DL Report: Denard Span -- He Wasn't Really Better

Unfortunately, brain injuries are hard to treat, and even harder to predict. Throw in adjustments to medications, a predisposition to vertigo, and a lot of travel, and a regression is bound to happen.

The Twins have placed Denard Span on the 15-day DL, retroactive to August 14, with migraine and vertigo symptoms. He says that he feels like he did when he suffered vertigo back in 2009. He also reported that he and the trainers have been trying to adjust his medications. Because his concussion is located in the part of the brain that handles balance, he's just not feeling very steady at all. There's a chance he may need to visit the specialist in Pittsburgh he saw before. Unfortunately, this may end his season, especially with the Twins out of playoff contention. There's no reason to bring him back until they're 100% certain that he's 100% well.

Luke Hughes was called up from AAA Rochester to take Span's roster spot. Unfortunately, Hughes got a little lost in the airport, and he missed his flight. He did finally arrive mid-game Thursday.

I have no idea why the paper doll has that black squiggly thing around it. When I copied from the first time I made it, it didn't have that. It's late, and I don't feel like cleaning it up. I figure it kind of represents the fog that's following Denard.

~~~

Also watching:

Michael Cuddyer is still suffering a pain in the neck. He had an epidural shot and hopefully it'll feel better in a day or two.

Matt Tolbert has a sore wrist and can't swing a bat. He felt something during batting practice a couple of days ago.

~~~

Hence:

Three guys were unavailable plus Jason Kubel was away tending to a family matter. All this added up to only two guys able to play the outfield. Insert Joe Mauer in right field. And until Hughes arrived, there was no one on the bench. It would've been simultaneously awesome and awful if Drew Butera had gotten hurt. Joe comes in to catch, and one of the starting pitchers goes out in right? Too ridiculous to even hold in my brain.

Royals at Twins: Uptight

Recap:
Tuesday: Royals 3 - Twins 4 (10)
Wednesday: Royals 10 - Twins 5

Record: 4-7

Everybody is uptight. And the more the Twins lose, the more uptight they're going to get. It's time to relax and have some fun.

Well, the hitting is starting to come around. Cuddy had a great night at the plate on Tuesday by going 4-4. And on Wednesday, the Twins finally scored a run in the first inning. So that's something.

I'm getting worried about the starting pitching, and I'm really getting annoyed with the defense.

I don't really expect Duensing to repeat the fantastic season he had last year to the letter. But I gotta admit that I'm worried that he's overmatched, or at least he's feeling that way. I think that Gardy's naming him a starter so early in spring training may have put a lot of pressure on him. He's uptight; hopefully he can settle down and find a comfortable groove.

I'm more worried about Liriano. You can practically see how uptight he is. We all know how very good he can be -- it was just last year. But now he's tentative and meek. Gardy has been saying that he wants Frankie to worry less about strikeouts, and try pitching more to contact so he can go deeper into games. Which is fine, right up until his defense lets him down, and then he can't figure out what to do. At that point, all that "contact" turns into a bunch of "hits" and consequently, "runs." It's fairly well known that he's easily rattled -- "headcase" is a term that's thrown around a lot. Clearly he and Rick Anderson are tinkering, and he's still figuring out what he's trying to do. But asking him to pitch to contact when he has fill-ins for middle-infielders might be asking a bit much for someone who seems to get wigged out easily. Gardy needs to just let him pitch how he wants to pitch and Frankie just needs to learn how to relax and stop thinking. After all, in the wise words of Crash Davis, "don't think; it can only hurt the ball club."

Poor Frankie did have a lot of bad luck on Wednesday. With Tolbert playing short and Cuddyer playing second, he kind of didn't have much of a chance. There were a couple of plays I thought they should've made. I'm willing to cut Cuddy some slack -- he's truly filling in. But Tolbert was playing uptight and should know better -- he airmailed a ball in the first that probably unsettled Liriano from the get-go. Valencia also had a couple diving attempts both Tuesday and Wednesday that I thought maybe he should've made. Maybe I'm being a little tough on them, but I miss the days when the defense was excellent.

