Golden Gophers – Page 224 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Twins Need Dominant Santana in NY

Posted on September 26, 2017September 26, 2017 by David Shama

To most of the baseball world, the Twins look like a “just happy to be here” team going into next Tuesday’s anticipated playoff game against the Yankees in New York. The Twins have lost four of six to the Yankees this season, have an inferior overall record (82-74 versus 87-69), and a roster of key players who are young and inexperienced.

Max Kepler (photo courtesy of Minnesota Twins).

In a one-game playoff young Twins hitters Byron Buxton, Max Kepler, Jorge Polanco and Eddie Rosario could nervously be chasing pitches they shouldn’t be offering at. Add Miguel Sano, if healthy enough to play, to that list. None of those players have ever been in a Major League postseason game and their inexperience might lead to mistakes in the field and on the bases, too.

It appears all but certain the Twins and Yankees will be the American League’s two wild card entrants. For Minnesota to reverse the disaster of postseason failures against the Yankees in 2003, 2004, 2009 and 2010, the Twins will almost certainly need a special performance from their expected starting pitcher, 34-year-old Ervin Santana.

Santana’s anticipated schedule has him starting Thursday against the Indians, then resting and preparing for the Yankees. His experience and skills give the Twins a chance in their playoff game. A win this Thursday will be his 17th of the season and set a career high. He goes into the game with a career-best 3.36 ERA.

Santana, who is among the American League leaders in wins, is paid to have big seasons like 2017 when he was honored with a place on the AL All-Star roster. He has postseason experience and earns $13.5 million annually, according to Cot’s baseball contracts.

The club’s best paid player, $23 million a year Joe Mauer, is also a veteran presence and has played in nine playoff games. He is hitting over .300 for the first time since 2013 and has committed only two errors at first base.

Royals’ first baseman Eric Hosmer hasthree errors, and has started 37 more games than Mauer. Hosmer is the favorite to win the AL Gold Glove award for first basemen.

Worth Noting

After the Vikings’ 34-17 win over the Bucs Sunday, Profootballfocus.com gave its five highest grades among Minnesota players to quarterback Case Keenum, wide receiver Adam Thielen, offensive tackle Mike Remmers, wide receiver Stefon Diggs, and cornerback Trae Waynes. The website said Keenum, substituting for the injured Sam Bradford, “had the game of his life as he torched the Bucs secondary up and down the field.”

Sam Bradford (photo courtesy of Minnesota Vikings)

With Bradford sidelined with a knee injury, the 2-1 Vikings only have three offensive starters who were regulars on last season’s team—Diggs, Thielen and tight end Kyle Rudolph. Yet the Vikings rank second in the NFL in total offense at 400.3 yards per game, trailing the Patriots at 440.7.

Marcus Sherels, the former Gopher and Rochester, Minnesota native, turns 30 on Saturday. He has developed an impressive career with the Vikings as a punt returner and reserve cornerback. Sherels, acquired by the Vikings as an undrafted free agent in 2010, holds the team career record for most touchdowns returning punts (five).

The Cowboys were the only NFL team worth $2 billion five years ago but now all but five franchises are at that level and more, according to a September 18 Forbes.com article. Forbes released its annual valuations of the league’s 32 teams including the Cowboys valued at $4.8 billion. The league average is $2.5 billion and the Vikings are valued at $2.4 billion.

Ticket prices range from $35 to $140 for Saturday’s Gophers-Maryland game at TCF Bank Stadium. For the Nebraska game November 11, prices start at $90 and go up to $235, while the range for Wisconsin two weeks later is $80 to $210.

Former Gophers Nick Rallis and Adam Weber are working in the football programs at Wake Forest and UCLA respectively.

Former Minnesota Mr. Football J.D. Spielman, now a redshirt freshman and wide receiver at Nebraska, had his first college touchdown reception last Saturday in a win over Rutgers. Spielman also has a 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown this season.

Saint John’s and St. Thomas resume their football rivalry in Collegeville next year on October 13. The Tommies will host the Johnnies October 19, 2019, presumably at O’Shaughnessy Stadium in St. Paul but don’t be surprised if talks surface regarding another site after Saint John’s and St. Thomas drew a Division III record crowd at Target Field of 37,355 last Saturday.

Will the Johnnies consider hosting the game at a large neutral site stadium like St. Thomas did this year? “I can guarantee we’ll always play at (our) Clemens Stadium,” Saint John’s athletic director Bob Alpers told Sports Headliners.

