Twins – Page 178 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Worth Noting

Posted on May 18, 2012May 18, 2012 by David Shama

Maturi said the Gophers will receive a maximum of $300,000 from the Vikings for each of the NFL team’s games played at TCF Bank Stadium. The Gophers will charge rent and receive a share of certain revenues including concessions.

He also said seating expansion of TCF Bank Stadium will include but not necessarily be limited to adding bleacher seats in the west end zone. While the Vikings will be able to play games in the Metrodome during coming seasons, it’s already clear they will sometimes have to host games at TCF Bank Stadium while their new facility is constructed near the dome.

Monster Energy AMA Supercross has booked the Metrodome for April 13, 2013, returning to Minneapolis after a five year absence. The best attended AMA Supercross event at the dome was 60,049 in 1997.

Former Wolves All-Star Kevin Garnett, whose Celtics team leads the Sixers 2-1 in the NBA Eastern Conference playoffs, will be 36 tomorrow.

Ex-Vikings coach Bud Grant, still active with travelling, hunting and fishing, celebrates his 85^th birthday on Sunday.

The Vikings report to training camp for a 47^th consecutive year in Mankato on July 26 with the first team practice the next day. The Vikings will break camp on August 16.

Gophers football players will report for the coming season on August 2 and practice begins August 3. The Gophers open the schedule at UNLV on August 30.

Prep basketball authority Ken Lien emailed that Henry Ellenson, the Rice Lake, Wisconsin high school freshman, was offered a scholarship this week by the Gophers. His older brother, Wally, will be on scholarship as a college freshman this fall for the Gophers.

With this week’s announcement by major league baseball that the 2013 All-Star game will be awarded to the Mets, it sets up further speculation Target Field will host the 2014 game.

Twins rookie shortstop Brian Dozier has only one error in 11 games since his recall from Class AAA Rochester. He’s hitting .298 with two home runs and five RBI.

The Twins projected starting pitchers for the three game series against the Brewers that opens tonight in Milwaukee: Carl Pavano, 2-3, 5.14 ERA; Scott Diamond, 2-0, 0.00 ERA; Jason Marquis, 2-3, 6.68 ERA.

Close followers of the Twins organization will be surprised if super prospect Miguel Sano won’t be playing for Minnesota in two years. Sano, the 19-year-old Beloit Snappers third baseman, leads the Midwest League in home runs with 11.

Canterbury Park opens its live racing season tonight. The Shakopee track will have racing every weekend through Labor Day. Special promotions will include ostrich and camel racing on July 21.

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Despite Slow Start, Mauer Goals in Reach

Posted on May 9, 2012May 9, 2012 by David Shama

Joe Mauer set goals of a .300 batting average, 20 home runs and 100 RBI before the season began, according to grandfather Jake Mauer. Slowed by a bruised left knee recently, Mauer has seen his average drop from over .300 to .286. He has only one home run and 15 RBI.

“He’ll hit .300,” Jake told Sports Headliners on Monday. “Definitely. I hope he hits 20 home runs and I hope he hits about 90 RBI. I think he will. I think he’ll have a good season from now on because he’s healthy. He’s strong. He has no pains. No aches except the knee. He’s ready.”

Mauer’s left knee was hit by a foul ball while catching in a game on April 30. His grandfather said Joe had swelling and has not been able to place normal weight on his back foot while hitting, but Joe expected to return to normal during the team’s homestand that started Monday.

“He just got dizzy like he got a left-handed hook (from) a boxer,” Jake said. “He just got staggered and it (the knee) swelled up.”

Jake is hoping Joe will have a May something like 2009 when his grandson hit 11 home runs with a .414 average and 32 RBI. That kind of production would not only help Mauer reach his season goals, but help the run-hungry Twins create more offense. Last night in a 5-0 win over the Angels Mauer had two hits in a game for the first time since April 29.

