Tagged: Thome
Quick thoughts from Day 3 of camp
By: Kelly Thesier/MLB.com
Jim Thome meet Tsuyoshi Nishioka.
The Twins veteran slugger arrived at camp on Sunday morning and got a chance to take batting practice with his new teammate on one of the back fields of the Lee County Sports Complex.
Hitting coach Joe Vavra greeted Nishioka shortly after he arrived on the Minor League side of the complex and told him he’d be hitting with Michael Cuddyer, Jason Kubel and Thome. As more than 15 Japanese reporters and many of the Twins beat writers gathered around the cage, Thome remarked that he’d never seen this much media around a cage for Day 1 of batting practice in his 22 Spring Trainings.
Other than Thome’s arrival and Nishioka joining some of his teammates to work out, there wasn’t much news of the day. Francisco Liriano did some long toss on Sunday and said his shoulder felt good. He’s expected to throw a bullpen session in a couple days.
I’ll have more stuff later on the website as well as a blog post with some photos from the first few days of camp.
Saturday tidbits: A collision and other updates
Twins manager Ron Gardenhire admitted to being a little shaken up following a scary collision at the plate in the fourth inning of Saturday’s game with the Rays.
For the second time in the game, outfielder Jacque Jones collided with Rays catcher Dioner Navarro at home plate while trying to score on a ball hit to center field. While the two managed to get away unscathed the first time, Navarro wasn’t so lucky in the second attempt.
Navarro was on the ground for quite a long time before being lifted onto a cart and taken off the field with an injury to his left knee. At the time, Navarro looked to be in great pain.
“It just makes you sick to your stomach,” Gardenhire said. “He’s a really good player and a really good kid.I was worried about Jacque too. He had nowhere to go, [with Navarro] blocking the plate and on top of the plate. But it’s just scary to see collisions.”
Navarro turned out to be OK. X-rays on his left knee were negative and he was diagnosed with a nerve contusion — which the Rays said shouldn’t be too worrisome. As for Jones, he said he banged up his left knee on the play but that he was OK as well.
Certainly not what anyone wants to see in a Spring Training contest.
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— A couple of the Twins got some at-bats in Minor League contests on Saturday. J.J. Hardy went 0-for-2 with a walk in a game against the Orioles’ Class AAA Norfolk affiliate while playing four innings at shortstop and Jim Thome went 0-for-3 with an RBI in that game.
Justin Morneau went 3-for-4 in a game against the Orioles’ Class AA Bowie affiliate. The best news was that Gardenhire said all three players came away feeling good
physically
— Still no update on Joe Nathan. He’ll likely play catch on Sunday and when we get word about how it goes, I’ll pass it along.
Thursday’s tidbits
Here are a few things from manager Ron Gardenhire after Thursday’s 5-4 victory over the Pirates:
— Gardenhire said the team still isn’t sure when
Joe Nathan is going to play catch this weekend, although it likely won’t be in front of any media. In an attempt to give Nathan as much privacy as possible,
Gardenhire said the team is planning to stay mum about the time and location of Nathan’s game of catch. It’s all so that there isn’t a horde of television cameras and
national media there to watch the session.
“We’re going to put up screens and blocks and everything so
(the media) cannot be there,” Gardenhire said. “We just don’t want it
to be a big crazy thing here. Let the guy live in peace and see if he
can throw the ball. If he can’t, and he grimaces in pain and goes to
the ground, I don’t want you to see that. … And if he goes and hugs
and kisses (pitching coach Rick Anderson) because he feels great, we
don’t want you to see that, either.”
— Shortstop J.J. Hardy has not played since Saturday due to an irritated left quadriceps muscle. Manager Ron Gardenhire said that Hardy was feeling better on Thursday and will likely return to game action on Saturday in a Minor League contest. Hardy has been able to do all of his infield drills, and on Thursday he ran the bases on one of the back fields without any problem.
— Nick Punto and Delmon Young got some at-bats in a Minor League contest across the complex this afternoon. It’s something that Gardenhire said will likely happen more frequently in the coming days now that Minor League games have officially begun. Gardenhire watched the two players hit in the contest and said Young got a couple of hits but was most excited about a walk he drew after falling behind in the count 0-2.
— Due to watching Punto and Young, Gardenhire said he missed the first couple innings of the contest against the Pirates. But he said he was able to know something good happened when the horns went off at Hammond Stadium — it was Jim Thome’s first homer as a Twin.
“I still haven’t seen Thome hit a homer,” Gardenhire said. “I’ve seen him hit them against us but never for the Twins.”
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— “Slama Jama” : Gardy is known for his unique nicknames for players but a new favorite might be his moniker for pitcher Anthony Slama, who pitched a scoreless ninth inning on Thursday. When talking about how Slama has pitched this spring, the manager referred to him as “Slama Jama.” Classic.
Kelly's Corner 