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With apologies to my good buddy Paul Allen, who calls all the races at Canterbury Park – THEY’RE RACIIIIIINNNNNGGG!

The “live” races are back at Canterbury Park for the summer, starting tonight.

First post is at 7pm – and there are nine races scheduled for Opening Night.

Friday nights at Canterbury Park have grown to become known as Minnesota’s Biggest Happy Hour – come see why tonight.

If you have never experienced a day at the track, it is a must.  The entire family will have a great time – or the ‘Park’ is a perfect place for a first date, or a memorable night out.

And when it comes to betting on the races – you don’t have to necessarily spend a lot – to win a lot.

“Beginner’s Luck” really does exist, by the way!

For the complete schedule for Canterbury Park, click here.

I’ll see you at the track – and maybe we can partner up on that Pick 6!

St. Cloud Tech and Community College

The St. Cloud Tech and Community College baseball team play in the National Junior College World Series in Tyler, Texas this weekend.  Their first game is at 9am Saturday against the host team from Tyler.  The Cyclones are 42-7.  Follow their progress at the following link:  http://www.apacheathletics.com/f/NJCAA_D3_Baseball_National_Tournament_Home.php

SCSU Athletics

The St. Cloud State baseball team defeated Winona State 12-7 Thursday in the NCAA Division II Central Regional in Mankato.  SCSU broke the 7-all tie with 5 runs in the 8th inning led by Mike Jurgella’s bases clearing double.  Garrett Fischer was 3-3 with 2 runs scored and 1 RBI and Chris Kubitz threw 2 scoreless innings to get the win in relief for the Huskies.

SCSU is 46-12 and will play New Mexico Highlands at 7pm tonight in the winners bracket in Mankato.

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The Twins downed the Tigers 4-3 in Detroit Thursday to complete a 2-game sweep.  Justin Morneau went 2-4 with a 2-run homerun and 3 RBIs and Trevor Plouffe had a solo homerun for Minnesota.  Drew Butera added 3 hits for the Twins.  P.J. Walters started the game and allowed 6 1/3 innings with 4 hits and 3 earned runs allowed to get the win and improve to 1-1.  Matt Capps threw a scoreless 9th inning to grab his 8th save.

The Twins are 12-26 and will begin a 3-game series at Milwaukee tonight at 7:10, pregame on WJON at 6:40.  Lefthander Scott Diamond (2-0) gets the start on the mound for the Twins and righthander Marco Estrada (0-2) toes the rubber for the Brewers.

The Twins placed righthanded starting pitcher Nick Blackburn on the 15-day disabled list Thursday with a left quad injury and called up outfielder Ben Revere.  Catcher Ryan Doumit will not be placed on the disabled list despite a sore calf.  He may miss a few more games.

gojohnnies.com

The St. John’s baseball team lost 7-2 to Coe College of Iowa in an elimination game in McMinnville, Oregon in the NCAA Division III tournament Thursday.  Max Forster hit a 2-run homerun for the Johnnies and Ryan Spengler allowed 8 hits and 4 earned runs in 6 1/3 innings but takes the loss and drops to 6-4 on the season.

St. John’s season ends with a record of 29-16.

Rocori 8, Willmar 4
(Sam Moriarty was 2-4 with a 2-run homerun for the Spartans)

Brainerd 4, Sartell-St. Stephen 3
Foley 3, Mora 2
St. John’s Prep 6, Royalton 0

Brainerd 9, Sartell-St. Stephen 0
Rocori 5, Willmar 2

Sub-Section Playoffs
Brooten-Belgrade-Elrosa 10, St. John’s Prep 0
(Michelle Sanders threw a no-hitter for BBE)

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Results from the Boys St. Cloud Country Club Invite 5/17/12

Team Results
1)      Staples- Motley                311
2)      Marshall                               314
3)      Rogers                                  320
4)      St. Cloud Tech                   321
Alexandria                          321
6)      Eagan                                    322
7)      Brainerd                               326
8)      Willmar                                 327
9)      Sartell                                   332
10)   Buffalo                                 333
11)   Moorhead                          336
12)   Monticello                          341
13)   Pequot Lakes                     344
14)   Mayer Luthern                  352
15)   Rocori                                   353
16)   Becker                                  357
17)   St. Cloud Apollo                368
18)   Sauk Rapids                        380

Medalist-Michael Strain Staples-Motley                74

Top Local Scores

St. Cloud Tech
Ian Hiltner           76 (5^th Individually)
Isaac Hiltner       78 (10^th Individually)

St. Cloud Apollo
Troy Kosel           88

Rocori
Josh Peterson                   83

Sartell
Ben Davis                            81

Sauk Rapids
Channing Levig                  92
Brandon Duray                  92
(Results courtesy of John Scharenbroich)

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The Twins outscored the Tigers 11-7 in Detroit Wednesday night.  Brian Dozier hit a 3-run homerun and Trevor Plouffe added a 2-run homerun for Minnesota.  Josh Willingham had 3 hits, 2 runs scored and 1 RBI and Jamey Carroll was 2-5 with a run scored and 2 RBIs for the Twins.  Nick Blackburn started the game and struggled.  He allowed 6 hits and 6 earned runs in 2 innings and left in the game in part because of pain in his left leg.  Five relief pitcher combined to throw 7 innings with 1 earned run allowed.  Alex Burnett earned the win in relief.

