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Posted August 28, 2006
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Second Cy Young Award for Santana?
Twins
pitching coach Rick Anderson was asked about Cy Young
candidates. He first mentioned Toronto’s Roy Halladay who won
the award in 2003. Within a minute the Twins’
Johan Santana, the 2004 winner, was a topic of conversation.
“You
gotta throw Jo in the middle of it,” Anderson said recently. “When he
has the ball you know you’re going to have a chance to win a game. He
gets you deep into every game like Halladay and has all the pitches.
“What’s neat about Jo is he is a finisher. You get into August and
September and it’s almost like he steps it up a notch, and that’s great
because when you are making a pitch for the playoffs you need something
like that.”
Santana and Halladay are in a statistical battle with little separating
them in wins and ERA, but Santana, as the American League leader, is far
superior in strikeouts. Both could win 20 games and finish with ERA’s
around 3.00.
A Cy
Young candidate gets packaged in different ways including whether he
plays for a playoff team and wins 20 games. The Twins will have a run
at post-season glory but Toronto will need a miracle to do the same.
Santana’s Cy Young competition may well come from the pitching leaders
on playoff contenders Detroit, Chicago, New York and Boston.
“He
(Santana) ends up winning 20 games and we get in the playoffs and he’s
got a great chance,” Anderson said. “We don’t make the playoffs and he
wins 17 games it’s going to be a long shot.”
Anderson said Santana probably was as good a pitcher last year as the
season before when he won the American League Cy Young award but he
didn’t have as many wins (20-6 in 2004, 16-7 in 2005). This year
Anderson thinks Santana may be pitching his most consistent season long
baseball.
For
pitching awesome baseball over a shorter period, 2004 will long be
remembered. The 27-year-old left hander was the American League Pitcher
of the Month for July with a 1.17 ERA. Then he proceeded to win the
award over the next two months with highlights that included a 6-0
record in August and 5-0 in September with a
0.45 ERA. On September 24 he set a Twins record with 13 consecutive
wins.
“I
think two years ago what he did the second half (of the season) you may
not see for a long time in major league baseball,” Anderson said. “It
was absolutely amazing to me to see that. He had command of all three
pitches (fast ball, slider and change up), and just absolutely dominated
teams.”
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Photo courtesy of
Minnesota Twins
Johan Santana
Photo courtesy of
Minnesota Twins
Rick Anderson
“I
think two years ago what he did the second half (of the season) you may
not see for a long time in major league baseball.”
Rick Anderson talking about Johan
Santana. |
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Ray Edwards: Man on the Move
Ray Edwards, the youngest player on the
Vikings’ roster at 21, made two eye-opening plays in the last six
minutes of the Vikings’ pre-season win over Baltimore last week. First,
the rookie defensive end made a sprawling attempt to sack quarterback
Brian St. Pierre who then hurriedly threw an interception to
Willie Offord leading to a Vikings’ field goal. In the final two
minutes of the fourth quarter Edwards stripped the ball from St. Pierre
and Khreem Smith picked up the fumble to score on a 29-yard
touchdown run.
Only
days before the game defensive coordinator Mike Tomlin said the
Vikings’ fourth round rookie draft choice was “trying to make the team
at this point.”
He
also said, “He is doing a nice job of etching out a potential spot for
himself. That will continue to develop over the next two weeks.”
Edward’s performance against the Ravens was some nice “etching” and fit
with his reputation as a potentially talented pass rusher. At Purdue
Edwards tied for second in sacks in the Big Ten Conference as a
sophomore and although he played only three
seasons for the Boilermakers he is tied for seventh among the school’s
career sack leaders.
Asked
to evaluate himself as if he were a scout, Edwards said, “Definitely can
get to the quarterback. Definitely got a great first step.”
The
6-foot-5, 268-pound Edwards, who said he wants to improve his
performance against the run, left Purdue after his junior season. The
Boilermakers’ 2005 season was one of disappointment and discontent. The
team returned all 11 starters on defense along with a veteran
quarterback, had an early season top 20 ranking, hit a six game losing
streak and finished with a 5-6 record, missing a bowl game for the first
time in coach Joe Tiller’s nine year career at Purdue. There
was plenty of finger pointing and talk about attitudes.
