Author: David Shama

A lot of fans and media, including Sports Headliners, doubted the Twins and Joe Nathan could reach a contract agreement to keep him with the team beyond this season.  The Twins, to their credit, came up with an agreement acceptable to Nathan who wanted to stay here.  He has talked in the past about how he likes the city and values how the Twins have managed his career.

Nathan, 33, agreed to a $47 million contract extension earlier this week that keeps him with the Twins through 2011 with a club option for 2012.  Nathan’s 160 saves over the last four seasons are tied with Mariano Rivera of the Yankees for the most in the American League.  In addition, he became the first pitcher in club history to record 36-or-more saves in four consecutive seasons.

Fargo native Chris Coste has a new book about his 11 year struggle to make the major leagues, “The 33-Year-Old Rookie.”  Coste, a catcher, made his major league debut with Philadelphia in May of 2006 and hit .328 for the season.  Last spring he was injured and played in the minors before joining the Phillies in May, hitting .279 for the season.  Better news this year as Coste, now 35, will head north from spring training to play for the Phillies from the start of the season.

Gene Sperling, the former Gopher tennis player and captain under coach Jerry Noyce, is written about in the latest issue of Time magazine.  A short article reports on Sperling’s economic advisory work for Bill and Hillary Clinton.

Noyce will be inducted into the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s Collegiate Tennis Hall of Fame on May 21 in Tulsa.  He coached the Gophers for 15 seasons, winning three Big Ten Conference championships and in 1986 was the ITA’s National Coach of the Year.  Congratulations to one of Minnesota’s great coaches.

R&B star J. Holiday will perform in a concert following the Timberwolves-Memphis game at Target Center on Sunday, April 6.  Holiday, who established himself on the national music scene last year, will also sing the Star Spangled Banner prior to the game.  Last year Holiday’s hit single, “Bed,” reached No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. His debut album, “Back of My Lac,” has gone Gold in U.S. sales in excess of 500,000 copies and his follow-up single, “Suffocate,” has climbed to No. 18 on the Billboard Hot 100. Holiday has performed on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno. The concert is free to fans in attendance for the game.

The Vikings announced the signings yesterday of restricted free agent linebacker Heath Farwell, 26, and free agent cornerback Benny Sapp, 27, who played the past four seasons for the Kansas City Chiefs. Farwell led the Vikings with a career-high 32 special teams tackles in 2007, which ties for third in franchise single-season history. He set a team record with seven special teams tackles against the New York Giants last season and has 70 special teams tackles in 39 career games.

Sapp played in 56 games with six starts during his four years with the Chiefs and had 30 tackles, an interception, a fumble recovery, and a forced fumble in 2007. He recorded a career-high 45 tackles and 2.5 sacks for Kansas City in 2005.

Concordia senior forward Melanie Hageman and Gustavus senior guard Jess Vadnais have been named to the 2008 State Farm coaches’ honorable mention All-America basketball team for NCAA Division III. The team is voted upon by Women’s Basketball Coaches Association (WBCA) member coaches.  Hageman was named to the MIAC all-conference first team for the third straight season after averaging 16.9 points and 7.4 rebounds per game. She has earned D3hoops.com All-West Region second team honors the past two seasons and this year was named to the ESPN The Magazine Academic All-American team.

Vadnais is a three-time All-MIAC selection and a 2007 Kodak/WBCA All-American pick. She led the league in scoring for the second consecutive season (19.1 points per game), and was third in the league in steals (61) and free-throw percentage (122-142; 85.9 percent). Vadnais is one of 10 finalists for the Jostens Division III Player of the Year award given to the player that best exemplifies the Division III philosophy of basketball skill, academics, and community service.

Random opinions on the Twins who finish spring training this week and play the season and home opener at the Metrodome a week from tonight against the Los Angeles Angels:

Willie Mays, the 76-year-old hall of famer who once played for the San Francisco Giants, is about as likely to join the Twins as Barry Bonds.  Suggestions that the Twins sign the home run king, who wasn’t pursued by the Giants after last season, don’t make a lot of sense.  Bonds is 43-years-old and controversial.  The Twins are rebuilding with younger players and value their clubhouse chemistry.  The Twins may already have added a player or two during the off-season that might test the chemistry, but not the way the ego-centered Bonds could.

