Jake Mauer, 79, is selling his tip sheet at Canterbury Park, working a reduced  scheduled on Saturdays and Sundays only.  After last season he had planned to retire.  “I really missed those people (customers),” Mauer said.  “If I had good health I would do it all four days.”

Next week Mauer visits the Mayo Clinic where a lens will be installed in his eyeglasses to improve his sight.  He is blind in the right eye but his vision is okay in the left.

The 12th annual Claiming Crown will be at Canterbury Park on Saturday. The six-race series, featuring $500,000 in purse money for thoroughbred racing’s “blue collar” runners, starts at 1:30 p.m.  This is the 10th time in 12 years that Canterbury will host some of the nation’s leading trainers and jockeys for this one-of-a-kind event.

Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said on his KSTP AM radio show Sunday that the club isn’t interested in re-signing Mike Redmond who was cut by Cleveland.  The former Twins catcher, now 39, doesn’t run or throw like he once did, according to Gardenhire.

Anthony Slama, a short reliever with a 1.71 ERA at AAA Rochester, has often been on the wish list for recall by second-guessing Twins fans.  Monday night the Twins put Slama on their roster.  He is a strikeout pitcher.  He had 64 strikeouts in 52.2 innings at Rochester.

Francisco Liriano, who is scheduled to start for the Twins today against Cleveland, has allowed only two home runs this season, both against the Red Sox in Boston.  Dating back to last year, Liriano has gone 64.1 innings without giving up a home run.

John Anderson has been named the Mideast Coach of the Year by the American Baseball Coaches Association for leading the Gophers to a fifth Big Ten title since 2000.  Fundraising for a new outdoor baseball stadium is ongoing, although the Gophers are probably better positioned to win and improve by continuing to play inside at Mall of America Field.

Kevin Noreen, Minnesota’s 2010 Mr. Basketball, will be given an opportunity to play this fall as a freshman at West Virginia and isn’t planning to redshirt.

Aw shucks.  The word on the web is Tiger Woods’ alleged friend Rachel Uchitel will not be invited to appear on TV’s hit show Celebrity Apprentice.

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With the Twins having lost 23 of their last 41 games and at times looking like a Central Division wannabe instead of a champion, the finger pointing among fans now even includes manager Ron Gardenhire.  He’s long been a favorite in this town but anybody and everybody receives blame when the Twins lose a comfortable division lead and play like second stringers instead of heroes.

But don’t expect team management or ownership to have thoughts about changing managers any time soon.  And most everyone who pulls for the Twins is feeling better after last weekend’s Target Field series when the Twins won three of four against the first place White Sox who now lead Minnesota and Detroit by 1.5 games.

The Twins’ decision makers are likely to want Gardenhire to manage the team even if the team falters on the field the balance of this season and next.  It’s the organization’s philosophy to minimize change and create continuity.

During the last 25 seasons the Twins have had two managers, Tom Kelly, 1986-2001 and Gardenhire, 2002-present.  The front office folks kept Kelly around for years after he managed two World Series champions even though the Twins had teams that were among the worst in the American League.

Gardenhire has managed five teams to Central Division titles with the most recent championships in 2006 and 2009.  His teams haven’t experienced post-season success and the Twins struggles are so bad they haven’t won a playoff series since 2002.

Like any group of coaches, even the best in the game, the Twins coaching staff led by Gardenhire doesn’t always make the right decisions.  But there’s consensus among baseball authorities that the Twins have outstanding on field leadership.

Gardenhire’s contract ends after next season.  Neither Gardenhire nor management is likely to be talking contract now, or perhaps even during the next off-season.

It would be just like the front office and Gardenhire to stay in the moment, play out the season and see what the situation looks like then.  Even use the same approach next season.

The end of the 2011 season seems far away.  Gardenhire will be 54 years old by then.  He’s had some health issues and his older brother Mike died unexpectedly at age 55 two years ago.  So who knows if Gardenhire will even want to manage after his  contract expires?

Both he and the front office will be in a much different and better place to evaluate his future in early or late 2011.  But despite some public finger pointing, count on Gardenhire being around for awhile, maybe a long while.

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The Vikings open training camp in Mankato next week and will be there through August 12.  Here are 10 (hopefully) laugh out loud reasons to visit the Purple at training camp:

1. Most of the citizenry is unemployed and there’s nothing else to do.

2. See if there’s anyone wearing a Packers’ jersey to start a fight with.

3. Let NFL reps know we don’t appreciate defensive players (even those known as Saints) diving at our quarterback’s legs.

4. Help make sure the Vikings have 11 players in the huddle, not 12.

5. Pick up a lock of Jared Allen’s hair.

6. Last chance to see Tarvaris Jackson as No. 1 quarterback before you-know-who returns.

7. Attend final training camp in Mankato before franchise relocates to Los Angeles next year.

8. Be among the first to hear what sack records Ray Edwards intends to break this season.

9. See if Adrian Peterson will be carrying a football with handles attached.

10. Admit you’ve just been pretending to be interested in the Twins until training camp opens.

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