Twins shortstop Jamey Carroll was waiting right by his locker -- Michael Cuddyer's old locker, actually -- after Monday's 5-1 loss to the Angels in the home opener at Target Field.
Carroll is 0-for-13 on the young season, and he missed a key defensive play in the seventh inning. With the Twins trailing 2-1 and a runner on first base, Alberto Callaspo hit a grounder up the middle.
Carroll dove for the ball and got a glove on it, but it still got by him. Asked if it's a play he should have made, Carroll said, "Absolutely. I overplayed it. I thought I was going to have to dive a little bit. It ended up kind of slicing back to me.
"It ended up being a big play. Think we could have gotten a double play out of it, then [Chris] Ianetta doubles, next at-bat, gets those two runs in -- that's big."
As Carroll noted, Angels shortstop Erick Aybar had a similar play in the ninth inning -- on Ryan Doumit's liner -- and made the catch for a double play.
Offensively, Carroll is looking for that first hit, but at least he was patient enough to let C.J. Wilson walk him his first two trips to the plate Monday. But he's had other at-bats that haven't looked too good.
"He's got to get some hits," Manager Ron Gardenhire said. "He's pressing. He started out in spring training the same way, didn't get hits in a couple of games and started pressing, and we told him relax. And the same thing has got to happen now. He's got to relax a little bit. He wants to do well. The kid wants to play."
