Sid Hartman: Twins' Blackburn becoming a stopper

Twins manager Ron Gardenhire liked what he saw of Nick Blackburn last year when he was 11-11 with a 4.05 ERA as a rookie starting pitcher.

But Gardenhire thinks the 27-year-old righthander, who beat the Pirates 5-1 Thursday at the Metrodome, has taken another step forward.

"Blackie was pretty good last year, and I think we saw at end of the year how much he had grown as a pitcher," Gardenhire said. "His ball is really sinking now, he has lot of confidence; he's mastering the strike zone, he's using all of his pitches.

"[He has] a four-pitch mix, and right now he's rolling along as good as anybody on our staff. You need that, you need guys like that to go out and shut people down, and he did that."

Blackburn pitched a six-hitter for the Twins' first complete game of the season.

Pitching coach Rick Anderson said Blackburn's sinker is now his "out" pitch.

"He just keeps improving each times he goes out," Anderson said. "[He is] just being able to slow himself down and think about executing his pitches, instead of trying to throw as hard as he can."

Blackburn, the tough-luck loser in last year's one-game playoff in Chicago, doesn't believe his stuff is any different than it was last year.

"I'm a little more experienced, and I'm able to stay on top of the ball and make pitches when I need to," he said.

Here's the thing: Blackburn and Kevin Slowey (9-2) have been the stoppers the Twins need if they are to win their division.

Wild changes Brent Burns went through a tough year with the Wild. He was expected to be on the NHL's better young defensemen, but played a lot at forward before suffering a concussion that sidelined him for the stretch run.

Burns might really thrive under new coach Todd Richards, who is expected to have a more open offense than former coach Jacques Lemaire.

"But I learned a lot from Jacques, and what he had to bring, and from the other coaches. You can never say you never learned anything from Jacques. He knows little parts of the game that most people don't even think about. It is just exciting to get a new way of thinking, and it brings new excitement to the game."

Burns should be at full strength for next season, and he believes the team will be strong.

"Guys are excited to play offensively and score goals," he said. "We don't know what is going on with the system -- it is brand new -- but it is going to be exciting."

Jottings The Twins have 70 home runs, 39 at home. At this time last year they had 45 homers, 21 at home, in four more games. ... John Russell, the Pirates manager, managed Twins farm teams from 1995 to 2000 at rookie league Elizabethton, Class A Fort Myers and Class AA New Britain. ... Twins attendance after 36 home games is 942,465 (26,180 per game). Last year at this time they were averaging 24,143.

Gophers athletic director Joel Maturi said an estimate of how much the school will lose by not selling beer in TCF Bank Stadium will come out in a couple of weeks. Speculation from different sources is that profit on beer would have been from $2.9 million to $5 million a year. The Legislature passed a law requiring all fans in TCF Bank Stadium to have access to alcohol if it was served in the suites, and the university decided to ban alcohol from the new stadium as a result.

Former NHL general manager Bill Torrey, the genius behind the Islanders' dynasty in the early 1980s, is working on helping the Florida Panthers choose a new GM. Torrey has definitely talked to former Wild boss Doug Risebrough.

The Gophers football team got another 2010 commitment when new wide receivers coach Richard Hightower wrapped up Allen Veazie, a 5-10 cornerback from Eisenhower High School in Houston. Believe me, it's tough to get those Texas players, and quite a few programs wanted Veazie.

Nate Tice, son of former Vikings coach Mike Tice, started his college career at Central Florida but left and is walking on at Wisconsin. Nate Tice was a high school quarterback at Edina.

Duron Carter, son of former Vikings star receiver Cris Carter, was an all-state wide receiver in Florida who will attend Ohio State. Duron Carter was in town last week to attend the football camp of Cardinals star Larry Fitzgerald Jr. ... Willie Mobley, the ex-Eden Prairie High School standout who enrolled at Ohio State and was inactive last year following shoulder surgery, was a second-team defensive end during the Buckeyes spring practice.

The NHL draft is next Friday and Saturday, and the league's scouting bureau released its final rankings. Gophers center Jordan Schroeder will be a high pick; he's rated as the fifth-best prospect in North America. Other highly ranked Minnesotans are Edina's Zach Budish (22nd), Eden Prairie's Nick Leddy (24th), Little Falls' Ben Hanowski (35th), Faribault's Seth Helgeson (41st), Blake's Josh Birkholz (43rd) and Holy Angels' Danny Mattson (53rd). A mock draft on nhl.com has Schroeder being taken with the eighth by Dallas, and another has him going to Nashville at No. 11. ... Schroeder and teammate Aaron Ness are among 43 players who will be at a USA Hockey evaluation camp at Lake Placid, N.Y., in August. Players there are being considered for the U.S. team for the 2010 world junior tournament. Budish, Leddy, Roseau goalie Mike Lee, Derek Stepan of Hastings, Danny Kristo of Eden Prairie and Jake Gardiner of Minnetonka were also invited.