The winner of the annual Gopher-Badger football game has also won Paul Bunyan’s Axe since 1948. Wisconsin’s Bret Bielema, at 36 the second youngest Division I-A head coach, said earlier this week rivalries like Saturday’s game with Minnesota provide “an extra incentive to play.”   

 “I am a very firm believer in focusing week to week. …I know one of the things I brought up to our guys on (last) Saturday was the axe,” Bielema said. “It’s an important thing to our guys and hopefully we will be able to carry that through this weekend.” 

The Badgers have won the famed trophy nine of the last 11 games.  Wisconsin has momentum going into this game having won five of six games, losing only to No. 4 ranked Michigan. The Gophers, 2-4, lost a self declared must-win game last Saturday to Penn State. 

If the Badgers need more incentive this weekend than the axe and staying in the race for the Big Ten championship and a top bowl game, they don’t have to look far to find it.  Wisconsin is celebrating homecoming and a statue of former coach Barry Alvarez (grand marshal for the homecoming parade) will be unveiled outside Camp Randall Stadium on Friday. 

Sounds like a perfect setting for a Gopher upset.

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Manager Ron Gardenhire said Kyle Lohse is a “great guy” but the former Twins pitcher was too concerned about “quality starts” or why he was pitching out of the bullpen.  “He was just one of those guys who was into his stats and all those things, and that’s a situation we are just not caught up with around here,” Gardenhire said. “Great kid…it’s just that sometimes you clash on the field on what your goals are as a team.” 

Jason Kubel, who had 220 at bats this season with a .241 average, is a hitter with potential who may help the Twins much more in the future.  In the minor leagues Kubel, 24, hit over .300. 

You wonder if Rondell White, 34, will return to the Twins in 2007.  Although he raised his batting average to .246, after hitting .198 on June 1, his legs don’t allow him to play every day in left field.  

Don’t think, too, the Twins aren’t concerned about the inconsistency and future of starting pitcher Carlos Silva.  He lost six of his last nine starts and for the season had a .594 ERA. 

A year ago the Vikings were 1-3 heading into their bye week and in three of their four games they had scored just 31 total points.  Defensively the Vikings had given up 104 points in the four games.  When the Vikings resumed their schedule the staff had been expanded to add consultants Foge Fazio and Jerry Rhome to help with the defense and offense.  The unorthodox maneuver of adding veteran consultants during the season won’t be repeated this time, not with a new coaching staff confident with its ways and the team at 3-2. 

Want to meet Mark Parrish of the Minnesota Wild? He will be at the Festival Foods grand opening (401 West 98^th Street in Bloomington) on Sunday from 5 to 6 p.m. 

Often injured Timberwolves guard Troy Hudson (played in 36 games last season) said he has bone spurs in his ankles.  Before training camp he was talking about developing a rest or recovery schedule between practices and games that will allow him to be effective. “With the right amount of recovery time I feel I can maintain a healthy career throughout,” he said.  

Ryan Wittman, Randy Wittman’s 6-7 son from Eden Prairie High School, will be a freshman basketball player at Cornell this season.

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Next season it will be 40 years since major league baseball last had a triple crown winner.  Carl Yastrzemski, who once played in Minneapolis for the minor league Millers, won the triple crown in 1967, batting .326, with 44 home runs and 121 RBI.  Since World War II only three players have led their league in batting average, home runs and RBI in the same season, and all were American Leaguers, Yaz, Frank Robinson and Mickey Mantle. 

In major league baseball history there have been 14 triple crown winners (Ted Williams twice).  To hit with power and lead the league in home runs while having a high batting average is one of baseball’s monumental challenges. This season Justin Morneau teased us enough with his numbers to stir tepid speculation that perhaps some day he could make a run at the triple crown. 

Morneau finished second in the American League in RBI with 130 while batting .321 with 34 home runs.  He was seventh in batting average and 11^th in home runs, although four players ahead of him hit only one more home run. 

Morneau, 25, had played only one full season with the Twins prior to this year.  His average last season was just .239, with 22 home runs and 79 RBI.  Did his batting average improvement of 82 points surprise Morneau? 

 “I always hit for average in the minor leagues,” he said. “It was one of those things that took some time; learn the pitchers and that kind of stuff. It’s something I expect of myself.  I am not surprised. You always want to hit over .300. That’s always a goal.” 

Morneau did hit over .300 three times in the minor leagues, although none were during full seasons. The most at bats were 236 when he hit .356 for Quad Cities in 2001.   

Morneau’s .321 average this season didn’t surprise manager Ron Gardenhire either. “No, he’s a good hitter,” Gardenhire said. “He’s a strong guy.  He’s used the whole field and once he told himself that every ball didn’t have to go out of the ball park…everything has been fine.” 

Morneau, who will be a candidate for the American League’s Most Valuable Player award, talked about the challenge of winning a triple crown.  “It’s one of those things where you have to have things fall into place.” he said. “You have to have guys on base in front of you.  You have to be hot all year. So many things have to come together at once.  I think if you are leading in home runs it’s hard to lead in average because you give up a little bit as a home run hitter.  Your swing has to be a little longer and that sort of stuff. There’s a fine line between the whole thing.” 

Morneau said his goal is to win games and if achieving a triple crown meant winning it would be a “special thing.”  At his age and the expected improvement that lies ahead, perhaps a Morneau run at a triple crown is possible.

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