Author: David Shama

David Shama is a former sports editor and columnist with local publications. His writing and reporting experiences include covering the Minnesota Vikings, Minnesota Twins, Minnesota Timberwolves and Minnesota Gophers. Shama’s career experiences also include sports marketing. He is the former Marketing Director of the Minnesota North Stars of the NHL. He is also the former Marketing Director of the United States Tennis Association’s Northern Section. A native of Minneapolis, Shama has been part of the community his entire life. He is a graduate of the University of Minnesota where he majored in journalism. He also has a Master’s degree in education from the University of St. Thomas. He was a member of the Governor’s NBA’s Task Force to help create interest in bringing pro basketball to town in the 1980s.

Twins & Baldelli in Need of Smooth 2024 Season Finish

Posted on September 10, 2024September 10, 2024 by David Shama

Despite flirtations with winning the Central Division and a mathematical likelihood of being a Wild Card entry in the playoffs, these are frustrating days for the Twins and their fans.

The series sweep by the Royals last weekend in Kansas City prompted manager Rocco Baldelli to reportedly light into his players. The boss questioned the effort of his guys after a series that saw the Twins score two runs in three games.

Baldelli was also lit up over the weekend by critical fans who didn’t like his handling of starting pitcher Bailey Ober Saturday night against the Royals, a club that has now taken over second place in the division standings behind the Guardians. After seven innings and one-hit pitching, Ober was not sent out to the mound for the eighth inning even though his pitch count was at 83.

Baldelli, hired by the Twins after the 2018 season and a patron of analytics, has long been unpopular with many fans who find fault with his pitching and lineup decisions. The sniping at Baldelli by the fans has intensified with the club sliding in the standings after going 2-5 on its most recent road trip and losing to the lowly Angels at home last night.

The Twins, with a 77-68 record, are 6-15 in their last 21 games. They would have a Wild Card entry in the American League playoffs if the season ended today, but other teams potentially could overtake them before the regular season ends in late September.

Certainly a spot in the postseason and emerging as the winner in their opening series would ease the frustrations of the 2024 season. And who knows? Perhaps boost Baldelli’s job security? He was, BTW, AL Manager of the Year in 2019 when Minnesota won the division title with a 101-61 record.

Fans started feeling angst last offseason when ownership decided to reduce payroll from a franchise record of reportedly $156 million or more in 2023. The cut was made at least in part because of uncertainty regarding local TV revenues in 2024. That was a downer for a fan base that became passionate after the Twins won the division title and took down the Blue Jays in the opening postseason series.

Part of the offseason story, too, was the free agent departure of starting ace Sonny Gray to the Cardinals. The Twins and their fans have felt his absence, particularly with the shoulder injury that has sidelined key starter Joe Ryan for the remainder of the season.

When it comes to injuries, the Twins have reason to lament. Shortstop Carlos Correa, the highest paid man on the team, hasn’t played since July 12. He’s become too familiar with the disabling pain of plantar fasciitis after having the condition with his left foot last year and right foot this season. He is counted on to not only produce on the field but also with his leadership off it.

Center fielder Byron Buxton, the team’s second highest paid position player, has spent much of his career on the IL. He’s been out a couple times in 2024, including most recently not having played for the Twins since August 12.

The team medical report, of course, goes deeper with the absence of starting right fielder Max Kepler and bullpen arms because of injuries.

Third baseman Royce Lewis, often sidelined the last three years, has been able to play of late but is in a massive slump. A .300 hitter his first two major league seasons, he has hit .167 in his last 15 games. The season average is at .243 as the right-handed hitting Lewis struggles to hit breaking balls away from him. Adding to the drama of this season is the recent reported reluctance of Lewis to fill in at second base, a new position for him.

The Twins September swoon might look at least a little different if they had successfully added pitching or hitting help before the July 30 trade deadline. Minnesota’s only move was to add journeyman pitcher Trevor Richards from the Blue Jays who has since been outrighted to Triple A St. Paul. Not adding mid-season help to a team fighting for a pennant had to be a disappointment to Twins players.

On the frustration list for fans, too, is that part of the season Twins games weren’t televised on local cable. That’s changed now but Comcast/Xfinity customers are paying more to see the games and it’s uncertain what the franchise’s TV situation will be for 2025.

That uncertainty will likely impact payroll for next season. Staff ace Pablo Lopez is due a big raise of about $13 million and a lengthy list of important personnel including Ryan, Ober, Lewis, Willi Castro, Ryan Jeffers, Griffin Jax and Jhoan Duran are all arbitration eligible. The educated guess is the Twins will plan to roll with a budget similar to this season, in the $125 to $130 million range. To reach that total the Twins will need to part with higher paid personnel, probably including Kepler.

