Matt Garza has pitched all spring with a sore neck, and faced just two batters on Monday before leaving the game against the Devil Rays when it flared up. It’s unknown how much time he’ll miss, if any. But his neck has been bothering him and he’s tried to ignore the pain….

Watched Ponson throw to B-list major leaguers in Fort Myers. He said he’s trying to get his sinker back to 2003 levels, but it looked O.K. to me on Monday. He threw strikes with his fastball, slider and change up, which several Twins pitchers in camp have failed to do.

Terry Ryan, Ron Gardenhire and Rick Anderson watched Ponson throw before going to St. Petersburg to watch Garza go down.

Alexi Casilla played and is healthy. So is Torii Hunter, who returned to action after being hit in the head on Friday.

Trevor Plouffe was called over from the minor league side to help fill out the roster and played the whole game at short. He’s got nice hands and really got rid of the ball quickly on a feed to Casilla when they tried to turn two. He also made a diving stop to his left, set and threw a laser to first. But his bat is the question. He’s gotten off to horrible starts the last two seasons and has had to rally to finish at .246 and .223.

With Plouffe, the Twins are now loaded with former first-round picks in camp: Hunter (1993), Cuddyer (1997), Mauer (2001), Span (2002), Plouffe (2004), Perkins (2004) and Garza (2005).

 

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