Ryan Doumit strained his right calf in the game and was placed on the 15-day disabled list.  Outfielder Ben Revere has been called up from triple-A Rochester.  Revere is hitting .330 with 6 RBIs and 6 stolen bases and triple-A.  Revere may be asked to play centerfield right away with Denard Span missing some time with tightness in his right hamstring.

The Twins play at Detroit again today at 12:05, pregame on WJON at 11:35.  Righthander P.J. Walters (0-1) gets the start on the mound for the Twins and righthander Doug Fister (0-1) toes the rubber for the Tigers.

gojohnnies.com

The St. John’s baseball team lost 6-3 to Concordia of Texas in McMinnville, Oregon in the NCAA Division III tournament on Wednesday.  Justin Thompson went 2-3 with a RBI and Dylan Graves was 1-3 with 1 RBI for the Johnnies.  Hayden Zimmerman threw 6 1/3 innings with 5 hits and 4 earned runs allowed to take the loss.

St. John’s is 29-15 and will play an elimination game against Coe College of Iowa today at 2pm (Central Time).

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The Vikings will hold training camp in Mankato at Minnesota State longer this season than in recent years.  The Vikings are schedule to start camp in Mankato July 26 and will break camp August 16.  This will be the 47th straight season the Vikings will train at MSU.

The Vikings had trained 14 or fewer days in each of the last 3 years.  The Vikings had training camp in Mankato from August 1-11 last season.

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The St. Paul Saints held a “Name the Pig” contest to select the names of their two pig mascots.  The names that were chosen are Kim Lardashian and Kim Hamphries.  The two pigs will spend the season at Midway Stadium in St. Paul in wedded bliss.  The names make fun of Minnesota basketball star and Nets’ NBA player Kris Humphries short marriage to reality star Kim Kardashian.

The names were chosen among 1,000 entries submitted to the St. Paul Saints.  Kim Kardashian and Kris Humphries spent just 72 days marriage before getting divorced.  The Saints season is 110 days long.

I kid you not, I walked in an hour later and you would think there was a struggle and a murder took place. No one is in sight, but chairs are tipped over, there are potato chips and other crap all over the place and I swear there was blood on the floor. Ok fine, so maybe it was jell-O, but still seemed kind of weird. I’m standing there thinking, “What the hell has gone on in here?! Did people just sit around the table like it was a trough, tear into the bags with their mouths and rip them apart like wild animals?”

So after their ritual or whatever the hell it was, every bag and container is empty but of course they are still on the table. I must be crazy to think that they would throw something away if it was empty.

Did I end up cleaning everything up and throwing stuff away? Hell no I didn’t. After I took one look at the place, I backed out the room and said, “Screw this sh*t.”

Does this happen at your workplace? And if my co-workers knows what happened in the lunchroom, please share.

Check out krissykrabtree.com for more irrelevant commentary.

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The Twins are expected to activate first baseman Justin Morneau from the 15-day disabled list today in time for him to play tonight at Detroit.  Morneau has been on the disabled list for the past 15 days with a sore left wrist.  He’s been taking batting practice the last couple of days and is reporting no problems.  Morneau in 20 games was batting .230 with 4 homeruns and 9 RBIs this season.

Morneau is expected to play first base primarily instead of DH.  Morneau played just 4 games at first base so far this season.  To make room for Morneau on the activate roster Chris Parmelee was optioned to triple-A Rochester.  Parmelee was hitting just .179 with no homeruns and 3 RBIs for the Twins this season.

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The Twins lost 5-0 at home against Cleveland Tuesday afternoon.  Derek Lowe threw a complete-game 6-hit shutout with 4 walks allowed and no strikeouts.  It’s Lowe’s first shutout in nearly 7 years.  Brian Dozier had 3 hits for the Twins and Jason Marquis allowed 9 hits and 5 earned runs in 5 innings to take the loss and drop to 2-3. His ERA swells to 6.68.

The Twins are 10-26 and they begin a 2-game series at Detroit at 6:05 tonight, pregame on WJON at 5:35.  Righthander Nick Blackburn (1-4) gets the start on the mound for the Twins and righthander Rick Porcello (3-3) toes the rubber for the Tigers.

Rocori 10, Tech 1
(Austin Athmann was 2-3 with a 3-run homerun for the Spartans)

Apollo 5, Alexandria 3
Cathedral 17, Zimmerman 1
(Bo Schmitz had 2 3-run homeruns for the Crusaders)

Sartell-St. Stephen 10, Moorhead 9
Foley 6, Princeton 0
St. John’s Prep 10, Onamia 0

Willmar 7, Sauk Rapids-Rice 0
(Rachel Paulson had a double for the Storm.  Sauk Rapids-Rice is 6-6 in the CLC and 9-8 overall)

Alexandria 10, Apollo 0
(Katrina Johnson had the lone Apollo hit)

Cathedral 10, Zimmerman 0
(Olivia Hoffman had 3 hits and 2 RBIs for the Crusaders)

Bill Affeldt

Tech-Cathedral 15, Coon Rapids 5
(Zach Affeldt had 5 goals and 3 assists for Tech-Cathedral.  Corey Wheelock had 3 goals and 1 assist for Tech-Cathedral).