said he has been told at least six teams have been asked for top prospects in trade talks with the Twins.

The Dodgers’ Brad Penny was pissed off yesterday after being yanked against the Braves (a game won by LA, 12-5) and Dodger Thoughts’ Jon Wiseman would like the pitcher to put a sock in it.

The thing with Penny is this. With a seven-run lead, his job is to throw the ball over the plate. Thus, the first few hits that get smacked off him are excusable. Not desirable, but excusable. But after a certain point, Penny has to bear down and pitch. He might not have felt he reached that point until the Betemit hit – and then was disappointed to have (in his point of view) the grass pulled out from under him.

I apologize for tooting my own horn, but I think I was onto something when I warned the rest of you there was a scientific explanation for Jose Valentin’s sudden turnaround.

Surf’s up : Monday’s least convincing internet hoax. On a related note, Lastings Milledge was 3 for 6 yesterday in Norfolk’s 11-1 beating of Pawtucket, with a double and 3 RBI’s. Ewan McLane ran his record to 4-0, and lowered his ERA to 1.93 with 7 innings of one-run ball. Former Met / archery enthusiast / New Weird America figurehead Matt Ginter took the loss for the PawSox.

Describing the owners of Chicago’s sports franchises as “about as hip and 21st century as Engelbert Humperdinck” and stressing that Mark Cuban “likes rap music”, the Sun-Times’ maestro of mascara, Jay Mariotti would like to see the Dallas Mavericks owner with a boner purchase the Chicago Cubs.

Clearly, I am not the only one who has pondered the notion of this middle-aged frat guy — and the most successful of the new breed of sports owners — rescuing the Cubs from themselves. “Please ask Cubs fans to stop sending me e-mails asking me to buy the team,” Cuban wrote. “Between Chicago, Pittsburgh and K.C., it’s killing my inbox.”