Wednesday lineups: Twins/Rays
Posted on March 26th, 2008 – 9:27 AMBy Joe Christensen
FORT MYERS — Scott Baker will pitch for Class AAA Rochester today in a game against Class AA New Britain. He’s hoping to run his pitch count up to 70, but the staff is skeptical that he’ll be up to it after recently losing 12 pounds with the flu.
In the main event today, the Twins will trot out something very close to an A-lineup against Tampa Bay pitcher James Shields.
Update: Adam Everett was scratched, presumably because he’s coming back from the flu. He did take batting practice, though, and appears on the road to recovery.
Rays
1. Akinori Iwamura, 2B
2. Jason Bartlett, SS
3. Eric Hinske, RF
4. Jonny Gomes, DH
5. Chris Richard, 1B
6. Joel Guzman, 3B
7. John Weber, LF
8. Shawn Riggans, C
9. Elliot Johnson, CF
Pitcher: RH James Shields
Twins
1. Carlos Gomez, CF
2. Joe Mauer, C
3. Michael Cuddyer, RF
4. Justin Morneau, 1B
5. Delmon Young, LF
6. Craig Monroe, DH
7. Mike Lamb, 3B
8. Brendan Harris, 2B
9. Matt Tolbert, SS
Starting pitcher: RH Livan Hernandez.
Hammond Stadium. Scheduled first pitch: 12:05 (Central).
93 Responses to "Wednesday lineups: Twins/Rays"
Should be the opening day lineup but still don’t understand why Kubel is not the DH against RHP…
is Hernandez expected to go 5 or 6 inngs today? i would say six since this is his last start befor opping day but thats just me
i think Kuble will be the DH agenst RHP Monore aganist LHP
Please stop writing about Punto.
Everett is well enough to play? Thought he had the flu.
Guzman must be the third base winner for the Rays, since Longoria was sent down.
Twins should DL Baker if he can’t get to 70 pitches. Boston is fortunate they have time off after using their bullpen so much in the first 2 games. Lester’s performance today is more of the same for him. High pitch counts and inconsistency. So glad MN did not deal Santana to Red Sox Nation.
What happened to “we want to get (Punto) more at-bats”?
Hmm, Gardy, guess the wind must be blowing a different direction today.
Punto gets the day off to soak the blisters from so many spring at-bats.
It sure is nice seeing a lineup that has legit threats 1-8. The top 6 is really solid.
i woke up this morning and had a gut feeling that gomez is gonna hit a homerun today…..i dont know why
12 pounds? Too bad Bonser didn’t get the flu instead of Baker!
Off topic but Louie Rivas and Dougie Baseball look like they are going to make it with the Pirates.
http://www.post-gazette.com/pg/08086/867911-63.stm
Glad to see Louie mature enough to pull it all together again.
Glad to see Dougie make it because baseball needs characters like him. He’s still a whiz with the glove
Rivas probably won his job by his card-playing ability.
Both know the manager Russell from their younger days..which helps a lot.
dougie had a lot of nice things to say about the twins yesterday on the tv of the game.
maybe the trib could do some stories about some of the new players that may help the team and not the fluff pcs. on nicky every other day.
Rivas obviously had a good spring. I hope he continues playing well. Personally, I’d like to see the Pirates become a competitive team again. It’s a shame that a team with their tradition has been allowed to fall in to such a low state.
What happened to “we want to get (Punto) more at-bats”?
God forbid Gardy actually try out the everyday lineup prior to the start of the season.
You know Jason, for as much as you like to disagree with me, you sure love to prove me right day after day. No Punto in the lineup, no Punto in the blog entry. And yet there you are whining about him.
To actually discuss the article: 12 freakin’ pounds? Yikes! What kind of flu can knock a guy out that bad? Thankfully it didn’t wipe out the rest of the team. I still get shakes thinking of poor Morneau not too long ago coming down with every illness in the book during Spring.
And it’s too bad the other TB game got rained out, would’ve been nice to see Bartlett against the old team more than once this spring. I hope he does well (just not against the Twins of course).
