Joe Mauer is not in the Twins’ lineup tonight, and I’m guessing with a noon start on Wednesday, Gardy figured he’d give him a break against Mike Mussina.

Mauer is 0-for-8 for his career against Moose. Mike Redmond is 3-for-11.

Meanwhile, the Yankees look a little stronger against a righthander, with AL batting leader Johnny Damon and Jason Giambi’s 23 home runs back in the lineup.

Updates to come…

Update (5:40 p.m.): Mauer has a stiff neck. He said it’s been bothering him for a few days and was especially stiff today. Tried loosening it up today to no avail. He did not take swings during batting practice but hopes to play Wednesday. He might be available to pinch hit.

Gardenhire said Mauer was not going to play both tonight at Wednesday anyway, but the preference would have been to give him Wednesday off. The Twins will be facing Darrell Rasner on Wednesday, and with Thursday’s off day, that would give Mauer a two-day break heading into another long stretch of games.

Yankees (63-56)

1. Johnny Damon, CF

2. Derek Jeter, SS

3. Bobby Abreu, RF

4. Alex Rodriguez, 3B

5. Jason Giambi, DH

6. Xavier Nady, LF

7. Robinson Cano, 2B

8. Wilson Betemit, 1B

9. Jose Molina, C

Starting pitcher: RH Mike Mussina

Twins (66-52)

1. Denard Span, RF

2. Nick Punto, 2B

3. Mike Redmond, C

4. Justin Morneau, 1B

5. Jason Kubel, DH

6. Delmon Young, LF

7. Brian Buscher, 3B

8. Adam Everett, SS

9. Carlos Gomez, CF

Starting pitcher: RH Nick Blackburn

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

This entry was posted on Tuesday, August 12th, 2008 at 3:42 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.