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After clinching division, Twins turn attention towards playoffs

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:34:50 GMT

The carpeting in the Twins’ clubhouse still smelled of beer and champagne Saturday morning and was still slightly damp, reminders of the raucous celebration that had taken place there just hours earlier. The Twins achieved their first goal — a division title — on Friday night.So, what’s next?There are still seven games remaining after Saturday’s 1-0 loss the Los Angeles Angels, and the Twins will use those days preparing for the playoffs.That means setting their rotation — Pablo López and Sonny Gray appear in line to start games one and two, respectively — for the postseason. That means resting players as needed and throwing others in situations they may be unaccustomed to as a result — Josh Winder and Dylan Floro pitched in the final innings of Saturday’s tight game, for example. That likely will mean bringing back some players who have been on the injured list and thrusting them back into action.“We’re going to probably have a good balance of we’re going to go out there and ...

For Lakeville’s Nick Swaney, a chance to lodge in Wild’s ‘memory banks’

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:34:50 GMT

Every player who reaches the highest levels of ice hockey has talent, athletic ability, skill and likely some smarts. Eventually, they discover they have something else. A role.That’s something Wild coach Dean Evason brought up before training camp started this week at TRIA Rink, and Nick Swaney was listening. He describes his role as that of an energy player, but it goes beyond that with the Wild staff.“Kind of like a Swiss Army Knife,” said Brent McLean, a longtime Wild assistant who will start his first season as Iowa’s head coach after camp ends Oct. 11.Swaney, 26, will be in the lineup for Sunday afternoon’s preseason opener against the Avalanche in Colorado, playing on a line with Rasmus Kumpulainen and Servac Petrovsky.“He can kill penalties, he can play on the power play, he goes to the net, he skates well, fantastic kid,” McLean added. “That’s why we like him.”Swaney, 26, re-signed on a one-year, two-way contract in June and now is aiming to take the next step during camp t...

Arlen Erdahl, former Minnesota secretary of state and congressman, dies at 92

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:34:50 GMT

Arlen Erdahl, a former Minnesota secretary of state and U.S. state congressman, died this week after a long battle with Alzheimer’s, his family members said Saturday.A farmer and lifelong public servant, Erdahl died Thursday at the age of 92.He and his twin brother, Lowell, were raised on a farm near Blue Earth, Minn. Erdahl’s earliest political experience was campaigning with his dad for Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party gubernatorial candidate Floyd B. Olson.He attended St. Olaf College where he participated in three sports and was captain of the track team. He went on to serve in the U.S. Army and run for the army’s track team.After his military service, he worked on the family farm and married Ellen Syrdal in 1958. Along with raising six children, the couple “campaigned and traveled back and forth from the farm to political and fellowship posts in St. Paul, Boston, Washington, D.C., and Kingston, Jamaica,” per a news release from Erdahl’s family.Du...

CU Buffs vs. Oregon quick hits: Coach Prime gets humbling many thought — and some hoped — they’d see three weeks ago at TCU

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:34:50 GMT

Initial observations from the CU Buffs’ 42-6 loss to the Oregon Ducks in head coach Deion Sanders’ Pac-12 debut at Autzen Stadium on Saturday in Eugene, Ore.Running on empty: The Buffs’ first nine plays of the game? Eight passes, one run (the latter for one yard). Clearly, offensive coordinator Sean Lewis does not trust CU’s run game, and it’s hard to blame him. Shedeur Sanders is special. That much we knew after three weeks. But the offensive line? That’s a work in progress — as evidenced by the Ducks’ seven sacks. Right now, the Buffs offense is way too one-dimensional. While that might work against the likes of TCU, Nebraska and CSU, it falls to pieces against college football’s upper echelon. Until CU can threaten defenses with a run game that churns out 4-5 yards per carry, there’s only so much its star quarterback can do.Faked out: In a game where the Buffs were 21-point underdogs, somehow it was the Ducks who were taking t...

Kickin’ It with Kiz: Where can the crazy-rich Waltons get a $4.65 billion refund for these broken Broncos?

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:34:50 GMT

Now that our dusty old cowtown’s favorite football team is owned by the Walmart family, I’m curious to know if they have a return policy for quarterback Russel Wilson and this entire NFL franchise. Just how does the Walton-Penner ownership group go about getting a refund on the $4.65 billion they paid for the Broncos? Do family members merely show the original receipt at their local Walmart, then wait for a refund to be posted on the same credit card they used to make the purchase? Or do they just end up getting a store credit?Buddy, AuroraKiz: Well, it seems unlikely the bickering Bowlen kids will offer even a partial refund, so how do the crazy-rich Waltons begin to recoup some of that $4.65 billion? Perhaps they could interest you in buying an entire rack of orange No. 3 jerseys, all at 50% off.Should the Broncos tank for a shot at drafting quarterback Caleb Williams of Southern Cal? I hate it when I agree with you, Kiz. But some nice folks out there in Broncos Country don&...

