Thursday Lineup Card: The Plouffe Is In the Pudding

This article is part of our The Lineup Card series.

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Thursday's Starters

Indians (Josh Tomlin – R) at Reds (Mike Leake – R), 12:35
Mets (Johan Santana – L) at Rays (Jeremy Hellickson – R), 1:10
Tigers (Justin Verlander – R) at Cubs (Travis Wood – L), 2:20
Athletics (Jarrod Parker – R) at Rockies (Alex White – R), 3:10
Astros (Wandy Rodriguez – L) at Giants (Barry Zito – L), 3:45
Pirates (Erik Bedard – L) at Orioles (Tommy Hunter – R), 7:05
Diamondbacks (Daniel Hudson – R) at Rangers (Scott Feldman – R), 8:05
Brewers (Shaun Marcum – R) at Royals (Luke Hochevar – R), 8:10
Phillies (Joe Blanton – R) at Twins (Scott Diamond), 8:10
White Sox (Gavin Floyd – R) at Cardinals (Jake Westbrook – R), 8:15
Padres (Edinson Volquez – R) at Mariners (Erasmo Ramirez – R), 10:10

Day Game After Night Game:: CLE/CIN, NYM/TB, DET/CHC, OAK/COL, HOU/SF

Injuries

Day-to-Day

AL
Nelson Cruz, OF, TEX – (illness) Missed his second straight game Wednesday.
Endy Chavez, OF, BAL – (hamstring) Has missed two straight starts.
Ben Zobrist, 2B, TB – (hand) Has missed two straight starts after sitting Wednesday.
Brian Matusz, RHP, BAL – (nose) Matusz was scratched from his start Wednesday.
Kyle Drabek, RHP, TOR – (undisclosed) Left Wednesday's start in the middle of the fourth inning with an undisclosed injury.
Scott Downs, LHP, LAA – (side) Hurt his side Sunday and remains day-to-day.
Kevin Millwood, RHP, SEA – (groin) Start pushed back to Saturday.
Yoenis Cespedes, OF, OAK – (hamstring) Did not get any action against the Rockies on Tuesday.
Daniel Nava, OF, BOS – (hand) Had a cortisone shot.

NL
Eric O'Flaherty, LHP, ATL – (elbow) Missed Tuesday's game and is expected to be out for a few more days.
Zack Cozart, SS, CIN – (illness) Did not start Wednesday's game and has missed two straight starts.
Stephen Strasburg, RHP, WAS – (finger) Left Wednesday's start after six innings with a blister on his right middle finger.
Adam LaRoche, 1B, WAS – (foot) Out of Wednesday's lineup after fouling a ball off his foot Tuesday.
Bud Norris, RHP, HOU – (knee) Left Tuesday's game with a sprained knee.

Disabled List

AL
Brandon Morrow, RHP, TOR – (oblique) Placed on 15-day DL.
John Danks, LHP, CWS – (shoulder) Threw 61 pitches over four innings for Triple-A Charlotte Tuesday.
Stephen Pryor, RHP, SEA – (groin) Placed on the 15-day DL.
Mike Carp, OF, SEA – (shoulder) Placed on the 15-day DL.
Derek Holland, LHP, TEX – (shoulder/illness) Hopes to resume throwing by the end of the week.
David Robertson, RHP, NYY – (oblique) Will be activated from the 15-day DL on Friday.
Rich Hill, LHP, BOS – (elbow) Says Dr. James Andrews laid out a timeline of six weeks for his injury.

NL
Justin Turner, 2B, NYM – (ankle) Expected to begin a rehab assignment at Triple-A Buffalo later this week.
Troy Tulowitzki, SS, COL – (groin) Aggravated his groin injury on his rehab assignment at Triple-A Colorado Springs.
Chase Utley, 2B, PHI – (knee) Charlie Manuel expects Utley to return by July 4.
Skip Schumaker, 2B, STL – (hamstring) Began his rehab assignment with Triple-A Memphis Wednesday.
Fernando Martinez, OF, HOU – (concussion) Saw a doctor in Houston Monday and will continue to see specialists.

Transactions

Activated from DL
Jonathan Sanchez, LHP, KC – (biceps)
Franklin Gutierrez, OF, SEA – (foot)

Optioned to Triple-A
Blake Beavan, RHP, SEA
Alex Liddi, 3B, SEA
Matt LaPorta, OF, CLE

Called Up
Yan Gomes, C, TOR
Erasmo Ramirez, RHP, SEA
Casper Wells, OF, SEA

Closer Watch

San Francisco - Santiago Casilla registered his second consecutive one-out save to record his 17th save for the Giants on Tuesday night. At this point, it seems like manager Bruce Bochy will be using Casilla in every save situation that he can.

Oakland - Ryan Cook picked up his first save since the Athletics announced that they will be going to a closer by committee. Cook will be in the mix for saves along with Grant Balfour. Former full-time closer Brian Fuentes could still be used to match up with lefties in the ninth inning.

Recommended Pickup

Trevor Plouffe, OF, MIN – On May 18, Plouffe was hitting .135/.264/.284 and had pretty much played his way out of the Twins' lineup. Since then, however, Plouffe has caught fire, hitting .350/.371/.783 in 16 games, raising his overall numbers to .231/.309/.507. He has had notable power over that span, knocking seven homers, five doubles, and driving in 14 runs.

Plouffe can play both the outfield and the infield and will probably have dual eligibility at both outfield and third base in most leagues. His owned percentage is only at 36 percent in ESPN.com leagues and he has been especially hot of late, stringing together four consecutive multi-hit games, going 9-for-17 over that span.

Other Recent Recommendations:Brian Roberts, Roy Oswalt, Kevin Millwood, Alexi Ogando, Andrew Cashner

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