Twins – Page 191 – David Shama's Minnesota Sports Headliners

Gophers Need to Make ‘Statement’

Posted on August 29, 2012August 29, 2012 by David Shama

The way Troy Stoudermire looks at things it’s time for the Gophers to break away from the past. The assignment starts tomorrow night on the road against UNLV in Minnesota’s 2012 opening game.

“It means a lot to go win this game,” Stoudermire told Sports Headliners. “Winning this game is just one step to what we’re trying to accomplish. We gotta come make a statement.

“Every year we’ve been having a team full of talent but we never could get that done. That’s the way we gotta look at it. But this year we’re gonna get that done.”

No player on Minnesota’s roster has more perspective about the program than Stoudermire, a senior cornerback and record-setting kickoff returner. He was a freshman on the 2008 team and was granted a fifth season of eligibility in 2012 by the NCAA because a broken arm limited him to four games last season.

Minnesota’s season records during the Stoudermire era are 7-6-, 6-7, 3-9 and 3-9. That adds up to 19 wins, 31 losses and the record of the last four years has a lot to do with why the college football world has low expectations again for the Gophers. Stoudermire said nobody outside the program gives the Gophers “a chance” to accomplish much in 2012 “but we gotta make a name for ourselves.”

He has been impressed with his teammates during August practices leading up to tomorrow night’s game when the Gophers are expected to win by a touchdown or more. He said the offense is “really good,” led by senior dual-threat quarterback MarQueis Gray who “can do anything.”

The defense?

“This has been the lowest penalty rated camp that I’ve been at on defense,” Stoudermire said. “…I’ve seen the defense improve way more than any other year I’ve been here. We’ve just been on point. Everyone is making calls. Everyone is in the right spot and doing what they’re supposed to do, and not trying to do a little extra, and that’s all you need to have a really good defense.”

Gophers, Vikings & Other Notes:

UNLV is a struggling program like the Gophers. The Rebels were 2-11 last season, winning games at home against New Mexico (45-10) and Wyoming (42-16). Third-year coach Bobby Hauck is 4-21 at UNLV.

Among NCAA teams last season the Gophers ranked 110^th in total offense, UNLV 117^th. In total defense Minnesota ranked No. 77 with the Rebels at No. 105.

Kickoff for the Minnesota-UNLV game is 10:04 p.m. tomorrow. A daytime high of 102 degrees and overnight low of 79 in Las Vegas is forecast by weather.com. Gophers coach Jerry Kill will “play a lot of kids” and the players were told starting last week to consume plenty of fluids.

Quarterback MarQueis Gray had to leave the opening game at USC last year because of heat-induced arm cramps. That’s something Kill expects Gray to avoid tomorrow night. “We’ll take care of that,” Kill said. “MarQueis sweats a ton so we’ll have to make sure he takes plenty of fluid in.”

Kill plans to redshirt all his freshmen offensive linemen including Isaac Hayes and Jonah Pirsig, the two highly publicized Minnesota natives. He will also redshirt former Lakeville South High School quarterback Mitch Leidner.

That means Philip Nelson, the freshman from Mankato West, along with sophomore Max Shortell will be the backup quarterbacks to Gray for the UNLV game. Kill didn’t say so but he probably hopes to redshirt Nelson too.

Kill brought in outside speakers to address the team during August practices including former Gophers All-American safety Tyrone Carter. Don Banham, former Minneapolis police officer and father of Gophers football player Cole Banham and Gophers women’s basketball star Rachel Banham, also spoke to the team.

The Big Ten Network is celebrating its fifth anniversary this month.

The Vikings need a win tomorrow night in Houston over the Texans to finish the preseason at 2-2. Last Friday night at Mall of America Field the Vikings lost 12-10 to the Chargers and it looked like about 65 percent of the seats were filled.

With new automated parking meters near the stadium, the city was charging a Vikings game night rate of $3 per hour Friday. Unless you pay by credit card, that’s 48 quarters to park for four hours.

Merchandise sold in the stadium concourse Friday night included a Christian Ponder jersey for $115 and a limited edition Adrian Peterson jersey for $155.

Former Vikings linebacker Ben Leber, who has been doing TV-radio sideline reporting during the team’s preseason games, told Sports Headliners he will be a game analyst for Conference USA football games on Fox. He will also provide game analysis on two Western Michigan games for ESPNU.

