By Phil Miller
FORT MYERS, Fla. — The numbers don't match the performance yet, Scott Baker said Tuesday, but he still has three more starts to connect them.
The right-hander allowed two more home runs in three innings in the Twins' 9-5 loss to the Boston Red Sox, giving him eight homers allowed in only 13 innings this spring. But here's the weird thing: "My stuff was very good today," Baker said. "The majority of my pitches were right where I want them to be."
Until they struck Boston bats, anyway. Jason Varitek, batting just .091 at the time, and David Ortiz, hitting .083 this spring, launched Baker pitches beyond the City of Palms Park right-field wall, and the Twins' starter hopped each time, knowing instantly where it was headed.
"They weren't bad pitches, just bad pitch selection," Baker said. The Red Sox excel at hitting fastballs, and he threw too many, the right-hander said.
He allowed seven hits, and ballooned his earned-run average to 8.31, but Baker said he's not worried, not with three more starts before his Opening Night date against Seattle in the Metrodome.
"I feel really good," Baker said. "Just some minor adjustments."
Twins cut 11: Denard Span ran into Trevor Plouffe in the parking lot, "and I knew. I know that look."
Even players with no worries about roster spots, such as Span, hate cut-down days, hate being reminded of the feeling you get when someone taps you on the shoulder and says Ron Gardenhire wants to talk to you. "You don't forget," he said. "All of a sudden, you're not part of this."
The Twins cut 11 players Tuesday, five from their 40-man roster, reducing to 45 the number of players in the major-league clubhouse. Plouffe and fellow infielder Steven Tolleson were optioned to Class AAA Rochester along with pitchers Anthony Swarzak and Armando Gabino. Infielder Deibinson Romero was optioned to Fort Myers.
The nonroster players were reassigned to minor-league camp and will be placed on teams later. They are: catcher Danny Lehmann, infielders Danny Valencia and Toby Gardenhire, outfielder Dustin Martin and pitchers Rob Delaney and Ben Julianel.
Neshek starts throwing: He admits it's only a minor step, but Pat Neshek is excited nevertheless to add light throwing to his daily workout, beginning today. Why? "It's 10 more minutes I'm not just sitting around," said Neshek, just four months removed from Tommy John surgery to replace a ligament in his pitching elbow.
Neshek will play catch from 30-40 feet, gingerly testing the new ligament. The Twins' reliever already has been warned by doctors that he's not allowed to throw off a mound until September, "so this is going to be real light. I'm taking it slow."
He expects to be sore the next day, but it's progress, so he'll take it. "At least I get to do something outside for a change," he said.
Briefly: Joe Mauer is continuing to work out in the weight room and doing light drills with the Twins' trainers, Gardenhire said, but the team is still waiting for a consensus among doctors about how to treat his inflamed SI joint at the base of his spine. "The doctors are talking, making sure we're all on the same page — that's all they keep telling me," Gardenhire said.
# Nick Punto still has not played since returning from the World Baseball Classic last week, but he is scheduled to return to the lineup Friday. The shortstop's right elbow was swollen after he was hit by a pitch at the WBC, and "we're making sure all the soreness is out before we put him back in there," Gardenhire said. Outfielder Jason Pridie also will return Friday after several days off to treat a sore throwing arm.
# Baker wasn't the only pitcher having problems with home runs Tuesday. Matt Guerrier allowed four runs in his one inning of work, two on Jacoby Ellsbury's line drive into the right-field seats, and two on Jason Bay's mammoth home run that cleared the batter's eye in center field, a blast of roughly 450 feet. Jose Mijares also allowed a run on two hits and a walk yet still lowered his spring ERA to 10.13.
# The Twins, 9-8 after losing for the fifth time in six games Tuesday, travel to Bradenton, Fla., today for a noon game against Pittsburgh.
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