Sorry for the lack of blogging yesterday. It was one of those crazy days on the job where I had a lot of stories to get done and not enough time to add blogging into the mix. So my apologies and I’ll try not to let it happen again when I’m on game coverage.

OK, back to baseball. Jason Kubel gets the start in right field today as Joe Mauer is slotted in as the DH. Kubel’s numbers against Indians starter Fausto Carmona are likely a big reason that he’s in the lineup. Kubel is 8-for-18 (.444) vs. Carmona with two RBIs.

Alexi Casilla also gets a day off as manager Ron Gardenhire wanted to give Matt Tolbert a chance to try out some swing adjustments in a game. Tolbert has been working hard on his swing of late and this seemed the right time to give him a shot to see if those changes will help.

As for Michael Cuddyer, the soreness in his strained right index finger is moving from the knuckle to the palm of his hand. Gardenhire said he’s been told that it’s a good sign that the soreness is moving in that direction. Cuddyer was going to try to swing today and see how that goes.

And here are today’s lineups:

Indians
Ben Francisco, RF
Jamey Carroll, 3B
Victor Martinez, C
Shin-Soo Choo, LF
Jhonny Peralta, SS
Mark DeRosa, DH
Chris Gimenez, 1B
Trevor Crowe, CF
Luis Valbuena, 2B
Pitching: Fausto Carmona, RHP

Twins
Denard Span, LF
Joe Mauer, DH
Justin Morneau, 1B
Jason Kubel, RF
Joe Crede, 3B
Brendan Harris, SS
Mike Redmond, C
Carlos Gomez, CF
Matt Tolbert, 2B
Pitching: Scott Baker, RHP

Also a reminder that you can follow me on Twitter  @kellythesier