Written by [update: it's currently raining at TF so there is possibility of a delay - but the rain is supposed to be leaving so both games should still be played.]
So in obvious acknowledgement that injuries are starting to pile up on this Twins roster, the usual pre-game lockerroom discussions were altered a bit to include Rick McWane, the Twins trainer. Discussions were tweeted out covering all the players who we WON’T see today. Delmon has a strained oblique that he wanted to play through but, especially given the current weather, just couldn’t. Rene Tosoni will be making his MLB debut as a result.
Joe Mauer is eligible to come off the DL today but he’s not quite ready. However, the trainer says he’s perfectly healthy other than the orthopedic issues – what a relief. *snort* Since his “orthopedic issues” are called Bilateral Leg Weakness and the rest of us don’t have the faintest clue what that means, I think that is a big enough problem for us to deal with. Glad to know the virus is gone though. They are saying he will need a rehab stint in the minors before he comes back to TF though.
Thome still isn’t available due to an oblique issue as well. This weather sucks and it probably sucks even more for a body over 40. I still thank god there is at least one person on the team older than I am but honestly, I don’t know how he does it.
Morneau is actually back at 1B today and I’m looking forward to that. Something tells me he’ll be back to DH’ing tonight though. I’m pretty sure that he isn’t going to man the base for two games in a row. If he does though, I will be happily surprised and it’s probably only possible because he didn’t play the field last night. We’ll see.
| Tampa Bay | @ | Minnesota |
| Fuld, LF | Span, CF | |
| Damon, DH | Casilla, A, SS | |
| Upton, B, CF | Kubel, DH | |
| Joyce, RF | Morneau, 1B | |
| Zobrist, 2B | Cuddyer, RF | |
| Rodriguez, S, 3B | Valencia, 3B | |
| Shoppach, C | Tosoni, LF | |
| Kotchman, 1B | Holm, C | |
| Brignac, R, SS | Hughes, L, 2B | |
| Hellickson, P | Blackburn, P |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E | |
| Tampa Bay | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 15 | 19 | 0 |
| Minnesota | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 2 |
Well that was just ugly… congrats to Rene Tosoni for getting his first MLB hit & RBI today – as well as starting with his first MLB error. Oh well, I’m hoping that tonights game can only get better right? That has nothing to do with the fact that I’m going to tonight’s game – I would just like to see us hit the cover off the ball a bit, and win one. Is that too much to ask?
Anyone who’s watching/listening, was Morneau taken out to keep him relatively fresh for tonight? Thanks.
yes, that was the assumption by the media. There was no announcement in the postgame of any injury or anything either – just so that he can play again tonight.