Sid Hartman: Twins are winning without clutch hits

Looking at some Twins statistics this season, it's hard to believe the team has won all but one series and stands in first place in the American League Central Division.

A year ago, the Twins had won three series, lost three and split one. A year ago, the Twins didn't record their 14th victory of the season until May 8, when they beat Seattle 11-0 to improve to 14-16.

A year ago when the Twins played without Joe Mauer for all of April, they were batting .263 with runners in scoring position. That came after a 2008 when the Twins led the majors in hitting with runners in scoring position at .305. This year, they are one of the hottest teams in baseball but are hitting .249 with runners in scoring position, ranking 20th out of 32 major league teams. And the Twins are batting only .143 with the bases loaded.

One thing that remains in the Twins' favor this year is their excellent defense. After committing only eight errors in April 2009, this year their total is only four, which leads the majors. Two of the errors came in the just-completed series at Detroit, one on the controversial dropped ball in center field by Denard Span in Wednesday's loss that helped the Tigers score six runs in the sixth inning.

Of course, the object of the game is to score more runs than the other team, and even though the Twins have not performed well with runners on base, they still are scoring plenty of runs. Last April, when the Twins went 11-11, they scored 93 runs while giving up 116. In the same number of games this season, they have scored 109 runs while giving up 84.

Well, the Twins finally lost their first series of the season, falling to 14-8 when they dropped Thursday's game to the Tigers 3-0. But how do you expect to win with Mauer, Justin Morneau and J.J. Hardy on the bench?

Wrestlers clear? In December, the Minnesota Daily published a story reporting that some Gophers wrestlers and coaches had accumulated large quantities of real estate, in possible violation of NCAA rules.

The investigation held up the signing of a new multiyear contract for coach J Robinson. Once the investigation is completed, Robinson will have his first contract in many years. He has been operating with the same contract year after year.

Maturi also reported that lawyers for men's basketball coach Tubby Smith and the university continue to negotiate an extension of Smith's contract, which still has four years remaining on it. While the buyout on the current contract for Smith has run out, the new contract definitely will have a buyout, according to Maturi.

Jottings Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller, DFL-Minneapolis, predicts that the Vikings are unlikely to get a vote in favor of a new stadium this year but will get a bill passed next year. Pogemiller was very active in the Gophers getting their football stadium.

Gophers linebacker Gary Tinsley, who got in trouble recently by allegedly fleeing police after driving a moped the wrong way down a one-way street, will not face felony charges, according to Maturi. However, Tinsley, who is expected to be a starter this fall, has not had a misdemeanor drunken-driving charge dropped.

The Vikings have not only renewed more than 90 percent of their 2010 season tickets but have sold 2,000-plus new season tickets as well.

Two former Gophers players who were NFL restricted free agents have signed one-year contracts to stay with their teams. Defensive tackle Anthony Montgomery signed a one-year contract with the Redskins. This is his fifth year with the team, but he played in only seven games last season after starting 15 of 16 games in 2007. Tight end Matt Spaeth re-signed with the Steelers after playing in all 16 games last year and starting eight. He had five receptions for 25 yards and a touchdown. ... Another former Gophers player to sign with a team as a rookie free agent is defensive tackle Garrett Brown, who signed with the Chiefs.

Washington also signed former Vikings defensive tackle Darrion Scott, who hasn't played in the NFL since 2007. Scott, 28, was injured most of 2007, and in July 2008 he pleaded guilty to a charge of child endangerment, getting a two-year stayed suspension from the judicial system and a three-game suspension from the NFL. He played last year for Florida of the United Football League under coach Jim Haslett, now the Redskins defensive coordinator.

Gophers football coach Tim Brewster is convinced that wide receiver Bryant Allen will go down as one of the best all-around athletes at the university before he is through playing football and basketball. "Tubby Smith told me that he was just really pleased to have Bryant on the basketball team," Brewster said. "He did an outstanding job as a teammate for the basketball team, and he's a heck of a player with a great mindset. He's an outstanding athlete. This spring, he was really having a good spring catching the ball." Allen suffered a serious ankle injury in spring practice, but he has had surgery and Brewster said the prognosis for him is excellent. "We think that he will be back running in our summer conditioning program in June," Brewster said. "So, we don't foresee any problems at all getting Bryant back."

Carlos Silva, the former Twins righthander who had a horrible two years with the Mariners after they signed him to a big free-agent contract, is 2-0 with a 1.73 ERA in four starts with the Cubs. He also is first in the National League with a WHIP of 0.769. ... Livan Hernandez, another former Twins righthander, is 3-1 with a 0.87 ERA and a WHIP of 0.871 in four starts since being recalled from the minors by the Nationals.

The University of Minnesota athletic department no longer runs the Les Bolstad Golf Course in Falcon Heights. It is operated by the school's recreation department instead. ... The Gophers athletic department, which will play host to next year's NCAA Men's Frozen Four at Xcel Energy Center, is a candidate to play host to the Frozen Four in 2013 or '14 as well.