The Twins are 3-4 against Oakland this season, but this is the first series between the teams in the Metrodome.

Oakland’s starter tonight, Clayton Mortensen, came over from St. Louis in the Matt Holliday trade. Mortensen is a Gonzaga guy, like Mike Redmond.

Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said he still hopes to put Joe Crede in at DH during the series. If it happens it would likely be Sunday, as Joe Mauer would likely get a chance to DH for Saturday’s noon start, coming off the night game.

Pat Neshek is here today. Always good to see him. He’s here to get clearance from the Twins’ medical staff to begin throwing off a mound. Neshek, who had Tommy John surgery last fall, is still on track to be at full strength for spring training.

Other than that, it’s pretty quiet. Can’t believe this is the second to last homestand at the Dome. Just 12 more games here to go.

“It’s getting t the point where it’s do or die now,” Gardenhire said. “We can’t afford to throw away any games. Yeah, we’re getting to that point. I would say we’ve been there for a while. … The effort’s there. The guys are trying. They’re rooting for each other, they’re yelling, they’re all ready to play. Now we just have to get some big hits and pitch. That’s what the game’s all about.”

ATHLETICS (62-77)

1. Adam Kennedy, 3B
2. Rajai Davis, CF
3. Ryan Sweeney, RF
4. Kurt Suzuki, C
5. Jack Cust, DH
6. Mark Ellis, 2B
7. Daric Barton, 1B
8. Eric Patterson, LF
9. Cliff Pennington, SS

Starting pitcher: RH Clayton Mortensen (0-2, 9.82 ERA)

TWINS (70-70)

1. Denard Span, LF
2. Orlando Cabrera, SS
3. Joe Mauer, C
4. Justin Morneau, 1B
5. Jason Kubel, DH
6. Michael Cuddyer, RF
7. Brian Buscher, 3B
8. Carlos Gomez, CF
9. Alexi Casilla, 2B

Starting pitcher: RH Nick Blackburn (9-10, 4.16 ERA)

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

This entry was posted on Friday, September 11th, 2009 at 3:45 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.