Author: David Shama

Francisco Liriano, who makes his fourth start of the season tonight for the Twins in Baltimore, is 0-3 this season with a 9.42 ERA (14.1 innings, 15 earned runs). Through his first three starts in 2010, he was 2-0, with a 1.29 ERA (21 innings, three earned runs).

Twins reliever Jose Mijares gave up the winning hit against Tampa Bay on Saturday night, but has yet to officially allow a run this season (five innings pitched).  His last run allowed was September 30 against Toronto.

Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said on his KSTP Radio show yesterday that former All-Star closer Joe Nathan, trying to come back from Tommy John surgery, isn’t able to throw his slider as in the past.  For at least awhile, Matt Capps will replace Nathan as the team’s ninth inning closer.  Nathan blew two recent save opportunities in Tampa Bay.

Former Twins shortstop J.J. Hardy, now with Baltimore, is on the 15-day disabled list with a strained muscle.

While local speculation has the Vikings trading their No. 12 pick in the first round, national NFL mock drafts have them keeping the pick.  Foxsports.com’s Peter Schrager and Profootballweekly.com’s Nolan Nawrocki have the Vikings choosing Washington quarterback Jake Locker while SI.com’s Don Banks changed his mind about Locker and now has Minnesota taking California defensive end Cameron Jordan at No. 12.  Some draft day maneuvering by Vikings vice president of personnel Rick Spielman seems likely.

Although the Vikings need a quarterback, their task is made more difficult because several other NFL teams have that problem, too.

Positive-thinking Gophers football coach Jerry Kill at a cold, windy outdoor practice last week declared the weather was “nice.”

Former Minnetonka prep star Anthony Tucker, reportedly a possible transfer to the Gophers from Winona State, averaged 11.9 and 10.4 points per game at Iowa as a sophomore and freshman.  Tucker left the Hawkeyes to play for Winona State where he averaged a team best 15.9 this past season.

Ross Bernstein, local author of nearly 50 books including works on Herb Brooks and Brett Favre, will be the speaker at the C.O.R.E.S. luncheon in Bloomington on Thursday, May 12.  C.O.R.E.S. members can make reservations by contacting Jim Dotseth, dotsethj@comcast.net.  C.O.R.E.S. is an acronym for coaches, officials, educators, reporters and sports fans.

Swarm forward Ryan Benesch leads the National Lacrosse League with 43 goals.  Last Saturday he broke the club single season record of 40 set by forward Aaron Wilson last year.

How bad was it?

The question sounds like a lead-in to a comedian’s joke but few sports fans have found humor in the performance of local pro sports teams and the Gophers during the last several months.  It’s been 16 years since the results were somewhat comparable but the 2011 situation is worse.

In 1995 the Vikings, Twins and Timberwolves didn’t qualify for the playoffs, nor did the football Gophers participate in postseason play.  The 1995 Gophers men’s hockey team did lift spirits by advancing to the semifinals in the Frozen Four, losing 7-3 to Boston University.  And the U men’s basketball team had a one-and-done in the NCAA tournament.

Other than the Twins’ three-and-out performance in the playoffs against the Yankees, only one other of our major teams has been in post-season play during the last seven months, and just barely.  The U hockey team, once the most reliable postseason entry in town, lost a first round playoff series in consecutive games but for a third straight year didn’t qualify for the WCHA Final Five and the NCAA tournament.

Here’s how frustrating it’s been since last October: the Twins, Vikings, Wild, Wolves, and Gophers football, basketball and hockey teams have won 192 out of 424 games.

The Wild (franchise started play in 2000) and the Timberwolves ended regular season play this week while keeping their non-playoff streaks intact.  The Wild have made the playoffs three times in franchise history and have missed the postseason three straight years.  The Wolves haven’t been to the playoffs since 2004.

The 2010 Vikings weren’t in the playoffs for the first time since 2007. The Gophers football team didn’t qualify for a bowl game after playing in the Insight Bowl for two straight years.  The Gophers basketball team not only missed the NCAA tournament but didn’t qualify for the NIT.

It was only two sentences, but what Dave Curtis wrote can’t help but command attention among Gophers football fans.

The Sporting News Magazine’s college football authority wrote this in the publication’s April 11 issue: “Of the 21 schools that hired coaches for 2011, none will be more pleased than Minnesota.  Jerry Kill can make the Gophers Big Ten contenders.”

I emailed Curtis and asked him to elaborate on his statement that was part of a First-and-10 column with short takes on college football.  Here’s how he replied including his reference to prominent TCU coach Gary Patterson:

“A few things come to mind about Jerry.  First, I love his bloodlines.  I see a lot of Gary Patterson’s attitudes and tendencies in Jerry, and I know Gary would walk to Minneapolis and give Jerry a piggyback ride to Fort Worth if he would join the TCU staff.  It’s easy to like a guy who brings such a consistent no-nonsense approach, from the way he runs practice to the way he holds press conferences.

“Next, where Jerry goes, the teams win.  He turned around Southern Illinois, which had some administrators thinking about dropping the program.  He restored NIU as a MAC power after a slip in the mid-00’s.  The highlights don’t always belong in Canton, but Jerry’s teams somehow end up with more points than the other guys way more often than not.

“I also think Jerry has one of the most important characteristics of a Division I-A head coach: an understanding of his program’s place in the sport.  He knows Minnesota won’t compete for most five-star, blue-chip recruits, so he won’t waste his time with them off the bat.  He’ll cater his style of play along these lines, a la TCU or even Iowa. He knows Minnesota needs to restore fans’ confidence, so he’ll spend time reaching out to them as a public speaker, and do it in genuine fashion.

“I like where he comes from.  I like the numbers that show he’s successful.  And I like his approach to the program, in terms of developing toughness, avoiding nonsense, and identifying a path to make the Gophers a winning program and a source of pride in the Twin Cities.”