By: Kelly Thesier/MLB.com

NEW YORK — No surprise that much of today’s pre-game session with manager Ron Gardenhire focused on the club facing Johan Santana today.

Sure the team got some of the intrigue out of the way this spring when they faced Santana for the first time since he was traded to the Mets before the 2008 season. But with the Twins having lost four in a row, there is nothing they’d like better than to see things turn around and doing so against a pitcher like Santana would certainly be a boost as well.

But while everyone expects Santana and the Twins to be serious about the competition, Gardy still added that “we’ll get him to smile, I guarantee that.”

Left-hander Jose Mijares is at Citi Field. Pitching coach Rick Anderson was going to watch Mijares throw before the club made a decision on whether or not to activate him. Due to the family emergency Mijares was dealing with at home, he understandably was not able to throw at all while he was away from the team. So the club wants to make sure everything is OK and a roster move could still be made before today’s contest. Right-hander Jeff Manship is expected to be the player sent down when a move is made.

And here are the lineups:

Twins

(40-33)
Denard Span, CF
Orlando Hudson, 2B
Joe Mauer, C
Justin Morneau, 1B
Michael Cuddyer, 3B
Jason Kubel, RF
Delmon Young, LF
Nick
Punto, SS
Carl Pavano, P
Pitching: RHP Carl Pavano
(8-6, 3.64 ERA)

Mets (42-31)
Jose
Reyes, SS
Jesus Feliciano, CF
David Wright, 3B
Ike Davis, 1B
Jason
Bay, LF
Rod Barajas, C
Jeff Francoeur, RF
Ruben Tejada, 2B
Johan Santana, P
Pitching: LHP Johan Santana (5-4, 3.31 ERA)

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