Author: David Shama

St. Peter said the franchise is making plans to honor former third baseman Corey Koskie with an on-field ceremony prior to a game this spring.

He also said details aren’t finalized for the last baseball game ever played in the Metrodome on September 20, but the club plans a celebration with Twins alumni and possibly removing home plate.

Former state senator Dean Johnson, who was a legislative leader for the new Twins’ ball park, believes the Vikings may ultimately accept a renovated Metrodome as the answer to the franchise’s stadium dilemma.  He also told Sports Headliners there might be a special session called later this year to address the stadium issue.

A Wild source who requested anonymity believes the franchise may yet sign Marian Gaborik to a short contract extension.  He said team president Doug Risebrough wants Gaborik here.  The source also said the relationship between Gaborik and coach Jacques Lemaire is okay.  There are knowledgeable observers who don’t believe the 63-year-old coach will return but the source said that after each season Lemaire reviews his situation and this year will be no different.

The Wild, frantically trying to make the playoffs, plays its last home game tomorrow night against Nashville.  A win and another victory on Saturday against Columbus would give the Wild its third straight 40 win-season.  The Wild is 5-0-4 in its last nine home games.

Carlos Gomez saved 16 runs for the Twins last season, the most of any big league center fielder and 20 more than his predecessor, Torii Hunter.  That’s according to last week’s baseball preview issue of Sports Illustrated which included an in-depth article on contemporary defensive statistics.

Referring to a defensive metric by a man named John Dewan, the magazine reported that the 33-year-old Hunter, perhaps once the game’s best center fielder, is average and below average in various defensive aspects.  Hunter, though, didn’t know about Dewan and others who scientifically crunch defensive numbers when interviewed for the article “Baseball’s Next Top Models” and when asked he wasn’t about to rate Gomez ahead of him.

“Dude is quick but he also goes from points A to B to C to D when he should be going A to B,” Hunter told the magazine.  “And he’s too aggressive with his throwing. Just look at his errors. (Gomez had eight).  I had none.  Zero.”

Former Twins pitcher Carlos Silva, who was Seattle’s losing pitcher pitcher here last night giving up six runs in five innings, had a 10.45 ERA in three spring training games while pitching 10.1 innings.  Silva is in the second season of a $48 million contract, according to Cot’s Baseball Contracts Website.  Last year Silva was 4-15 with a 6.46 ERA.  General manager Bill Bavasi signed Silva to his contract after leaving the Twins following the 2007 season.  Bavasi is no longer employed by the Mariners.

The Michigan State basketball team that lost to North Carolina on Monday night in the national championship game relied on only two seniors.  The Spartans will be a Big Ten heavyweight again next season led by sophomore guard Kalin Lucas who was the conference’s player of the year.  Minnesota native Isaiah Dahlman participated in 16 total games, averaging 1.8 minutes and 0.8 points per game.

The Wolves’ Kevin Love needs two more rebounds and two more double-doubles to set franchise records for a rookie.  The team is 7-24 since center Al Jefferson was injured on February 4.

Wolves owner Glen Taylor has been much criticized since his group bought the franchise in 1995 but his Minnesota roots and loyalty probably ensure continued operation here indefinitely despite losing money, with short term prospects not much better given both the state of the team and economy.

The Vikings Draft Party tickets are on sale through www.ticketmaster.com, or by calling the team’s ticket office, 612-33-VIKES. Tickets for the Saturday, April 25 event at the Winter Park Fieldhouse are priced at either $15 (general admission), or $70 including preferred seating, private autograph session, food and beverage coupons and prize giveaways. The Vikings, with the No. 22 pick, are expected to draft at about 6:30 p.m.  The draft party, the same day as the Gophers spring football game, will be from 1:30 to 7 p.m.

The Gophers and 11 other schools will be competing in the NCAA Men’s Gymnastics Championships April 16-18 at the U’s Sports Pavillion.  The Gophers, ranked No. 7 in the country, participate in the evening pre-qualifier on April 16 (starting at 7 p.m.).  No. 1 Stanford is in the afternoon session that day (1 p.m. start).

Jake Mauer has suggested to his grandson Joe that he change positions, move from catcher to third base.  The conversation came up because of Joe’s inflammation in the sacroiliac joint and weeks of suffering that sidelined him during spring training.

No position is physically more demanding than catcher.  Crouching and contorting the body at different angles isn’t easy, particularly so for a big body like the 6-5 Mauer.  Then, too, Mauer has a history of ailments with the Twins that have kept the 25-year-old out of the lineup.  His All-Star career has been defined by two American League batting championships, but also physical problems like a quadriceps injury and the painful back that forced the Twins to place him on the 15 day disabled list last week.

Jake looks at Joe’s athleticism, including his strong arm, and sees a fit at third base. “He said, ‘Oh,Grandpa, if I can’t play catcher I don’t want to play baseball.’  I said, ‘You’re kidding me.’  He said, ‘That’s it.’ ”

Jake predicts Joe will return to the Twins by the third week of the season, after readying himself in the minors.  He said Joe hit the ball off a tee for the first time in a long while late last week.

Medicine prescribed by Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore has lessened Joe’s pain and his flexibility has improved.  “It’s done a miracle for him,” Jake said.

Even last week Joe couldn’t run but that’s an improvement over what Jake saw in late February before his grandson went to Johns Hopkins to meet with doctors.  “He was just like an old man of 85, just shuffling along,” Jake said.   “I couldn’t believe it.”

Joe has been through physical aches and pain, but there’s additional hurt and that’s the emotional side of missing spring training and the start of the season.  “He’s going out of his mind,” Jake said.  “He’s a low key guy anyhow but he can’t believe that he can see all the ball players and he can’t do nothing about it.  He would like to join right in.  He said ‘Grandpa, it’s just murder with me.  It eats my inside out. …”

No one believes more in Joe, nor perhaps knows him better, than his grandfather who helped groom him even as a pre-schooler.  Jake was asked if Joe, who missed almost two months of the 2004 season and about one month in 2007, is injury prone. “I don’t know,” Jake said. “I really don’t know. …”