NEW YORK — Joe Crede, who left Friday night’s game with lower-back spasms and hamstring tightness, came to the clubhouse feeling better this morning and said he’d like to play again soon.

Manager Ron Gardenhire said Crede is available only in an emergency today. They’ll give him today and Sunday off, and hope he can return for Monday night’s series finale.

Gardenhire said he wanted to give Matt Tolbert a mental break today. Tolbert went 0-for-5 with two strikeouts Friday, dropping his average to .171.

It rained this morning, and the tarp is still on the field. But everyone’s pretty optimistic they’ll play as scheduled today. There’s rain in the forecast for Sunday.

TWINS (18-18)

1. Denard Span, CF
2. Brendan Harris, 2B
3. Joe Mauer, DH
4. Justin Morneau, 1B
5. Jason Kubel, LF
6. Michael Cuddyer, RF
7. Brian Buscher, 3B
8. Mike Redmond, C
9. Nick Punto, SS

Starting pitcher: RH Nick Blackburn (2-2, 4.32 ERA)

YANKEES (18-17)

1. Derek Jeter, SS
2. Johnny Damon, LF
3. Mark Teixeira, DH
4. Alex Rodriguez, 3B
5. Nick Swisher, 1B
6. Robinson Cano, 2B
7. Melky Cabrera, RF
8. Brett Gardner, CF (How could I forget him?)
9. Francisco Cervelli, C

Starting pitcher: RH Joba Chamberlain (2-1, 3.89 ERA)

Yankee Stadium. First pitch: 12:05 p.m. (Central)

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 16th, 2009 at 10:43 am 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.