Joe Mauer will sit his first game of the season tonight, Nick Punto replaces Mike Lamb at third base, and Craig Monroe is back at designated hitter, replacing Jason Kubel, as the Twins get ready to take on the Angels.

The Twins will be facing LHP Joe Saunders, and they have a noon game Thursday against Angels RHP Ervin Santana. I’m sure those factors played into Manager Ron Gardenhire’s decisions, as catchers typically don’t play day games after night games and managers often look to spread out playing time early in the season.

Mauer is on the field taking early batting practice, which tells me he is fine after getting spiked by Howie Kendrick on Tuesday night.

Update: Adam Everett has been scratched after leaving the ballpark to tend to a family issue. Matt Tolbert will start at shortstop. And as for the other lineup choices, Gardenhire did say it was a night-game, day-game thing, as we suspected.

TWINS

1. Carlos Gomez, CF

2. Brendan Harris, 2B

3. Michael Cuddyer, RF

4. Justin Morneau, 1B

5. Delmon Young, LF

6. Craig Monroe, DH

7. Mike Redmond, C

8. Nick Punto, 3B

9. Matt Tolbert, SS

Starting pitcher: RH Nick Blackburn

ANGELS

1. Chone Figgins, 3B

2. Gary Matthews Jr., LF

3. Vladimir Guerrero, RF

4. Garret Anderson, LF

5. Torii Hunter, CF

6. Casey Kotchman, 1B

7. Howie Kendrick, 2B

8. Jeff Mathis, C

9. Erick Aybar, SS

Starting pitcher: LH Joe Saunders

Metrodome. First pitch: 7:10 p.m.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, April 2nd, 2008 at 3:25 pm 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.