The Twins have decided to place reliever Joe Nathan on the 15-day disabled list because of inflammation in his right elbow.

There no word on who the Twins will add to the roster to replace him.

Nathan has been struggling to pinpoint his fastball recently and the soreness in his elbow has been worse than normal day-after soreness. The hope is that taking a couple of weeks off will allow the inflammation to work its way out.

The bigger goal is to get Nathan in position to finish the season strong. Although Tommy John club members can return to action with 12 to 18 months following surgery, many need more time to regain sharpness and velocity.

So the Twins and Nathan feel that, by taking this step, he'll be in position to improve during the second half of the season and resemble the dominant reliever he was before the surgery.

The Twins are taking the field for warmups - but the tarp is being pulled onto the field. The players are tossing the ball around the outfield, but rain is coming.


Angels (27-26)

1. Macier Izturis, 2B
2. Erick Aybar, SS
3. Bobby Abreu, DH
4. Torii Hunter, RF
5. Alberto Callaspo, 3B
6. Russell Branyan, 1B
7. Peter Bourjos, CF
8. Jeff Mathis, C
9. Reggie Willits,LF

Twins (16-33)

1. Denard Span, CF
2. Alexi Casilla, 2B
3. Jason Kubel, DH
4. Justin Morneau, 1B
5. Michael Cuddyer, RF
6. Delmon Young, LF
7. Danny Valencia, 3B
8. Rene Rivera, C
9. Trevor Plouffe, SS

Anthony Swarzak, RHP