Tampa Bay Rays Pitcher Matt Garza was placed on the 15 day disabled list today with radial nerve irritation in his right arm. Garza came out of the Rays game against Seattle last night in the third inning with two outs. After walking Jose Vidro in 5 pitches Garza motioned to the dugout for a trainer and then came out of the game. Garza threw 70 pitches in his 2 plus innings with 6 hits, 3 eared runs, 3 base on balls and 2 strikeouts.

Brittany Ghiroli of MLB.com wrote:

While Rays manager Joe Maddon said he had no prior knowledge of the injury, Garza told the media following the game that the problem surfaced late last year. "It’s been gradually hurting, but I’ve fought it off," Garza said.

An AP story appearing on CBS Sports quoted Matt Garza as saying:

"We’re going to take our time," Garza said. "It’s something I’ve dealt with over time, but I was able to fight through it. (It started) more towards late last year. It got to the point where, I’ve got to get looked at and see what’s going on. It was like somebody was pressing down on my arm."

So did the Twins get away one here and unload an injured Matt Garza to the Rays? It sure seems like Garza knew he had problems. Who knows what the Twins knew but my guess is this Twins didn’t know about this. Young pitchers often don’t say anything about soreness they are experiencing because they are unsure of what are feeling and don’t want to be complain about something they can maybe work through when fighting for a job.

Only time will tell of this is something serious for Garza or if he will bounce back with no effects of it. Last spring Garza complained of headaches and neck pain but only missed 5 or 6 days and then was available all season.

In other notes Joe Christensen reported on Francisco Liriano’s shaky start for Rochester yesterday. Liriano threw 88 pitches in four innings and gave up three runs with 6 hits, 3 walks and 3 strikeouts. People are speculating on whether Liriano will take Slowey’s spot in the rotation if Slowey is unable to go because of a sore bicep. With this recent outing of Francisco’s, it appears he is better off staying in Rochester for a few more starts. Maybe Brian Bass can make the start for the Twins if need be.

La Velle E Neal III noted last night that Michael Cuddyer went on  the DL with a dislocated right index finger and laceration. Denard Span was called up to take his spot. Doctors have said it should take Cuddy two weeks to recover so he should be back after his 15 day stint. It will be interesting to see what Denard will do with a chance in the bigs.

The Twinks got back into the win column with a 4 - 3 win over the Kansas City Royals tonight. Scott Baker got his first start of the season and pulled out a win. Scott threw  84 pitches in 6.2 innings giving up 3ER, 7H, 0BB with 2 strikeouts. Manager Ron Gardenhire said Baker was getting his pitches up early leading to the 2 runs in the first and another run in the second for the Royals. Baker was able to make adjustments though and got stronger as the game went along while getting his pitches down in the zone. Baker cruised facing only three batters in each of the next 4 innings. Baker faced 2 batters in the seventh before Neshek came in for relief. This first outing for Baker was very encouraging after battling  a sore back and extended bout with the flu in spring training and not getting many starts. What was especially encouraging was seeing him get stronger in the middle innings.

In the 4th inning and the score tied 3 - 3 the Twins pulled off a suicide squeeze to take the lead. Mike Lamb was on third after a double and advancing to third on Matt Tolbert’s sacrifice bunt. Then with Adam Everett at the plate Lamb broke for home as the Royals’ left handed pitcher John Bale delivered a fastball. Everett was able to deliver with the sac bunt allowing Lamb to score safely.

The Twins played a nice game and it included the following highlights (and lowlights):

• Carlos Gomez continued his hot start going 2 for 3 with a double, 2 stolen bases and a run scored and increased his batting average to .450.
• Joe Mauer went 2 for 4 with 1RBI and 1R while increasing his average to .375.
• Michael Cuddyer went 2 for 2 before leaving the game with an injured hand after sliding into third. Reports were that he suffered a laceration to his hand and a dislocated right index finger. He is day to day until they figure out had bad it is.
• Justin Morneau got his first hit of the year and a RBI to go with it when he singled and knocked in Joe Mauer. On a sour note Morneau also grounded into 2 double plays.
• Pat Neshek pitched to one batter in the seventh and had a perfect 8th inning striking out Mark Grudzielanek to end the inning.
• Joe Nathan gave up 1 hit in the ninth to Billy Butler after getting the first two outs on a pop out and ground out, then he struck out Mark Teahen looking to end the game and collect his second save of the year.

OK, maybe I was a bit corny and predictable on my headline, how many other articles around town will have a similar squeeze play angle on the headline?

boxscore   gameday

Carlos Gomez stole two bases and scored two runs while going 2 for 3 with a walk. His hits included a double and a bunt single where he did a Punto slide (head first) into first base. We know Nick Punto is hard-headed when it comes to the first base slide thing, I wonder if Carlos will continue to do the first base slide thing after Gardy talks to him.  Delmon Young and Michael Cuddyer also had stolen bases giving the Twins four for the game.

Livan Hernandez was the other player of the game going 7 innings throwing 84 pitches while giving up 2 earned runs and 0 base on balls with 1 strikeout. Livan did not dominate but he was very effective, only really getting into trouble in the 5th where he gave up the 2 runs. Twins fans have been hard on the Livan signing and piling on with Livan’s rough spring training. It will be interesting to see if Livan can pull a strong season out of the hat like Carlos Silva did last year after a very poor spring.