Red McCombs, who sold the Vikings in 2005, has mixed feelings about not having the franchise anymore, according to Chad Ostlund who worked for McCombs and remains a friend. Ostlund said McCombs was “frustrated” about the team’s new stadium efforts when he, McCombs, owned the team.

The Twins, who lost a second consecutive game last night to Seattle at home, haven’t hit a home run in 10 of their last 11 games. They have been out scored 47-19 in their last eight games (seven losses).

Joe Mauer has now caught 833 games for the Twins, surpassing Earl Battey’s franchise record for a catcher of 831.

The St. Thomas football team, recently ranked No. 4 nationally by Lindy’s Sports and No. 7 by USA Today, begins its season on Saturday at UW-Eau Claire. The Division III Tommies are coming off consecutive 10-0 regular seasons.

St. Thomas’ Curtis James, Riley Dombek, Chinni Oji, Harry Pitera and Garrett Maloney, Augsburg’s Adam Carl, Saint John’s Bobby Fischer, Bethel’s Josh Wolfe and Concordia’s Tom Knowlton were selected preseason Division III All-Americans by various sources. Saint John’s kicker Jimmie Mattson was named to the Fred Mitchell Award Watch List for the second consecutive season. The award is annually presented to the nation’s top collegiate kicker, regardless of division.

Schools and other non-profit organizations serving youth located within a 50 mile radius of Target Center can enter a contest to win a $10,000 donation for basketball court renovation. www.timberwolves.com/community

Lindsey Berg, who helped the USA volleyball team to the silver medal in the 2012 Olympics, is among nine women and men who will be inducted into the Gophers Sports Hall of Fame on September 20 at TCF Bank Stadium. Ticket information about the event is available by calling 1-800-U-Gopher.

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Class A Likely Again for Miguel Sano

Posted on August 6, 2012August 6, 2012 by David Shama

Twins phenom Miguel Sano is likely to play in Class A baseball again next season – just at a higher level. Twins farm system executive Jim Rantz told Sports Headliners the 19-year-old slugger, now with Beloit in the Midwest League, is probably headed to Fort Myers in the Florida State League.

Sano is the most publicized prospect in the Twins organization. Signed in the Dominican Republic for a reported $3.15 million bonus when he was 16, Sano is featured in the recently released movie Pelotero. He’s been ranked as the Twins top prospect and power hitter by Baseball America.

Sano leads the Midwest League in home runs at 22 and RBI with 84. He’s struggled, though, with his batting average, .254, and fielding at third base.

Rantz said the batting average is predictable because Sano is “very aggressive at the plate and still trying to learn the strike zone.” He is seeing a lot of breaking balls and changeups from pitchers.

“It’s pretty awesome with his home runs and RBI,” Rantz said. “He still has work to do defensively.”

Rantz said Sano’s Beloit teammate Eddie Rosario, among the organization’s better prospects, has made a successful transition this season from the outfield to second base. Rosario was injured in mid-June and was out of the lineup until the end of last month. He’s another promising hitter and has a .310 average, with seven home runs in 259 at bats.

Twins & Other Notes:

Max Kepler, also drafted by the Twins at age 16 three years ago, is maturing playing for Elizabethton, Rantz said. Rantz said the native of Germany has “grown into his body.” Kepler is hitting .275 with seven home runs in 145 at bats.

Tsuyoshi Nishioka, who was a bust as a rookie last season with the Twins hitting .226, “has made a lot of improvement with the bat” playing for AAA Rochester, Rantz said. Nishioka was playing both second base and shortstop for the Red Wings before being recalled yesterday by the Twins. Instead of media throngs from Japan following Nishioka as they did last year in Minneapolis, Rantz said one or two reporters might have followed him in Rochester.

Rantz watched Twins leading pitcher Scott Diamond in the minor leagues and said he isn’t that surprised to see Diamond’s success in his first full season of major league baseball. “He’s improved on his breaking ball and his command has been very good,” Rantz said.

New Timberwolves forward Andrei Kirilenko, 31, will be one of the franchise’s better defenders ever if healthy. Kirilenko has three times been an all-NBA first or second team defender playing for Utah. At 6-9, with long arms and athleticism, Kirilenko is a potential stopper for a Wolves team that lacks exceptional defenders among its top players. Physical problems have kept Kirilenko from playing full seasons in recent years.

