Bekanntmachungen » "Every 25 laps it seemed you would

MINNEAPOLIS -- The script for Glen Perkins hasnt always gone so smoothly. Sure, there have been hiccups. Life is never perfect. Rare, though, are the occurrences in sports that come together as marvelously as this for the Minnesota closer: taking the mound for the American League All-Star team and pitching a 1-2-3 ninth inning in front of his roaring, adoring home fans. When Perkins jogged out of the bullpen on Tuesday night at Target Field, he was taken aback by how loud the crowd became. "I wasnt fighting back tears, but it was an overwhelming moment to hear," Perkins said. "It was a moment like that where you realize why you play the game and what makes the game so fun, and its the fans in the stands." His All-Star status and salary of more than $4 million this season put him in the societal elite, but in many ways Perkins is a lot alike many of those fans in the stands. He grew up in a Twin Cities suburb, Stillwater, and lives year-round in Minnesota, a rarity for Twins players. Boating and fishing are two of his favourite pastimes. Hes regularly on social media, with a sharp sense of humour and down-to-earth perspective that further endear him to the masses. Minutes after finishing one of his shakiest saves of the season, at Milwaukee last month, Perkins posted on Twitter: "I just did my best Ron Davis impression," alluding to the Twins closer of the mid-1980s prone to wild pitches and blown leads. Perkins has proven to be far more effective than Davis, though, putting himself on track to approach Joe Nathan franchise-leading all-time saves total. At age 31, under contract through at least 2017, Perkins isnt going anywhere. The Twins have an option on his deal for 2018 that would be a market bargain at $6.5 million if he stays healthy and productive. Perkins was the one who approached the front office during spring training about an extension, willing to take a contract that couldve been richer. He started the year as the 17th-highest paid closer in the majors. Thats fine by him. Becoming an All-Star for his hometown Twins has been beyond his grandest goals. "Hearing how loud the fans were, it makes me want to get to the playoffs," said Perkins, who made one appearance in the 2006 first-round series as a rookie but wasnt on the post-season roster in either 2009 or 2010. The Twins went 5-2 on their road trip before the All-Star break and have generally been more competent and competitive than their last three teams that each lost 96 games or more. Still, theyre 10 1-2 games out of first place. Their starting pitchers, despite progress by Kyle Gibson and the upgrade with Phil Hughes, have a 4.86 ERA, the third-worst mark in the majors. Veterans on expiring contracts like Suzuki, left fielder Josh Willingham and starting pitcher Kevin Correia could be traded in the coming weeks. The players, of course, are opposed. "I know how the business side of it is, the long-term stuff," second baseman Brian Dozier said. "But its our job to make those decisions hard for them. To be honest with you, I want to contend. I believe we can. Weve got the people to do it. Im not saying we dont need a couple of extra pieces, but I think were going to be just fine. We just have to get on a roll." The Twins start their post-break schedule with 10 straight games at Target Field. Manager Ron Gardenhire joked last week about being home enough to actually help his wife, Carol, mow the lawn. Danny Santana will come off the disabled list Friday, and ideally Joe Mauer will join him soon after. Perhaps prospects Trevor May or Alex Meyer will get a promotion from Triple-A to boost the rotation. "We think if we can get healthy and pitching again, thats pretty good. We still have to find some consistency there. Our offence, I think that will come if we get all the pieces back we hope for," Gardenhire said. 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Williams withdrawal came less than 24 hours after losing in the final Auckland WTA tournament final. "I dont believe she has an injury," Hobart tournament director Mark Handley said. BRISTOL, Tenn. -- Kyle Busch got his 16th career win at Bristol Motor Speedway -- more than any other NASCAR driver at any other track --by holding off Kyle Larson after a late restart in Saturdays Nationwide Series race. Busch has now won three consecutive Nationwide Series races at Bristol since last March, when he and Larson also went 1-2 to the finish. Of his 16 national wins at Bristol, five are in the Sprint Cup Series, seven are Nationwide and four are in the Truck Series. "I definitely like coming to Bristol, I always have," said Busch, who made his first trip to the .533-mile bullring in 2004 testing with Hendrick Motorsports. "Ive definitely gone through some trials with the Cup cars. First couple times here was a rough go-around for me. Sort of got it figured out, was able to start leading laps, start winning races and thats been the biggest things. Why that is? I dont know. I just enjoy coming to racing. To the banked tracks. It takes guts to go fast." Busch now has 65 career Nationwide Series wins. On Saturday, he and Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Matt Kenseth combined to lead 298 of the 300 laps. But Kenseth was mired in lapped traffic once Busch got out front. "There were sseven or eight (cars) that were really struggling today, so you caught them a lot," Kenseth said.dddddddddddd "Every 25 laps it seemed you would catch the same group. It was tough to get through there. Once he got the lead, it was hard to beat him. Kevin Harvick was second on the restart with nine laps to go, but pole-sitter Larson got by him with seven laps remaining to try to challenge Busch for the victory. He didnt get much of a chance and settled for second. "I just tried to run hard and I know (Larson) was running the top, he loves the top," Busch said. "I knew he was going to be up there. I tried to perfect that a little bit earlier in the race, but it seemed like anybody who was behind me on the restart would be able to jump the two guys that were on the bottom." Harvick was third and Ryan Blaney was fourth. Kenseth was fifth after leading a race-high 178 laps. Busch led four times for 120 laps. "Kenseth, he was really fast," Busch said. "He was lightning fast there much of the day and I was having a hard time catching him. I was just able to bide my time through traffic a little bit better than he did and he got stuck and I passed him." ' ' '