Other key plays of the game included:

• Joe Mauer knocking in Carlos Gomez in the first
• Delmon Young stole 2nd and scored on a single by Mike Lamb
• Michael Cuddyer singled driving in Carlos Gomez
• After striking out the first batters he faced and giving  up a double, Pat Neshek whiffed Vladimir Guerrero to end the 8th inning
• Joe Nathan struck out Torii Hunter in the ninth for the second out of the inning in route to closing out the game for  the Twins first win of the season

gameday boxscore  photo gallery

I went to catch a bit of KC @ Det and Tor @ NYY on MLB.TV this afternoon and what did I see but a …performing maintenance message. It’s a big disappointment to start the season this way. I was and still am hoping to see the games today including the Mosaic feature where you can watch up to six games or choose the player at-bats you want to see. Hopefully they get things straightened out before this evening. I will be giving a more in depth look at MLB.TV after a week or so of using it. In the mean time I’ll keep my fingers crossesd.

The Twins rotation for opening day became clear after Francisco Liriano’s last spring start on Friday and Scott Baker’s minor league start on Sunday.  Ron Gardenhire announced Francisco Liriano was optioned to the Twins Class A Fort Myers to start the season. Francisco pitched well on Friday throwing 73 pitches in 5 innings with 7 strikeouts, 2 base on balls, and 3 hits, one being a homerun. Kelly Thesier wrote in her article that Francisco is expected to make one start in Class A, make a start for Class AAA Rochester, then maybe join the Twins. Gardy wants to get Liriano up to throwing around 100 pitches. It will be interesting to see if Francisco does join the Twins after two starts or if the Twins will wait to see which of the starters isn’t making the grade over the month of April.

Scott Baker pitched well enough in his minor league start on Sunday and will jump on the end of the Twins rotation and start the series against Kansas City. In his start Baker threw 71 pitches over 6 innings giving up 6 hits, no walks with 3 strikeouts. Baker should be able to get more strength back after his extended bout with the flu by the time he makes his first start,

The Twins will start the season with Livan Hernandez, Boof Bonser, Nick Blackburn, Kevin Slowey and Scott Baker.

Scott Baker made a start in a minor league game today and threw 49 pitches in 3 innings. Word was that he was not real sharp and labored a bit but Joe Christensen had an update relaying the news that he made a big enough step to stay off the DL and hopefully get in a minor league start on Sunday. This could enable him to hop on the end of the rotation for the regular season.

Baker is coming off an extended bout with the flu and a sore back and has not pitched in a Grapefruit League game since March 8th.

Will keep you posted….

Carlos Gomez came out of today’s spring training game against the Tampa Bay Rays in the top of the 5th inning after making a catch in center field. After he made the catch he bent over grabbing his lower hamstring area behind his left knee. Reports by Dan Gladden during the radio broadcast indicated Carlos sustained a left hamstring cramp.

Joe Christensen got word from a clubhouse staffer after the game that Carlos told him “I want to play tomorrow, Friday and Saturday,” so at least Carlos is talking like it’s nothing that will keep him down.

Doing a little digging in Carlos’ history I found that he had a left hamstring injury in May of 2007. That injury only kept in out 3 days and then he was back and playing for the Mets without missing any games again.

The Twins just announced today that they have signed Joe Nathan to a to a deal through 2011 with a club option for 2012. Terms were not disclosed in the release but Twins play-by-play announcer John Gordon was reporting at one point in today’s broadcast that the deal was 4 years and 44 million.

A set of Twins fans that tend to be on the pessimistic side of things don’t think it’s worth signing a closer when the Twins are in the midst of rebuilding after unloading Torii Hunter and Johan Santana. Why waste the cash if the team can’t even get a lead to Nathan?

The case for signing Joe Nathan is quite simple though for the Twins. They need to sign an asset like Joe Nathan if they can do it at a fair price. Then if they decide down the road that they want to trade him, they can get fair value in return. We should have learned in the Santana and Hunter fiasco’s that you are more likely to get what you want in a trade if you have your guy locked up for a while.

So do I think the Twins will trade Nathan? No. I think the Twins believe they are close to contending and paying Joe this year is something that is worth it. I agree with this move. It looks like they do have a plan and are building towards a run in 2010.

La Velle E Neal III is reporting that Denard Span,  Brian Buscher, Jason Pridie, and Philip Humber have all been optioned to Class AAA Rochester this morning. That means Carlos Gomez will start the year out in center field this year and Matt Tolbert will make the squad as a utility player.

Denard Span had a nice spring training but Carlos Gomez just shows so much more of an upside. Carlos will be a bit raw in center and over-matched at times at the plate, but he will no doubt provide excitement and speed we have never seen in a Twins uniform. There is a legitimate chance that Carlos could break Chuck Knoblauch’s stolen base record of 62 in 1997 for the Twins.

Coming into spring training this year odds were that Brian Buscher would make the team as a backup 3rd baseman and utility guy. Brian just didn’t get things going this spring though batting just .143 with a .250 OBP and .229 SLG. With Buscher not stepping up it was Matt Tolbert that caught the eyes of Ron Gardenhire and is showing solid all around play and ability to play many positions. Matt is batting .250 this spring with a .314 OBP and .281 SLG.

The 25 man roster is about sewn up now, just a couple pitching spots to solidify. The biggest question that remains now is whether Francisco Liriano will make the rotation. There is also question about whether Scott Baker will be ready for the start of the season after a bit of a set back with a sore back and a bout of the flu. My guess is he will be ready and jump into the end of the rotation coming out of Spring. I also think Liriano will get his pitch count up enough to make it. That would give the Twins a rotation of Hernandez, Bonser, Baker, Liriano and Slowey.