SEATTLE Twins shortstop Jason Bartlett joined the recent chorus of support for rookie second baseman Alexi Casilla before Monday's game against the Seattle Mariners.
When the Twins traded Luis Castillo to the Mets on July 30, others criticized the move.
But after watching Casilla fill Castillo's spot at second base for 12 games, Bartlett has been impressed. Casilla made two errors against the Angels last weekend, but Bartlett said: "He's doing fine. That's a tough infield. It was pretty hard, especially [Sunday] with a day game. Those weren't exactly easy ground balls.
"He's probably always going to be under Castillo's shadow because [Castillo] never made an error, but he's getting to a lot of balls that Luis didn't get to."
With the Twins, Castillo set the major league record for second basemen with 143 consecutive games without an error. Tigers second baseman Placido Polanco eclipsed that mark Monday.
"That's a heck of a record," Bartlett said.
Bartlett had 19 errors in his first 88 games this season, but he entered Monday with his own errorless streak of 17 games.
No roster move
Twins outfielder Jason Kubel seemed headed for the disabled list because of a strained right oblique muscle Sunday, but he took about 25 pain-free swings Monday and hopes to play again by Friday.
Kubel's injury has left the Twins with a three-man bench, but manager Ron Gardenhire said the team didn't need to make a roster move to add another hitter.
"[The trainers] said he can pinch run; his legs are good," Gardenhire said, trying to contain a smile because there are few times when the less-than-swift Kubel would be an ideal choice to pinch run.
Another new lineup
Gardenhire continued tinkering with the lineup, using his third 4-5-6 combination in four games Monday night against the Mariners. This time it went Torii Hunter, Justin Morneau and Michael Cuddyer. This gave the Twins a left-right-left-right sequence of Joe Mauer, Hunter, Morneau, Cuddyer.
Gardenhire had moved the lefthanded hitting Mauer and Morneau back-to-back against the Angels, whose only lefthanded reliever is Darren Oliver.
But the Mariners have four lefthanders in the bullpen, and Gardenhire said that was the reason he wanted his righties and lefties staggered.
Missed opportunity?
The Twins have favorable scouting reports on former Gophers and Cretin-Derham Hall infielder Jack Hannahan, who was traded from the Detroit Tigers to the Oakland Athletics on Monday for minor league outfielder Jason Perry.
Hannahan, 27, was batting .295 with 13 home runs, 63 RBI and a .422 on-base percentage for Class AAA Toledo. The A's apparently were looking for third base help with Eric Chavez hobbled. Neither Hannahan nor Perry was on his team's 40-man roster.
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