Know this: the Twins have enough talent to reduce a lot of frustration in this town. Lopez and Ober could make the Twins starting pitching formidable in a short playoff series. A lineup that welcomes back Correa and Buxton, along with a hot hitting Lewis, the power bats of multiple batters, and versatile position players like Castro and Brooks Lee, along with bullpen arms like Duran and Jax, could make a stir in the closing weeks of September and into the playoffs.

The Twins showed their potential earlier in the season after recovering from a 7-13 start to play some of the best baseball in the majors from late April to mid-August. Credit the work of front office leaders Derek Falvey and Thad Levine, and others in the organization, for the productive things they have done right including the acquisition of players like Lopez, Ryan, Castro and Santana from other clubs, and farm system development with the likes of Lee, Lewis, Ober, Jose Miranda and Matt Wallner.

It will be interesting to see if Baldelli still has command of the locker room as the club works its way through a schedule that ends at home September 29 against the AL East Division contending Orioles. Will how the club finishes 2024 impact his return for next season?

Probably not because management and ownership try to foster an organization of stability. The Twins don’t operate with a quick trigger. Baldelli’s teams have won three division titles.

Baldelli was hired by Falvey and Levine. Best guess is they still consider Rocco their guy.

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Debuts: Sam Darnold Gets the ‘W,’ Kirk Cousins the Loss

Posted on September 8, 2024September 9, 2024 by David Shama

Who needs Kirk Cousins?

In homes and taverns around the state, that could be the sentiment of Vikings fans tonight as they chant “Skol” after a dominating 28-6 win on the road over the Giants. In weekend one of the NFL season, new Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold completed 19 of 24 passes including two touchdown passes in a surprisingly easy win for Minnesota who entered the game about a 1.5-point favorite.

Darnold, who the Vikings signed as a free agent in the off-season, was smoking from the beginning. The grandson of former Marlboro man Dick Hammer, Darnold completed his first 12 passes in the game that celebrated 100 seasons of Giants football. He was 13 of 14 at halftime, with 151 yards.

Cousins, who after six seasons in Minnesota as the starting quarterback decided the Atlanta Falcons offered too many bucks to remain with the Purple, had a disappointing debut against the Steelers. The 36-year-old Cousins completed 16 of 26 passes for 155 yards and threw a touchdown pass but had two interceptions in a 18-10 home loss to the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Darnold looked like a different quarterback today than he has been for much of his NFL career that includes three initial seasons in the league with the Jets where he threw 39 interceptions, and 45 touchdown passes. Then he played two unproductive seasons with the woeful Carolina Panthers. Last season, he started one game as a backup for the San Francisco 49ers.

Kevin O’Connell image courtesy of Minnesota Vikings

But Darnold, 27, was around offensive guru and 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan a year ago and now plays for another quarterback whisperer in Viking boss Kevin O’Connell. He has added football savvy to go with his physical tools that include a quick release and strong arm.

“I am really proud of him,” O’Connell said at his postgame press conference heard on KFXN-FM in Minneapolis.

The Vikings were predicted to have quarterback issues without Cousins and minus first round pick J.J. McCarthy who was injured in the first preseason game and is out for the season. But those same predictors who said earlier in the summer the Vikings won’t make the playoffs, got a surprise today when the Vikings played a complete game.

Led by new running back Aaron Jones, the offense was balanced with 111 rushing yards complementing the work of Darnold and receivers Justin Jefferson and Jalen Nailor who both had TD receptions. Jones, who also scored a touchdown, showed his breakaway speed and toughness, rushing for 94 yards.

Defensively, the Vikings made the boos rain down from the stands much of the game at MetLife Stadium. Coordinator Brian Flores’ defense confused the Giants, and his players came up with five sacks and two interceptions.

One of those sacks came from rookie edge rusher Dallas Turner, a Vikings first round pick last April. He’s among the top favorites for NFL Defensive Rookie of the Year.

Regarding that possible honor, Turner said on Friday: “You know, it’s definitely a blessing and an honor, but you know at the end of the day I still have to play football and perform. That journey starts next week. The play is going to speak for itself.”

His sack spoke loudly and even more so was the 10-yard interception for a third quarter touchdown by linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel that put Minnesota ahead 28-6. Veteran safety Harrison Smith had the other INT.

At his postgame presser, O’Connell said his players weren’t surprised with their dominant win. Maybe not, but a lot of fans who bleed purple certainly were.

