Sean Henn sent To Triple-A Rochester 

                        Minneapolis/St. Paul, MN – The Minnesota Twins announced today that they will recall left-handed pitcher Brian Duensing from Triple-A Rochester prior to tomorrow night’s game vs. the Detroit Tigers at the Metrodome.  Duensing, who made the Twins Opening Day roster, was 4-6 with a 4.66 ERA (75.1 ip, 39 er) in 13 starts for the Red Wings.  The 26-year-old made his Major League debut with the Twins on April 10 at Chicago, where he pitched 3.0 innings allowing two runs on two hits in his only appearance, before being optioned to Rochester on April 13.  Duensing was drafted by the Twins in the third round of the 2005 First-Year Player draft out of the University of Nebraska.

To make room for Duensing on the 25-man roster, the Twins have assigned left-handed pitcher Sean Henn outright to Triple-A Rochester.  Henn, who signed as a Minor League free agent this offseason, made 14 relief appearances for the Twins.

Despite the loss of perennial All Star and scoring leader Seimone Augustus, the Minnesota Lynx sit at the top of the Western Conference with a 7-3 record. With Augustus out, players like Charde Houston have picked up the slack.

The second year forward is averaging 14.6 points and 4.8 rebounds per game for the surprising squad. I caught up with Houston last week to talk about the tumultuous, yet successful season.

DZ: It’s been a pretty crazy year, just going back a few weeks ago you had a different coach (Don Zierden) and a healthy Seimone Augustus. How long ago does that seem right now?

HOUSTON: We are already almost 10 games into the season; it just goes to show you that time really does pass you by fast. At the same time, we’ve had to fight adversity - you can’t dwell on it because before you know it, the season will be gone. We’ve taken it, we’ve accepted and we’ve done our best to deal with the situation at hand.

DZ: You are a player who can score, with Seimone out is this even more of a chance for you to assert yourself in that role?

HOUSTON: It’s not necessarily me, it’s the whole team. Even before Seimone got hurt, there wasn’t one person who could physically carry this team, so I don’t look at it like that. Now with Seimone gone the entire team as a whole understands that we have to step up and come together in order to try to fill her shoes.

DZ: This has got to be a pretty cool place for you to play, you have a teammate who you grew up with in Candice Wiggins and Renee (Montgomery) who you played in college with. Could you talk a little bit about that?

HOUSTON: It’s a very, very comforting feeling to know that you are around people who you’ve grown up with. It helps a lot and at the same time you also know they way they play, their style so it’s easy to play with them as far as chemistry goes…The Twin Cities is such a great place, it’s a place where I am very comfortable, the fans are very accepting and we have a great support staff to help us along the way.

DZ: Going back to last year, you were a 3rd round pick who is trying to make the team, this year you come in as a starter. Talk a little about the different mindsets of the two seasons.

HOUSTON: The mindset for me is always the same. Every time I step on the floor, I want to compete, I want to play hard and I play as if I have to make the team all over again. I feel like once you become complacent, that’s when you tend not to improve and develop as a person as well as a basketball player. For me, I just want to make major improvements every year.

DZ: One of the things fans notice about you other than your game is your different hairstyles. This year, you haven’t done too much, but last year you switched it up quite a bit, could you just talk about that?

HOUSTON: My hair is a big thing for me - not just hair, but hygiene in general. Because we sweat so much, it tends to not be so comfortable for me so I change my hair a lot…Hair is such a broad thing, you can have it short, you can have it long - there are many things you can do.  I am just so free spirited, I just like to try new things.

DZ: You guys are going to be home a lot for this stretch are there any new styles we should be looking for?

HOUSTON: Yeah, I haven’t decided yet, but the next week or so I will definitely have a new one (laughs).

(Photo courtesy of the Minnesota Lynx)

 Minneapolis/St. Paul – The Minnesota Timberwolves today announced that guard Bobby Brown has exercised the player option on his contract for the 2009-10 season.

After going undrafted out of Cal State Fullerton in 2008, Brown was signed as a free agent by the Sacramento Kings prior to the 2008-09 season. He was subsequently acquired by the Wolves along with Shelden Williams in exchange for Calvin Booth and Rashad McCants on Feb. 19, 2009. In 68 total games split between the Kings and Wolves during his rookie season, Brown averaged 5.3 points and 1.7 assists in 13.7 minutes per game.

