We’ve learned the following while watching new Twins center fielder Carlos Gomez during the first month of the season: no bathroom breaks or channel surfing when he is batting or on base.  The best advice is to keep your TV set tuned to the Twins’ telecast all the time because the 22-year-old entertainment machine may do something spectacular in the outfield, too.

On a team looking for box office draws after losing mega stars Torii Hunter and Johan Santana during the off season, the Twins offer a potential replacement in the intriguingly unpredictable Gomez.  Blessed with running speed more common on a track than a baseball diamond, Gomez frequently has Twins fans applauding, but also sometimes wincing.

He seems capable of maintaining a minimum .250 batting average on bunts alone, a staple of his 14 total hits in 12 games so far.  He has so much speed that even a not so well placed bunt is almost a sure base hit for him.  With his numerous bunts and other hits Gomez has an average of .269, falling off over the weekend from above .300 because of a 2-14 series in Kansas City.

Once he reaches first base, the nail-biting begins for other teams, particularly the pitcher and catcher who reach for the Tums.  Gomez is about as reliable in stealing a base as he is beating out a bunt.  He has stolen five in six attempts

Not that it’s all good with Gomez.  He’s a raw talent, learning on the job after playing in 58 games with the New York Mets during the 2007 season.  A week ago Sunday, for example, Gomez was thrown out against Kansas City trying to stretch a routine single into a double at the Metrodome.  Last Tuesday in Chicago against the White Sox left hander John Danks picked him off first base after he had drawn a walk.  In a game earlier this season against Los Angeles he tried and failed with a sacrifice bunt because he was apparently bunting for a base hit.  Just Saturday night in Kansas City he struck out with the bases loaded when he chased bad pitches.

It doesn’t take long, though, for Gomez to jump-start the applause meter again.  For example, soon after being picked off first base in the White Sox game he made an all out run and sensational diving catch in the outfield to prevent a Chicago base hit.

The precocious Dominican came over to the Twins, of course, in the trade that sent Santana to the Mets.  Three pitchers, none of them on Twins roster currently, came, too, so it’s Gomez that has the local public feeling better about the loss of the two-time Cy Young winner.

After last season Gomez was rated the third best prospect in the Mets’ organization by Baseball America.  He came up to the Mets in May of last season as a 21-year-old rookie who had been leading the Class AAA Pacific Coast League in stolen bases with 17 while playing for New Orleans.  His minor league numbers included a 2005 season when he stole 64 bases playing for Hagerstown, Maryland in Class A.

Gomez hit .232 with the Mets in 58 games and 125 at-bats.  He had two home runs, 12 RBI and 12 stolen bases.  Presumably those numbers would have been better had he not missed almost two months of the season after fracturing a small bone in his left wrist while batting.

With the energy of the youngster he is, Gomez frequently is diving into bases.  It does add to the excitement of watching him but it probably brings out the worry warts among the Twins management, fearing he will be injured.

As he adds experience and judgment, Gomez will play smarter, probably lessening his contact with the ground, plus swinging at better pitches and maximizing opportunities to run for extra bases, and throwing with more accuracy from the outfield. But, hey, this guy is just getting started and before long his resume is likely to grow with accomplishments ranging from stealing home to a timely home run, and to a circus catch and throw from deep center field.

Let the applause continue.

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Tim Brewster, a present day and forward looking optimist, finds encouragement in looking at the past when he recalls his days as an assistant coach at the University of North Carolina.  Brewster, now coaching the Gophers in spring practice, told Sports Headliners last month that his 1-11 first season at Minnesota reminded him of the start- over project at North Carolina headed by Mack Brown, now head coach at Texas where his Longhorns won the 2005 national championship.

Brown arrived at North Carolina for the 1988 season and started building a program.  His first season record was 1-10.  The next year Brewster was on the staff with responsibilities that included heavy duty recruiting.  By Brown’s third season the Tar Heels were 6-4-1 and on their way to eight, nine and 10 win seasons.  A highlight was the 1997 team that finished 10-1, No. 4 ranked in the country, according to Brewster.

