Tagged: Carlos Gomez
Go-Go makes his return: Twins vs. Brewers 5/21
By: Kelly Thesier/MLB.com
MINNEAPOLIS — Carlos Gomez was donning his usual mile-wide smile inside the visiting clubhouse at Target Field on Friday afternoon.
Gomez was activated from the disabled list on Friday, just in time to return to the lineup against the Twins. He’s excited to face his former team as both kick off Interleague Play. Gomez is playing center field and batting second for Milwaukee.
Shortstop Trevor Plouffe has arrived in Minnesota and he’s in the starting lineup, making his Major League debut. Plouffe, 23, was a first round pick of the Twins in the 2004 Draft. He’s gotten off to a hot start at Rochester this year, batting .303 with 11 doubles, four home runs and 38 RBIs before getting his first callup.
The Twins are going to be a little thin on infield depth tonight as Alexi Casilla went to get an MRI on his right elbow. Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said Casilla has been battling a sore right arm for the last 5 days to a week but it was worse on Friday, prompting the test.
Brewers (16-25)
Joe Inglett, 2B
Carlos Gomez, CF
Ryan Braun, LF
Prince Fielder, 1B
Casey McGehee, DH
Corey Hart, RF
Craig Counsell, 3B
George Kottaras, C
Alcides Escobar, SS
Pitching: RHP Dave Bush (1-4, 4.27 ERA)
Twins
(24-17)
Denard Span, CF
Orlando
Hudson, 2B
Joe Mauer, C
Justin Morneau, 1B
Michael Cuddyer,
RF
Jason Kubel, DH
Delmon Young, LF
Trevor Plouffe, SS
Nick Punto, 3B
Pitching: RHP Nick Blackburn (4-1, 4.63 ERA)
A
reminder
you
can follow me on Twitter @kellythesier
Gomez’s thoughts on the trade
Thanks to our wonderful Brewers reporter Adam McCalvy, I thought I’d pass along what Carlos Gomez had to say on today’s trade that sent him to Milwaukee for SS J.J. Hardy. Needless to say Gomez is excited about the opportunity to get to play every day.
“[Twins GM] Bill Smith called me and said, ‘I have good news and
bad news,'” Gomez said. “I wanted the bad news first and he said, ‘I
traded you. We needed a shortstop.'”
“It’s going to be good for you,” Smith then told Gomez, “because you need to play.”
Gomez’s playing time had been limited with the Twins in 2009 due to the logjam of outfielders, but in Milwaukee he’ll have the center field job all to himself. Brewers general manager Doug Melvin acknowledged that his club would not pursue free agent center fielder Mike Cameron this winter due to the trade. So the veteran will go elsewhere after playing center for Milwaukee for the past two season.
It means that the speedy Gomez and his Gold Glove-caliber defense will be on display for Brewers fans throughout the 2010 season. It marks a return to the National League for Gomez, who came to the Twins in the Johan Santana trade with the Mets in Feb. 2008.
“Coming back to the National League
is exciting,” said Gomez. “It means
you have a chance to play every day. Even if you don’t start, you’re
probably going to get a chance as a pinch-hitter. In the American
League, if you don’t start, you don’t play.
“But I don’t have pinch-hitting in my mind. I want to play every day.”
Both Smith and Melvin assured Gomez that he would indeed get that thanks to this trade.
“I
don’t want to be a backup player. I’m too young to be a backup,” he
said. “If Milwaukee wanted me, they know I can play every day. They
want me to be an exciting player, but to make more contact, work the
count. Get on base.
“It’s going to be exciting. I can’t wait to start.”
Span out of lineup, Gomez leading off
Denard Span is not in the lineup after getting hit in the head by a pitch in the sixth inning of last night’s contest. Carlos Gomez gets the start in center field and will lead off. I’ll have more on Span once we go into the clubhouse.
Twins manager Ron Gardenhire is going for career win No. 700 tonight against the White Sox.
There is certainly going to be plenty of scoreboard watching going on tonight. The Tigers open up a three-game series in Cleveland and with the Twins only 2 1/2 games back, they will be interested to see how those contests go.
Here are today’s lineups:
Twins (77-73)
2nd place in AL Central, 2 1/2 games back
Carlos Gomez, CF
Orlando Cabrera, SS
Joe Mauer, C
Jason Kubel, RF
Michael Cuddyer, 1B
Delmon Young, LF
Brendan Harris, DH
Matt Tolbert, 3B
Nick Punto, 2B
Pitching: RHP Jeff Manship (0-1, 5.31)
White Sox (73-78)
3rd place in AL Central, 7 games back
Scott Podsednik, CF
Gordon Beckham, 3B
A.J. Pierzynski, C
Paul Konerko, 1B
Mark Kotsay, DH
Alexei Ramirez, SS
Carlos Quentin, LF
Chris Getz, 2B
Alex Rios, RF
Pitching: LHP John Danks (12-9, 3.59)
A reminder you can follow me on Twitter @kellythesier
Kubel in, Morneau still out
Jason Kubel still had a sleeve on his left knee Wednesday afternoon, but he told manager Ron Gardenhire that he was good enough to play. So Kubel is back in the lineup as the DH.
Carlos Gomez’s hand is also still a little sore after getting hit with a pitch (or not according to the umpires last night), although he said the wrapping around his wrist helped to prevent it from being worse.
Justin Morneau on the other hand is still feeling the lingering effects of his inner ear infection. While doctors have told him that the infection has cleared up, he is still being affected by dizzy spells and feeling lightheaded. It’s as if things are “in slow motion” at times, he said. The hope is that new medication will help Morneau to feel better.