How have he and Garza been doing this Spring? One thing that I found a bit disappointing was the lack of any sort of update regarding former Twins (at least the Garza/Bartlett duo and Free Agency Trio).
JC, speaking of Rivas…wasn’t he in the Rays system for a while? I don’t seem to recall his name ever coming up after he left the Twins.
Heck, I can’t even remember how he left. Can’t imagine it was a trade. Did he just sorta vanish?
12 pounds is a lot of barf and poo. Ish.
Great time of year and this year should be fun to watch them play.
I hope Torri shows Carlos Gomez where those posts are hiding behind the fence, so he doesn’t kill himself out there. Wonder how he’ll be early in the year at tracking fly balls in the metrodome.
Can’t wait for the opener when the ump says—–”PLAY BALL”
HAVE FUN!!! GO TWINS!!!
Re the 12 lbs: Most of it is water (and it is bad news because that spells dehydration and it is even worse news that the Twins’ medical team did not put him on IV fluids from the onset…)
As a medical professional, I find it very difficult to believe he actually lost 12# when he was being monitored by the Twins medical team. The media tends to blow things a bit out of proportion…aka the loss of 30# by Boof. Yes he is slimmer, but not 30# slimmer.
On another note. It will be a Twins victory today as I elaborate on someone else’s post from last week.
Twins without Punto in the starting lineup are 9-4 while with Punto in the starting lineup they are 4-7….nuff said.
Would you put a guy on IV when they first get the flu? Or would you wait until it becomes more serious?
Yes it’s more serious at this point, but did the Twins FO forsee it getting this bad?
i’d be happy to get the flu if it meant losing 12 #. of course i’d have to get it 5-6 times to get to playing weight. a quick 180 it’s that other 45# that slows me down!
must be those golden light IV’s every night.
9-4 while with Punto in the starting lineup they are 4-7….nuff said
Yeah, and the Yankees haven’t won a World Series since they got A-Rod.
I guess he sucks too.
Bartlett’s spring line - .316/.341/.421
Garza - 3.05 ERA 11k’s in 20.2 innings
It looks like they are both doing pretty well
T,
Rivas was in the Indians system, at least last year.
well t a-rod hasn’t been worth much in the post season, sometimes being a winner is what counts, yet it’s still a team game not golf or tennis!
no comment on #8.
T,
I live in NY
many Yankees fans agree with this: “Yeah, and the Yankees haven’t won a World Series since they got A-Rod.
I guess he sucks too.”
T, have you had your coffee yet today? First you misquoted me and secondly, Never…ever use the names A-Rod and Punto in the same comparison.
Rivas was in the Indians system, at least last year.
Now that you say that…didn’t he also make it as a September callup with them?
Because I can’t remember the last time I heard him getting back to the big leagues after leaving the Twins.
He did get called up yes
Never…ever use the names A-Rod and Punto in the same comparison.
Why not? The Yankees won 26 World Series without him. So obviously he broke something.
Team Win/Loss is the worst measure of individual performance. Unless you’re a Cy Young voter. And who knows, maybe you are. Then I owe you an apology, because I shouldn’t have expected anything else.
Would you put a guy on IV when they first get the flu? Or would you wait until it becomes more serious?
if someone has uncontrollable diarrhea/vomiting for half a day, they need fluids
T checks the same wind Gardy does each day, apparently. Yesterday he’s telling us that ST is meaningless and you might as well get Punto at-bats before it counts, today he tells us it’s appropriate to trot out a regular season lineup for a ST game…wonder which way the wind will blow tomorrow…
Okay, so on Mientkiewicz, I’m a huge fan like a lot of you and enjoyed his comments yesterday too, but did you notice how when he was praising the organization he conspicuously never mentioned Gardy….he went straight from Tom Kelly to Terry Ryan…I got a chuckle out of that.
It’s ironic that we would love to have Louis Rivas at 2nd base several years after dumping him…
I know it is a poor measure, but it is a different one that has not been discussed around as much here over the last week…his horrible average.
I am sure BS would have no problem contacting Cashman and swapping Little Nicky for ARod.
There is something called a VERY old rotation in NY the last few years that we all know was the major problem to them not winning a World Series…in addition a little club from Boston being quite a formidable adversary.
