StarTribune.com

Baker headed to DL; Perkins to pitch Saturday

Posted on May 6th, 2008 – 7:00 PM
By Joe Christensen

CHICAGO — The Twins plan to place Scott Baker on the 15-day disabled list on Wednesday morning. They will recall Kevin Slowey to pitch Thursday and plan to recall Glen Perkins to pitch Saturday against Boston.

Baker has a strained right groin. Before tonight’s game, he said he would understand having to go on the DL, though he continues to say his injury feels better than it did last week.

I was just handed that news, and I wanted to get it up on the blog before the game. Looks like this one will start right on time.

Twins (16-14)

1. Carlos Gomez, CF

2. Brendan Harris, 2B

3. Joe Mauer, C

4. Justin Morneau, 1B

5. Michael Cuddyer, RF

6. Jason Kubel, DH

7. Delmon Young, LF

8. Mike Lamb, 3B

9. Adam Everett, SS

Starting pitcher: RH Nick Blackburn

White Sox (14-16)

1. Orlando Cabrera, SS

2. Carlos Quentin, LF

3. Jim Thome, DH

4. Paul Konerko, 1B

5. Jermaine Dye, RF

6. A.J. Pierzynski, C

7. Nick Swisher, CF

8. Joe Crede, 3B

9. Juan Uribe, 2B

Starting pitcher: RH Gavin Floyd

U.S. Cellular Field. First pitch: 7:11 p.m.

113 Responses to "Baker headed to DL; Perkins to pitch Saturday"

romer says:

May 6th, 2008 at 7:12 pm

Right on time.

coco says:

May 6th, 2008 at 7:18 pm

Good decisions Twins. If Slowey & Perkins do well, the Twins will have starting depth most teams would love to have when Baker returns. You can never have too much pitching is the old saying.

romer says:

May 6th, 2008 at 7:22 pm

22 pitches for Floyd in the 1st.

Shawn says:

May 6th, 2008 at 7:29 pm

ugh

romer says:

May 6th, 2008 at 7:29 pm

Blackburn looks a little tired. Slows the game down.

Gomez makes a wild throw.

Austin says:

May 6th, 2008 at 7:29 pm

Stupid throw by Gomez, but Mauer needs to hang onto that. That is pathetic Joe.

romer says:

May 6th, 2008 at 7:31 pm

Now in the next play, Gomez gets an error only because the throw hits the runner.

Why shouldn’t Mauer get an error too? He dropped the ball. It should be 1-0.

Austin says:

May 6th, 2008 at 7:32 pm

Romer, I totally agree.

AaronK says:

May 6th, 2008 at 7:33 pm

Stupid throw? What are you talking about? If he doesn’t hit the runner he is roasted, just bad luck. Don’t understand it.

The New and Improved Craig says:

May 6th, 2008 at 7:36 pm

Good thing Terry Ryan hoarded all those arms. The pitching is the only thing keeping the “hitless wonders” in the competition.

AaronK says:

May 6th, 2008 at 7:39 pm

Strike zone is really tight, it is good to see the Twins are at least working the counts. Blackburn doesn’t have special stuff, so he may be up against the odds tonight. He is going to have to come after these hitters.

romer says:

May 6th, 2008 at 7:55 pm

Blackburn doing his job. 1 ER through 3.

Austin says:

May 6th, 2008 at 8:08 pm

AaronK, yeah that is really the type of throw you want to make with 2 outs in the inning, right? You are a horrible baseball mind.

romer says:

May 6th, 2008 at 8:10 pm

Blackburn missing wildly on like 3 of his last 5 pitches.

romer says:

May 6th, 2008 at 8:14 pm

Straight-out question. Why did the ump call Swisher safe? He never touched the bag.

Bill Brasky says:

May 6th, 2008 at 8:14 pm

Why is the trainer on the field?? Good God….these are grown men. When you see an infielder take a bad hop off his leg or face you don’t see the trainer rush into the field…

Austin says:

May 6th, 2008 at 8:15 pm

It’s one of those in the vicinity calls Romer. He was close enough.

Bill Brasky says:

May 6th, 2008 at 8:16 pm

lead off walk strikes again!!!

Memo to Blackburn….THROW STRIKES!!!!!

Austin says:

May 6th, 2008 at 8:16 pm

Blackburn you gotta buckle down there and can’t give up another run when Uribe is up.

Austin says:

May 6th, 2008 at 8:17 pm

Dick, you and Bert have got to be a couple of the worst commentators in the league.

