Eduardo Escobar is in uniform and in the starting lineup tonight. Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said he wants to see as much as Escobar as possible down the stretch.

Gardenhire also met with all the middle infielders - Escobar, Jamey Carroll, Alexi Casilla and Pedro Florimon - and told them they all would get playing time around the infield. Carroll joked that he's needs to learn Spanish now, since he has the Latin players for middle infield partners.

Just left the White Sox clubhouse, they really loved Escobar. On top of his strong defense, Escobar brought a lot of positive energy to the clubhouse.

Josh Willingham (right hamstring) is in the lineup today as he slowly improves.

Denard Span hit in the batting cage again on Tuesday and could be ready to return from the disabled list (sprained sc joint) when his time is up on Sept. 12.

Twins GM Terry Ryan addressed the Anthony Slama situation, saying that the righthander wasn't called up because he was injured for several weeks and that they know more about Slama than they do Luis Perdomo and really wanted to see him pitch this month.

"That's a little bit of a balancing act to justify who you are going to bring up," Ryan said. "How many people are you going to bring up? But I do understand that his stat line is pretty impressive. He'll get his chance."

Slama, in 31 games, posted a 1.24 ERA over 361/3 innings with 18 walks and 56 strikeouts. He missed about two months with a broken leg. Opponents batted .195 against him. Since he's not on the 40-man roster, he can be selected in the Rule 5 draft.

Escobar, by the way, is wearing No. 5.

And, if you've haven't heard, the Elizabethton Twins scored five in the ninth to tie then got a grand slam from D.J. Hicks in extra innings to win the Appalaichan League championship.

Twins (55-80)

1. Ben Revere, CF
2. Jamey Carroll, 2B
3. Joe Mauer, C
4. Josh Willingham, DH
5. Justin Morneau, 1B
6. Ryan Doumit, LF
7. Chris Parmelee, RF
8. Trevor Plouffe, 3B
9. Eduardo Escobar, SS

Pitching: Scott Diamond, LHP

White Sox (73-61)

1. Alejandro De Aza, CF
2. Kevin Youkilis, 3B
3. Adam Dunn, DH
4. Paul Konerko, 1B
5. Alex Rios, RF
6. Dayan Viciedo, LF
7. Alexei Ramirez, SS
8. Tyler Flowers, C
9. Gordon Beckham, 2B

Pitching: Jose Quintana, LHP