Sid Hartman: Santana, Hunter not selected as All-Stars

While Joe Nathan, Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau were named to the American League All-Star team on Sunday, two Twins All-Stars from 2007 who got big money from new teams this past offseason -- pitcher Johan Santana and outfielder Torii Hunter -- were left off the rosters for their respective leagues.

Hunter was batting .301 with 19 home runs and 68 RBI when he was named to the American League All-Star team a year ago. After landing a five-year, $90 million free-agent contract with the Angels this past offseason, he is hitting .268 with 10 home runs and 38 RBI for the American League West leaders.

Santana was 10-6 with a 2.75 ERA a year ago; after getting traded to the Mets and signing a $137.5 million deal for six years, he is 7-7 with a 2.96 ERA for a team that also is .500.

Two former Twins were picked for the All-Star Game: Boston's David Ortiz, who won't play because of injury, and Washington's Cristian Guzman, who also went to the 2001 All-Star Game with the Twins.

Meanwhile, the Twins are surprising everybody and will have three All-Star representatives for the third year in a row. Morneau joined Santana and Hunter last year in San Francisco; in 2006, Mauer, Santana and Francisco Liriano made the team in Pittsburgh.

Nathan was especially excited to be picked for this year's game in New York, because he grew up a Yankees fan and as a youngster attended many games in Yankee Stadium.

"It's always exciting going to that stadium," Nathan said. "For this to be the last All-Star Game [at Yankee Stadium] and a chance for my family and friends to be out there to experience it with me -- it's definitely going to bring some goosebumps. It's stuff you dream about and a huge honor to be able to go out there and get a chance to go with a couple of teammates here. It's going to be a lot of fun."

As for playing in the Big Apple, he said: "I'm sure New York is first class and they'll put on a first-class event. It's definitely a cool atmosphere every time we go there."

Mauer said his 2006 experience taught him how much the teams want to win the game. In that game, the AL trailed 2-1 with two outs and nobody on in the ninth against San Diego closer Trevor Hoffman, only to get three consecutive hits, including a two-run triple by Texas shortstop Michael Young, in rallying for a 3-2 victory.

"You want to win any ballgame you enter. It's not just a show-up-and-play," Mauer said. "Those guys are competitors, and that's why they're there."

As for Morneau, he might be the best all-around first baseman in the AL, and his selection again was an honor well-deserved.

Twins manager Ron Gardenhire, who served as one of the AL coaches last year, was glad that Mauer got his due as a starter and described the former Cretin-Derham Hall standout as the best catcher in baseball. "He's young, and he's the package deal," Gardenhire said. "I think you see it the way he handles the pitching staff. He can hit, he can run, he can throw, yeah, what more can you ask?"

Wild President and General Manager Doug Risebrough said the length of contract, rather than the annual salary, was the problem in his failing to re-sign 35-year-old free-agent winger Brian Rolston, who signed a four-year, $20 million deal with New Jersey.

"I said we never looked at doing anything but trying to be competitive in the market," Risebrough said. "Probably the biggest difference was the term; we offered three years and [the Devils] offered four. I think you can do what you can do in terms of making a legitimate shot at Brian, who was a great player for us and somebody who gave us some legitimacy when he came here. So if he wanted to move on, you've got to understand that."

Risebrough said that Rolston had at one point told the Wild he wanted to play only two to three more years, but he changed his mind.

"The bit of the problem becomes, with the guys over 35, is their salary counts against the cap regardless of whether they play or not, if they retire," Risebrough said. "So when he indicated to me two to three years, I thought that's kind of what we should fashion a deal at."

Risebrough believes he has improved the team despite the loss of Rolston and the expected loss of veteran Pavol Demitra, also a free agent, pointing to acquiring defensemen Marek Zidlicky and Marc-Andre Bergeron.

Talk about improving over one season -- Twins infielder Nick Punto was batting .209 at this time last year, when he struggled through the worst season of his career. But this year he's hitting .289 and delivered a big RBI hit Sunday in the Twins' 4-3 victory over Cleveland. ... The Twins are 18-3 since June 13, and their pitchers have a 2.50 ERA over that period.

Twins President Dave St. Peter said the team expects bids for the scoreboard for the new ballpark on Thursday. ... There has been a lot of talk about the Twins scoring more runs this year, but at this time last year they were averaging 5.0 runs per game, compared to 4.95 runs now.

Hopkins basketball standout Royce White recently attended the Vince Carter camp in Orlando, where he graded out as one of the top two small forwards who attended, according to GopherIllustrated.com. The 6-7 Gophers recruit is ranked as the second-best forward in the nation by Rivals.com and the 18th-ranked player overall. White and Cooper's Rodney Williams, whom the Gophers are recruiting hard, are both attending the LeBron James Skills Academy as two of the best high school seniors in the country.

Gophers football recruit Victor Keise, a wide receiver from North Broward (Fla.) Prep, was named one of the South Florida Sun-Sentinel's top 25 recruits. So was Blanche Ely High School receiver Michael Carter, son of former Vikings great Cris Carter. The younger Carter is following his father in going to Ohio State.