Ramon Ortiz had a meeting with pitching coach Rick Anderson and Ron Gardenhire this morning before batting practice. No official word yet, but as La Velle reported today, it appears Ortiz is being sent to the bullpen. … Joe Mauer is not in the lineup, but he’s out here for batting practice. Minnesota’s most famous symbolic beard is still unshaven, meaning he’s not ready to return from the DL. Updates to come.

Update: Ortiz is heading to the bullpen, and the Twins will call up a pitcher to start Friday, Gardenhire said. He wouldn’t say who, but it’s going to be Kevin Slowey. Take it to the bank. … Mauer ran the bases this morning, and now it’s sounding like a Friday return at Oakland. Twins are off Thursday, and teams always tend to use open dates as a chance to get extra assurance that a player won’t re-injure himself. … As for Jeff Manship – thanks for the heads up in the comments section! — it sounds like he left last night’s game with a strained hamstring. Might go on the 7-day DL as a precaution, but as one Twins guy told me, they like to give the minor-leaguers a one-start break this time of year anyway.

Correction: Just spoke to Jim Rantz. Manship has a mild groin muscle strain. Will miss a start, but it’s still uncertain whether he’ll go on the 7-day DL.

Twins: Luis Castillo 2B, Nick Punto 3B, Michael Cuddyer RF, Justin Morneau 1B, Torii Hunter CF, Mike Redmond C, Jason Kubel LF, Jason Bartlett SS, Jason Tyner DH. Starting pitcher: Johan Santana.

White Sox: Darin Erstad CF, Tadahito Iguchi 2B, Jim Thome DH, Jermaine Dye RF, Paul Konerko 1B, A.J. Pierzynksi C, Joe Crede 3B, Juan Uribe SS, Luis Terrero LF. Starting pitcher: Jose Contreras.

Metrodome. Scheduled first pitch: 1:10 p.m.

This entry was posted on Monday, May 28th, 2007 at 10:46 am and is filed under Twins thoughts. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.