Ben says:

May 6th, 2008 at 8:20 pm

Floyd’s just throwing junk. Twins are hacking.

Jmart says:

May 6th, 2008 at 8:21 pm

lamb, kubel, and young are killing us

Razz says:

May 6th, 2008 at 8:23 pm

Is this the same team that swept Detroit?

AaronK says:

May 6th, 2008 at 8:25 pm

Huh? So you just want the Twins to give these guys extra bases? I repeat, he was out if the ball doesn’t hit the man sliding into 3rd. Then to make things even luckier, they scored because Mauer dropped the ball. Either way I don’t understand why it was such a “stupid” throw.

Everett_Fan says:

May 6th, 2008 at 8:28 pm

“lamb, kubel, and young are killing us”

True. Lamb is the most dissapointing. In ST I thought he might be a poor mans Youkalis. Working counts and getting his pitch but he just flails.

Jimbo says:

May 6th, 2008 at 8:35 pm

I wish Young would get his slugging % back to his career average…which is 406. he is currently slugging at 305….not exactly what we had in mind when we made the trade.

romer says:

May 6th, 2008 at 8:38 pm

Floyd is having a great year. Continuing it tonight.

Austin says:

May 6th, 2008 at 8:40 pm

AaronK, it was a stupid throw, because he isn’t going to throw him out at third there. Like you said yourself, he has no angle at all to sneak the ball in there. In that situation you take first and third with 2 down and get the next hitter. You don’t allow the possibility of a wild throw (regardless of the fact that Mauer should have held onto the relay after that and tagged him out) in a situation like that. Geeze Blackburn, you gotta be able to get thru the 6th without giving up that run. You have to figure that we need to stay within 2 to have a chance.

romer says:

May 6th, 2008 at 8:45 pm

Quality start for Blackburn.

Ben says:

May 6th, 2008 at 8:48 pm

Why is Cuddyer swinging at the first pitch?!

Jmart says:

May 6th, 2008 at 8:48 pm

I’ve always wanted to see a team get no hit and score a run….tonight the night?

Jimbo says:

May 6th, 2008 at 8:48 pm

we have to get more than zero hits to pull this one out.

Toby says:

May 6th, 2008 at 8:48 pm

I think he is going to get it. He keeps looking better and better

Jmart says:

May 6th, 2008 at 8:49 pm

Kubel has been brutal lately

Toby says:

May 6th, 2008 at 8:49 pm

Who is going to root for him if he takes it into the 9th?

Jmart says:

May 6th, 2008 at 8:51 pm

what a terrible inning

Ben says:

May 6th, 2008 at 8:51 pm

Twins are back to showing absolutely no patience and no ability to foul off tough pitches. I can count on one hand the foul balls they’ve hit.

Jimbo says:

May 6th, 2008 at 8:51 pm

Young wasn’t even close on that one.

Jmart says:

May 6th, 2008 at 8:54 pm

what harm would there be in playing buscher over lamb?

Ben says:

May 6th, 2008 at 8:55 pm

Jmart, Buscher was sent down when Everett was activated.

Jmart says:

May 6th, 2008 at 8:57 pm

right, but was that the right decision…how many light hitting infielders do we need? Tolbert, Punto, Everett…they are all pretty much the same player, why not have buscher instead of one of those three?

Toby says:

May 6th, 2008 at 8:57 pm

This is the smallest strike zone I can remember seeing in a long time.

Razz says:

May 6th, 2008 at 8:59 pm

What harm could come from pulling a Detroit and sending Everett down and letting a young guy play…couldn’t possibly be any worse.

Lala72 says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:00 pm

Why is Mike Lamb on this team??? He can’t hit. He can’t field. He can’t run.

Jmart says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:00 pm

exactly, if the vets are going to stink up the joint, why not play the youngster and see what he’s got?

Razz says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:01 pm

The sad part is the Twins refused to take advantage of the small strikezone and take some pitches.

Jmart says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:01 pm

Mike lamb=tony bautista

Ben says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:01 pm

Be any worse? The Twins just won their last 5 games.

If anybody needs to be given a wake up call it’s Jesse Crain.

UofM2010 says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:01 pm

Matt Tolbert has been consistently better than Mike Lamb every chance he’s had to play.

Jimbo says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:01 pm

Everett should have got that one.

Lala72 says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:01 pm

Give Tolbert the SS job and let him play every day. I guarantee he hits .280 and has more range than today’s Everett.

trinitwin says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:02 pm

Somebody, please tell me why Lamb and Everett are better than Punto and Tolbert??