David Kahn, the Wolves president of basketball operations, talked to Sports Headliners about Kirilenko’s potential impact on defense. “I am hopeful it will be really good. We didn’t have anybody who we could really put on some of these wing players, and in our conference especially there are some really big threes. There’s (Kevin) Durant, there’s Rudy Gay. There’s several of those. (Nicolas) Batum in Portland.

“So this allows us to have a really long, athletic guy to match up with them. Not that he can necessarily stop them but I think at least with Andrei’s experience and with his characteristics we can maybe at least slow them down.”

Apple Valley junior point guard Tyus Jones now has a scholarship offer fromNorth Carolina. That gives him offers that include national powerhouses Duke, Kentucky and the Tar Heels. In the last 12 months I haven’t talked to any sources who are convinced Jones will play for the Gophers.

Prep basketball authority Ken Lien emailed that Minnesota native Kyle Washington, a high school senior next season, has recent offers from Illinois, North Carolina State and Ohio State.

Brian Bobek, the Ohio State center transfer, hasn’t arrived on campus at Minnesota. He will be eligible in 2013 and have three seasons to play for the Gophers. Minnesota coach Jerry Kill recruited Bobek when Kill was head coach at Northern Illinois. “He’s a kid that grew up in Chicago and wanted to stay in the Midwest,” Kill said.

Bobek is a former Parade, Rivals and Scout high school All-American and his father played linebacker at Iowa.

The Big Ten Network sends a crew to cover all the Big Ten football programs during August. The group will be in Minneapolis on August 11 and BTN’s Gophers coverage will air beginning at 9 a.m. August 12.

Vikings owner Zygi Wilf after being asked about his team expectations: “I expect to be division champs. I want to be able to fight for the division as we always do every year, and get better for years to come. That’s always been our goal. That’s been the goal since the first day I came here.”

Bethel’s Erik Smith, Saint John’s Stephen Johnson and St. Thomas’ Michael Valesano are nominees for the 2012 Allstate American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Good Works Team. Nominees are players who have made a difference for their communities in off-field activities.

Compughterratings.com’s Division III preseason rankings include three MIAC teams in the top 20: Bethel, No. 12; St. Thomas, No. 13 and Saint John’s No. 19. MIAC schools begin nonconference games on September 1 and league games start September 15.

World Golf Hall of Famer Lanny Wadkins, 62, asked about all the advisors used by many PGA golfers these days including sports psychologists: “…My sports psychologist is the bartender every week. They’re a lot more reliable. You know where they’re going to be.”

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New Twins Radio Deal Not Set

Posted on August 3, 2012August 3, 2012 by David Shama

The Twins radio deal with Hubbard Broadcasting expires after this season. Team president Dave St. Peter told Sports Headliners the arrangement to have games heard in the metro area on 1500 ESPN has been a “wonderful collaboration” but a new agreement hasn’t been finalized.

“We’ve had multiple discussions,” he said. “There’s nothing to report at this time. I expect definitive word before the end of the season.”

The Twins made history after the 2006 season when they ended a radio partnership with WCCO that dated back to 1961, the franchise’s first season in Minnesota. A marketing source told Sports Headliners he believes WCCO is interested in carrying the games again. He said other stations likely interested are KFAN and KTWN (branded K-Twin), a station owned by the Pohlad family which has also owned the Twins franchise since 1984.

WCCO lost not only the Twins in recent years but also Gophers football and basketball. The station does broadcast Timberwolves games. KFAN specializes in sports programming but already is the local radio home of Vikings, Wild and Gophers football broadcasts. 1500 ESPN, in addition to the Twins, carries Gophers basketball and hockey. KTWN isn’t currently a radio home of Minnesota’s major league teams or the Gophers.

St.Peter declined to speculate about WCCO, KFAN or KTWN. The team’s radio deal with Hubbard is to broadcast games in the metro area, and the club has a separate arrangement with Minnesota News Network to distribute their radio broadcasts on a network of Upper Midwest affiliates. About 135,000 fans might typically be listening to a Twins game on 1500 this season.

The club’s agreement with Hubbard is believed to provide more than $1 million in annual rights fees and allows the Twins to sell the advertising on broadcasts and retain revenues. 1500 has used the Twins broadcasts to build brand awareness and its listening audience as the station has transitioned in recent years from a news-talk format to a sports station that includes affiliation with ESPN Radio.

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