Augie

Ojeda

Ojeda never should have been on the 40-man roster in the first place. He has three days to decide whether to accept the assignment to Rochester. He might as well stay, since there are few teams with worse middle infields than Minnesota’s.

So even with Michael Cuddyer back and Terry Tiffee up, the Twins didn’t have any healthy backup infielders tonight.

Ojeda, who had been out with a hip flexor, started at shortstop to give Cristian Guzman a day off.

Ojeda’s first home run since 2001 came off Anaheim mop-up man Matt Hensley. Manager Ron Gardenhire still likes Luis Rivas, so it’s unlikely that Ojeda’s performance today will get another start at second base tomorrow.

But we thought the Twins loved infielders that can’t hit. Ojeda batted .224/.322/.304 in 313 AB for Rochester.

Ojeda, 32, is back in the majors for the first time since 2005. He was hitting .323/.395/.404 for Tucson, but the Diamondbacks won’t be looking from anything more than steady defense from him.

Cirillo is starting over Augie Ojeda in an effort to ignite the Diamondbacks’ stagnant offense. It will be the 48th start at second for Cirillo in his 14-year career.

It probably didn’t matter tonight, but Bob Melvin’s tendency to wait for the perfect situation to use his best pinch-hitter, only to see it never come, is hurting his team. Tony Clark never got into Game 1, and now Conor Jackson wasn’t used tonight. With Jeremy Affeldt pitching the seventh, Melvin did use Justin Upton to hit for Jeff Salazar. However, he didn’t pull the left-handed-hitting Miguel Montero, even though Livan Hernandez was already out of the game, and he didn’t take out Ojeda, who bunted into an out to end the inning.

That’s a relief. Ojeda, who is eligible for arbitration despite receiving so little major league time lately, could have been non-tendered if he didn’t agree to Arizona’s proposal.

Ojeda, the Diamondbacks’ starting second baseman in the postseason with Orlando Hudson hurt, could contend with Alberto Callaspo for one spot on Arizona’s bench in spring training. It’d be for the best if Callaspo stepped up and claimed the job.