Josh Willingham is not in the lineup today after receiving an injection in his left knee following Saturday's game. With tomorrow being an offday, Willingham will have two days for the medication to work its magic. He hopes to be ready to play Tuesday when the Twins open a three-game series against the White Sox.
Willingham said the knee bothers him when he runs, making playing the outfield difficult. Before you react to that, I must point out that Willingham acknowledged his shortcomings as an outfielder. He needs his knee to mend so he can be as functional out there as he can be.
``I wish I could blame it on my hitting, but I can't," said Willingham, who is batting .211 with 10 homers and 31 RBI.
He's not sure when he injured the knee, but said that sliding into second on Apr. 27 against Texas for his only stolen base of the season didn't help things.
So Oswaldo Arcia started in left once again while Ryan Doumit slid into the designated hitter role.
Joe Mauer (2,127,175) leads Matt Wieters (1,615,625) in voting for the All-Star Game. Mauer could join Ivan Rodriguez and Carlton Fisk as the only catchers to be elected to the game four times.
The Twins are going for the fourth straight win on Father's Day.
The club intends to announce several signings of draft picks of the next couple of days. Here are the ones I know about:
