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Minnesota Twins pencil in Justin Morneau at 1B… |
DALLAS – Ron Gardenhire is open to anything that will get, and keep, Justin Morneau on the field next season. Right now, he says, it can happen at first base. “We plan on him being our first baseman,” the Minnesota Twins manager said. “We’ll go it from there. If somebody tells me something different later on, we’ll make adjustments.” The Twins know that might be necessary; Morneau has been a walking injury report since the end of the 2009 season, when he missed most of September and all of the playoffs because of a microfracture in his lower back. In 2010, he suffered a concussion that knocked him out of 81 games, and last season he had surgeries on his neck, foot, wrist and knee and suffered another season-ending concussion. In all, he has missed 212 games the past three seasons. Last season’s concussion symptoms have subsided, Gardenhire said, but the 2006 AL MVP continues to work through some rehab from the surgeries. Still, the concussion has the team – and, he acknowledged last season, Morneau – most concerned. He got it diving for a hard liner Aug. 28 in Detroit, a fairly routine play. Asked if the Twins have considered trying to get a full season of Morneau as the designated hitter rather than hope he can play in the field, Gardenhire said, “Yeah, we had that conversation at the end of the year. “If it’s a situation that he gets out there and dives for a ball and has to set out for a month, we don’t want that. But our plans are for him to be our first baseman until somebody tells us different – or Morneau feels he’s not able to do that….Those are the hardest situations because of the things that happened, not knowing. But eventually you’ve got to say this is the way you’re going to go, and start that way.” There is the quick update of the day. Posted in twins-news | Comments Off
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Brickman lives! Gardenhire’s chin scratch leads… |
OK, that came out a little bit weird. But seriously, the Minnesota manager claims that an ill-timed scratch of his chin — a scratch! — was indirectly responsible for his team scoring the winning runs in a 6-4 win over Cleveland. According to Gardenhire, it all started when his goatee started to get a little itchy and his attempt at relief was misinterpreted as a steal sign. There’s a reason he’s the reigning AL Manager of the Year, folks. From the Associated Press:
Despite Gardenhire’s inadvertent genius (which makes a presumption that Tosoni would not have also hit that homer in the eighth given the chance) the victory was only Minnesota’s 61st of the season, which still leaves the Twins five games behind the Seattle Mariners, the American League’s next-worst team. Still, you have to love a little piece of Daniel Stern’s “Phil Brickman” character from “Rookie of the Year” making his way into an actual Major League Baseball game with unintended signals working their way onto the field. Let the big dog eat! Other popular stories on Yahoo! Sports: Related: Tony Sipp, Minnesota Twins, Seattle Mariners What are your opinions. Posted in twins-news | Comments Off
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Twins collide in car accident on way to airport |
The way the 2011 season has gone for the 60-95 and injury-devastated Twins, only a Twin-on-Twin car accident could make things worse. Span was driving behind Valencia as the teammates made their way to Span and Valencia were driving on Interstate 35 and turning onto “You’re on 35, you make a left onto 62,” Valencia said. “It was While both players were able to laugh off the incident, it’s a setback for Span, who suffered a concussion in early June and has continued to deal with migraine symptoms stemming from the concussion. “My head’s hurting, I’m not going to lie,” Span said. “My neck’s sore.” Span returned to Minnesota’s lineup on Wednesday after being out for more than a month. It remains to be seen how long the latest setback might keep him out. “I’m laughing, but it’s not funny, I’ll be honest with you,” Span said. “It’s been a rough year for me. I just played Wednesday, and for something like this to happen, it’s been rough. Fortunately, it could have been a lot worse.” Valencia, meanwhile, is one of two position players from the Twins’ opening day lineup to avoid the disabled list this season. Prior to Friday, he had played in a team-high 148 games. “We need a rabbit’s foot,” Valencia said. “We have bad luck. And it’s unfortunate because when you think it can’t get any worse, it does. Yesterday was a positive day considering we had a great walk-off win and our first win in about two weeks, and then the next thing you know I think I had a bomb dropped off on my car.” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire was just as surprised after hearing the news. “It’s not something I expected coming into the ballpark,” Gardenhire said. “I expect just about anything, but that was a Running low on time today, i’ll be back tomorrow hopefully with some more news. Posted in twins-news | Comments Off
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Car accident sidelines players |