Gardnehire said he’s going to be patient with Morneau and hope that he’s better perhaps tomorrow. It seems that neither Morneau nor Gardenhire want to see the first baseman wind up on the disabled list, so they’ll wait a couple days to see how Morneau is feeling.
Of course there was more talk about Mauer’s incredible run of late, I’ll have more on that later. But here is one impressive note to leave you with — according to the Elais Sports Bureau, Mauer is one of five American League players to have at least 25 home runs and a .380 batting average this late in the season. The others were Ted Williams (1941 and 1957), Joe DiMaggio (1939), Lou Gehrig (1930 and 1936) and Babe Ruth (1931).
Yeah, that’s pretty good company.
Here are today’s lineups:
Twins (57-62)
3rd place in AL Central, 6.5 games back
Denard Span, RF
Orlando Cabrera, SS
Joe Mauer, C
Jason Kubel, DH
Michael Cuddyer, 1B
Joe Crede, 3B
Delmon Young, LF
Carlos Gomez, CF
Nick Punto, 2B
Pitching: RHP Scott Baker (10-7, 4.54)
Rangers (67-51)
2nd place in AL West, 5.5 games back (tied for AL Wild Card lead)
Julio Borbon, DH
Michael Young, 3B
Josh Hamilton, RF
Marlon Byrd, CF
David Murphy, LF
Ian Kinsler, 2B
Hank Blalock, 1B
Ivan Rodriguez, C
Elvis Andrus, SS
Pitching: RHP Kevin Millwood (9-7, 3.31)
A reminder you can follow me on Twitter @kellythesier
Saturday Lineups: Twins at Tigers
There was quite a bit of entertainment following the Twins’ 10-8 loss to the Tigers on Friday night thanks to the verbal war of words between Twins manager Ron Gardenhire and home plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt.
Gardenhire read all of Wendelstedt’s comments in the paper and he had a humorous response on Saturday to the invitation the skipper was given to attend umpiring school.
“If he’ll agree to take the classes again, I’ll go with him,” Gardenhire said.
Gardenhire said he hasn’t heard from the Commissoner’s office about any possible repercussions of his comments — a fine or perhaps suspension. At least not yet, anyway.
- Carlos Gomez is out of the lineup with a bruised calf, after fouling a ball off it in Friday night’s contest.
- Gardenhire started Nick Punto at third base to get some additional speed in the lineup and also to have his defense there with a groundball pitcher on the mound (Pavano).
- The rotation is still unsettled for this next week. Gardenhire said that Nick Blackburn will pitch Tuesday and Carl Pavano on Friday. But the club is still undecided on the starters for Wednesday and Thursday. Anthony Swarzak joined Glen Perkins and Francisco Liriano as a possibility to be removed from the rotation following his one inning outing on Friday. So there are two spots for the three pitchers.
Here are the lineups.
Twins (53-56)
3rd place in AL Central, 5.5 games back
Denard Span, CF
Orlando Cabrera, SS
Joe Mauer, C
Justin Morneau, 1B
Jason Kubel, DH
Michael Cuddyer, RF
Delmon Young, LF
Nick Punto, 3B
Alexi Casilla, 2B
Pitching: RHP Carl Pavano (9-8, 5.37)
Tigers (58-50)
1st place in AL Central
Curtis Granderson, CF
Placido Polanco, 2B
Clete Thomas, LF
Miguel Cabrera, 1B
Carlos Guillen, DH
Magglio Ordonez, RF
Brandon Inge, 3B
Gerald Laird, C
Adam Everett, SS
Pitching: RHP Justin Verlander (12-5, 3.29)
A reminder you can follow me on Twitter @kellythesier
Trying for a Sweep….Sunday lineups: Twins at Indians
The Twins will go for the three-game series sweep over the Indians on Sunday at Progressive Field — a feat they haven’t accomplished in Cleveland since June 14-16, 1991.
It will be a match-up of the lefties as the Indians send southpaw Aaron Laffey to the mound and Glen Perkins gets the nod for the Twins.
Carlos Gomez is back in the lineup, batting leadoff while Denard Span gets a day of rest.
UPDATE (12:20 ET): Catcher Joe Mauer walked into the office of Fort Myers manager Jeff Smith on Saturday night and told him, ‘Maybe they’re right.’
Mauer was referring to the Twins wanting him to wait until Friday to rejoin the team. Mauer had tried to encourage Twins skipper Ron Gardenhire to “keep an open mind” about possibly letting him return as soon as Tuesday. But after catching back-to-back days for Fort Myers, the first time he’s done that since last season, Mauer was dealing with some usual soreness in his legs.
“Catcher’s butt” is what Gardenhire called it.
So it appears that Mauer’s return will come, as originally expected, on Friday, May 1 against the Royals at the Metrodome. He’ll be the DH for Fort Myers in today’s game and then catch Monday and Tuesday for Fort Myers. He’ll then DH again in Wednesday’s contest for Fort Myers and use Thursday’s off day for both the Twins and Fort Myers as a travel day to Minnesota.
Today’s Lineups
Twins
Carlos Gomez, CF
Brendan Harris, 2B
Justin Morneau, 1B
Jason Kubel, DH
Joe Crede, 3B
Michael Cuddyer, RF
Delmon Young, LF
Jose Morales, C
Nick Punto, SS
Pitching: Glen Perkins, LHP
Indians
Grady Sizemore, CF
Asdrubal Cabrera, 2B
Victor Martinez, C
Shin-Soo Choo, DH
Ryan Garko, 1B
Jhonny Peralta, SS
Mark DeRosa, RF
Tony Graffanino, 3B
Trevor Crowe, LF
Pitching: Aaron Laffey, LHP
Kelly's Corner 