Author: David Shama

Twins pitching coach Rick Anderson was asked about Cy Young candidates.  He first mentioned Toronto’s Roy Halladay who won the award in 2003.   Within a minute the Twins’ Johan Santana, the 2004 winner, was a topic of conversation.

“You gotta throw Jo in the middle of it,” Anderson said recently. “When he has the ball you know you’re going to have a chance to win a game.  He gets you deep into every game like Halladay and has all the pitches. 

“What’s neat about Jo is he is a finisher. You get into August and September and it’s almost like he steps it up a notch, and that’s great because when you are making a pitch for the playoffs you need something like that.” 

Santana and Halladay are in a statistical battle with little separating them in wins and ERA, but Santana, as the American League leader, is far superior in strikeouts.  Both could win 20 games and finish with ERA’s around 3.00. 

A Cy Young candidate gets packaged in different ways including whether he plays for a playoff team and wins 20 games. The Twins will have a run at post-season glory but Toronto will need a miracle to do the same.  Santana’s Cy Young competition may well come from the pitching leaders on playoff contenders Detroit, Chicago, New York and Boston. 

“He (Santana) ends up winning 20 games and we get in the playoffs and he’s got a great chance,” Anderson said. “We don’t make the playoffs and he wins 17 games it’s going to be a long shot.” 

Anderson said Santana probably was as good a pitcher last year as the season before when he won the American League Cy Young award but he didn’t have as many wins (20-6 in 2004, 16-7 in 2005).  This year Anderson thinks Santana may be pitching his most consistent season long baseball.  

For pitching awesome baseball over a shorter period, 2004 will long be remembered. The 27-year-old left hander was the American League Pitcher of the Month for July with a 1.17 ERA.  Then he proceeded to win the award over the next two months with highlights that included a 6-0 record in August and 5-0 in September with a 0.45 ERA.  On September 24 he set a Twins record with 13 consecutive wins. 

 “I think two years ago what he did the second half (of the season) you may not see for a long time in major league baseball,” Anderson said.  “It was absolutely amazing to me to see that.  He had command of all three pitches (fast ball, slider and change up), and just absolutely dominated teams.”

Ray Edwards, the youngest player on the Vikings’ roster at 21, made two eye-opening plays in the last six minutes of the Vikings’ pre-season win over Baltimore last week.  First, the rookie defensive end made a sprawling attempt to sack quarterback Brian St. Pierre who then hurriedly threw an interception to Willie Offord leading to a Vikings’ field goal.  In the final two minutes of the fourth quarter Edwards stripped the ball from St. Pierre and Khreem Smith picked up the fumble to score on a 29-yard touchdown run. 

Only days before the game defensive coordinator Mike Tomlin said the Vikings’ fourth round rookie draft choice was “trying to make the team at this point.”

He also said, “He is doing a nice job of etching out a potential spot for himself.  That will continue to develop over the next two weeks.” 

Edward’s performance against the Ravens was some nice “etching” and fit with his reputation as a potentially talented pass rusher.  At Purdue Edwards tied for second in sacks in the Big Ten Conference as a sophomore and although he played only three seasons for the Boilermakers he is tied for seventh among the school’s career sack leaders. 

Asked to evaluate himself as if he were a scout, Edwards said, “Definitely can get to the quarterback.  Definitely got a great first step.” 

The 6-foot-5, 268-pound Edwards, who said he wants to improve his performance against the run, left Purdue after his junior season.  The Boilermakers’ 2005 season was one of disappointment and discontent.  The team returned all 11 starters on defense along with a veteran quarterback, had an early season top 20 ranking, hit a six game losing streak and finished with a 5-6 record, missing a bowl game for the first time in coach Joe Tiller’s nine year career at Purdue.  There was plenty of finger pointing and talk about attitudes. 

In another scenario, Edwards may well have been drafted higher but the Vikings, including Scott Studwell, the team’s director of college scouting, were happy  for the opportunity to draft the gifted college pass rusher in the fourth round.  “I was a little disappointed (not to be drafted higher) but everything happens for a reason,” Edwards said.  “I can’t be no better than where I am at right now.  I am happy here and I think I will continue to stay happy here.” 

Minnesota tennis legend David Wheaton likes Roger Federer or Andy Roddick to win the men’s singles at the US Open in New York.  The women’s winner?  “It’s very hard to pick (someone) this year,” he answered. 

With Andre Agassi retiring, Anna Kournikova fading from the scene and John McEnroe long past his prime, who has star power in the sport that still misses the marketing appeal of Jimmy Connors, Bjorn Borg, McEnroe and Billie Jean King?  “Rafael Nadal has a lot of cache in him,” Wheaton said.  “He brings a lot of energy.  On the women’s side, (Maria) Sharapova.” 

In 1990 Wheaton lost in the US Open singles quarterfinals to McEnroe, his best showing ever at America’s Grand Slam.  In recent years he has been playing in the 35 and over doubles at the Open but is no longer eligible because of a new rule limiting participation to players who once were champions or runner-ups in Grand Slam events.  Wheaton, 37, and partner T.J. Middleton won the 35 and over doubles championship at Wimbledon in 2004 and finished second the last two years.   

A devout Christian, the Tonka Bay resident is the author of the book “University of Destruction.”  He writes about the “three pillars of peril students face in college: sex, drugs/alcohol, and humanism (secular or religious).”