The prediction here is the Twins won’t bring Francisco Liriano home from spring training if there’s doubt he’s ready to take his turn in the starting rotation.  Liriano, 24, is potentially the Twins’ most valuable pitcher, but he has a challenging comeback ahead because of his famous elbow surgery that sidelined him all of last season.  Management has a team desperate for quality starting pitching but won’t do anything to jeopardize his comeback.  If Liriano needs special work and confidence building in the minors, the Twins will send him down, probably letting him work in Florida.

The Twins’ commitment to patience and investing in future results will apply to whether they keep high potential, so-so on fundamentals Carlos Gomez throughout the year.  The 22-year-old center field candidate played in the majors for the first time last season, 58 games, 125 at-bats and a .232 batting average with the New York Mets.   In spring training he’s made news with his extraordinary speed, base stealing and live arm.  He’s also been labeled a wild swinger at the plate and in need of improved fundamentals in the field and on the bases.  Although the Twins can look good showing him off as the center piece of the Johan Santana deal, they would send  him to the minors if needed rather than play the public relations game.

The Twins did make a statement today (Monday) about Gomez when they sent his spring training center field rivals, Jason Pridie and Denard Span, to their Triple A Rochester farm team.  Pencil Gomez in as next Monday’s starting center fielder and lead off hitter.

Santana, 29, must feel like a kid again and not just because the New York Mets gave him a six year, $137.5 million contract.  The Mets have talent but a lot of players are in their 30’s including starting pitchers Pedro Martinez, 36, and Orlando Hernandez, 38.  Infielders Carlos Delgado and former Twin Luis Castillo are 35 and 32, while outfielder Moises Alou is a geezer at 41.

The Angels team that comes here next week to play the Twins has a deep, experienced and talented outfield foursome.  Vladmir Guerrero, 32, had the most impressive numbers last year hitting .324 with 27 home runs and 125 RBI. Former Twin Torii Hunter, 32, will be the best of the foursome in the field, giving the Angels perhaps the game’s best center fielder while he tries to exceed last year’s batting totals that included a .287 average, 28 home runs and 107 RBI.  Gary Matthews, 33, hit .252 with 18 home runs and 72 RBI.  Garrett Anderson, 35, batted .297 with 16 home runs last season.

The Sporting News baseball issue distributed last week picks the Twins for a fourth place finish in the five team American League Central Division, suspicious as everyone else is about the team’s starting pitching.  The magazine predicted the Indians will win the division.

Sporting News rates the five best teams in baseball as the American League’s Red Sox, Indians, Tigers, Angels and Yankees.  The Twins rank No. 21 among 30 teams, just two spots ahead of the Royals who are predicted to finish last in the Central Division.

The 63^rd U.S. Women’s Open coming to Interlachen Country Club in Edina from June 23-29 is expected to sell-out the final two days for the first time in the event’s history, according to Dave Mona.  He and wife Linda are volunteer co-chairs for the USGA national championship tournament along with Bob and Virginia Carlson.

Ticket sales are ahead of any past opens and it’s expected that capacity crowds of 22,500 will attend each day of the Saturday and Sunday finals at Interlachen, Mona said. The tournament will have about 15 hours of national TV coverage provided by ESPN and NBC.

Mona said that among the players who will be here competing for the approximately $3 million in prize money are Annika Sorenstam, Juli Inkster, Paula Creamer, Suzann Pettersen and Edina’s Hilary Lunke.  Mona said teenage sensation Michelle Wie is the player event organizers “receive the most questions about” but it’s not certain at this time whether she will qualify for the tournament.

Changes will be made to the course including reversal of the front and back nines.  Interlachen’s signature hole is No. 9 and as No. 18 “will photograph beautifully” for TV, Mona said.  Other course changes will include faster greens, longer roughs and some narrower fairways.

Mona said the USGA wants to stage its opens at historic venues like Interlachen, the site of the 1930 men’s U.S. Open where Bobby Jones won a championship.  USGA officials have been impressed with ticket sales, corporate sales and volunteer enthusiasm.  Over 3,000 volunteers have registered and they pay $100 in return for some privileges including meals.

Marketing for the event will be timed to coincide with next month’s Masters.  Event information is available at www.2008uswomensopen.com.