| 03 September 2010
From the looks of things, the residual effects of last night's debacle of a game will continue to be seen for the next few days.
The Twins used a total of eight pitchers in the 13-inning series finale against the Detroit Tigers last night. Tuesday's starter, Brian Duensing, pitched two innings of the sloppy contest. Even Nick Blackburn, who was originally scheduled to start tonight's game against the Texas Rangers, was called upon to throw an inning.
With a depleted bullpen and a rotation in no shape to fill rotation gaps on the fly, there are precious few options at the starting pitcher position for tonight's series opener against the always-tough Rangers.
Here are Minnesota's options:
- Nick Blackburn - Threw 19 pitches on Thursday night and will likely be re-shuffled in the rotation to later this weekend.
- Carl Pavano - Threw 99 pitches on Sunday against the Mariners. He is on his regular four-day rest, but Gardenhire said there was "no chance" of him starting Friday's contest.
- Francisco Liriano - Threw 104 pitches on Wednesday night. Unavailable.
- Brian Duensing - Threw two innings tonight, and tossed 103 pitches on Tuesday night. He's probably the "least available."
- Glen Perkins - Threw two innings on Thursday night, and the Twins must wait ten days before they are allowed to call him up again, which means the earliest he can be in a Minnesota uniform again is three days from now.
- Anthony Swarzak - Threw six innings on Wednesday night. Unavailable, which is probably a good thing. Mixing his 6.08 Triple-A ERA with Texas' rotation couldn't be good for the Twins.
- Kyle Gibson - Minnesota's 2009 first-round pick was recently shut down for the season after having reached his innings limit. He hasn't pitched in a while, but I certainly can't see the Twins re-activating Gibson after telling him he was done. Allowing a sold-out Target Field a preview of what promises to be a regular in Minnesota's rotation starting mid-2011 would be a fan-pleaser, though.
And the winner is... - Matt Fox - According to Seth Stohs, the 27-year old from Rochester will make his major-league debut tonight against the Rangers. Fox last pitched on Monday night, so he should be ready to ride the adrenaline to a solid showing for the Twins. (Calling up Fox requires a player to be moved off the 40-man roster. My guess: Justin Morneau is moved to the 60-day disabled list. He has already missed 50 team games, and doesn't appear to be ready within the next week and a half.)
As showcased on Thursday night, if anything is capable of derailing what has thus far been a very enjoyable stretch run, it's injuries. Let's hope most of the bumps and bruises (and lingering concussion symptoms) clear up before too long and the Twins can focus on the postseason.
I'm fine with Minnesota limping into the playoffs, as long as there is a healthy roster waiting when the calendar flips to October.
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