Jake is a former baseball player and passionate Twins fan. “The Twins this year are feeble,” he said. “They cannot hit the ball. They have no pitchers that can go over seven innings. Their bullpen is not bad.

“It doesn’t look good. It really doesn’t. I hope they beat last year’s standings as far as wins and losses.”

The Twins were 63-99 last season. In 2012 they are 8-21 so far and Mauer told his grandfather players are stressed. “He says, ‘Everybody is trying too hard.’ …They should try to do what they can do and that’s it.”

The Twins all-star catcher has to be frustrated with all the losing this season after playing on four division title teams. “He wants to win the World Series so God damn bad,” Jake said.

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Worth Noting

Posted on May 4, 2012May 4, 2012 by David Shama

Adam Weber said he’s being given an equal opportunity in Denver to demonstrate his value as a backup quarterback to Peyton Manning. The former Gophers quarterback is starting his second season with the Broncos and is confident in his abilities.

“I do know what I am doing,” Weber told Sports Headliners when asked to describe his strengths. “I am a smart quarterback, can move the ball and create plays when they break down. I am trying to be the best I can be.”

Weber, who signed last season with Denver as a free agent, worked while in college at a passing camp headlined by Manning. He describes Manning as one of the first players to practice, last to leave, and a “good person.”

Weber said that with Manning’s pass-first approach and determination to throw long, this could be a “big season” for former Gophers wide receiver Eric Decker. This will be Manning’s first season with Denver and Decker’s third. “I think all the wide receivers are excited,” Weber said.

Peyton’s brother, quarterback Eli Manning of the Super Bowl champion Giants, hosts NBC TV’s Saturday Night Live this Saturday night. Peyton has also hosted SNL.

Sports industry experts might be startled by the lack of knowledge some Minnesota legislators have displayed during the Vikings stadium debate this spring. What’s also alarming is you can be certain some legislators aren’t too savvy on other issues that also involve policy making.

Gophers athletic director Joel Maturi told Sports Headliners he understands his replacement, Norwood Teague, will be on campus for a “couple of visits” before taking over full time in early July. Teague’s pre-July work is expected to include meetings with Maturi and Gophers associate athletic directors, and also major donors and backers of the program.

Maturi said he has no announcement yet on a major Gophers home basketball game for the 2012 nonconference season. Nor is there any final word on coach Tubby Smith’s possible contract extension. “You know as much as I do,” Maturi said.

In a group email sent by Maturi this week to Gophers supporters, he reported that 413 Gophers student-athletes have been honored for maintaining a 3.0 cumulative GPA during their careers.

If you keep a Big Ten football calendar, circle Saturday, September 1 for the game in Arlington, Texas between defending national champion Alabama and Michigan. Other Big Ten nonconference games that day include Boise State at Michigan State, and Iowa at Northern Illinois (Soldier Field, Chicago). The Gophers open their schedule on August 30 at UNLV.

The Big Ten has announced kickoff times for two of the Gophers conference games. The September 29 game at Iowa starts at 11 a.m. Minneapolis time. The October 13 game at home against Northwestern also begins at 11 a.m.

The Twins have the No. 2 pick in next month’s MLB amateur draft. Mark Appel, a junior pitcher at Stanford, has to be one of the prospects the Twins have under review. He’s 6-1 this year with a 2.73 ERA and struck out 81 batters in 79 innings.

Not only do the Twins have the worst record in Major League Baseball at 6-18 but their Rochester Triple-A farm team is off to a slow start at 10-16.

Second baseman Tsuyoshi Nishioka continues to struggle at Rochester hitting .203 with no home runs and three RBI. Joe Benson, considered one of the organization’s better outfield prospects, is hitting .186. Starting pitcher Scott Diamond is 4-1 with a 2.84 ERA. He’s tied for the league lead in wins.

Drew Butera, who the Twins recalled from Rochester this week, led all Twins catchers in games caught last year, 93. He threw out 20 base stealers last season, ninth most in the American League.

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