Pavano has shown success on big stage

If the Twins are fortunate enough to advance to the World Series, they'll have a starting pitcher with World Series experience in Carl Pavano. The righthander pitched for the Florida Marlins when they beat the Yankees in six games in 2003.

Pavano started Game 4 in the Series, giving up one run and seven hits over eight innings. He struck out four and walked none but did not factor in the decision as the Marlins won 4-3 in 12 innings. Pavano also pitched one inning of one-hit, shutout relief in Game 2, a 6-1 Yankees victory.

During the 2003 regular season, Pavano was 12-13 with a 4.30 ERA. He went 18-8 with a 3.00 ERA in 2004, then became a free agent and signed a four-year, $38 million contract with the Yankees. Injuries limited him to 26 starts with New York.

Pavano is looking forward to the postseason.

"This is what we play for. It's a great accomplishment as a team to get to this point," he said. "Obviously, the bigger prize is ahead of us, but we did get this part behind us, we need to finish this season off strong and keep moving forward."

Pavano said it was an experience winning the World Series in 2003, and he is looking forward to doing the same here.

Pavano said he believes the Twins have the personnel to get to the World Series and win it.

"I definitely think the depth is here, everything is here," he said. "Every team is different, but we were good enough to win our division, so we just have got to keep moving forward. We just have to see how the chips fall. ... [If] you go into a series like that hot, always the hotter team wins. Either way we've still got to go out there and play good baseball."

Pavano, who will be a free agent after the season, was asked if he wants to come back to the Twins next year after having a great season.

"We'll see how that works out," he said. "There's a lot of intangibles that go into that. It's a tricky question, but I've definitely enjoyed my time here, enjoyed my teammates, the organization, so we'll see what we can work out."

Twins General Manager Bill Smith said Pavano is one of nine Twins who will be free agents. "That will be something that we get after in the offseason," Smith said. "[Pavano] has been phenomenal this year. He was a great pickup for us last year and really was one of the key guys getting us to that 163rd game last year. He's been fantastic this year, and he's going to get his start in the second game of the postseason. So we will look at all that other stuff later."

Later bye preferred Vikings quarterback Brett Favre was asked Sunday after the victory over Detroit that is this week was a good time for his team to have a bye.

"I would like to see it later, to be quite honest with you," Favre said. "It's a long stretch after this. It's a long stretch anyway, especially how our schedule stacks up.

"Can we can get a lot accomplished this week? Probably not. Will guys probably kind of heal up a little bit? You know, one week is not going to help a whole lot.

"But I guess the only way you can look at it is we won a game, we'd like to play next week with momentum. You know the bye week is this week, and that's the way it is, so you might as well say it's a good time."

Favre stayed in the Twin Cities this week and had some teammates watching film with him, trying to improve the passing game.

"The problem is, it's been a new guy every week," Favre said of the changes in the receiving corps. "And you say, 'OK, I'm going to play this guy at slot or this guy at flanker,' and then the next week you take the guy that played flanker and you move him to slot."

For example, Favre said he wanted to incorporate running back Toby Gerhart in the passing game in the future.

"He was kind of banged up [when the season opened]. I really had no work with him until two weeks ago," Favre said. "He didn't play against the Saints, and I felt like things that he and I have, which isn't a lot, we haven't done a lot, but in my mind I've accomplished more by talking to him.

"So for the guys who will be here, we'll watch some film and talk about it, but I don't know if a lot is going to get accomplished this week."

Jottings • Brian Duensing had a 33-36 record during his minor-league career, but he is 15-5 as a major leaguer. In addition, his winning percentage this year (.769 on a 10-3 record) is tied for sixth among lefthanders on the Twins' single-season list. The best year Duensing had in the minors was 2007, when he was 15-6 (11-5 at Class AAA Rochester and 4-1 at Class AA New Britain). In his final two years at Rochester, he was 9-17 with a 4.32 ERA. In the majors, Duensing has a 2.92 ERA, including 2.44 this year.

• Gophers quarterback Adam Weber was named one of 21 semifinalists for the National Football Foundation's William Campbell Trophy. The trophy, considered by many to be the "Academic Heisman," is awarded to a player based on academics, community service, and on-field performance.

• Josh Oglesby, a shooting guard from Cedar Rapids, Iowa, whom the Gophers had been recruiting heavily, gave a verbal commitment to Iowa.

• The Gophers-Wisconsin football game on Oct. 9 will start at 11 a.m. and be broadcast by the Big Ten Network.

• Former Gophers running back Laurence Maroney, who was traded by the Patriots to the Broncos, made his debut with his new team Sunday against the Colts. He finished with 12 carries for 24 yards and caught two passes for 40 yards.

• For the third consecutive week, former Gopher Marion Barber III led the Cowboys in rushing. He carried 17 times for 55 yards and a touchdown against Houston.

• Two football players who once had ties to the Gophers -- Kansas State's Brodrick Smith and Michigan State's Greg Jones -- really would have helped Minnesota this season. Smith, who played 12 games for the Gophers in 2008, is Kansas State's leading receiver. He has 14 receptions for 191 yards and three touchdowns through four games. The 6-2, 212-pound sophomore from Garden City, Kan., sat out last season as a redshirt. Smith caught five passes for 50 yards and a score as a freshman with the Gophers.

Then there is Jones, a linebacker who committed to Minnesota and then changed his mind after Glen Mason was fired. Jones, described by rivals.com as a "future Dick Butkus," has a team-leading 33 tackles in four games.

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