Morris: Twins staff needs veteran starter

It's been a long time since a Twins pitching staff gave up 52 hits and 35 runs in a three-game series like the 2009 version did against the Los Angeles Angels at the Metrodome this past weekend.

The Angels got 19, 18 and 15 hits and scored 11, 11 and 13 runs in the three games.

Jack Morris, one of the stars of the Twins' 1991 World Series championship team and now a part of their radio broadcasting team, believes the reason for the inconsistency of the pitching staff is its youth.

The Twins started the season with a five-man rotation of Nick Blackburn, 27; Francisco Liriano, 25; Glen Perkins, 26; Scott Baker, 27 (after missing the first week because of a sore shoulder); and Kevin Slowey, 25. Slowey is out for the season because of a wrist injury and has been replaced in the rotation by Anthony Swarzak, 23.

Morris joined the Twins as a free agent in 1991 and helped lead them to the championship, while providing advice and feedback to younger pitchers on the staff.

"True, the Twins have a great pitching coach in Rick Anderson," Morris said. "But when we won the World Series, we had a number of veterans who could help lead young pitchers like Kevin Tapani and Scott Erickson. They had a chance to talk over various situations and how to pitch to hitters and such things. To me, that is important."

Last year one of the reasons the young starters were successful early in the season was the presence of veteran Livan Hernandez, who had a great start but then was claimed off waivers by the Rockies in August.

Catcher Joe Mauer's frustration with the Twins' pitching performance might have had something to do with him having two passed balls Sunday, the first time in his major league career he's had two in a game. He had only 19 passed balls all of last season.

Taylor meets candidates Look for the three leading candidates for the Timberwolves coaching position to be in town this week. They will be interviewed personally by team owner Glen Taylor and club President Rob Moor.

The candidates are Mark Jackson, currently working for ESPN and being recommended highly by Charlotte Bobcats coach Larry Brown and New York Knicks President of Basketball Operations Donnie Walsh. The other two candidates are Elston Turner, a Houston Rockets assistant, and Los Angeles Lakers assistant Kurt Rambis.

Rambis would be the best choice after working under Lakers coach Phil Jackson for a long time. But that would make too much sense for the Wolves to do.

Jottings In the six-game homestand with the White Sox and the Angels that concluded Sunday, the Twins' average attendance was 36,612, the biggest six-game average since 1988, according to team President Dave St. Peter. The crowd Sunday was 41,079. In 54 home dates a year ago, the team drew 1,395,771, an average of 25,848. This year the team has drawn 1,577,429 through 54 dates, an average of 29,212.

Vikings coach Brad Childress and Jerome Ruzicka, president of hearing aid company Starkey, have decided to experiment with having some of the linemen wear hearing aids in domed stadiums to cut through the noise and prevent motion penalties. Some Vikings linemen tried them in the minicamps. The first real test will come when the Vikings play the Colts in noisy Lucas Oil Stadium on Aug. 14.

PGA officials announced that fewer than 950 total ticket packages remain for the PGA Championship to be held Aug. 13-16 at Hazeltine National Golf Club. Both the Wanamaker and General Season ticket packages allow fans to watch practice rounds beginning Aug. 10. Wanamaker tickets provide fans access to the pavilion next to the first green.

Former Twins outfielder Torii Hunter, who was injured and didn't play in the Angels-Twins series this past weekend, has missed 21 games this season and isn't expected to play in the Angels' next series against the White Sox.

Osseo boxer Caleb Truax, a 25-year-old middleweight, is 13-0 with nine knockouts after he beat Patrick Perez by technical knockout on July 25 at the St. Paul Armory. Truax, a University of Minnesota alum, is ranked No. 15 among the nation's middleweights, according to the website boxrec.com. Truax told the Minnesota Daily: "I want to become a franchise in Minnesota. I want to be a big name in Minnesota, so I can bring some big championship fights and some big television fights back to Minnesota."

According to the Forum of Fargo-Moorhead, Gophers sophomore wide receiver Kyle Moore, who played his high school football at Cretin- Derham Hall, is transferring to the University of North Dakota. Moore didn't record a catch in the five games he played for the Gophers last year.

Chuck Fletcher, the new general manager of the Wild, said "the two best players at the recent offseason workouts were defensemen. Tyler Cuma, our first-round pick from [2008], really looked strong and looks like he's going to be a real good player for us down the road. And young Nick Leddy played very well too. He's obviously off to the University of Minnesota [after leading Eden Prairie to the Class 2A hockey title in March]. He's a few years away yet. His natural skill level and skating ability are really showing through. He's such a great skater, a smart hockey player, and he seems to be very grounded. The good thing is he's going off to [Minnesota] for at least a couple of years and has the ability to get stronger and mature naturally."