For the fourth time in six years the University of Minnesota had two players selected in the first round of the National Hockey League Entry Draft as Nick Leddy and Jordan Schroeder each went among the top picks.

An incoming freshman for the Gophers, Leddy was selected by his hometown team when the Minnesota Wild made him in the 16th player chosen overall. Leddy is the third Gopher player to be drafted by the Wild, joining Danny Irmen in 2003 and Mike Erickson in 2002. Both Irmen and Erickson were third-round picks.Leddy led Eden Prairie High School to the Minnesota Class AA state championship last winter and received the state’s Mr. Hockey award. A 5-11, 180-pound defenseman, Leddy had eight goals and 29 assists for 37 points in 25 games this past season.

Schroeder went 22nd overall to the Vancouver Canucks and joins current Gophers’ junior Patrick White as Canucks’ first-round selections. White was taken 25th by Vancouver in the 2007 draft. The Canucks also took current Gopher sophomore Taylor Matson in the sixth round in 2007. The only other Gophers to be chosen by Vancouver were Sean Fabian in 1987 and John Labatt in 1983.

A 5-8, 180-pound forward, Schroeder finished second in scoring for the Gophers this past season with 13 goals and 32 assists for 45 points in 35 games. He was the Western Collegiate Hockey Association Rookie of the Year and a second-team all-conference selection. Schroeder was also named the Inside College Hockey National Rookie of the Year and finished third in the nation in scoring as the only freshman among the top 40 scorers.

Leddy and Schroeder give the Gophers four current players who have been drafted in the first round. In addition to White, senior David Fischer was the top choice by the Montreal Canadiens in 2006. Rounds 2-7 will be conducted on Saturday.

The Gophers have now had 10 first-round picks since 2004 and eight players selected in the first round in the past four years. They also had two players selected in the first round in 2007 and 2004 and had four first-round picks in 2006. Leddy and Schroeder were among the first three American-born players chosen in the draft.

Minneapolis/St. Paul – The Minnesota Timberwolves Thursday night selected Ricky Rubio and Jonny Flynn in the first round (fifth and sixth picks overall, respectively) of the 2009 NBA Draft. Rubio, a 6-4 guard from Spain, averaged 10.0 points and 6.1 assists per game for DKV Joventut Badalona (Spain) during the 2008-09 season. Flynn, a 6-0 guard from Syracuse University, averaged 17.4 points per game during his sophomore season.

“Ricky and Jonny are both outstanding young basketball players and natural, charismatic leaders, and we’re thrilled to have them in our backcourt together,” said David Kahn, Timberwolves President of Basketball Operations. “This is an exciting night for the Timberwolves as we continue to build a foundation of young talent for our franchise.”

In four seasons with DKV Joventut Badalona of the Spanish ACB League, Rubio averaged 7.2 points and 3.3 assists per game. Despite being only 18 years old, Rubio has been playing professionally for four years, having joined DKV at the age of 14 years, 11 months and 24 days — the youngest player to ever compete in an ACB game.

Rubio won FIBA Europe’s Young Player of the Year award in 2007 and 2008, honoring him as the top player in Europe under the age of 22. He was selected ACB Ideal Quintet (first team all-league) in 2007-08. This past season, Rubio was named ACB Defensive Player of the Year. A member of the Spanish National Team, Rubio competed in the Beijing Olympics in 2008, helping Spain win a silver medal.

In two seasons at Syracuse University, Flynn averaged 16.6 points, 2.7 rebounds and 6.0 assists, including 17.4 points and 6.7 assists per game during his sophomore campaign.  Despite playing just two seasons for the Orange, Flynn ranked seventh in career assists. He started all 73 games of his Syracuse career, scoring in double figures in 64 contests. He set a school single-season record for minutes played with 1,418 this past season. Flynn tallied a career-high 35 points in a win at Providence on Jan. 28, 2009. He dished out a career-high 13 assist and scored 25 points in a win over Georgetown on Feb. 14, 2009.  Flynn played a game-high 67 minutes and scored 34 points in the Orange’s memorable 127-117 six-overtime win against Connecticut on March 12, 2009. He made his collegiate debut with 28 points vs. Siena, the highest scoring debut in Syracuse history.

Flynn was named to the All-Big East Second Team this past season, and was an AP All-America Honorable Mention. He was the Big-East co-Rookie of the Year in 2007-08.