Jason Marquis is still wearing the wristband he received at the hospital where his seven-year old daughter, Reese, is recovering from a serious bicycle accident.

"Obviously I know in a big league game I'd have to take it off," he said, ``but I'm going to try to keep it on until my daughter gets out of the hospital."

Baseball had to take a back seat as Marquis spent two weeks back at his home in Staten Island, N.Y., to be with wife as they watched over their daughter. He returned to the team on Tuesday and is trying to get in game shape as quickly as he can.

"She was sedated for nine days," he said. "I couldn't leave until I saw her eyes, heard her voice. Baseball is able to give me a mental break. I wouldn't be around here for 13 years if baseball wasn't an escape. Obviously this is the worst thing I've ever been through in my life, but you do go through other hardships throughout your career, and you get on the mound, and in the clubhouse, it sort of eases your mind a little bit."

He'll build up enough arm strength to enter the Twins' rotation sometime this month. When he's not involved in baseball-related activities, he'll be thinking about his daughter as she continues her recovery.

"She's making a lot of progress; everything's going in the right direction," he said. ". The healing process of her wounds has to heal up. The initial four or five days were a nightmare, something that no parent should ever live through.
"But with the support we've had from friends, families and the team of doctors they put on her, from the nurses to the support of the Twins and the trainers, friends, family, former teammates, current teammates, it meant a lot. I've seen a lot of positive energy flow to her, and really help her."

Marquis didn't want to divulge many details about the accident, but made it clear that it was serious.

"Ultimately, there was just a lot of internal bleeding, that luckily enough, my wife and father-in-law were able to get her to the hospital in time, and like I said, I had an unbelievable team of doctors there to save my daughter's life," he said.

Marquis threw 54 pitches on Tuesday to minor leaguers and will likely pitch in one, maybe two minor league games before he'll be ready to make his Twins debut.

NOTES

  • Second baseman Alexi Casilla, who was scratched from the lineup last Thursday because of a sore right knee, took an anti-inflammatory shot on Monday and played in a minor league game on Tuesday, going 0-for-4."Perfect," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire joked. "Locked and loaded." Casilla is scheduled to play in Wednesday's spring training finale, then take his position on Opening Day on Friday in Baltimore.
  • Sean Burroughs tweaked his back on Monday and didn't play on Tuesday. Rosters are due into the league office by 4 p.m. Wednesday. Gardenhire said the club could submit 24 names, have Burroughs work out on Thursday then add him to the roster once he's cleared. "He was a lot better today," Gardenhire said. "If he comes in [Wednesday] and is ready to get out there he would be ready to play. "If he is still feeling ouchy tomorrow, then we will make some decisions and maybe not activate him until Friday, leave him down here and let him work out on Thursday."

FINALLY!

Here are the pitching matchups for opening weekend in Baltimore:

Friday: Rigthhander Carl Pavano vs. righthander Jake Arrrieta.

Saturday: Lefthander Francisco Liriano vs. TBA (expected to be lefthander Wei-Yin Chen)

Sunday: Righthander Liam Hendriks vs righthander Jason Hammel.

The teams last squared off on Opening Day in 2007, when Johan Santana beat Erik Bedard.