Sunday, June 24, 2007

Morneau May Stay

Justin Morneau has been text-messaging his teammates from his hospital bed, but it sounds like that’s about all the Twins will see of him for a few days. Morneau remains at Memorial Hospital West in nearby Pembroke Pines, undergoing a few more tests today on his bruised right lung.

The Twins leave for Minnesota immediately after Sunday’s game, and manager Ron Gardenhire said doctors are leaning toward keeping Morneau off the team plane. The first baseman might remain in Florida for a couple more days, as a precaution.

It’s looking more like Garrett Jones will be called up as a fill-in, though Gardenhire said he and general manager Terry Ryan will wait till the team returns home before making that decision.

Today’s lineup looks odd as a result, though not as odd as they could have. Gardenhire revealed that he originally wrote in Joe Mauer’s name at first base, a position the all-star catcher hasn’t played since Class A ball in 2002. But Mauer wasn’t enthusiastic about the idea, and said he would rather catch. Luis Castillo is also out with a recurrence of his nagging leg injuries.

The lineups:

TWINS
Bartlett ss
Cirillo 1b
Mauer c
Cuddyer rf
Hunter cf
Kubel lf
Rodriguez 3b
Punto ss
Santana p

MARLINS
Carroll cf
Uggla 2b
Ramirez ss
Cabrera 3b
Willingham lf
Boone 1b
Hermida rf
Treanor cKim p