After racking up a season-high 17 hits Sunday against Seattle, the Twins are going with a similar lineup tonight against A’s All-Star Justin Duchscherer.

Brian Buscher for Brendan Harris is the only change. That means Carlos Gomez is on the bench again, with Jason Kubel in right field and Randy Ruiz at DH.

Updates to come…

Update (5:50 p.m.): Gardy said he wants to give Gomez a break, especially against Duchscherer, one of the tougher pitchers in the league. I wouldn’t look for this to last long, however, as Gardy also doesn’t want to wear out Jason Kubel’s knees in right field.

The folks at Cretin-Derham Hall might have divided loyalties tonight, with Jack Hannahan playing third base for the A’s. Hannahan was a senior at CDH when Joe Mauer was a freshman. They never played together, but they are good friends.

I guess two bus loads of fans will be here supporting Hannahan, who also played for the Gophers. That’s OK. Mauer will have a few supporters here, too.

A’s (56-67)

1. Mark Ellis, 2B

2. Eric Patterson, LF

3. Bobby Crosby, SS

4. Frank Thomas, DH

5. Jack Cust, RF

6. Kurt Suzuki, C

7. Carlos Gonzalez, CF

8. Jack Hannahan, 3B

9. Daric Barton, 1B

Starting pitcher: RH Justin Duchscherer

Twins (70-53)

1. Denard Span, CF

2. Nick Punto, 2B

3. Joe Mauer, C

4. Justin Morneau, 1B

5. Jason Kubel, RF

6. Delmon Young, LF

7. Brian Buscher, 3B

8. Randy Ruiz, DH

9. Adam Everett, SS

Starting pitcher: RH Nick Blackburn

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

This entry was posted on Monday, August 18th, 2008 at 4:06 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.