In
another scenario, Edwards may well have been drafted higher but the
Vikings, including Scott Studwell, the team’s director of college
scouting, were happy for the opportunity to draft the gifted college
pass rusher in the fourth round. “I was a little disappointed (not to
be drafted higher) but everything happens for a reason,” Edwards said.
“I can’t be no better than where I am at right now. I am happy here and
I think I will continue to stay happy here.”
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Ray Edwards
Mike Tomlin |
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Wheaton Likes Nadal Star
Power
Minnesota tennis legend
David Wheaton likes Roger Federer or Andy Roddick to
win the men’s singles at the US Open in New York. The women’s winner?
“It’s very hard to pick (someone) this year,” he answered.
With
Andre Agassi retiring, Anna Kournikova fading from the
scene and John McEnroe long past his prime, who has star power in
the sport that still misses the marketing appeal of Jimmy Connors,
Bjorn Borg, McEnroe and Billie Jean King? “Rafael
Nadal has a lot of cache in him,” Wheaton said. “He brings a lot of
energy. On the women’s side, (Maria) Sharapova.”
In 1990 Wheaton lost in
the US Open singles quarterfinals to McEnroe, his best showing ever at
America’s Grand Slam. In recent years he has been playing in the 35 and
over doubles at the Open but is no longer eligible because of a new rule
limiting participation to players who once were champions or runner-ups
in Grand Slam events. Wheaton, 37, and partner T.J. Middleton
won the 35 and over doubles championship at Wimbledon in 2004 and
finished second the last two years.
A
devout Christian, the Tonka Bay resident is the author of the book
“University of Destruction.” He writes about the
“three
pillars of peril students face in college: sex, drugs/alcohol, and
humanism (secular or religious).”
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David Wheaton |
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Extra Innings
The
annual Trent Tucker Youth Program fund-raiser has a new event to
complement the celebrity golf tournament. A celebrity poker tournament,
with scheduled guests that include
Michael Jordan and poker star Phil Ivey, will be held at
Canterbury Park on Friday, September 8. On Saturday, September 9, Rush
Creek Golf Course will be the site for a celebrity golf outing including
you-know-who.
Twins
pitcher Francisco Liriano talking about going back to his native
Dominican Republic for the winter: “I was here in the winter this year
for the Twinsfest. Pretty cold, man, I don’t like that. That’s not the
way that I am used to it, you know.”
Former Gopher football coach Lou Holtz is
promoting his new book, “Wins, Losses, and Lessons.” He said on WCCO
Radio’s Sports Huddle: “I am the only guy who has written more books
than he has read.” Holtz told the local radio audience he would have
stayed at Minnesota and not gone to Notre Dame if the University had
extended his authority in the athletic department.
Gopher junior safety Dom Barber visited his older brother,
Marion III, in Dallas during the off-season. Marion, whose Dallas
Cowboys play the Vikings Thursday night, spent time with Dom bowling,
eating pizza and staying around the house and swimming pool. Dom, who
played running back in high school, will play defense for the Gophers
and not follow the running back tradition set by his father, Marion
II, and his older brother, two of the school’s best runners ever.
Another Barber runner may be coming, though. “Little Thomas,
he’s eight now, and some day may be he will the next one to carry the
tradition of running backs,” Dom said.
Matt Spaeth, recently named a Gopher co-captain, talked earlier this
month about how the team must learn from the past and not give away
games (see 2005 versus Wisconsin): “I think as a team we look at some
of our games where we’ve had let downs. Fourth quarter letdowns or just
stupid mistakes. Things like that that will cost us the game. We
definitely (have) got to get rid of those.”
Former Viking coach Mike Tice’s son, Nate, and nephew,
Mike, are both playing football for Edina High School.
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Photo courtesy of Minnesota Twins
Francisco Liriano
Matt Spaeth |
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