Slowey bounces back following surgery

Kevin Slowey had 10 victories for the Twins by mid-June last season, and he might have been headed for a 20-victory campaign. But a wrist injury first suffered at the end of the 2008 season began to bother him again in July, and he soon had surgery that not only ended his season prematurely but also potentially threatened the career of a 25-year-old pitcher with a great future.

Until he came to spring training this year, Slowey, who worked hard to rehabilitate from the injury, wasn't sure what his future was.

But everything turned out well, and after pitching seven innings without giving up a hit or a run in Sunday's 4-2 victory over Oakland, Slowey is 11-5 with a 4.22 ERA. He still has some soreness in his wrist at times, and he just missed a start because of elbow tendinitis.

Slowey had a rough stretch of starts in June and July, but since the All-Star break he is 3-0 with a 3.13 ERA in six starts. He could have won his fourth consecutive start Sunday, except that in his previous start he tired in the eighth inning with a 6-0 lead and the Rays rallied to tie the score off the Twins bullpen.

At $470,000 per year, Slowey is the second-lowest-paid starter on the team behind Brian Duensing, who is making $417,000 in his first full season as a major leaguer and began the season in the bullpen. Carl Pavano is making $7 million, Scott Baker $3 million, Francisco Liriano $1.6 million and Nick Blackburn -- now playing at Class AAA Rochester -- $750,000.

Slowey is eligible for arbitration after the season, so he is due for a big raise, particularly if he keeps pitching the way he has of late.

Credits Anderson Slowey gives pitching coach Rick Anderson a lot of credit not only for his own success but also that of the whole Twins staff.

"Rick is with us all the time," Slowey said. "Andy is the kind of guy that wants to talk to us after a good outing and a tough one, the day after we look at some video and in the bullpen, he's very quick to say what are we working on today.

"There's no wasted time with him, and he treats us all as individuals. He's done a phenomenal job."

Slowey talked about how both Anderson and manager Ron Gardenhire have stayed with him and other members of the pitching staff when things weren't going their way in an outing or two.

"Andy and Gardy were very specific when they said, 'Listen, we think you can do this. We're going to keep running you out there. You have the ability, let's keep at it,' " Slowey said. "I think that that's something that they should be lauded for, and it's something that really helps us out."

You look around the major leagues and you wonder if anybody has a better manager than Gardenhire or a better pitching coach than Anderson.

Freshman might start Maybe one of the biggest surprises of Gophers football practice to date is the performance of freshman James Manuel of Warren Central High School in Indianapolis. He could be a starting defensive back when the Gophers open up at Middle Tennessee State on Sept. 2.

Manuel, 6-2 and 210 pounds with great speed, was the 79th-rated safety in the country by Rivals.com and the sixth-best player in Indiana. He was ranked the 37th-best safety by ESPN and Scouts Inc.

"James Manuel is an extremely talented young kid," Gophers coach Tim Brewster said. "He's very physically mature. Saturday [in a scrimmage] he showed that the game wasn't too big for him: He gets lined up, communicates extremely well in the secondary, and he's a very physical presence back there. He's a very outstanding tackler.

"He's pushing extremely hard right now to be a starter for us. He's not there yet, but he certainly has a chance to get there. He's got excellent speed ... he's just an excellent safety prospect for us, and I think he's got a very bright future."

Brewster says this is the best freshman class he has had in his four seasons at Minnesota, and Manuel is one reason he feels that way.

Jottings Twins President Dave St. Peter said the demand for tickets to the three-game White Sox series this week is so great that the team could have sold more than 50,000 tickets if they were available. But St. Peter said the 39,504-seat capacity forces fans to buy tickets early so they don't get shut out.

Joe Mauer received a lot of criticism for laying down a bunt with two runners on and one out in the seventh inning of a tie game that the Twins eventually lost to Cleveland 4-3 on July 20. The loss sent the Twins to 49-45, 3 1/2 games behind the first-place Chicago White Sox in the AL Central. Since that game, Mauer has a .474 batting average, with three home runs, 10 doubles and 22 RBI, and the Twins have gone 19-5 to move into first place in the division.

In July, Delmon Young was one of the hottest hitters in all of baseball, hitting .434 with six homers and 30 RBI that month. But he has been in a real slump in August, hitting only .196 with no homers and only three RBI. So the Twins gave him the day off Sunday, with Jason Repko playing left field.

No doubt one of the hottest relief pitchers in the majors is the Twins' Jesse Crain, who after retiring two batters he faced Sunday has given up one earned run in his past 25 innings pitched, an outstanding ERA of 0.36 in a stretch of 28 games dating to June 10. Over that time, his ERA has dropped from 5.47 to 2.90. ... Alex Burnett, who pitched well in relief for the Twins earlier this season but returned to Rochester when he slumped, is struggling with a 6.00 ERA in eight games with the Red Wings. ... Longtime Twins outfielder Jacque Jones was having a great year at Rochester, but he was sidelined recently because of a sprained left knee.

The University of Minnesota ranks sixth nationally and first in the Big Ten in the inaugural College Athletics Cost Effectiveness Scorecard (CACES) released recently by Penn State York. The study evaluated 116 colleges in 11 major Division I conferences for the 2006-07 academic year and compared each university's expenditures on athletics compared to the number of points earned in the Directors Cup, which measures all-around athletic success. You have to commend Gophers athletic director Joel Maturi as well as Liz Eull, a senior associate AD who has a lot to do with the budgets and finances of the athletic department.

New Ulm native Jamie Hoffman is playing for Class AAA Albuquerque, the Los Angeles Dodgers' top farm team. The 25-year-old outfielder is fifth in the Pacific Coast League in hitting at .320 and doubles with 32, and 10th with 76 runs scored. He was taken by the Yankees in the Rule 5 draft but returned to the Dodgers on March 22.

Sid Hartman can be heard weekdays on WCCO AM-830 at 6:40, 7:40 and 8:40 a.m. • shartman@startribune.com