Ben says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:03 pm

Boy it didn’t take long for the fair-weather fans to show up. It’s one thing to rip their performance in this game, but they’re losing one of their last six and suddenly everybody wants to gut the team.

trinitwin says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:03 pm

Let’s see Lamb make up those two runs

romer says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:04 pm

I was wondering if Ulger might try some pinch hitting to have some fun and shake things up.

But I suppose now with the 5 run lead that that would be bad baseball etiquette.

Jmart says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:04 pm

too bad matt moses hasn’t panned out…we desperately need a third basemen

trinitwin says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:04 pm

Has anyone checked fielding stats regarding doubles plays involved in for the twins, check it out

Jmart says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:05 pm

did we sign lamb to a 2 year deal??

Lala72 says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:05 pm

That’s funny, Trin. We’re one-fifth of the way through the season, and Lamb has no dingers. If we use his present pace to calculate his totals for the season we come up with…uh…zero home runs!

Jimbo says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:06 pm

trinitwin, do you have a link?

Toby says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:06 pm

Yes we did.

Jmart says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:06 pm

uggghghghg!

Everett_Fan says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:08 pm

We can’t win’em all but this will be a tough strech with Perk and Slowey going and having to play the Red Sox, would be nice to get this one. Hopefully we can break up the no-hitter at least.

Lala72 says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:08 pm

The guy’s making $3.2 million a year–the same pay as Ramon Ortiz last year. They can easily eat that and set him free.

Lala72 says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:09 pm

Perkins will surprise some people. I’ve seen that guy pitch several times through the years. (Since he played at the U.) He really does have excellent stuff.

Toby says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:10 pm

I was hoping dye would reach so reyes would come in and let floyd sit and think for a few more minutes.

Everett_Fan says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:11 pm

“Perkins will surprise some people”

He has been inconsistent though. Even at AAA this year. Definitely he has the stuff.

Toby says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:12 pm

Why are we swinging on the first pitch?

Jmart says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:12 pm

here’s my call…i’ve been bashing lamb all night, which pretty much guarantees that he’ll get a hit when he comes up

Lala72 says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:12 pm

Go-go beats out a bunt and breaks up the no-no.

Jimbo says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:12 pm

Floyd’s no-no just made the front page of espn.com

SethSpeaks says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:12 pm

blog commenters are funny.

Shawn says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:12 pm

ESPN cuts in with DickBert even though it is in Chicago…. they must love Hawk too.

Jmart says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:12 pm

so much for that, thanks lamb

Bill Brasky says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:13 pm

game now being televised on ESPN

Toby says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:13 pm

He is going to get it that curve has been a hammer the past few innings.

trinitwin says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:14 pm

Thanks Bill Brasky!

Lala72 says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:14 pm

You’ve got to love the new, improved offense. Yeah, man!

Daniel1966 says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:15 pm

I live out of the TV area and have to rely on the audio plus MLB.com Gameday. I love the Twins but Gordon/Gladden are the worst broadcast team in baseball. They took it upon themselves, once again, to describe the first three innings by spending it all on what happened pregame in Chicago and what happened over the weekend to the CHISOX in Toroto. They act as if no other media outlet (ESPN, FSN, Strib) can cover such topics and, in doing so, talked over 15-20 pitches with little or no description of the game at hand. Meanwhile, the White Sox pitcher is throwing a no hitter…INCREDIBLE!!

Lala72 says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:15 pm

Trin, you are right on! LOL.

Toby says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:15 pm

An infield single would be so nice

Lala72 says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:17 pm

Morneau crushes a ball to Toledo in the ninth. He breaks it up, like a real man does.

LocalHardwareStoreOwner says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:18 pm

I want Mauer to bunt for a single in the 9th, just so I can hear what Ozzie Guillen has to say after the game if he does.

Erik says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:20 pm

No hitter.

No hitter.

No hitter.

No hitter.

No hitter.

No hitter.

No hitter.

No hitter.

No hitter.

No hitter.

No hitter.

No hitter.

No hitter.

No hitter.

No hitter.

Maybe that will help.

Travis Aune says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:20 pm

is perkins going to make his start tommorrow for Rochester

Jmart says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:20 pm

i think he might surpass his previous outburst explative total

Jimbo says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:22 pm

I saw Bobby in Texas live for his debut….not pretty. As Hank Hill would say, “dammit, Bobby.”