It is a team sport not an individual one so all the Yankees lack of success cannot be put on ARod. Imagine where they may have been last year without him in the lineup.
Does Louis Rivas have the smallest feet in baseball, or what?
wonder which way the wind will blow tomorrow…
Says the guy who yesterday whined when he was in the lineup, then whined today when he wasn’t.
Is it fun to cherry pick quotes and get called on it?
“It is a team sport not an individual one so all the Yankees lack of success cannot be put on ARod. ”
And I think that’s exactly T’s point. It is a team sport not an individual one so all the Twins lack of success cannot be put on Punto.
He did get called up yes
Good, that means I’m not crazy (or just not as much so as I thought)
It is a team sport not an individual one so all the Yankees lack of success cannot be put on ARod.
You know fully why I made the comparison I did. Yes, Punto can’t hit. But to trot out the W/L record as if that’s entirely on him is foolish.
Jerry D, I respsect your comments. I regret that an offhand and unneccesary comment by Jason has once again lead this thread down the Punto-Road.
Can we just give Jason his own blog so we know where to go to get our daily Punto Complaints and Lew Ford updates?
I’d request a blog of my own, but from the looks of things common sense isn’t exactly popular around these parts.
Dan Serafini, Twins 1st round bust from 1992, surfaces again with the Reds on a minor league contract. Hard to believe he is still hanging around.
- gomez strikes out
- mauer singles
- cuddyer singles
- morneau flies out
young singles, mauer scores, bad throw young to 2nd
What was the third out?
cuddy scores also on bad throw
Nevermind. Thanks for the ongoing updates. Maybe just an inning by inning recap to make it easy to follow? 
Livan with a 5 pitch third.
Actually second, my bad.
All I lost when I had the flu were two days of work that I didn’t get paid for. Wish my job had a DL list . . .
btw, Tolbert is the starting SS, not Everett
I wonder if Everett is still sick. Well I’m glad to see Tolbert getting the playing time instead of Punto
sounds like hernandez made quite a play when kicking a bunt to morneau for the out.
T–are you a complete idiot? I’m not whining that he isn’t in the lineup today–I’ve been saying all along that he should never be in the lineup!
I was merely pointing out that the whole source of this problem is the two sides of Gardy’s mouth that we are hearing from–yesterday it was “ah, I’ll throw him in there because he needs at-bats…” …today, he’s not in there getting at-bats..
Same with you, yesterday your argument was that it was okay to stick Punto at lead-off because ST is meaningless to the other guys and best give him ABs in games that don’t count…today you’re telling us that using a regular season lineup is a better route…
Lamb flies out to left
Harris grounds out to third
Tolbert doubles to left
Gomez HBP
Mauer strikes out swinging…
How far behind is the gameday feed?
I clicked on the link in the past and it never seems to update
Nevermind, I see it only updates after every 1/2 inning.
gomez is having a hard time defensivly today.
Yeah, it’s pretty annoying…
gameday is about a half inning behind
Is Tolbert the real deal? He seems to be the Punto that T thinks Punto is.
sounds like hernandez made quite a play when kicking a bunt to morneau for the out.
I still like the guy kicking it from right field to the catcher. At least I think it was the catcher.
Gomez HBP
I’m sure his ego softened some of that blow.
You’d think Bartlett would know better…
He seems to be the Punto that T thinks Punto is.
Holy crap people can’t read for squat around here. Do I have to include the following sentence in every post:
I know Punto can’t hit. I just wish people would quit diverting every conversation to a Punto rant.
Hernandez looks good so far today:
3IP, 20pitches (16 for strikes), 3H, 1R, 1BB, 2K
Wes, what did Bartlett do?
Got caught stealing.
T,
Batlett tried to steal 2nd on Mauer and got nailed.
With the way Hernandez is pitching today, he may go all 9 just so he can get up to 80 pitches.
A great story in the making if the Tolbert kid sticks thru the ASB and potentially replaces Harris and/or Punto, as the full-time 2nd baseman, if they struggle. For those of you who might know more about his background, do U think it’s possible?
