The good news is that we have two players who are most definitely on the mend and feeling better – Span has been taking batting practice and his rehab assignment will begin as soon as he has several good days in a row; Morneau says the pain in his arm that was caused by the pinched nerve is gone! He still has some numbness in his fingers but the doctors say that is normal and should dissipate as he heals.
Sadly, the story is going a little slower for Jason Kubel. He’s still sore and visited the docs up here in MN yesterday. We’re still waiting to see if they find anything more.
As far as tonight’s game, having one win in the series under our belts feels like a great place to start. Let’s hope that Baker can go back out there and have a great outing AND that the weather holds off until the game is done!
| Tampa Bay |
@ |
Minnesota |
| Damon, DH | Revere, CF | |
| Zobrist, 2B | Casilla, A, 2B | |
| Longoria, 3B | Mauer, C | |
| Joyce, RF | Cuddyer, 1B | |
| Upton, B, CF | Thome, DH | |
| Kotchman, 1B | Valencia, 3B | |
| Jaso, C | Tosoni, LF | |
| Fuld, LF | Repko, RF | |
| Johnson, E, SS | Nishioka, SS | |
| Shields, P | Baker, S, P |
| Tampa Bay | ||||||||||||
| Minnesota |
Well the ending was certainly dramatic – Matt Capps couldn’t do the job for the 3rd game in a row – and Glen Perkins ended up getting his 2nd Save in as many opportunities which is pretty darn good for a setup guy. Gardy says that Capps is still the closer but it’s obvious that things aren’t right with him. They are going to close games however they need to while they work on getting Capps back into his previous form.
The start was prety good too – Baker came in strong and Revere & Lexi did their jobs getting on base.. things went well that way. A few weird calls scattered through the game though made things interesting start to finish.
It was the middle where things get a little muddy. Baker ended up having to leave the game after the 5th inning with elbow tenderness. I don’t know about you but I don’t like the sound of that. He’s going to get an MRI tomorrow and I’m just going to hold my breath until we find out what it says. Baker had told them that he could keep pitching but once he said “I felt something in the elbow” they said “hell no” and pulled him so it could be checked out. I can’t begin to say how tired I am of all the injuries though… what is going on?! I think the Twins need to stock up on bubblewrap.
But the story is really about getting the win and how the game ends and the chat went with the importance of that final out given the threat on the bases – so Glen Perkins, you are today’s BOD!
