Sorry this is late. Player access was a little different and threw everything off schedule.
The Twins, as expected, were out for early fielding work after Thursday's debacle.
Oswaldo Arcia got up at 4:45 in the morning to catch a flight to the Twin Cities. Thanks to a delay, he walked onto the field during stretching. Gardy put him right in the middle of the batting order.
Gardy also returned Joe Mauer to the No. 2 spot in the batting order, which was overdue. It seems like that No. 2 hitter comes to the plate with runners on base.
Josh Willingham took batting practice again and said he's back up to running. ``10 miles an hour.'' He's headed out Monday on a rehab assignment and could return in a week, when the Twins open a series in Chicago.
The Twins are expected to announce after the game that Andrew Albers will be called up from Class AAA Rochester to replace Scott Diamond in the rotation.
Astros (36-71)
1. Jonathan Villar, SS
2. Jake Elmore, 2B
3. Jason Castro, DH
4. Brett Wallace, 1B
5. Carlos Corporan, C
6. Marc Krauss, RF
7. Matt Dominguez, 3B
8. Brandon Barnes, CF
9. Robbie Grossman, LF
Pitching: Jarred Cosart, RHP
Twins (45-60)
1. Brian Dozier, 2B
2. Joe Mauer, C
3. Justin Morneau, 1B
4. Ryan Doumit, RF
5. Oswaldo Arcia, LF
6. Trevor Plouffe, 3B
7. Chris Colabello, DH
8. Clete Thomas, CF
9. Pedro Florimon, SS
Pitching: Samuel Deduno, RHP
La Velle E. Neal III has covered baseball for the Star Tribune since 1998 (the post-Knoblauch era). Born and raised in Chicago, he grew up following the White Sox and hating the Cubs. He attended both the University of Illinois and Illinois-Chicago and began his baseball writing career at the Kansas City Star. He can be heard occasionally on KFAN radio, lending his great baseball mind to Paul Allen and other hosts. Mark Rosen borrows him occasionally for WCCO-TV.
Phil Miller covered three seasons of Twins baseball, but that was at a different ballpark for a different newspaper. Now Miller returns to the baseball beat after joining the Star Tribune as the Gopher football writer in 2010, and he won't miss the dingy dome for a minute. In addition to the Twins and Gophers, Miller covered the Utah Jazz and the NBA for six years at The Salt Lake Tribune.
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