Unsurprisingly (at least to me), the Twins put Trevor Plouffe on the DL with his thumb injury after determining that a whole week of rest wasn't enough. I don't know about you, but I am very irritated at how the medical staff and front office allows the team to go 5 days or more shorthanded before finally deciding that the injured player needs to go on the disabled list. Look, if it's legitimately a minor muscle tweak, then yes, I can see the benefits of avoiding the 15-day DL. However, when he's been out for 4 days and I can say this and be correct, it means that the Twins have a maddeningly consistent track record with how they approach injuries like this. No, Danny Valencia is not necessarily the answer, but having him on the roster to replace Plouffe is still better than no one. /rant
On a lighter note, Scott Diamond pitched a hell of a game yesterday. It's too bad that I was at a wedding, because a 98-pitch complete game shutout is a pitching performance any baseball fan should get a chance to see. Well, unless Steve Trachsel was pitching, in which the game would take 3 1/2 hours to complete anyway.
Samuel Deduno takes the mound for the Twins. He's got a decent strikeout rate for a Twins starting pitcher this year (6.75 K/9), but that's been accompanied by an un-Twins-like 6.19 BB/9. So basically, there's a good chance he'll make us want to cover our eyes as he hands out the free passes to everyone, including the ushers in the Dugout Boxes. On the other side, the Twins will have to face Justin Masterson, who is having a pretty solid year again for the Indians (4.12 ERA). I just hope the Twins avoid getting Master Locked again.
I'll be working tonight's game, so the readership will have to dig up the lineups tonight.
Twins
SP Samuel Deduno
Indians
SP Justin Masterson