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It’s true that football is charging into our consciousness and virtually squeezing all interest in the Minnesota Twins off the sports page. Except...Brian Dozier is on an incredible run that makes him, right now, the best hitter in baseball.

Dozier seemed to embody the Twins when he had a miserable first half. On May 22, he was hitting .199 with 4 home runs. Since then, he has started hitting, but it was modest at first. Then he started hitting home runs. He was up to 14 homers by the All-Star break, through 83 games. In the 51 games since then, he has 25 home runs.

He has hit home runs in 19 of the Twins last 36 games, since July 31. But his current hot streak is other-worldly. He seemed to be hitting a home run every game, and then Monday he hit three of them. At the same time, his batting average has surged upwards as well. It appeared he was destined to be a career .240 hitter, and by getting his average up from .199 to .246 by All-Star time, he seeemed headed for a typical season.

Then he took off. He is hitting .329 since the All-Star break, and lifted his full-season average to .278. That is not earth-shaking, but it moves Dozier ahead of Joe Mauer (.271), the guy who used to set the template for team batting average. But at 39 home runs, as of Tuesday night, Dozier has a real shot at leading the Major Leagues in home runs, trailing leader Mark Trumbo of Baltimore by only two. Trumbo is hitting .257 – fine for a guy who is leading the league in home runs. But Dozier could still inch up to .290 and hit – dare I say it? – 50 home runs!

Incredibly, the Twins can’t win during this torrid hitting and home run streak by Dozier. The lost five of their last six, but losing is one thing, and giving up runs in double figures is something else. The Twins are scoring a lot of runs -- 34 of them over the six games through Tuesday, which is nearly 6 runs a game. But they’ve given up 48 in those same six games. In fact, without the lone victory in that stretch, an 11-3 romp over the White Sox, the Twins gave up 11, 13, 11, and 10.

But forget the starting pitching, and the bullpen. Just focus on Brian Dozier swinging the bat and hope his hot streak continues long enough to make this a warm winter.

Bradford Arrives

The Vikings made a major move in acquiring Sam Bradford from Philadelphia, even though they gave up a first-round pick and a fourth rounder. This is a season when the Vikings have the running game, the defense, the receiving corps, and the offensive line to make a serious run at Super Bowl contention. But with Teddy Bridgewater going down with torn knee ligaments, Shaun Hill was solid, but didn’t project to be a championship quarterback.

Bradford has the credentials to make this a memorable season for the Vikings, and I think he’ll play right away – starting at Tennessee Sunday. Watch the Titans closely, and see how impressed you are with quarterback Marcus Mariotta, former Oregon Duck star.

Targeting Heads

The Gophers beat Oregon State 30-23 in their opener, and in the process had three defensive players penalized and ejected for targeting hits to the head. Good calls, too.

Then I watched a small patch of Texas against Notre Dame. Tight game, it turned out, but late in the game, the Fighting Irish made a run at winning it. A touchdown pass late in the third quarter, that would have won the game, was caught by Torii Hunter Jr. in the end zone, and he immediately was flattened by defensive back DeShon Elliott, who flew into him, helmet-to-helmet. Hunter has a concussion, and the ball fell from his grasp. Texas came on to win 50-47 in double overtime.

Now, the game was at Darrell Royal Stadium in Texas, and maybe all things are OK if Texas does them in Texas, but the hit was far more flagrant than all three of the violations the Gophers committed and were called for against Oregon State. In Texas, they didn’t even review the call.

UMD, Saints 0-1

UMD found itself in the unusual position of blowing a couple of leads in losing its opener 42-38 at Southwest Minnesota State last Saturday. The Bulldogs open at home at 6 p.m. Saturday against Winona State with all the pressure the Northern Sun can muster plunked right on their maroon helmets. Losing the first game does that to you in the NSIC.

St. Scholastica got thumped 49-7 at St. John’s. Rude lesson. But it was nonconference, so it shouldn’t hurt the Saints from returning to dominance of the UMAC. The Saints are on the road again this weekend, before their home opener.