It's cool to get to the park early to see who is doing extra work.
Yesterday, Trevor Plouffe was taking extra grounders at short. As a super utility/part-time starter, he has to be ready in case he's needed.
Today, Plouffe and Justin Morneau are hitting off a tee at home plate. It's a drill Morneau was given early in his pro career with the Twins. You sit a ball on a tee and focus on hitting the bottom half. That's where you get the backspin that helps the ball carry farther. You can do it in the batting cage, but Morneau likes to do it on the field sometimes so he can see where the ball is traveling.
It's good to see Plouffe with him too. That's two straight days Plouffe has been doing early work - at least early work I can see.
Morneau is wearing a different shoe on each foot. I didn't learn until after last night's game how badly he fouled the ball off his foot on Thursday. Don't know if he's in the lineup or not.
Pavano is in the lineup, however. The Twins have had a starter throw at least 6.2 innings four times this season. Pavano has three of those starts. The Twins need at least a quality start tonight so the bullpen doesn't get used up too much. For instance, Jared Burton has had shoulder problems in recent years. He threw yesterday in the Twins' 5-4 win, and the coaching staff really doesn't want to use him in back-to-back games in the early season.
Will post the lineup here when it reaches the pressbox. It's a great day for indoor baseball, because it's coming down outside.
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