Hartman: Willingham supplies Twins with some pop

Josh Willingham went through a rough stretch for the Twins in May, when he hit only .220, but he still managed to have an on-base percentage of .366, hit five home runs, drive in 20 runs and hit eight doubles.

So while his average dropped from .347 at the end of April to .276 at the end of May, he still has been creating enough offense to make this a career year.

The former Oakland Athletics outfielder, who signed a three-year contract with the Twins for $21 million, is one big reason the Twins have gone 5-1 in the past six games, sweeping three games from the A's and winning two of three at Cleveland.

Willingham went 8-for-23 (.348) during the past six games with two home runs -- one a three-run, walk-off clout to beat Oakland 3-2 on Tuesday -- eight RBI and five runs scored.

Willingham was asked if he has been able to figure out not only his hot and cold streaks as a hitter, but how it happens to other hitters as well.

"I think it's a combination of things," he said. "I think a lot of times you're seeing the ball really good and you're getting good pitches to hit. I think that's the main thing. Sometimes when you're not getting many hits or hitting many home runs, the pitchers are making pitches on you and the pitches you do get to hit, maybe you're fouling them back a little bit. I think it just kind of depends on a lot of those factors."

Willingham has a career on-base percentage of .363, but this year he is at .400, which ties him for fourth in the American League with Tampa Bay's Matt Joyce, only seven percentage points behind teammate Joe Mauer.

A year ago in 136 games with Oakland, Willingham hit .246 with 98 RBI and 29 home runs. He said the Oakland Coliseum and Target Field are similar in dimensions.

"When I pull the ball, hit the ball to left field, I think [Target Field] plays fine for me," he said. "I don't see myself hitting a lot of opposite-field home runs at Target Field; it plays pretty big to right field. I feel like left field plays pretty fair, and that's where I hit most of my home runs. It plays pretty similar to Oakland."

Willingham played in Austin, Minn., for two years in the Northwoods League, and he said the experience did a lot for his career.

"It was the first time I had been away from home, to be honest with you, so it kind of got me out on my own and I found a lot of stuff out about how it was going to be to play pro ball and that's being away from home and living out on your own," he said. "Also the quality of play in the Northwoods League was really good. It was my first time to play with a wooden bat for any extensive period of time, so that helped me out going forward, especially when I got drafted.

"But I would say just playing the competition that was there and getting away from home and learning how to live on your own were the main things that I'll take away from the league."

The Twins did draft Gophers pitcher T.J. Oakes in the 41st round last year, but he decided to go back to school. After having a 7-3 record this year and being named to the All-Big Ten team, Oakes -- the son of Gophers pitching coach Todd Oakes -- will return for his senior year if he isn't drafted in a decent position.

Jottings • Stephen Lombardozzi, the son of former Twin Steve Lombardozzi, has been one of the real stars for the first-place Washington Nationals this season. Lombardozzi, a second baseman like his father, is hitting .309 with one home run, 11 runs scored and eight RBI through 40 games. He is also posting a .372 on-base percentage as the Nationals' leadoff hitter. Lombardozzi appeared in only 13 games for the Nationals last year, hitting .194 with one RBI in 31 at-bats.

• From May 17 through today, when Jerry Kill will appear at a Williams Fund event in Rochester, the Gophers football coach has had seven speaking appearances. And he is scheduled for 15 more, starting June 5 and ending July 24, and there are several other appearances he has made on campus that aren't reported on his schedule.

• Outgoing athletic director Joel Maturi reports that the Gophers men's hockey team will schedule all of the Minnesota teams who have been in the WCHA when the Gophers begin Big Ten Conference hockey play in 2013-14.

• New Gophers AD Norwood Teague is a member of the NCAA golf committee and on Sunday, he was at the famous Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, Calif., where Texas defeated Alabama for the men's team championship.

• Gophers golfer Tyler Lowenstein, a freshman from Plymouth who went to Wayzata High School, recently shot a 62 at Phalen Golf Course. ... All 13 Gophers golfers will return next year and should be a contender for the Big Ten title. They also will face California, the No. 1-ranked team for next season, in the Gopher Invitational on Sept. 9-10 at Spring Hill Golf Club. The Gophers have four foreign players including Genki Hirayama from Nagasaki, Japan; Saul Menendez from Gijon, Spain; Erik Van Rooyen from Oudtshoorn, South Africa; and Shang Zhi from Shenzhen, Guangdong, China.