Worth Noting

The Vikings are offering three fan packages for their October 6 game in London against the Jets. Per person costs range from $1,145 to $4,095. https://onlocationexp.com/nfl/minnesota-vikings-london?utm_source=vikings.com&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=isg_london_teams-vikings_news_article_press_release_priority_access

Kaden Johnson, the former Minnehaha Academy star who started his college career at Wisconsin, is a fifth-year edge rusher for the Nevada team that plays at Minnesota Saturday. A coveted recruit coming out of high school, Johnson has two solo tackles and nine assisted for the Wolf Pack who are 1-2 on the season, with a 28-26 win over Troy and losses to SMU, 29-24, and Georgia State, 20-17.

The Wolf Pack receive $1.2 million from the Gophers for playing in Minneapolis.

Dick Jonckowski, who turns 81 on October 22, reports he’s still cancer free from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma after about 18 months. Over the years Jonckowski has been a fixture with public address work for amateur baseball and on September 21 he will be inducted into the Minnesota Amateur Baseball Hall of Fame in St. Cloud at the River’s Edge Convention Center. It’s the 10^th hall of fame for the “Polish Eagle” who has endeared himself to Minnesotans over the years for his emcee, public address and radio broadcast work in amateur sports including with the Gophers.

Baseball Hall of Famer and former Twins left-handed pitcher Jim Kaat texting about his golf game: “I don’t keep a handicap anymore. I just play for recreation. My goal is to beat my age, 85, every round.”

Kaat, one of the best TV baseball analysts ever, plays ambidextrously. “I do play a little each way. Lefty is a little better.”

Gabriel Gonzalez, acquired in the 2024 Twins trade sending Jorge Polanco to the Mariners, is the Minor League Player of the Week playing for High-A affiliate Cedar Rapids. The Venezuelan outfielder hit .350 in five games. That’s about 100 higher than his season average for the Kernels.

Ari Peterson, the daughter of former Vikings superstar Adrian Peterson, is enrolled at Minnetonka High School as a freshman. The 6-foot-2 Peterson helped Providence Academy to state Class 2A titles the last two years playing with Maddyn Greenway, daughter of former Vikings linebacker Chad Greenway.

Brian Cosgriff, coach of the defending state champion 4A Minnetonka girls’ team, wants the gifted Peterson to play “positionless basketball.” He told Sports Headliners that Peterson, who has offers from the Gophers, Oklahoma and Ohio State, can be the “best” basketball player in the state when she is a high school senior.

The Skippers have three returning starters, but lost a fourth when prep superstar Aaliyah Crump, among the most coveted players by colleges in the country, decided to play her senior season at Montverde Academy, a private prep school in Montverde, Florida.

Former Vikings defensive end Jared Allen, a member of the franchise’s Ring of Honor, will be the celebrity speaker Saturday night at the Morrie Miller Athletic Foundation Banquet in Winona. He will play golf the next day at the Cedar Valley Golf Course in Winona. Past celebrity speakers include Brett Favre, Joe Montana, Mike Ditka, Bart Starr and Bud Grant. The foundation’s purpose is to benefit youth athletics in Winona.

Steve Erban’s Creative Charters has added the 2025 Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show at Madison Square Garden in February to the list of travel destinations that includes Gopher football games and more. Son Bryce Erban will be showing his champion Airedale.

WCCO TV sports director Mike Max leads a panel discussion with Gopher basketball coaches Ben Johnson and Dawn Plitzuweit, and Dinkytown Athletes president Derek Burns, at the Twin Cities Dunkers program September 24.

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J.J. McCarthy Might Have Made Vikings QB History

Posted on September 4, 2024September 4, 2024 by David Shama

In the 63-year history of the Vikings, no rookie quarterback has started every regular season game. That might have changed if 2024 first-round draft choice J.J. McCarthy wasn’t sitting out his first NFL season after right knee meniscus surgery in mid-August.

Journeyman Sam Darnold will start at quarterback on Sunday when the Vikings open their regular season against the Giants on the road. But going back to before training camp opened in late July, McCarthy’s potential teased at being the day one starter.

A former NFL executive with two clubs, who asked that his name not be published, said this to Sports Headliners in May: “I expect him to be the starter, maybe not week one, but I would say certainly by October. I think he’ll have taken over for Darnold, and I think he could beat him out in training camp. That they (the coaches) may just say hey, we’re going to go with the more talented guy here.”

In training camp, the 21-year-old McCarthy impressed head coach Kevin O’Connell and others inside the organization. In McCarthy’s only preseason game, he was 11 of 17 for 188 yards and threw two touchdown passes.

