Author: David Shama

The Twins’ surge, winning five of their last six games, has moved them up in the Central Division standings.  They are one half game behind second place Chicago and 4.5 games back of first place Detroit.

The remaining 2009 schedule, starting tonight at home against Texas, has the Twins playing 18 games in Minneapolis and 17 on the road.  The Twins are seven games over .500 at home so far and eight games under on the road.

The teams remaining on the schedule, in addition to Texas, are Chicago, Cleveland, Detroit and Kansas City, all home and away, plus Oakland at home and on the road at Toronto.  Only two of those teams, the Rangers and Tigers, are playing over .500 baseball.  Cleveland, Kansas City, Oakland and Toronto are a combined 66 games under .500.

All of this reminds us of a sports truism: it’s not just how good your team is, it’s also about the ability of the opposition and how that team is playing right now.  The Twins won five of their last six against two of the worst teams in the American League, Kansas City and Baltimore.

While Texas is 71-55, Chicago and Detroit also have challenging weekend assignments.  The White Sox are at New York (79-48) and Detroit is home against Tampa Bay (69-57).  The Tigers have to play Tampa Bay again in September while the White Sox’s schedule includes Los Angeles (75-51).

To their credit, the Twins have been receiving improved performances from players like outfielder Delmon Young, second baseman Alexi Casilla and pitcher Scott Baker during their surge.  Those are contributions that haven’t always been there this season when the Twins wanted to roll with a win streak like the five gamer that ended with a loss to Baltimore Wednesday night.

More contributors, assisting the team’s core players, have enabled this group to not only win more as of late, but sometimes rally in games when needed.  That says something about the team’s leadership which includes manager Ron Gardenhire, pitching coach Rick Anderson, relief pitcher Joe Nathan, catcher Joe Mauer, first baseman Justin Morneau and outfielder Michael Cuddyer.  There’s no panic or give up in their DNA.

The Twins have winning records against division rivals Chicago (7-5) and Detroit (7-4).  Also, in their last 10 games neither the White Sox (4-6) nor Tigers (5-5) have been delighting observers with their performances.

If there was no divisional play in the American League, the Twins would be 16 games behind league-leading New York in the loss column and watching from far behind as the season moves toward an early October close.  Whoever created the idea of splitting the league into three divisions and creating more competition is smiling today.  Twins fans can be happy knowing the team is playing better and facing mediocre opposition between now and season’s end.

NBA teams are allowed to place corporate names on their practice uniforms and the Timberwolves have added this to their sales offerings. Team business executive Chris Wright said the Wolves will offer a package that not only includes their practice jerseys, but also other practice site signage.

The Minnesota Lynx and other WNBA teams are allowed to place corporate names on both game and practice jerseys.  Wright, who is also involved with the Lynx, said separate sponsors for the two local pro teams makes the most sense because of differing demographics.  He said 82 percent of Lynx fans are female, with about 63 percent of Wolves patrons being male.

WCCO Radio Sports Huddle host Dave Mona read Wednesday’s Sports Headliners story about the “devastating” changeup of Twins pitching prospect Deolis Guerra.  Mona then emailed with an anecdote about his high school pitching days at Roosevelt.  Several years after graduating from Roosevelt he encountered an umpire who recalled Mona’s pitching skills. “I remember it very well,” the umpire said, “because for the first two innings I thought you had one of the best changeups I’d ever seen in a high school pitcher…until I figured out it was your fast ball.”

The Wild’s Brent Burns is at Hockey Canada’s National Men’s Team orientation camp in Calgary.  Burns is one of only 16 defensemen trying for a spot on Canada’s Olympic roster.

Former Minnesota North Star Mike Modano, 39, is hoping to make the U.S. Olympic team.  The Olympic team’s general manager is Edina native and Toronto general manager Brian Burke.  The winter Olympics will be held in Vancouver next February.

New Jersey forward and Faribault native Zach Parise took batting practice from Twins manager Ron Gardenhire on Tuesday.

Former Minnesota North Star Gord Dineen was recently named an assistant coach with the Toronto Marlies, the Maple Leafs’ American Hockey League affiliate.

Canterbury Park’s summer race season ends Sunday with the 16th Minnesota Festival of Champions, a day of racing dedicated to horses bred in Minnesota.  Post time on Sunday is 1:30 pm.

Former Viking Mike Morris, now a KFAN talk show host, thinks the Brett Favre-fueled Vikings can go 12-4 this season.  He told Sports Headliners if Favre is able to play at the level he did before injuring his arm last season with the Jets, the Vikings have a quarterback who will perform with the best in the NFC.  He ranks Favre No. 1 among quarterbacks in the NFC North.

Morris said it’s important that the Vikings limit Favre’s throws in practice and that is going to happen.  Coach Brad Childress said this week he isn’t going to put a number on the throws but “it seems prudent.”

Childress also expects Favre to start and play the first half of Monday night’s preseason game in Houston against the Texans.

Chicago linebacker Brian Urlacher was asked in the August 17 issue of Sports Illustrated if there’s anyone in the NFL like Vikings’ running back Adrian Peterson who led the league in rushing last year.  “No, there’s no one as explosive as him,” Urlacher told S.I. “He does some things I haven’t seen before.  He’s definitely the best offensive player in the game.”

Vikings defensive coordinator Leslie Frazier talking about rookie defensive back Asher Allen, a third round draft choice, and what he likes about him: “His quickness and the way he studies.  He really does a great job of preparing.  For a rookie to take the kind of notes that he does and ask the kind of questions that he does ask really lets you know that he is really into it and doing everything he can to mentally be engaged in what we are trying to get done. You don’t normally see that in rookies. They are usually more focused in trying to get through a practice physically. …”

Through two games the Vikings are the only NFL team that hasn’t given up a sack or turned the ball over.

St. Thomas is ranked in three preseason top-25 polls for Division III — the first national ranking in football since 1997. The Tommies were 7-3 last season under first-year head coach Glenn Caruso. Their plus-five turnaround from a 2-8 finish in 2007 was the third best out of 241 D-III programs. (Caruso’s first seven MIAC games were decided by eight or fewer points).

New Tommie assistant coach Eric Pulley worked at three different prep football coaching jobs in the same season during 2005.  When Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans in late August of that year, he moved to Mississippi to coach, and storm damage there forced him to relocate to Burnsville where he finished the season.

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