The Twins are peeling off whatever covering they put on the outfield so they can prepare the field for today's game. It's 23 degrees as of this writing, and it is supposed to be 26 by gametime. We'll see. Some brave souls already have entered through the gates and are dressed for a very cold afternoon at the park.
Twins manager Paul Molitor repeated before the game that getting Sunday's game in will be a bigger challenge, as snow is supposed to fall during the afternoon. Heard the Twins and Mariners already are eyeing a makeup date in May, but are holding out for sudden change in the forecast that would allow them to get the game in.
Hopefully, they will make a decision on Sunday's game as early as possible, so we can watch the Masters.....er, so fans can get enough advance warning.
"It doesn't look great, obviously," Molitor said. "We're talking about accumulating snow at some point."
Molitor said righthander Phil Hughes had a good outing on Thursday for Class A Fort Myers, despite giving up three runs on eight hits and a walk in five innings. Hughes actually touched 94 miles an hour on the radar gun with his fastball, which was encouraging.
The Twins could use a fifth starter on Wednesday when they face Houston - or will they? If Sunday's game is rescheduled because of the weather - which I expect it will be - they won't need a fifth. Lance Lynn can be pushed back to Monday, followed by Jake Odorizzi and Kyle Gibson. Jose Berrios could start on Thursday when the White Sox come to town. The Twins would need a someone to start Friday, however, and could use Hughes then.
If you're reading between the lines of the following Molitor quote, like I am, I'm predicting that tomorrow's game never starts and Lynn gets pushed back.
"The outing went well the other day," he said. "He got his pitches up a little closer to being able to have a normal start, if you will. Saw he touched 94 the other day, means his arm strength is good. We're going to have to see how things play out here. He's still on a rehab assignment, so we'll just have to see how that plays out with the weather and the games being played here the next couple days."
