Twins starting pitchers Glen Perkins and Scott Baker expressed extraordinary praise for pitching coach Rick Anderson during interviews with Sports Headliners earlier this month.  No aspect of the Twins’ performance this season has been as surprising as the team’s starting pitching.

Forced through trades, free agency and ineffectiveness to rebuild from last year’s staff, the Twins have used a starting group most of the season consisting of Scott Baker, 26, Nick Blackburn, 26, Kevin Slowey, 24, and Glen Perkins, 23, who collectively had won 21 total games prior to 2008 (17 by Baker).  Early on and now again in August Francisco Liriano, 24, has been part of the rotation, too.  Collectively this group of five has won 42 of the team’s 75 victories that have the Twins in second place in the Central Division and chasing a playoff position.

Perkins was asked how much credit Anderson deserves for the success of the pitching staff, particularly the young starters who have been winning games all season.  “He deserves as much as you can give him, other than us going out there and doing it,” he answered.  “I think he’s the one that if we have a good outing, he doesn’t let us get too excited about it.  And if we have a bad outing, he’s not going to let us get too far down about it.  He always tries to find the positives out of outings. …”

Perkins was asked if there is a better pitching coach?  “Absolutely not. …The things he does, you look forward to throwing bullpen (practice) because you want to talk to him and you want to learn more from him.  I can’t even imagine anyone even being able to do what he does with our guys.”

Baker said Anderson “doesn’t get a lot of the credit he deserves” and he, too, admires his coach’s approach with the pitchers.  “He’s unbelievable,” Baker said. “He really, truly is.  He knows how to handle the young guys very, very well.  He knows when to say something, and when to kind of let us work through things on our own.  He’s very good at what he does. …”

Perkins described Anderson as having an “innate ability” to see what a pitcher needs to correct.  “If your pitches aren’t acting how they’re supposed to, he’s got an ability to see that and pick out what you may need to do. …”

Baker said sometimes a pitcher’s problems are mechanical and other times they’re not.  Anderson knows how to approach either situation.  Anderson will watch a pitcher and sometimes won’t even say anything, and that can be what’s needed, Baker said.

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Trivia question: What team did the Vikings face in their first preseason game ever and where was the game played?  (See answer at bottom of column).

A Vikings’ win in the team’s last pre-season game tonight (Thursday) in Dallas against the Cowboys will result in a 2-2 preseason record.  In the past 47 years there have been 37 times when the Vikings have had a .500 or better preseason record. The team has gone on to play at .500 or better 30 times during the regular season.

The Vikings haven’t allowed an offensive touchdown during the last seven quarters of preseason.  In the last two games the Vikings have eight sacks.  Defensive ends Jared Allen and Otis Grigsby lead the team with two each.

Former Vikings quarterback Brad Johnson, 39, is still a backup with the Cowboys.  His brother-in-law is Mark Richt, head football coach of No. 1 ranked Georgia.

Another former Vikings quarterback, Wade Wilson, is the Cowboys’ quarterback coach.

The Gophers’ 22-man offensive and defensive depth charts released earlier this week had 11 players who are either true freshmen, or redshirt freshmen, plus three junior college transfers.

Gopher coach Tim Brewster on sophomore Adam Weber:  “I think he’s going to be one of the best quarterbacks in the Big Ten.”  Brewster also said the most important quarterback statistic is wins and losses.

Second team quarterback Tony Mortensen is also the backup long snapper to Ryan Coleman.  Brewster said former Eden Prairie quarterback Ryan Grant, now a freshman with the Gophers, has potential as a long snapper, too.

The Big Ten Conference plays a Charmin-soft nonconference schedule compared with the Pac 10 Conference.  Big Ten opponents this Saturday include Akron, Coastal Carolina, Maine, Western Kentucky and Youngstown State.  The Pac 10 has two conference games, Oregon State at Stanford tonight, and Washington at Oregon on Saturday, plus non-conference foes Michigan State, Oklahoma State, Tennessee and Virginia.

Former Gopher national championship coach Murray Warmath, 95, plans to attend every home Minnesota game including Saturday’s opener with Northern Illinois.  He hasn’t missed a home game in several years.

The Gophers have a new website devoted solely to TCF Bank Stadium. The website, www.tcfbankstadium.com, debuted this week and offers virtual tours of the facility that will open next year.

“Our major goal in creating a stadium specific website was to effectively help drive our sales, marketing and communications efforts for TCF Bank Stadium,” said Jason Lafrenz, the athletics department’s director of marketing and ticket operations. “Tcfbankstadium.com is a one-stop shop for anything and everything related to the stadium.”

Gopher basketball coach Tubby Smith is out of town working at Michael Jordan’s basketball camp.

MIAC football teams begin play next week.  Six of the nine MIAC teams will have rosters of over 100 players, according to an MIAC spokesman.

Trivia answer:  Dallas in a preseason game in Sioux Falls, South Dakota.

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Note: after this column was posted Minnesota coach Tim Brewster announced in a statement that MarQueis Gray isn’t currently with the Gophers because of an “NCAA Eligibility Center issue.”

Whether he plays in 2008 Gopher games, or sits out the season as a redshirt, freshman quarterback MarQueis Gray will be talked about.  The 17-year-old from Indianapolis is probably the most anticipated quarterback recruit to arrive in Dinkytown in 50 years.  That was when Sandy Stephens, from Uniontown, Pennsylvania, said no to a long list of other schools, enrolled at Minnesota and eventually led the Gophers to two Rose Bowls while becoming the first black All-American quarterback at a major college.

Gray, rated by Rivals last year as the No. 3 dual threat quarterback in the country, arrives in the Big Ten Conference at the same time Terrelle Pryor begins his career at Ohio State.  Pryor was Rivals choice as the No. 1 dual threat quarterback and a player considered by many as the prize of high school football recruiting earlier this year.

Is Gray better?  Howard Griffith of the Big Ten Network said he prefers Gray to Pryor as a passer, according to Dave Revisne’s blog on the network’s Web site.

When Gopher coach Tim Brewster was an assistant at the University of Texas he recruited Vince Young who became one of college football’s best quarterbacks of this decade.  Young threw with a sidearm motion while Gray has a traditional over the top delivery.  “His (Gray’s) mechanics as a passer at this particular point are better than Vince’s were,” Brewster said.

Gray is listed on the Gopher roster at 6-4, 215. Young is about 6-5, 230.   Brewster sees many similarities between Gray and Young, describing their size, strong arms, running ability, love for football and willingness to prepare.

Brewster isn’t going to predict that Gray will be better than either Pryor or Young.  But he does say his future quarterback is a “remarkable athlete” and that one day he will be an “all-star caliber” player.

Young redshirted his freshman year at Texas.  With sophomore quarterback Adam Weber having two years of invaluable experience and coming off a season in which the Sporting News named him a third team freshman All-American, Gray seems likely to redshirt.  “He’s not opposed to redshirting and not for redshirting, he just wants to help the team in anyway he can,” Brewster said.

A serious injury to Weber making him unable to play will put Brewster on the spot.  If he believes senior backups Tony Mortensen or Mike Maciejowski can lead the Gophers “to victories,” than Gray seems certain to stay on the sidelines. “That to me is the huge wild card,” Brewster said.

“In a perfect world” Gray redshirts, according to Brewster.  He watches, listens and practices as though he will be the starting quarterback for the coming game.   Brewster expects nothing less than a sense of urgency in Gray’s preparations, even if he doesn’t play in a game all season.  Sooner or later he will play, and the comparisons will continue.  So far he’s in nice company.

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