1-2-3 fourth for Livan.
back/back doubles from Gomez/Mauer make it 4-1 MN….
ouch! i hope gomez is ok!
gomez came out of the game with a sore knee. waiting for more details. not sure what play the injury was on.
The Twins really want to give Harris a try, Punto would likely be only for late inning defense (1 at bat at most) or dire emergencies (IE multiple infielders hurt)
Since he won’t be with the team next year, I think they’ll lean towards Tolbert as the primary backup STARTER.
The Twins really want to give Harris a try, Punto would likely be only for late inning defense (1 at bat at most) or dire emergencies (IE multiple infielders hurt)
Since Punto won’t be with the team next year, I think they’ll lean towards Tolbert as the primary backup STARTER.
Gladden saying he was grabbing behind his left knee after he made a running catch in the outfield. Gordo speculated that he may have tweaked something when he turned it up a notch to on his double the previous inning.
gomez came out of the game with a sore knee.
Pridie and Span apparently with the voodoo dolls today.
Hopefully it’s nothing serious. Player w/ speed + knee injury = big setback.
sore knee, i’d guess, came when he misplayed the Iwamura hit…he was a little shaken then,as well
Game day will have to pick it up a little, get the bugs outta the software…Livan has 26 pitches through 4+
“…Player w/speed (+ height, as in 6′4″) + knee injury = big setback”
‘Hope he didn’t tear a meniscus or worse. That would totally suck!
Whew!…Joe C. reporting “only” a “left hamstring cramp”…Go-Go dodged a bullet there…
Let’s hope Dazzle Man’s report of a cramp is accurate
Gardy’s secret plan revealed - Punto is the backup CF!
Hernandez is going to have to do alot of bullpen work after he leaves the game as he has only thrown 35 pitches in 6 innings.
Punto hits into 4-6-3 DP.
SweetOne,
I’m pretty sure gameday is way off on the pitch count. Unless the walk was on 4 pitches, all 5 k’s were on 3 pitches and every other batter hit the first pitch.
“Day-to-day” makes me nervous, but that’s usually the initial response on any sort of injury that takes a guy out of the game. (Unless it’s obviously serious)
I imagine just hydrate Gomez, give him some stretches and he’ll be okay.
Today’s game shows why Gardy made the wrong choice to go with only a 4-deep bench and without an extra outfielder…
I hope that if this injury situation happens during the season, Gardy would get Kubel in as a LF and move Young to CF instead of adding Punto. Bad bad roster and game management
Punto gets the at bat he needed. No out/2 on double play grounder to kill the rally in the sixth..
.122 and continuing to fall…
Tony,
You’re right, I went and looked at the pitch by pitch and it shows the walk on 4 pitches and the strikeouts on 3 pitches and all out outs/hits were on 1 pitch.
Both Punto and Tolbert can play OF, which means we have 7 players who can play OF (Young, Gomez, Cuddyer, Monroe, Kubel, Punto, Tolbert).
I cannot believe that Hernandez pitched that well. I didn’t think he had it in him.
I hope that if this injury situation happens during the season, Gardy would get Kubel in as a LF and move Young to CF instead of adding Punto.
He will. I think today was part of his plan to give Punto extra ABs between now and the end of Spring.
It’s unfortunate he’s not doing anything with them. They’re giving him every opportunity to break out of the funk while there’s still time.
Tolbert will be the back up starting infielder. Like Gardy even said. They may use Punto a lot late in the game, but it’s going to be for pinch running, defense, and that’s about it. Maybe one AB an appearance.
But if this situation happens in the regular season, Kubel will come in to Left and Young will slide over. If Kubel’s DHing, they MIGHT just risk Monroe in CF for the rest of the game and keep Young in LF. Span or Pridie would be on the next plane/bus/taxi/unicorn to the Dome within minutes.
Well, well, well - long time no talk Twins! Whether I’m up north in Toronto or down south in the Bay, the ball is going over the fence or into the gap. “Hinske swings and lines one over the head of Mornaeu. This one is headed down the first base line for extra bases. Iwamura will score and the Rays tie it up in the 9th.”
Kerry Wood is off to a great start. I can hear the Cubs fans ready to mutiny.
