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

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.

Scott Baker’s sore back is going to keep him out longer than once thought. Ron Gardenhire said Scott would not be able to make the start in a minor league game this weekend as they had hoped. It all started in the Boston game on March 3rd he felt a tweak in his back. During his next start against Pittsburgh, Baker experienced tightness in his back and they shut him down after two innings and decided to have Nick Blackburn get the next start in Baker’s place.

This doesn’t sound like a major injury but Joe Christensen has quotes of coaches saying things like:

"Pitching coach Rick Anderson “says if this goes on for another week or so, we’re going to have to start making other plans,” Gardenhire said. “That’s what we’ve got to find out, whether, it’s going to push on.”

Hopefully he just misses the one start and can come back for the next one. Will keep you posted.