Justin Morneau needed a DH day today, so Michael Cuddyer is at first with Denard Span in right.

Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said matchups and who’s playing well will determine who starts at second between Alexi Casilla and Nick Punto. Casilla is starting at second again today.

Gardenhire thinks Orlando Cabrera’s presence has helped settle Casilla down. Casilla was 2-for-4 yesterday and made a couple nice plays in the field.

Punto has been pressing. And he’s failed to get a bunt down in a couple key situations lately.

Nick Blackburn is fired up to pitch Sunday after discovering a flaw in his delivery and working on it during bullpen sessions this week.

Lefthander Glen Perkins will head to Fort Myers, Fla on Sunday to begin a rehab assignment. Perkins hasn’t thrown a baseball since Aug. 8.

Jerry White had the line of the year the clubhouse today. The MLB network aired a replay of the Dodgers-Expos playoff game in 1981, in which he started in. As players looked on, Carlos Gomez kept asking White, “did you do anything in this game?”

Finally White said: “I hit the cutoff man! That’s one thing I know for sure!”

The clubhouse roared with laughter. Gomez couldn’t say anything else.

Lineups

Cleveland (49-66)

1. Grady Sizemore, CF
2. Jamey Carroll, RF
3. Asdrubal Cabrera, SS
4. Shin-Soo Choo, LF
5. Jhonny Peralta, 3B
6. Travis Hafner, DH
7. Luis Valbuena, 2B
8. Wyatt Toregas, C
9. Chris Gimenez, 1B

Pitching: David Huff, LHP

Twins (56-59)

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

Pitching: Antony Swarzak, RHP

This entry was posted on Saturday, August 15th, 2009 at 1:50 pm and is filed under Game threads. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.