Shortly after McCarthy’s surgery O’Connell offered this highly favorable opinion of Minnesota’s No. 10 first-round selection (the highest drafted QB in franchise history): “As our fans either have already come to find out or will in the future, this guy is so motivated and so dialed in. As excited as I was to draft him, he’s confirmed everything that I hope to see not only early on through training camp, but through his performance last Saturday (August 10 preseason opening game). Our fan base and everyone should just be excited about the fact that we’ve got our young franchise quarterback, I believe, in the building.”

No one will ever know if McCarthy might have progressed so favorably after August 10 that O’Connell would have decided to make him the September 8 starter. What is certain is that the former quarterback for the 2023 national champion Michigan Wolverines is proclaimed the future starter and would have been given a lot of scrutiny between August 11 and September 8.

In the best of scenarios, McCarthy would have surpassed the stories of other Viking rookie quarterbacks including Teddy Bridgewater who started 12 games in 2014, his first season with Minnesota. Joe Kapp, who had played in Canada, started 11 games as a rookie in 1967.

Fran Tarkenton as a rookie didn’t start his first game but took over after it began and led the expansion 1961 Vikings to a stunning 37-13 win over the Bears in Minnesota’s NFL debut. The former Georgia third round draft choice went on to start 10 games as a rookie and is enshrined in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

Worth Noting

The Giants will be about a 1.5 underdog in the game with a roster that includes former Golden Gopher John Michael Schmitz Jr. as the starting center. Ex-Gophers and expected second teamers are inside linebacker Carter Coughlin and rookie safety Tyler Nubin.

The Gophers opening game loss to North Carolina last Thursday night at home was significant and follows a trend of so-so results against major competition. In recent years the program has been unable to match the success of the often-praised 2019 season when Minnesota was 11-2 overall, 7-2 in Big Ten games and finished No. 10 nationally in the final A.P. poll.

Minnesota’s 19-17 loss to North Carolina now gives the program a 21-18 record against Power 5 teams dating back to 2020. The Gophers are 14-13 in Big Ten games over that period.

The two point loss to the Tar Heels was clearly a missed opportunity for a win. North Carolina entered the game without an established quarterback and lost its starter in the second half. The Gophers had the better quarterback in newcomer Max Brosmer but frequently misfired on offense, defense and special teams.

Disappointments included offensive calling and absence of passing success. The offseason buzz was the Gophers would have an improved passing game but while Brosmer looked okay no receivers emerged to complement 2023 second team All-Big Ten wide receiver Daniel Jackson.

Minnesota’s passing game hasn’t drawn raves since 2019 when wide receivers Tyler Johnson, Rashod Bateman and QB Tanner Morgan dazzled, and offensive coordinator Kirk Ciarrocca, now in his second season at Rutgers, was directing the show.

While the Gophers have an 11 a.m. start Saturday at home against FCS Rhode Island, St. Thomas hosts Northern Iowa looking for its first ever win against an FCS scholarship program. Rhode Island, 1-0, defeated Holy Cross 20-17 last Saturday. The Division I Tommies lost 34-13 at home last Saturday to Division II Sioux Falls, while Northern Iowa defeated Valparaíso 35-7.

The Twins, who are 5.5 games behind the Guardians in the race to win the AL Central Division title, need September to be their best month of the season. The second place Twins, 75-63, were 14-14 in August, the only month this season the club wasn’t over .500. Minnesota’s best record came in May, 16-12.

Third baseman Jose Miranda is second in batting average on the team at .299 (Carlos Correa, .308), after hitting .268 and .211 his first two seasons in the majors. A key reason for success is hitting off-speed pitches with a consistency few other MLB batters can match this season.

High-A Cedar Rapids outfielder Walker Jenkins, 19, hit .310 with a .909 OPS in August and is the Twins Minor League Player of the Month for August.

Travis Adams, 24, who appeared in five games for Double-A Wichita with a 0.70 ERA in 25.2 innings, is the Twins Minor League Pitcher of the Month.

Congratulations to the Waconia Lakers who won their first ever Class C Minnesota State Amateur Baseball championship Monday, defeating Jordan 5-2 at the Mini Met in Jordan. It was a rewarding outcome for Waconia, a team that finished second to Isanti in the 2011 Class C tournament. Town ball teams are comprised of players from various ages, ranging from teens to adults who are decades older.

The No. 18 ranked Gophers volleyball team, coming off its upset of No. 1 Texas in Milwaukee on Monday, has an opportunity to further its national reputation on Friday with a match against No. 23 Baylor in Waco, Texas. Minnesota is 1-1 in two nonconference matches, Baylor 3-0.

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