Just how worried should you be about the Twins' allotment of Spring Training injuries? Twinkie Town is here to help.
OUCHIE: Joe Nathan, torn ulnar ligament in throwing elbow. LEVEL OF WORRY: the mother in a Lifetime TV movie who can't find her daughter. Nathan will attempt to throw this weekend to see if he can overcome the odds and pitch this season. Barring a minor miracle, he will undergo Tommy John surgery soon thereafter.
OUCHIE: Justin Morneau, "general soreness." LEVEL OF WORRY: trying to remember if you locked the doors to your house while you're on vacation. Morneau sat out a couple games with the aforementioned soreness, and he did have a BROKEN BACK last year, for pity's sake, but he played in Thursday's game against the Pirates.
OUCHIE: J.J. Hardy, quad strain. LEVEL OF WORRY: the mechanic says something vague and expensive-sounding about your transmission. It's been called a mild strain, but still: Hardy's been sidelined for five days. LaVelle reports that he might play in a minor league game on Saturday. He has a lot to prove, and if he ends up out for a significant amount of time, Twins fans might be back to relying on Matt Tolbert AND Alexi Casilla, rather than Matt Tolbert OR Alexi Casilla. There's a difference.
OUCHIE: Nick Blackburn, sore knee. LEVEL OF WORRY: wondering just how much trouble you're going to get in for tracking the Twins game, your NCAA bracket and the SCSU/Wisconsin hockey game on your work PC this afternoon. It sounds like Wednesday's start is going to be only one he misses, and Gardy said he would have pitched if it was the regular season. That said: knee injuries are never a positive.
OUCHIE: Joe Mauer, sore shoulder. LEVEL OF WORRY: not near that of your worry about his contract. Came back after four days off and seems fine.
Lineups for today's game will be up in a bit. Until then, talk amongst yourselves.