Casilla had a real rough series

Alexi Casilla.

By LA VELLE E. NEAL III, Star Tribune

Last update: July 24, 2008 - 8:02 AM

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NEW YORK - There's no way to sugarcoat it. Twins second baseman Alexi Casilla had a bad series in New York.

He tried to force a runner at home plate in the second inning on Monday but committed a throwing error that allowed the first of four runs to score. On Wednesday, he forgot there was one out (not two) when Yankees catcher Jose Molina grounded to third baseman Brendan Harris.

Casilla began to jog lazily toward the dugout instead of hustling to second to prepare for Harris' throw. Casilla did catch the throw at second for a force but that left runners at first and third.

Lefthander Glen Perkins couldn't believe Casilla made such a mistake, and the fact that he gave up a two-run double to the next batter, Justin Christian, suggests Perkins lost his concentration.

"Perk never recovered from that and Lexi just lost count of the outs," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said, "which is really disappointing."

Perkins snapped at Casilla and kept talking to him about the mixup in the dugout after the inning.

"He lost track of the outs and that's all there is to it," Perkins said. "I think I'm sure he's going to pay extra close attention to that. I just gave him a pat on the rear and said, 'I'll get you another one and we'll get it next time.' I think you've gotta move on from that."

Casilla has made strides this season to become the Twins' everyday second baseman, but Gardenhire said a player can't forget the number of outs in an inning.

"There are scoreboards everywhere in this game," Gardenhire said, "It's inexcusable. He knows that. He feels terrible. You think about that before. You look around.

"It's a routine double play. It's as routine as you can get it."

Casilla declined an interview request after the game.

Morneau pitched around

Justin Morneau was 1-for-9 in the Yankees series but said it had nothing to do with getting hit in the right hand on by a pitch on Sunday.

He said his hand was sore after getting hit but is much better now.

A more pressing issue is his walks. Morneau has walked 14 times this month, already more times than any other month so far this season. He was walked intentionally four times during a four-game series at Detroit two weeks ago and Darrell Rasner walked him three times on Tuesday.

Morneau said he expects more teams to pitch around him the rest of the season.

"I just have to be patient," Morneau said.

It also means the hitters behind Morneau in the batting order -- Jason Kubel, Delmon Young and Michael Cuddyer, when he returns from the disabled list -- must make opponents pay for pitching around their cleanup hitter.

Etc.

• Word out of the Twins clubhouse is that Cuddyer's sore left middle finger is feeling better after receiving a cortisone shot on Monday. He will be re-evaluated over the weekend. Cuddyer has been out since June 28 because of the injury.

• Twins catcher Joe Mauer was given Wednesday off. Mike Redmond started in place of Mauer, batted third and singled in the fourth inning. Mike Lamb, with a career .316 batting average against Mike Mussina, started at first base Wednesday while Morneau was made the designated hitter for a day. Lamb snapped an 0-for-11 skid as he went 3-for-4 and drove in the Twins' only run with a single in the ninth.

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