Twins to roll with Vance Worley for Opener

Minnesota Twins manager Ron Gardenhire confirmed a floating rumor this afternoon that Vance Worley will be indeed be the Twins’ Opening Day starter.

The 25-year-old right-hander, who had tossed five innings of seven hit, two run ball with five strikeouts this afternoon, has had an up-and-down spring, amassing a 7.36 ERA coming off a season in which he had minor clean-up in his pitching elbow.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK] Still, with Mike Pelfrey still inconsistent due to his Tommy John recovery, Worley appears to be the best option to take on Justin Verlander and the Detroit Tigers on Monday.

While Worley may not be of Verlanderian caliber, the announcement brings to an end this sad graphic which was displayed on the Twins’ website:

Worley’s methods include an array of pitches, none of which missed bats at a high frequency, and his chief method of achieving a striking out is to get hitters looking. A year ago, Worley pitched 133 innings in 23 starts, with a 6-9 record and a 4.20 ERA in addition to a 107-to-47 strikeouts-to-walks ratio before being shut down with elbow tenderness.

Following Wednesday’s game, Gardenhire told reporters that he expects the new acquisition to reach the 200-inning plateau in 2013.