The Gopher coach said that while at North Carolina the talent level improved so significantly that “we were at one point putting more players in the National Football League than any school in America.”   Brewster sees strong similarities between North Carolina and Minnesota, two football programs that had been mediocre at best before his arrival, and schools with much to offer recruits including solid academics and attractive campuses.

“I’ve drawn upon that experience greatly in my first year here, knowing that if we do the right things each and every day we’ll see the same rewards that we saw at North Carolina,” he said.  “I truly believe that.”

The Gophers were statistically the worst defensive team in the country last season.  Brewster said he saw the same lack of speed and athleticism at North Carolina that characterized his first Gopher defense.  He said adding speed and athleticism is even more important at Minnesota because of the many spread offenses the Gophers will see in today’s modern Big Ten and college football.

Because the talent declined, North Carolina didn’t sustain the same success after Brown left for Texas, said Brewster who went with him to Austin as an assistant coach.  “The bottom line is it’s a player’s game,” Brewster said. “We’re only as good a coach as the ability of our players. …”

The Gophers lost five games by five points or fewer last season.  “I would like to see us improve to the point where next season we can win the close games,” Brewster said.  “Those six point games, those seven point games, we come out, we find a way to win those games. … People say how many wins are you predicting?  I don’t know.  I know this: we’re going to be in position to win games.  We’ve got to win them in the fourth quarter.”

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The Gopher spring game is Friday, April 25, starting at 7 p.m. in the Metrodome.  Admission is free and fans will evaluate the players, but a more realistic view of the Gophers will be had in August when the team starts practice with all of its new freshmen and junior college transfers who made Minnesota’s 2008 recruiting class ranked among the 20 best in the nation.  A total of 22 players from the class reportedly have 40 yard dash times of 4.6 or better, including 13 at 4.5 or less.  The three fastest are defensive back Traye Simmons, and safeties Keanon Cooper and Simoni Lawrence, all at about .445.

Ugh.  It’s difficult to imagine a more unappealing Gopher football schedule to fans than the one coming up.  The Gophers prepare(?) for the Big Ten Conference schedule (opening at Ohio State) with non-league home games against Northern Illinois, Montana State and Florida Atlantic, plus a visit to Bowling Green.  Two of the four Big Ten home games are against the conference’s least appealing schools, Indiana and Northwestern.  Thanks to the football gods for November home dates with Michigan and Iowa.

Wild goalie Josh Harding told Sports Headliners his sister, Stephanie, is now cancer free.  It was about a year ago that Harding was promoting awareness of breast cancer after his sister was diagnosed with the disease.

Harding, who has only played in three games since March 6, said he stays ready in team practices.  Regular goalie Niklas Backstrom has been outstanding in the Wild’s first two playoff games against Colorado.

The regular season and playoff support of the Wild fans at Xcel Energy Center impresses the players.  Forward Aaron Voros said on Saturday, “we have the best fans in the league, bar none. …”

Forward Chris Simon, who joined the team in February, said the fans give him additional energy.  “It does give you a jolt,” he said.  What about on the road when that support is missing?  Simon, known as an NHL bad guy, said he “feeds” off the boos for energy.

Former Timberwolf Christian Laettner, a college superstar at Duke, was quoted in a recent issue of Sports Illustrated about whether fans from rival North Carolina or Kentucky, who he beat with a memorable last minute shot, dislike him more.  “I’ve driven through Kentucky a few times, and boy, I’m really scared the whole time I’m on the road.  I do not stop anywhere in Kentucky. I’ll urinate in a plastic bottle.”

Tim Murray of Murray’s Restaurant travels with buddies each summer to major league baseball stadiums and in August will make stadium stops in Philadelphia, New York and Washington D.C.  It will be a last chance to see Yankee Stadium in New York.  Next year his plans include the new Yankee Stadium and also the New York Mets’ stadium, also opening in 2009.

Former Edina High School tennis star Whitney Taney was named the Big Ten Conference Women’s Tennis Athlete of the Week last week, according to the league’s Web site, www.bigten.org.  The Michigan freshman was 4-0 as nationally ranked Michigan extended its winning streak to 10 matches.

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