Sid Hartman: Coach expects more from Peterson in '09

NFL Films was in town Saturday to follow Adrian Peterson and put out a DVD on the great third-year Vikings running back.

The Vikings are having their minicamp this weekend, and Peterson is taking part in all of it. Running backs coach Eric Bieniemy looks for the former Oklahoma great to have a better season this year than he had last, when he led the NFL in rushing.

"I thought he made a tremendous jump from [his rookie season], but also I think he will improve again this year," Bieniemy said. "My main concern with him is just basically getting back to understanding run-game reads. Because, obviously, he had a great year last year, but it could have been so much better. I know for a second-year player to go out and rush for 1,760 yards is a tremendous, tremendous success.

"The sky can be the limit."

The biggest concern from last year regarding Peterson was that he had some issues with fumbles. He fumbled the ball nine times, losing four. That was up from five fumbles in his outstanding 2007 rookie season.

"Well, you know what, that is an issue," Bieniemy said. "But the way you address that, I think, in the offseason is you just work on different techniques and different drills on ball security and making sure the little things become a habit. Most of his issues have been [fumbling] in fighting for extra yardage, and at times you've just got to learn that, 'Hey, it's OK to go down.' I know that's not his nature, but it's OK."

Bieniemy said Peterson has learned from last year's offseason, focusing more on preparation and less on outside projects.

Bieniemy added: "The bottom line ... is taking time this offseason and just learning from his mistakes."

Guerrier bounces back Matt Guerrier made his major league debut with the Twins in 2004, and over the following years he gradually gained a more important role in the bullpen. But after pitching effectively for the first half of the 2008 season, he had a rough time getting batters out in the second half. Last year, his ERA was 3.35 before the All-Star break but 8.88 after the break.

Guerrier has bounced back this year, and now he appears to have taken over as Ron Gardenhire's top choice to pitch the eighth inning leading up to a save situation for Joe Nathan. He has a 3.70 ERA in 24 games this season, and he has given up only 16 hits and four walks in 24 1/3 innings.

In last week's four-game series against the Red Sox at the Metrodome, Guerrier was very effective. He got five outs on 13 pitches, all with the Twins protecting leads in the eighth inning.

"I had a pretty good start last year, just the last couple of months blew up," Guerrier said. "Hopefully, I did some things to get better [over the offseason]. I just spent more days off, maybe I'm a little stronger. Hopefully, I'll be able to sustain it all year."

The Pohlad family has contributed a total of $185 million toward the building of the Twins' new Target Field. They originally contributed $130 million when the stadium was approved in 2006. Since then, they have added $15 million toward the infrastructure, $4.5 million toward the plaza and $35.5 million for general ballpark improvements. ... The Twins have been receiving about $20 million from Major League Baseball revenue sharing, but according to team president David St. Peter, this will be reduced quite a bit in the future with the additional revenue expected from the new stadium.

The Twins have had only one day off in May while playing some good teams, such as the Royals, Tigers, Yankees, Red Sox, Brewers and now the defending American League champion Rays. With the 5-2 loss at Tampa Bay on Saturday, the Twins are assured of having a losing month, but catcher Mike Redmond said: "We've had a tough road, playing these teams from the East, it's not an easy schedule we've had in May. We haven't had a day off for a long time, so it will be nice to ... take a day off [Monday], take a little breather. And get ready to go to Seattle and wherever else we're going. You look at our record against those teams over the course of years, we haven't had a whole lot of wins. It will be nice to get back to playing teams in our division, [and] see if we can't make up some ground."

The Twins' major league-worst road record fell to 5-16 with Saturday's loss. Prior to their current road trip, outfielder Michael Cuddyer said: "We've struggled on the road, but those times we've struggled on the road, we've struggled in general. It just so happened that it was on the road. You can't make the mistakes that we were making early in the season. We have to play good baseball and we have to do it on the road."

Kahlil Bell, the UCLA running back signed by the Vikings, hasn't reported to any of the offseason workouts as yet because he still is in school. ... Don't give up on the Vikings signing Antoine Winfield, who is being paid $6 million in 2009 for the last year of his contract. Brad Childress had lunch with the cornerback the other day, and the Vikings coach believes there is a good chance that Winfield will stay with the team after this season.

The Gophers men's basketball team has offered scholarships to four players: Ricky Kreklow of Columbia, Mo.; Harrison Barnes of Ames, Iowa; Alex Kirt of Los Alamos, N.M.; and Trey Zeigler of Mount Pleasant, Mich.