Anyway, I'm getting too uptight too. I need to relax.

~~~

I went to Wednesday's game. I got a chance to sit in those once-in-a-lifetime-you-can't-turn-them-down-because-you'll-never-get-a-chance-to-sit-there-again-ever seats. I also brought my nice camera. Needless to say, I may have taken a picture or two.

Utility Guys and Shoes

I was thinking about Nicky Punto today. Mostly because I was wearing the shoes I compared him to on Nick Punto Day last year. I was thinking I should get rid of those shoes -- they are wearing out, -- but the shoes I was going to replace them with broke. Literally broke. In half. Both of them.You can't get good replacements these days.

Which is also true of utility players, I guess. Although I'm not aware of the current crop of potential bench-infielders to have literally broken in half. That would be unfortunate. But I digress.

I loved Nick Punto as a utility guy. Yeah, I didn't love that he was making $4.5 million to be a utility guy. But that role was perfect for him. But he's a Cardinal now. A Cardinal with a hernia.

So, who will be the bench infielder for Gardy this year? Take your pick of Matt "Tigger" Tolbert, Trevor "Error-boy" Plouffe, and Luke "Fireworks" Hughes.

Tolbert has the most major league experience, and, when spring training started, was the one everyone figured would come north. I call him "Tigger" because he's one of those guys who never stops bouncing around; seriously, have you ever seen him chew gum? It's cute for about ten minutes, then it's trying. I have a feeling Gardy feels the same way too. According to LaVelle E Neal of the STrib, he's still got a minor-league option left, so he's not completely a shoo-in. But he is reasonably fast and can pinch run whenever Jim Thome gets on base late in games.

Plouffe wasn't really impressive the few games he did spend in the major leagues (.146 BA! Yikes!). And he's been having a horrible spring. He's committed a team-leading 6 errors. And many of them seem to happen when Joe Nathan is on the mound. Not cool, Trev. Not cool at all. It's really hard to have a ton of confidence in him.

And then we have Hughes. When spring training started, he was just one of the lucky minor-leaguers who was invited to the big league camp. No one really expected him to do much more than get some experience. But he had different ideas. Seems like he hits a home run every other at-bat. It might be tempting to bring him up, but I'm not sure he's ready. Plus, he has a history of being injury-prone.

So, yeah, kind of slim pickings. Add to this that I'm not entirely comfortable with the starting middle-infielders. Nishioka will probably be ok, but he's still getting acclimated to MLB. But Gardy handed shortstop -- the position of leadership -- to Alexi Casilla. He could be brilliant; he could be brutal. No one knows. While I hope he'll be ok -- good grief, he's had enough experience by now -- I'm just not confident. I just hope he is.

Ok. So I doubt things are as bleak for the middle infield as I'm making them seem. But I won't be surprised if these guys give me indigestion just a little. I miss Nicky Punto.

And I need new shoes.

Welcome Back Baseball

After what seemed like a 10-day break for the All Star Game, it's good to have baseball to watch again. Especially since the Twins gained some ground on Detroit and Chicago.

Recap:
Friday: Twins 5 - Rangers 3
Saturday: Twins 4 - Rangers 1
Sunday: Twins 3 - Rangers 5 (12)

Twins take series 2 - 1

~~~

So just before (and during the break), the Twins shook a few things up. It's easy to get lost in the shuffle. It's time for another review (mainly because I'm always expected to answer the question "who's that?", "when did we call him up?", etc. so I have to look it up anyway):

Morales (C) down to the minors; Kevin Mulvey (RP) up to the majors. (7/15)
Tigger Tolbert (2B) down to the minors; Lexi (2B) up to the majors. (7/12)
K-Slow (SP) to DL; Anthony Swarzak (SP) up to the majors. (7/04)
Sean Henn (RP) down to the minors; Brian Duensing (RP) up to majors. (7/02)

How far back should I go? One more:

