Stelmaszek is back running bullpen after health scare

Rick Stelmaszek has been an employee of the Twins for 31 years, 28 years as a coach with the major league club under managers John Goryl (1981), Billy Gardner (1981-1985), Ray Miller (1985-86), Tom Kelly (1986-2001) and Ron Gardenhire (since 2002).

But there was a time last January when there was a question whether the 59-year-old former major league catcher would live, let alone be healthy enough to return to his regular job as bullpen coach. He had two seizures at his home in Chicago and was rushed to the hospital.

"It was pretty serious," Stelmaszek said. "At one time it was touch and go, when I was in intensive care for about four days. I missed out on about 21/2 days; I don't know where they went.

"Basically what I had was a metabolic reaction. It was a chemical imbalance in my body that, basically, it's internal poisoning of the body. It's kind of a buildup process that finally came to a head, and the kidney and liver kind of went into a shutdown mode.

"Things weren't doing very good and the doctors did a nice job of getting me back here so I could be here right now talking to my close personal friend."

Stelmaszek says everything is 100 percent now.

"As a matter of fact, I went for my prescription and they took me off of one medication," he said. "So now I just take two pills a day and that's it. The doctors did one heck of a job, the nurses did a heck of a job, taking care of what they had to take care of and I'm very fortunate and very lucky. A 19-run ballgame doesn't upset me like it used to."

"Joe ranks right up there at the top with Aggie, I'd have to say," Stelmaszek said. "Joe, Aggie and Reardon, those would be the top three.

"[Nathan] was a starter, and he's got four quality pitches. He doesn't have to rely on a fastball or slider. He can throw the curveball, he's using his sinker more, he can throw a changeup, so he's got a four-pitch mix that usually the end guys don't have. They're usually a power guy with a fastball-slider or a fastball-curveball."

Stelmaszek said Reardon and Aguilera relied on fewer types of pitches than Nathan.

"Reardon was more of high-fastball pitcher and [had] the curveball," he said. "Aggie had a three-pitch mix that was pretty good: fastball, slider, change. Nathan has got to put the time in like the rest of them did. He could very easily bypass them in numbers.

"That's why [Nathan] makes the big bucks, and that's why he's a closer. Not everybody can be a closer. It takes a certain mentality to be a closer. There's no room for failure, and you go over there and try to save the ballgame the best way you possibly can, and it's humanly impossible to go 100 percent, but he's doing a pretty good job at doing that right now.

No doubt this class act runs the best bullpen in baseball.

Missed out on Chelios Chris Chelios is 46 years old and still playing as a defenseman for the Detroit Red Wings in the Stanley Cup Finals against Pittsburgh. Former North Stars GM and coach Lou Nanne recalled meeting Chelios when the 1984 Olympic team was working out at Met Center. Nanne regrets not drafting Chelios for the North Stars.

"We had five picks in the second round the one year he was coming out, and I remember asking my Western scout about this kid Chelios that was playing in Moose Jaw [Saskatchewan]," Nanne said. "Our scout didn't think he could play so we never drafted him. We had a number of opportunities where we could have taken him, had we known how good he was."

Jottings Catcher Joe Mauer, right fielder Michael Cuddyer and left fielder Delmon Young, all expected to hit with some power, have one home run combined -- by Cuddyer at Texas on April 26.

One reason Gophers athletic director Joel Maturi says he has to try to raise about an additional $3 million each year in football is because Minnesota ranked ninth in the Big Ten in football revenue for the 2006 season (the most recent year such statistics are available), ahead of only Indiana and Northwestern. Ohio State was first in 2006 with $59,142,071, followed by Michigan ($50,982,629), Iowa ($45,335,026), Penn State ($44,014,052), Michigan State ($40,795,755), Wisconsin ($34,105,991), Purdue ($25,134,139), Illinois ($20,764,472), Minnesota ($17,390,376), Indiana ($17,033,871) and Northwestern ($15,513,675). ... There will be an extra charge for only 10,000 of the 50,000 seats in the new stadium, and 80 percent of that contribution is deductible on your income tax.

The NCAA recently released the official basketball attendance numbers for the 2007-2008 season. The Gophers averaged 12,987 per game, the highest since the 1999-2000 season, when the average was 13,767. The Gophers trailed Big Ten-leading Wisconsin, Indiana, Illinois, Ohio State and Michigan State.

In 175 career games as a starter for the Twins, Johan Santana gave up 10 hits or more in a game only four times. With the Mets this season, Santana has already given up more than 10 hits twice, and he is tied for fifth in the National League in home runs given up with 11. ... State Rep. Brad Finstad, R-Comfrey, the House chief sponsor of the Twins stadium bill, has decided not to run for re-election.

Look for the Twins to introduce a promotion, offering ticket discounts equivalent to the average cost of one gallon of gas, to help outstate residents pay for gas. ... Dave Moore, the former longtime Twins vice president who joined the then-expansion Colorado Rockies in 1992 and is director of Coors Field administration and development, will retire soon, with plans to return to Minnesota.