Erik says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:22 pm

is perkins going to make his start tommorrow for Rochester

What do you think?

trinitwin says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:23 pm

No worries, Ozzie will bring in a reliever to start the ninth!

snepp says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:23 pm

Twins Baseballâ„¢

Everett_Fan says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:26 pm

Korecky is doing a good job freezing Floyd. lol

Jmart says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:27 pm

When was the last time the twins were no-hit????? The david wells perfect game?

Erik says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:28 pm

When was the last time the twins were no-hit????? The david wells perfect game?

Yes, so they’re about due.

Jmart says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:29 pm

I remember Wells last out was pat meares, at least here he’ll have a challenge with the last three hitters

Jimbo says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:29 pm

I swear Gomez was going to throw that to 3rd just now….no kidding, he had no idea that there were 3 outs.

trinitwin says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:31 pm

Twins bat around, score 7, Ozzie human cumbusts, Nathan gets the save and the fireman’s award.

Jimbo says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:31 pm

But Gomez sure is fun to watch! That would have thrown Herb Carneal for a loop though.

Jmart says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:32 pm

mauer will probably be content taking a walk

trinitwin says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:32 pm

atta boy mauer!

trinitwin says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:33 pm

Guillen sucks!

LocalHardwareStoreOwner says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:34 pm

Yes!

LocalHardwareStoreOwner says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:34 pm

The ump was giving Floyd about 6 inches off the plate on those curves to Harris, by the way. They were good takes.

Toby says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:46 pm

Sorry but no hitter or not having the strike zone go from tiny to massive is absolutely pathetic and ridiculous the mlb needs to sit down and make that ref watch the video of this game over and over.

Toby says:

May 6th, 2008 at 9:47 pm

I meant ump I feel stupid now

BC Beneke says:

May 6th, 2008 at 10:01 pm

I complain about Vavra all the time…

Tonight shouldn’t be any different so hopefully he feels ashamed of himself and resigns.

However this is about a great big thank you to Joe Mauer for coming through in the clutch tonight and breaking Gavin’s heart.

Winning is the most important thing, but I love watching the White Sox, and white Sox fans suffer, so this was the best thing we could do since Vavra can’t teach anyone else how to hit.

sane says:

May 6th, 2008 at 10:08 pm

BC,

I agree.
Vavra’s pitchers were terrible tonight.
We can’t win if Vavra’s pitchers give up seven runs every game.

On another subject, Lamb has been nuttin’ but mutton.

thrylos98 says:

May 6th, 2008 at 10:12 pm

Folks, if you have time, have a look at gameday batter by batter. The stike zone was much bigger for Floyd than Blackburn. Cabrera who walked and scored in the first should have been out on strikes and the first inning should have ended 0-0. Who knows what would have happened with a tied game after 5 and with Blackburn thrown at least 20 less pitches…

The hitters were pretty bad today. Kubel should sit for a day or too…

sane says:

May 6th, 2008 at 10:14 pm

Another game where Punto does not get a hit.

twinsfan32 says:

May 6th, 2008 at 10:16 pm

Put in Monroe over Kubel for awhile. Kubes is hitting like garbage right now. And put in Buscher for Lamb

BC Beneke says:

May 7th, 2008 at 1:33 am

Sane,

1 hit and 1 run, and you look at the pitching as the problem? This is not a TONIGHT issue, this is a team issue, and this team gives away too many atbats…

Please show me how I’m wrong on this so I can understand why people defend Vavra.

It’s almost as unbelievable as the Sid Hartmann readers who think that Kevin McHale, and Randy Wittman deserve to keep their jobs.

I just can’t understand. Help me please.

sane says:

May 7th, 2008 at 9:29 am

BC,
Tonight hitting and pitching were both problems, although the hitting was worse.
And this season (to date) hitting has been a bigger problem.
I don’t think that Vavra is the problem and I think that its too soon to assume that the hitting will not improve.
We still have many hitters who are performing below their career norms. (Young, Lamb, Kubel, Cuddyer, Everett and others)
I doubt that they are following Vavra’s orders to fail and as a result have no chance to start hitting.
I agree that Vavra will take the fall if the hitting doesn’t improve.
But I don’t think he is the problem and when he goes away, the problem (IF there is a REAL problem) will NOT go away.

sane says:

May 7th, 2008 at 9:41 am

AFTER this season, if Vavra ’s totals are one good season (2006) and two bad seasons (2007-2008), then you can fire him because of bad RESULTS.
Before that, he is even - one good, one bad.

But that firing will be because of RESULTS only, not because he is a poor batting coach.
Because none of us on the outside has a clue WHAT he is teaching, IF it is different from the MLB norms, or IF it is inferior in any way to MLB norms.