Alpers is also the Johnnies golf coach and his team was playing in the Twin Cities Classic on Saturday so he missed the historic football game.

The Division III game last Saturday had a larger attendance than 28 FBS games including home crowds for Maryland and top 20 ranked Washington State. A St. Thomas spokesman also said there were “17,000 hits” on the school website’s streaming the game. A typical Tommies game might have 1,000 to 1,500 hits, while the previous all-time high in hits for a St. Thomas football game was 9,000 last year in a playoff game against UW-Oshkosh.

The WNBA Finals involving Glen Taylor’s Lynx will cause him to miss the Timberwolves team flight to China. Taylor told Sports Headliners he and wife Becky will fly to China after the finals that continue tonight with Game Two at Williams Arena against the Sparks and could go through October 4. The Wolves, who Taylor also owns, will play exhibition games in China starting October 5.

Taylor will participate in an NBA meeting while in China. He owns printing and software businesses in the country.

Taylor said the installation of temporary air conditioning at Williams Arena for the finals will cost about $1 million, and because the expenditure wasn’t budgeted for the Lynx franchise might not make a profit this year. “It won’t help, that’s for sure,” said Taylor who approved the expenditure for the benefit of players and fans.

Taylor remains friends with former Timberwolves head coach Rick Adelman who is retired and spending time with family. Adelman’s son, David Adelman, who used to work for the Wolves, is an assistant with the Nuggets.

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Twins Future Excites Dave St. Peter

Posted on September 19, 2017September 19, 2017 by David Shama

Dave St. Peter runs the Twins with steady emotions. The club’s president is not about hype, or deep despair. He’s seen the franchise lose over 90 games during five of the six previous, but this year Minnesota ranks with the surprise teams in Major League Baseball and could be headed to the postseason as a Wild Card team.

St. Peter told Sports Headliners he believes the club is also on its way to a “sustained period of competitiveness” beyond 2017. “That’s what makes me excited,” he said. “I am incredibly excited for 2018 and beyond.”

The Twins finished with a 59-103 record last season. “A lot of our guys, frankly, underperformed a year ago,” St. Peter said.

What’s happened to the Twins this season is several of the younger players have come closer to reaching their potentials, while veterans like starting pitcher Ervin Santana and first baseman Joe Mauer have produced better than a year ago, and the club has found unexpected contributors who even joined the team since opening day.

Few, if any observers, foresaw the Twins having a 78-72 record on September 19, and holding on to a Wild Card spot for the postseason. “Are we overperforming in 2017? Possibly, based on the metrics, based on run differential and things of that nature,” St. Peter said. “But you know, I think our club…is making great strides—to be competitive, to be playing meaningful games deep into September, to be in position to go to postseason.”

The Twins are only +8 in run differential for the season, according Teamrankings.com. Thirteen out of 30 big league clubs rank ahead of Minnesota including Central Division rival Cleveland, a team that is +227 in run differential for the season and running away with the division title.

St. Peter appreciates the contributions of so many players to the Twins’ success, and brought up several names when asked who is the club’s MVP. Certainly Santana with 15 wins and Mauer, who is hitting over .300 and playing like a Gold Glove winner in the field, deserve having their names on any list.

Santana has been the kind of No. 1 starter a contending team must have. Mauer, dogged with health problems the last few years, hasn’t hit over .300 since 2013. “There’s no question in my mind that he’s healthier than he’s been,” St. Peter said.

Worth Noting

The Twins total home attendance in 2016 was 1,963,912—their lowest total since moving into Target Field in 2010. Despite fan pessimism and inclement weather early this season, St. Peter said the Twins will draw over 2 million fans at home

Star Tribune columnist Sid Hartman, 97 and still using a walker after his accident late last year, continues to compete for news and regularly shows up at practices, news conferences and games of Minnesota teams.

College basketball magazines are on newsstands including the Athlon Sports 2017-2018 issue. The Gophers are ranked No. 16 in the nation, predicted to finish second in the Big Ten and advance to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament. The only Big Ten team ahead of Minnesota is No. 2 Michigan State.

The magazine includes Gophers Nate Mason and Amir Coffey on its All-Big Ten second team. Minnesota’s Jordan Murphy is on the third team. Reggie Lynch is ranked the No. 2 “rim protector” in the nation.

