The Twins, who have won eight consecutive games and 10 of their last 11, begin a four-game series at Tampa Bay tonight. The Twins will start Carl Pavano who has won each of his last eight decisions since June 9 while Tampa Bay will start rookie Jeremy Hellickson, making his major league debut after going 12-3 with a 2.45 ERA for Triple-A Durham.
Minnesota sports historian Dana X Marshall finds irony in complaints about Target Field not being home run friendly. He recalled in an email that years ago Nicollet Park was a place where too many home runs were hit and that led to “bad baseball.” Marshall also wrote: “The second time I went to Nicollet in 1949, the (Minneapolis) Millers lost a doubleheader to the Indianapolis Indians by scores of 20-5 and 20-8. The 20-8 game being seven innings, as scheduled.”
Courage Center has been chosen by the Twins and first baseman Michael Cuddyer to be their charity partner for a $200,000 Pepsi Refresh Grant. The Twins are competing against 14 other major league teams to win a community improvement grant. In partnering with Courage Center and the Jr. Rolling Twins softball team, the Twins hope to build Minnesota’s first accessible softball field for competitive wheelchair play. Twins fans and Courage Center supporters can place their votes at www.mlb.com/PepsiRefresh or by texting T-W-I-N-S to 76462. Voting is allowed up to 10 times per day.
Rookie second round draft choice Chris Cook is tall for a cornerback, 6-2, and definitely a player to watch while the Vikings make their way through training camp and four preseason games. Cook started 31 of 38 games at the University of Virginia. He was a team captain in 2009 and All-Atlantic Coast Conference first team selection, starting all 12 games and making four interceptions. He is the highest cornerback draft choice by the Vikings since Dewayne Washington was the 18th overall pick in 1994.
Entering their 50th season in the NFL, the Vikings have had more players from the University of Minnesota play for them than any other college. Twenty-eight former Gophers played for the Vikings, with Southern California providing the next highest number with 26.
Vikings defensive end Ray Edwards, who has been unhappy with his contract during the offseason, owns a T-shirt company and does some modeling.
For the second consecutive year, Michigan State linebacker Greg Jones and Ohio State quarterback Terrelle Pryor were selected as the Big Ten’s Preseason Defensive and Offensive Players of the Year. Ohio State was chosen first in a conference preseason poll, followed by Iowa and Wisconsin. The players of the year and poll were voted on by media members attending the conference’s football media days.
Nikola Pekovic, 24, who played the past two seasons with Panathinaikos Athens, signed with the Timberwolves recently and has an admirer in team president David Kahn. “…Nikola has been regarded as the best center in Europe for the past few seasons and will be a tremendous addition to our club,” Kahn said in a statement from the Wolves. “He is a tough, hard-nosed player who brings an added dimension of physicality to our team. …”
Peckovic’s average of 3.5 rebounds per game last season in the Euroleague doesn’t look impressive until you consider he averaged only 16.8 minutes per game. In Europe even the better players play limited minutes. The 6-11 center averaged 14.8 points on 60.7 percent shooting.
Virginia, Minnesota native John Harrington, a member of the 1980 US Olympic hockey “Miracle on Ice” team, had a hole-in-one on the 200-yard No. 8 west hole at Bunker Hills last week. The shot came during the Minnesota Hockey Benefit Golf Tournament and earned Harrington $10,000.
The Major League Soccer All-Star game last week attracted over 70,000 fans at Reliant Stadium in Houston and that crowd is the fourth largest all-star game attendance in professional sports history, according to an email from an MLS official.