Luis Ayala (RP) outsville; Bobby Keppel (RP) up to the majors. (6/22)

~~~

Up next:

West coast games -- A's then the Angels.

Sleep fast guys, 'cuz it was a long night and it's a long trip.

T-I-Double Guh-ER!

The wonderful thing about Tiggers.....Is Tiggers are wonderful things.....Their tops are made out of rubber.....The bottoms are made out of springs.....They're bouncy, trouncy, flouncy, pouncy.....Fun, fun, fun, fun, fun.....But the most wonderful thing about Tiggers is.....I'm the only one.

Welcome back to the bigs Tigger Tolbert! Have fun. (Ok, I know I'm probably the only person on the planet who calls him Tigger, but I don't care. It works for me.)

I am a bit sad that Alexi got sent down. I hope he can take some time, get things straightened out, and be back soon.

A Pretty Decent Tigers Series

Friday: Twins 3 - Tigers 2
Saturday: Twins 6 - Tigers 5
Sunday: Twins 2 - Tigers 4

Twins win series 3-1

Well, even though they lost today, the Twins aren't limping into the break, even though it felt like that would have been a real possibility after the Boston series. It's nice to know the Twins still have their "in it to win it" mentality. And, even though it's disappointing to lose, at least it wasn't a heartbreaker. Blackburn pitched well, but Verlander just pitched a little better.

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What's up with everyone's fingers? Cuddy (2 different fingers), Tigger, Alexi, LNP, and now Slowey have suffered, or are suffering from, finger injuries. I recommend the boys stop playing Bloody Knuckles on the team plane -- try playing cribbage instead. Otherwise, I'll be forced to distribute a pair of oven mitts to each player and require him to wear them at all times.

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I see that our estimable firstbaseman has bucked my advice and decided to, in fact, participate in the Home Run Derby. Well, Justin, best of luck to you -- have fun and stay healthy. And now, I'll have to watch.

As Relaxing as a Bubble Bath

Twins 11 - Texas 4

Aaaaaaah. Wasn't that nice? Finally, a game that I could just have on TV and not worry about it. Every time I looked up, I saw another Twin getting another hit. Very nice. Perhaps yesterday's exciting escapade woke them up a little.

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A big "atta boy" to Glen Perkins for his first major league win. Nice work. And a big shout out goes to Brian Bass for finishing the game and letting all the other pitchers rest.

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I'm super bummed to read that Matt "Tigger" Tolbert needs surgery on his thumb. I was really rooting for him to do well here. It sounds like the ligament separated from the bone. OUCH! ICK! Here's hoping he recovers quickly.

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I was happy to see that the official picture of Sidney Ponson, who's starting for the Rangers tomorrow, has been updated to this year's version.

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Time for bed; last night's game really took it out of me.

Flat in the Mountains

Friday: Twins 4 - Rockies 2
Saturday: Twins 2 - Rockies 3
Sunday: Twins 2 - Rockies 6

Well, at least this time we don't have to get the dustbunnies out. But seriously, I think we could have done better. Maybe the boys were tired. Maybe it was the thin air. Maybe it was the humidor balls. Who knows, but it just seemed like they were kind of flat.

---

Friday's game was kind of fun, and it was nice to break up that little losing streak. But Nathonator once again made it waaaay too interesting. Luckily, Go-Go made that nice catch to end the game. Too bad it cost him starting the next two games. And doesn't it seem that if Go-Go isn't in the game, the Twins just aren't the same team? Has anyone figured out what our record is with him in versus without him in? (I know I could probably figure it out myself, but I don't wanna. Besides, chances are that someone else already has, and why double the effort?)

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Saturday's game was pretty good until I started paying attention. Sorry. I guess Livan had a perfect game going through the fifth. Of course, right when I got home and turned on the TV, I saw Justin Morneau try to catch Matt Holliday's foul ball that could have been called fan interference but wasn't. Then he doubled, and that was pretty much the end of the perfect game, eventually the shutout, and then the lead.

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And another thing, while being taking a perfect game through five innings is terrific, especially for a contact-type pitcher like Livan, I think that the KARE11 sports team needs to settle down. They teased the coverage by saying something like "Hernandez flirts with perfection." Um, five innings isn't "flirting" with perfection. Eight, or maybe even seven, innings is flirting. Five innings is looking up from the end of the bar and noticing that perfection keeps looking over at you. You're not even thinking about buying it a drink yet after five.

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I missed today's game because I was at a youth baseball tournament. (Yes, I was freezing. Thanks for asking.) I listened to the post-game coverage on the radio after we were done, and from the sound of Gardy's reaction to the game, I think the 11 and 12-year-olds I watched play had a more polished game than our Twins.