Minnesota coach Richard Pitno said on last Sunday’s WCCO Radio “Sports Huddle” program that “98 percent” of season tickets for home games have been renewed.

The Vikings started the 2016 season with a 5-0 record. Since then, and including their 1-1 start in 2017, they are 4-9.

Vikings players Mackensie Alexander and Jayron Kearse will sign items for a fee on September 30 from 11 a.m. to noon at the Triple Crown Sports Collectibles show at Southtown Shopping Center in Bloomington. Ex-Vikings John Henderson and Sammy White will also be at the show and signing for a fee from 10 to 11 a.m.

Show hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. and pre-orders will be accepted for a limited edition bobblehead of former Vikings linebacker Matt Blair. Ex-Vikings coach Bud Grant, who had been scheduled for September 30, will be at the Triple Crown show February 17. More information about Triple Crown shows is available by emailing vikingstwinsman@gmail.com

The 3-0 football Gophers have given up only 24 total points and are unscored upon in the second half.

Jeff Sagarin’s USA Today rankings today of 254 college football teams has Minnesota No. 39. The teams Minnesota has defeated—Buffalo, Oregon State and Middle Tennessee State—are No. 119, 96 and 92 respectively.

Eden Prairie High School coach Mike Grant told Sports Headliners this morning that Benny Sapp III, held out of last week’s game against Prior Lake because of a sore knee will see a doctor today, but Grant believes his star cornerback, who has verbally committed to the Gophers, will be okay. The undefeated Eagles could be headed to another state championship under Grant. “Somebody will have to play great to beat us,” he said.

Although the college hockey season hasn’t started, the opinion here is Gophers Tyler Sheehy and Casey Mittelstadt should be on anybody’s candidates list for the 2018 Hobey Baker Award given to college hockey’s best player. Sheehy, a junior forward, was a finalist for the award last season when he was Big Ten Player of the Year and a first team All-American. Mittelstadt, a freshman forward, was drafted eighth overall by the Sabres in the first round of the 2017 NHL Entry Draft—making him the Gophers’ highest draft pick since 2006.

A Big Ten coaches poll has for the third time in five years named the Gophers favorites to win the conference title. Minnesota plays Alberta October 1 in a home exhibition game.

Bobby Heenan, the famous wrestling personality who died Sunday, is known better nationally because of his work for the WWE but decades ago was part of Verne Gagne’s Minneapolis Boxing and Wrestling Club’s operation. Former Gopher football player Jim Brunzell, who also was a headliner in Gagne’s organization, referred to Heenan as a “dear friend and blood brother” in an email. “He was a genius in our business and consummate performer,” Brunzell wrote.

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Stakes Jump for Bradford, Vikings

Posted on September 17, 2017September 17, 2017 by David Shama

Less than a week after an impressive opening game win over the Saints, the Vikings embarrassed themselves today in a penalty-infested 26-9 loss to the Steelers. The outlook for a big season also seems more in doubt then it was last Monday night.

Quarterback Sam Bradford, named NFC Offensive Player of the Week after his performance against the Saints, never saw the field. Bradford wasn’t allowed to play because of a sore left knee—with the Vikings hoping there won’t be a long-term problem. “He couldn’t play; there really was no (other) decision,” head coach Mike Zimmer said on the Vikings Radio Network after the game.

A concern is that Bradford has injured the knee in the past including 2014 when he had ACL surgery. The Vikings aren’t likely to make the playoffs without Bradford, who perhaps will play as soon as next Sunday against the Bucs, one of the NFC’s best teams. The 29-year-old could be in line for a big contract with the Vikings after this season but that won’t happen if he misses a lot of games and under performs.

The Vikings are among the NFC preseason favorites to make the playoffs. With the club not having won a playoff game since 2010—and an extraordinary opportunity waiting if the Vikings could play in the 2018 Minneapolis Super Bowl—there are high expectations for this team. That pressure extends to longtime general manager Rick Spielman and Zimmer who is in his fourth season.

Today in Pittsburgh, Minnesota players made too many mistakes that don’t characterize playoff teams. Case Keenum, filling in for Bradford, was sometimes slow in his progressions and inaccurate with throws. While not having Bradford’s skill as a passer, he was the victim of an offensive line that often didn’t protect him. In addition, multiple linemen had penalties during the game.

