An admired and slightly husky sportswriter crafted a nice column this morning on the ad-libbing Twins manager Ron Gardenhire has had to do this season because of injuries and poor play. 

The Opening Day infield of Justin Morneau, Alexi Casilla, Nick Punto and Joe Crede has been blown up, as has 60 percent of the starting rotation.

A couple days earlier, another slightly husky sportswriter (better looking, by the way) was among the media horde when Gardenhire expressed frustration over not being able to add a couple more players to the roster to help the cause.

A couple players, infielders Trevor Plouffe (USA) and Luke Hughes (Australia) are in Europe for the World Cup and are unavailable. I was surprised to hear Gardenhire express interest in Hughes because he took him deep earlier in the year about how he played at Class AAA Rochester:

“He’s had a lot of issues,” Gardenhire said about Hughes at the time, “He hasn’t played very well and didn’t endear himself to the staff…He’s just real sloppy. Laid-back kid. His demeanor made people wonder what he cares about.”

Someone mentioned first baseman Brock Peterson, who hit .344 at Rochester after the All-Star break. Gardenhire pointed out that Peterson  - and third base prospect Danny Valencia -are not on the 40-man roster, so they aren’t eligible to be called up,

Valencia is an interesting case. He began the year at Class AA New Britain, where he batted .284 with 7 homers and 29 RBI in 57 games. He was promoted to Class AAA Rochester when Hughes was injured and played there the rest of the season. In 71 games at Rochester, Valencia was .286-7-41.

About the same? Somewhat. After walking 31 times at New Britain, Valencia walked just 8 times (in 71 games, mind you) at Rochester. His on base percentage dipped from .373 at New Britain to .305.

That did not stop a slew of Twins officials, from GM Bill Smith down to Tom Kelly and Paul Molitor, to focus on Valencia when they pondered September call ups. In the end, obviously, they decided not to call him up.

He wasn’t lighting it up late in the season, batting .231 over his final 10 games of the season. He has the talent to play third base well, but someone who watched him play pointed out he needs to work on positioning and understanding the defensive side of the game more.

There’s also an opinion out there that Valencia needs a little more time to mature. In one incident, Valencia tried to score standing up and missed the plate. He was tagged out, got angry, yelled at the umpire, tossed his helmet and was ejected.

I don’t intend to paint a bad picture here. Just printing things I’ve been told. I watched Valencia during spring training, when he made a couple nice plays at third and looked like he knew what he was doing at the plate. He’ll be in my top ten Twins prospects list, which will be released in the next couple of weeks. He’s the most complete third baseman they’ve had reached the high minors in several years.

But, based on the evidence, he didn’t do enough to deserve a call up.

But who’s playing third next season for this team? Will the Twins try Crede again? Don’t think so Will they look outside the organization? Maybe, but they have other needs, too.

If a team thinks a player has a chance to contribute the next season - and the Twins appear to be at that point with Valencia -then that player should get a September promotion to get the baptism out of the way. And now Crede’s out, creating an opening.

Even if Valencia sits on the bench, gets a few at-bats and mostly watches games, there’s some benefit to that. That’s an opinion many people in the game have about prospects that I agree with.

Then again, are the Twins trying to send Valencia a message by not calling him up? And they might be the type of team that doesn’t want rookies sitting around unused while they are trying to make the playoffs. Maybe their decision would be different if the Twins were 10 games out. Maybe it goes back to what I wrote earlier, he didn’t do enough.

This is another example of how many things a club has to consider when pondering promotions.

Side note: In case you missed it, here’s a Rochester Red Wings season wrap-up by Rochester D and C beat writer Jim Mandelaro. Rochester was one of the youngest teams in the International League this season and, apparently, it showed.

Twins manager Ron Gardenhire was asked if there was a chance the club would summon any more bodies from the minors now that Justin Morneau, Joe Crede and Justin Huber are all banged up, with Morneau done for the season and Crede likely done.

“Talked about it,” he said. “Squelched.”

Gardy explained that a couple players he had in mind, infielders Luke Hughes and Trevor Plouffe, are playing in the World Cup in Europe. Others, like third baseman Danny Valencia and first baseman Brock Peterson (.344 post All-Star break)  are not on the 40-man roster.

Sounded like the manager asked for help but was denied.

Huber is going to need a few days to recover from his strained oblique muscle, which can be a nagging injury. Crede indicated before the game that he might see a couple doctors about his back and try one more time to play this season.

The Twins still have 14 healthy position players to choose from.

Morneau is expected to travel with the team during its final road trip of the regular season. Gardenhire wants his presence in the clubhouse and on the bench.

 Update: I spoke to Bill Smith. who said he’s staying in contact with Gardy about the roster. “Right now, we are going to sit tight and see how the rest of the club plays out over the next few days,” he said.

Cleveland (61-82)

1. Michael Brantley, CF
2. Jamey Carroll, 2B
3. Asdrubal Cabrera, SS
4. Jhonny Peralta, 3B
5. Travis Hafner, DH
6. Andy Marte, 1B
7. Matt LaPorta, RF
8. Lou Marson, C
9. Trvor Crowe. LF

Pitching: Fausto Carmona, RHP

Twins (72-72)

1. Denard Span, CF
2. Orlando Cabrera, SS
3. Joe Mauer, C
4. Jason Kubel, RF
5. Michael Cuddyer, 1B
6. Delmon Young, LF
7. Brian Buscher, DH
8. Matt Tolbert, 3B
9. Nick Punto, 2B

Pitching: Scott Baker, RHP

Joe C. is pounding out a blog entry right next to me. We were a pretty good team tonight. I had to file a story by 11 p.m. but got a few extra minutes, which was enough for Joe to feed me some quotes from the clubhouse. Teamwork at its best.

