Harmon Killebrew’s charity dinner and golf events for June 29 and 30 to benefit the Twins Community Fund and Miracle League of Minnesota were sold out before he passed away last week.
Manager Ron Gardenhire said on his 1500 ESPN radio show Sunday that his new shortstop Trevor Plouffe sometimes “guides the ball” when throwing and the club can’t have Plouffe “baby the ball.”
Will Plouffe remain at shortstop when middle infielder Tsuyoshi Nishioka comes off the disabled list? Plouffe has made two errors in 13 games and at times looks uncertain in the field. At bat he has a .212 average with three home runs and 10 RBI.
The Twins have lost four of their last five games and also nine of the last 10 at home. A positive is Minnesota’s 12 home runs in the last six games.
Jim Thome, who has 593 career home runs, has hit 113 of them against left-handed pitchers. Thome has passed Reggie Jackson for fifth place for most homers by a left-handed hitter versus lefties. Barry Bonds holds the record at 227.
Happy birthday to Don Shelby, the former WCCO-TV anchor and basketball lover, who is 66 on Friday.
ESPN.com’s Andy Katz offered a men’s college basketball top 25 preseason listing earlier this month with Ohio State No. 3, Wisconsin No. 11 and Michigan No. 23. The Gophers, coming off a 6-12 Big Ten season in coach Tubby Smith’s fourth year, won’t be in anyone’s preseason top 25, although Minnesota does return three starters including the league’s best rebounder, Trevor Mbakwe.
Mbakwe, who made second team All-Big Ten, averaged 11 rebounds per game in league games. In Big Ten and other games he had 10 rebounds or more 20 times. He was in double figures in both rebounding and scoring for all 18 league games.
The Wild’s Houston farm team won game seven against Hamilton in the Western Conference Finals last night to advance to the American Hockey League’s Calder Cup Finals. The Aeros are 6-0 all-time in Calder Cup playoff game sevens and have won five of those games on the road. Minnesotans Jared Palmer, Nate Prosser and Chad Rau have all contributed in the Aeros playoffs game with Rau ranking among the top Houston goal scorers with six.
Look for Aeros head coach Mike Yeo to receive strong consideration for the Wild’s head coaching job replacing Todd Richards. Count on Yeo, who has built a solid locker room culture in Houston, to be an NHL head coach in the next couple of years. The Wild will likely announce a coach before the June 24-25 NHL Entry Draft in St. Paul.
St. Thomas finished first in the final standings of the 2010-11 MIAC All-Sports Competition. Gustavus was second followed by St. Olaf, Saint Benedict, Concordia, Carleton, Bethel, Saint Mary’s, Hamline, Augsburg, St. Catherine and Macalester.
The annual C.O.R.E.S-Minnesota Minutemen Golf Tournament will be Wednesday, July 13 at Ridges at Sand Creek in Jordan. Members of those organizations should contact Duane McEwen via email for more information, mcewendh@aol.com. (C.O.R.E.S is an acronym for coaches, officials, educators, reporters and sports fans).