The Steelers scored a touchdown in the first quarter after an off-side penalty on defensive end Brian Robison, and a pass interference call on Xavier Rhodes kept a drive alive. In the second quarter a pass interference call on Trae Waynes gave Pittsburgh a first down near the goal line, setting up a second touchdown.

Early in the third quarter it looked like the Vikings, trailing 14-3, had avoided a Steeler field goal when Pittsburgh’s Chris Boswell missed on a long attempt. A penalty on the Vikings, though, moved the ball close to the goalposts and Boswell made the score 17-3.

Other penalties also factored in the game’s outcome. For the day the Vikings were penalized 11 times for 131 yards.

Kicker Kai Forbath missed an extra point in the game, his second this season for the 1-1 Vikings. “It’s disheartening,” Zimmer said on the radio. “You go down and score, and then you miss an extra point and it kind of deflates you a little bit.”

Worth Noting

A Vikings spokesman said via email the NFL has not yet determined how many seats will be sold for Super Bowl LII in U.S. Bank Stadium, nor has the league determined the allotment for each NFL team. If the Vikings are one of the teams in the Super Bowl, the organization can offer a ticket lottery to season ticket holders. The two participating teams receive more tickets than the other 30 NFL franchises.

Gophers basketball sophomore forward Eric Curry will have surgery on his left knee this week. Late last month the key reserve was playing in a pickup game when the Gophers reported he tore his anterior cruciate ligament, medial collateral ligament and meniscus. Curry will miss the upcoming season.

Coach Richard Pitino and his team begin regular practices September 29.

P.J. Fleck might be the most media-prominent Gophers football coach ever. Fox 9 airs the P.J. Fleck show Wednesdays at 6:30 p.m. and the Gopher pregame program at 8:30 a.m. Saturdays. Fleck’s KFAN Radio show is at 11:30 a.m. Thursdays and he is also a regular on WCCO Radio’s “Sports Huddle” program Sundays.

Casey O’Brien, son of former Gophers defensive backfield coach Dan O’Brien, is a freshman walk-on holder for Minnesota. When Gopher senior quarterback Conor Rhoda was playing at Cretin-Derham Hall, Casey was the football team’s ball boy. Casey, who has beaten cancer twice in his teen years, was a holder and golfer at Cretin-Derham Hall.

Twins president Dave St. Peter told Sports Headliners attendance could exceed 37,000 for Saturday’s 1 p.m. first-ever football game at Target Field between host St. Thomas and traditional rival Saint John’s. The Twins won’t be back in town until September 29 and St. Peter is confident there will be no negative impact on the grass field. The game will set a national record for Division III attendance.

Target Field will also be the site of the August 31, 2019 game between host North Dakota State and Butler. St. Peter said there have been preliminary discussions about other football games at Target Field. He promised, though, games will never be played on a conflicting date with the Gophers, or involve FBS teams.

“That was a commitment I made to (former athletic director) Norwood Teague and now to (present AD) Mark Coyle and P.J. Fleck,” St. Peter said. (The Gophers have a bye on their schedule this Saturday and don’t play on August 31, 2019).

The Twins hit four home runs today, with Eddie Rosario hitting two, and Byron Buxton and Joe Mauer also homering, including his first grand slam since 2012 in a 13-7 win over the Blue Jays. Mauer is hitting .400 since August 10, the second best average in Major League Baseball.

The Twins’ Brian Dozier, with 46 home runs, has homered more times than any player in Major League Baseball since the 2016 All-Star Break.

Popular Shakopee-based emcee and speaker Dick Jonckowski is booking events for fall and winter (952-261-3013). As usual, Jonckowski emceed last Thursday’s CORES program in Bloomington where speaker Matt Birk told stories about his football career and drew an audience of 175.

Jonckowski is a fan of the Lynx, and asked what Lindsay Whalen and former Timberwolf Ricky Rubio have in common? Both are point guards with pro career highs in points of 33 each.

Birk, the former Viking center and Cretin-Derham Hall alum, is living in the Twin Cities area and works as a youth football consultant for the NFL. He has eight children including five sons he encourages to play football if they are interested.

Birk and others including former Minnesota prep coach Jim Dotseth believe fear about concussions from playing football is overhyped. They cite statistics showing other sports, starting with soccer, cause more concussions. “I don’t think I ever had a kid with a concussion,” Dotseth said about his 30 years as a head coach.

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