Twins third base coach Scott Ullger was struck by a wicked foul ball hit into the Twins dugout by Casey Blake in the eighth inning. Teammates and medical staff immediately rushed to his attention. Ullger was able to leave for the clubhouse with little assistance but was holding a towel to his face.

The eerie thing was Ullger was telling a story a few days ago about a line drive that came into the dugout while he was talking to Terry Crowley several years ago. The ball went between their faces and hit the wall behind them. This, of course, was in reaction to the Mike Coolbaugh death last week.

Steve Liddle replaced Ullger at third base….now they’re announcing that Ullger will be O.K.

It was as low in the clubhouse after last night’s game as I’ve seen it all year. Today, I spent the pre-game talking with players who are worried about getting traded - and asking Gardy how to deal with that.

It’s obvious that trade rumors are affecting this team’s play. After talking with scouts and one should-be Hall of Fame pitcher from Holland during dinner, the belief is that feeling that way is unavoidable sometimes.

So the Twins just have to deal with it and try to help Johan Santana get in the Cy Young race with a win tonight.

Twins: 1. Castillo, 2B. 2. Bartlett, SS. 3. Mauer, C. 4. Morneau, 1B. 5. Hunter, CF. 6. Kubel, LF. 7. White, DH. 8. Buscher, 3B. 9. Tyner, RF. Pitching: Santana.

Cleveland: 1. Sizemore, CF. 2. Blake, 3B. 3. Martinez, C. 4. Hafner, DH. 5. Garko, 1B. 6. Peralta, SS. 7. Gutierrez, RF. 8. Michaels, LF. 9. Barfield, 2B. Pitching: Westbrook.

This entry was posted on Saturday, July 28th, 2007 at 5:43 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.