The way the 2011 season has gone for the 60-95 and injury-devastated Twins, only a Twin-on-Twin car accident could make things worse. Span was driving behind Valencia as the teammates made their way to Span and Valencia were driving on Interstate 35 and turning onto “You’re on 35, you make a left onto 62,” Valencia said. “It was While both players were able to laugh off the incident, it’s a setback for Span, who suffered a concussion in early June and has continued to deal with migraine symptoms stemming from the concussion. “My head’s hurting, I’m not going to lie,” Span said. “My neck’s sore.” Span returned to Minnesota’s lineup on Wednesday after being out for more than a month. It remains to be seen how long the latest setback might keep him out. “I’m laughing, but it’s not funny, I’ll be honest with you,” Span said. “It’s been a rough year for me. I just played Wednesday, and for something like this to happen, it’s been rough. Fortunately, it could have been a lot worse.” Valencia, meanwhile, is one of two position players from the Twins’ opening day lineup to avoid the disabled list this season. Prior to Friday, he had played in a team-high 148 games. “We need a rabbit’s foot,” Valencia said. “We have bad luck. And it’s unfortunate because when you think it can’t get any worse, it does. Yesterday was a positive day considering we had a great walk-off win and our first win in about two weeks, and then the next thing you know I think I had a bomb dropped off on my car.” Twins manager Ron Gardenhire was just as surprised after hearing the news. “It’s not something I expected coming into the ballpark,” Gardenhire said. “I expect just about anything, but that was a Subscribe to our feed!. Posted in twins-news | Comments Off
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Jason Repko joins Minnesota Twins’ list with… |
Concussion symptoms. That has become an ominous phrase during a frustrating 2011 season for the Twins. The symptoms have damaged Justin Morneau’s career and have limited Denard Span to 65 games this season. When Twins trainer Rick McWane told reporters before Tuesday night’s game against Seattle at Target Field that outfielder Jason Repko is dealing with concussion symptoms, manager Ron Gardenhire, seated next to McWane in the team’s dugout, displayed a what-else-can-go-wrong expression. “I’ve never heard the word ‘concussion’ this many times in a season,” Gardenhire said. “Unfortunately for our ballclub, we’ve had to deal with it more than others.” Repko is the latest Twins player with concussion concerns after he was struck in the head Sunday by a fastball from Cleveland pitcher Justin Masterson in the sixth inning. Repko needed help getting to the locker room and was taken to Hennepin County Medical Center for evaluation. McWane said the club is awaiting results from a magnetic resonance imaging exam Repko had Tuesday afternoon. Repko is not expected to be available for the three-game series this week against Seattle. In fact, McWane was unsure if Repko would play at all in the Twins’ final nine games. “I don’t know if he’ll be back,” McWane said. “We’re still running tests. He’s reporting concussion symptoms…nausea and headaches.” How many times have the Twins heard that kind of update from McWane this season? McWane gave similar reports on Morneau and Span, and both were sidelined more than nine games. Morneau is still dealing with the concussion symptoms he suffered in a July 7 game last season at Toronto. He aggravated the symptoms this Aug. 28 against Detroit while diving for a ground ball at first base. Span has had concussion symptoms since a June 3 home-plate collision with Kansas City catcher Brayan Pena. Considering the precautions the Twins have taken with Morneau and Span – and the insignificance of the remaining nine games – it’s conceivable Repko might be done for the season. Even if he shows quick improvement, he will need medical clearance from Major League Baseball to return to the lineup. Repko’s absence Tuesday night left the Twins with only 12 healthy players available for field duty. Span has yet to be activated and outfielder Jason Kubel (sore foot) has been limited to a designated hitter role the rest of the season. Gardenhire has tried to stay upbeat throughout the injury and illness updates. “The only time I get disappointed and my attitude changes is when we’re losing a lot of games and we’re not playing the game with respect,” he said. “We haven’t had too many problems like that this year. All I ask is that the players come to the ballpark every day and play as hard as they can.” More than anything, Gardenhire said his love for the game has helped him keep his spirits up. Before Tuesday’s game, Gardenhire took time to chat with a uniformed officer in the military who was given a field pass by Twins officials. “You’re having a ball being around a kid’s game,” Gardenhire said. “As far as a positive attitude, you should have it. You come to the ballpark every day, and you wear a major league uniform. You’re running a ballclub. I have a lot of respect for this game.” Feel free to leave your comments below. Posted in twins-news | Comments Off
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With the way this season has gone for the Minnesota Twins, maybe Ron Gardenhire should have been scratching himself at inappropriate times all year.