How it happened: Colorado gets blown out in Pac-12 opener at Oregon

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:34:50 GMT

Game headlinesCU Buffs vs. Oregon quick hits: Coach Prime gets humbling many thought — and some hoped — they’d see three weeks ago at TCUFINAL: Ducks 42, Buffs 6Say goodbye to the Heisman hype. Time to shutter those Rose Bowl dreams.Reality hit the CU Buffs on Saturday afternoon in a 42-6 loss to the Oregon Ducks. And it hit HARD.The Buffs still have a ways to go before they enter the same stratosphere as college football’s elite. That Coach Prime couldn’t get them there by Week 4 of his first season in Boulder is hardly an indictment. It’s simply the reality of the sport. It takes more than one offseason to build the sort of quality depth needed to win in a place like Autzen Stadium. Maybe even more than two.CU has work to do up front. If that wasn’t apparent after last Saturday night’s Rocky Mountain Showdown, it’s painfully obvious now — especially for quarterback Shedeur Sanders.USC and Big Noon Kickoff await next Saturday in Boulder. We’...

Former Anaheim Ducks left wing, SoCal native dead at 29

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:34:50 GMT

A SoCal native and former NHL player has died at the age of 29.A statement from the Anaheim Ducks social media page confirmed the death of Nicolas "Nic" Kerdiles late Saturday morning.The Irvine native became the first player from Orange County to play for the Ducks in 2017. According to TMZ, police in Nashville, Tennessee said that Kerdiles struck the driver’s side of a BMW with his Indian Motorcycle around 3:30 a.m. Saturday. Kerdiles posted a photo to his Instagram story that showed him on his motorcycle with the caption “Night rider” hours before his death. Kerdiles posted a photo to his Instagram story that showed him on his motorcycle with the caption “Night rider” hours before his death. (Instagram/@nickerdiles)The former Anaheim Duck was engaged to Savannah Chrisley — who stars in the reality TV show “Chrisley Knows Best” and is the daughter of convicted fraudsters Todd and Julie Chrisley — from 2017 to 2020. Kerdiles was most recently working as a real estate...

Homeboy 5K run held to raise money for gang rehab in L.A.

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:34:50 GMT

Homeboy Industries, the largest gang rehabilitation and re-entry program in the world, held its 14th annual 5K run in downtown L.A. on Saturday morning. KTLA 5’s Wendy Burch was live from Chinatown at the event’s starting line, where an estimated 5,000 participants were gearing up to run for a good cause. “I’m running to support a very important and spiritual part of this community,” one runner said. The organization, which was founded by Father Greg Boyle, has provided training and support to former gang members and previously incarcerated people in the Los Angeles area for over 30 years. Homeboy Industries, the largest gang rehabilitation and re-entry program in the world, kicked off its 14th annual 5K run on Saturday, Sept. 23, 2023 in Los Angeles, CA. (KTLA)“It’s heartening to see so many people here and every year it grows more and more,” Boyle said on the event’s main stage to KTLA 5’s Frank Buckley and Vera Jimenez.  The 5K kicked off just after 8:30 a.m. ...

How NASA Ames is bringing asteroid samples to Earth, safe and sound

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:34:50 GMT

As a primordial space rock hurtles toward Earth on Sunday morning, it will be protected by a heat shield invented in Silicon Valley.The priceless rock, grabbed by the OSIRIS-REx spacecraft from the distant asteroid Bennu, will face searing heat as it enters the Earth’s atmosphere at 27,650 mph. It is expected to fly over the Bay Area around 7:42 a.m. and land in Utah’s Great Salt Lake Desert around 7:55 a.m., where it will be greeted by teams of scientists.Without protection, “it would all burn up, and we’d lose everything of scientific value,” said aerospace engineer Todd White of NASA’s Ames Research Center, a Sunnyvale resident who helped design the thermal protection system for the capsule.The metallic material — lighter than water, with yellow and brown streaks — was designed in specialized wind tunnels, where air gets heat-blasted by a lightning-like arc of electricity, at NASA’s Mountain View facility.The OSIRIS-REx project, managed by NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center...

Adell homers off Gray as Angels beat AL Central champion Twins 1-0

Published Sun, 23 Feb 2025 15:34:50 GMT

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) — Jo Adell homered, Kenny Rosenberg outpitched Sonny Gray and the Los Angeles Angels beat the Twins 1-0 on Saturday, a day after Minnesota clinched the AL Central title.Rosenberg (2-2), a 28-year-old left-hander making his fourth big league start and ninth appearance, allowed five hits and two walks in five innings with five strikeouts. Carlos Estévez, the Angels’ fourth reliever, hit Kyle Farmer with a pitch starting the ninth, then got three straight outs for his 31st save in 35 chances.“Sometimes your best results aren’t necessarily your best execution or your best stuff,” Rosenberg said. “I felt like I was good. I didn’t feel like I had my best stuff, but navigated some runners on base in the first inning and then a couple really nice plays behind me defensively.”Gray (8-8) allowed a fourth-inning homer to Adell on a first-pitch sinker, just the eighth home run off Gray this season. He gave up four hits in six innings and struck out eight, lowering h...