The Twins are in Philadelphia tonight and will face Joe Blanton of the Phillies who has a 1-5 record with a 7.28 ERA. Nick Blackburn, 6-3 with a 4.96 ERA, starts for the Twins.
After yesterday’s loss to Colorado the Twins had ground into 78 double plays, the most in baseball. Francisco Liriano (6-4) was the losing pitcher in the 5-1 defeat. Opposing starters are a combined 5-2 with a 2.56 ERA in Liriano’s last eight starts.
The Twins drew 121,367 fans for the three-game series with the Rockies, the largest attendance ever at Target Field for a three-game series.
Senior Adam Weber made Gophers history this week when his teammates elected him a captain for the third consecutive season. No other Gopher has ever been a three-year captain.
Weber, who has set school career passing records playing quarterback for Minnesota, was elected one of the team’s four captains on Sunday. Senior fullback Jon Hoese, senior safety Kim Royston and junior defensive tackle Brandon Kirksey were also elected captains.
Gophers coach Tim Brewster said Weber’s captaincy shows there’s much more to being a captain than age. “I don’t put an age on leadership,” he said. “Leadership is leadership. It’s how you’re perceived.”
Brewster expects his captains to lead verbally and by example. “You’ve got to be a guy who can verbalize what is acceptable and what’s not,” he said. “You’re a bell cow. They’re (the captains) leading the way.”
Vikings coach Brad Childress answering a question about how backup quarterback Tarvaris Jackson looked during the team’s recent minicamp: “I saw a guy that is taking another step within the system and has the wisdom of watching a very good quarterback (Brett Favre) play last year and operate in this system like a master at the piano.”
Adrian Peterson’s recognition day in his home town of Palestine, Texas last Saturday was the fourth annual. Adrian Peterson Day caused the Vikings All-Pro running back to miss minicamp.
Top prospects for the NHL Entry Draft visited the Wild offices last week to meet with the franchise’s hockey operations staff. Minnesota holds the No. 9 overall pick in the entry draft, June 24 and 26 in Los Angeles.
Since the Wild’s first draft in 2000, the team’s 78 draft picks have totaled 4,569 regular-season games in the NHL. Minnesota ranks third in the NHL during the past 10 years, with only Los Angeles’ (4,748) and Pittsburgh’s (4,702) draft picks totaling more NHL games.
The NHL Central Scouting Service ranks 20 Minnesotans in the top 210 North American Skaters available for the entry draft, led by Duluth’s Derek Forbort, a defenseman from the United States National Team Development Program, ranked No. 9.
Concordia (St. Paul) volleyball star Maggie McNamara and Bethel track and field standout Marie Borner have been voted the nation’s top collegiate female athletes in Division II and III respectively. National balloting among NCAA Division II and Division III schools was conducted as part of the Collegiate Women Sports Awards program. Each winner will be presented the Honda Sports Award for Division II and Division III Athlete of the Year at a ceremony in Los Angeles on June 21. Along with the award, each institution will receive $5,000 for the women’s athletic programs.