The one thing that struck me was that Morneau usually battles through pain and says nothing about it, but he eventually realized something was different this time.

“Most of time have a little aching annoying pain, this was a little sharper,” he said. “Swing and miss and follow through and finish a swing.”

The debate will rage on about how much his back limited him - and for how long. He batted .201 after the All-Star break and was 7-for-70 (.100) after Aug. 15.

This coincides with the dizziness he battled in August. He took himself out of a Aug. 17 game in Texas and didn’t return until Aug. 24.

So when was the last time he was at all systems go? One thing is for sure: Dude was messed up.

Couple other notes:

Joe Mauer had his 23rd three-hit game of the season.

Delmon Young turned 24 on Monday. By the way, Gardy doesn’t have to worry about whom he should start in the outfield now. Young and Carlos Gomez will get all the at-bats they deserve.

Cuddyer’s homer was the 100th of his career.

Jason Kubel has four career pinch hit homers, three this season.

First baseman Justin Morneau has been diagnosed with a stress fracture in his back and is done for the rest of the season. He’ll need three months to recover.

Will post after I get off deadline…

(back) and DH Jason Kubel (neck) are not in tonight’s lineup, but Kubel being 1 for 10 against Jeremy Sowers might have something to do with his absence too. Will find out when the clubhouse opens in a few minutes.

Justin Huber gets his first start with the Twins

Jose Mijares is 1-0 with a 0.93 ERA since Aug.5.

Twins hitters entered the day leading the AL with a 134 GiDP’s.

Updates: Joe Crede is likely done for the rest of the season. He felt soreness in his back and legs while tyring to DH yesterday and…well, it’s just not going to happen for him.

The Twins are in contact with the specialist who worked with Crede during the offseason to figure out how to treat the injury.

Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said before the game that a MRI during an annual end of season exam on Justin Morneau revealed inflammation in his back. He spent Monday seeing a specialist in the town but was expected to arrive at the ballpark soon.

Justin Huber pulled an oblique muscle during batting practice and was scratched from the lineup. Matt Tolbert will bat in Huber’s spot and play third while Brendan Harris moves to DH.

Oh, but Jason Kubel felt much better on Monday - which is good because there are so many tables in the trainer’s office. He’s  available to pinch hit.

Finally… I know. I know. The Bears lost.Urlacher’s out. Cutler stunk. Everyone keeps reminding me of this…

Lineups

Cleveland (61-81)

1. Michael Brantley, CF
2.Jamey Carroll, 3B
3. Asdrubal Cabrera, SS
4. Shin-Soo Choo, RF
5. Jhonny Peralata,  DH
6. Luis Valbuena, 2B
7. Matt LaPorta, 1B
8. Lou Marson, C
9. Trevor Crowe, LF

Pitching: Jeremy Sowers, LHP

Twins (71-72)

1. Denard Span, RF
2. Orlando Cabrera, SS
3. Joe Mauer, C
4. Michael Cuddyer, 1B
5. Brendan Harris, 3B DH
6. Delmon Young, LF
7. Justin Huber, DH Matt Tolbert, 3B
8. Carlos Gomez, CF
9. Nick Punto, 2B

Pitching: Carl Pavano, RHP

Twins prospect Trevor Plouffe was 2-for-5 with a homer for Team USA in a 9-1 in over Germany in World Cup action yesterday. Heard Germany’s only run scored on his throwing error, though.

Outfield prospect Rene Tosoni went 3-for-5 for Canada during a 15-0 beatdown of the Netherlands.

Update: Pat Neshek has been cleared to throw in the bullpen, fastballs only for now. He was out on the field before the game, playing catch. Saw Joe C.’s note yesterday about Carl Pavano and Jeff Manship being Tommy John surgery alums. Let’s not forget Francisco Liriano and Brian Duensing (in college). There might not be a clubhouse in the majors without at least one player who’s had the surgery.

Kevin Slowey will spend the offseason working out in California, then report to spring training a month early. He said he’s going to start throwing in November as he comes back from wrist surgery  -a surgery that was a little more involved than expected. He has two screws in his wrist which will never come out. He hasn’t lit up any security scans, though. “I’m kind of disappointed in that,” he joked.

We spent part of Gardy’s pre-game talking about screws in wrists. Gardy once had two screws placed near his left thumb that stuck out of the skin. Gardenhire said he could turn them by hand, and he didn’t feel a thing when they were removed.

Some members of the media horde grimaced at that. Not me. I’ve had the retina in my right eye repaired four times. Once you’ve been laid out on a table with three holes poked in your eye -and you’re awake during the surgery - nothing about operations surprises you.

The only thing that worried me was that the surgeon had Pink Floyd playing in the operating room during my last retina surgery in 2006.

Talked to a National League scout before the who agreed that Nick Blackburn needed to pitch inside more last night. To me, it was especially important that he bust some guys inside since he didn’t have a feel for his curveball.

Twins pitchers get away from pitching inside sometimes. I know the pitching coach keeps talking about it. It’s up to the pitcher - or the catcher - to make it happen.

A scout for the Tigers is here, too: “Nobody wants to win this division,”  he grumbled. And I can’t post the word he uttered between, `this,’ and `division.’

Oakland (63-77)

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

Pitching: Brett Anderson, LHP

Twins (70-71)

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

Pitching: Jeff Manship