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Excuse me, yes, I'd like to order a round of bubble wrap for the remaining healthy players please.



Let's assess the most recent damage:

• Matt "Tigger" Tolbert is on the DL for shredding his thumb sliding head-first into first. Poor guy; he was beginning to make a good impression, and now this. And the extent of the injury (ligament damage) sounds like it's going to take quite a bit more than a 15-day recovery.


• Then there's Go-Go's catch into the wall that tweaked his wrist. According to the Twins website, there's a real possibility that he'll land on the DL as well.


• Plus, Joey's got a crick in his neck.

Toys for the Boys

So our guys have the evening off, and I suppose they're pretty blue. They didn't have a very good weekend, so they need something to cheer them up. And what's better to lift the spirits of a bunch of boys than toys? So I checked out amazon.com and found some fun things for them to play with.

For Nick Blackburn: You always seem so grumpy and I've never seen you smile. And that's ok, because you gotta be who you gotta be. I can't think of anything that celebrates gloominess better than this Eeyore plush.

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For Matt Tolbert: Gardy says you never stop moving around and that you're just a bundle of energy. So, to capture your personality, and to go along with the "Winnie the Pooh" theme, I chose this Tigger plush.

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For Go-Go: Everyone knows that no one is faster than you. So the only thing I can think of that can keep up with you is this Lightning McQueen toy.

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For Joey: Girls have been chasing you since you broke into the majors. I figure that if you're going to be treated like an American Idol, you may as well pretend you're an American Idol. So I chose this American Idol Recording Studio.

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For Cuddy: I'm glad you're back off the DL, but I'm still worried about your hand. I think you should protect it as much as possible while you play, so I chose these Sock'em Boppers for you.

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For Boof: Nice job on losing weight. You look great, and you should be proud. Since you have many fewer fat cells in your body, you might want to play with this Giant Microbes Fat Cell plush toy.*

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For Everyone Else (because I want to be done now): After such a downer of a game on Sunday, you all must be tense and serious. Nothing lightens things up better than lots and lots of bubbles. I chose this Gazillion Bubbles Machine.

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*I know, a plush fat cell is creepy, but this company has a whole line of creepy microbe plush toys such as syphilis, e.coli, HIV, the clap. Maybe we can send a bunch to the visitor's clubhouse.

Good Evening for MN Sports

Livan had another good game. And so did Tolbert, Span, Go-Go, and Justin. At least that's according to the box scores. The game wasn't on tv. But I didn't mind, because the Wild were on. Playoff hockey is pretty fun, especially when the Wild win. It was a pretty cool game, but a little too roller-coaster for me. I'd like it better if the Wild got the lead early and kept it. I like when the Twins do that too, which they did.

Since there wasn't a game to watch, I don't have a "moment of the game". However, I do have a substitute...

And finally, the "You'd Think the Twins Would Keep Closer Track of Their Players" moment of the day: Earlier today, I visited the Twins website, and off to the side, they had a video clip of Kubel's grand slam on Wednesday. Too bad he hit it against the Red Sox while the rest of the Twins were playing the White Sox.

Week 1 -- Check

Well, at least the Twins won the series this time, which is better than the Tigers can say (har har). Boof did a nice job, but the bats were just a little too quiet - except for Justin's - to give him a chance. Did it seem like the Twins struck out looking a lot today? I thought so, but maybe I overreacted.

Clearly Justin finally got pissed off about everyone asking him about his slump, because he's sure hitting the snot out of the ball lately. Just a reminder: hitting the snot out of the ball is a good thing, so keep it up.

Now that the first week has passed, I have a couple opinions:

• Carlos Gomez is a lot more fun to watch than I thought he would be. I sure hope it lasts. I was bummed to hear that he doesn't qualify as a rookie.


• I'm really bummed about Cuddy's hand. The descriptions of the injury sound really icky. I hope he heals quickly.


• I'm impressed with Delmon's arm. I *heart* outfield assists. He needs a nickname. Hmmm - I'll have to put some thought into it.


• For some reason, Matt Tolbert reminds me of David Eckstein, only bigger.
  
  

And of course, Happy Birthday to Bert! I think he likes his birthday almost as much as I like mine. But I never get to go to a baseball game on my birthday. *pout*

And finally, the "I'm the Umpire and I Don't Like Dodge" moment of the game: With one out in the bottom of the ninth, the third-base umpire requested that the advertising banner behind home plate be changed. Reportedly, he didn't like it because it was white (it was a Dodge ad). Umm, I don't think there are that many different ads rolling through that banner, so it was probably there off-and-on for the whole game. Whatever.