Judge’s Ruling Helps Twins

Major league baseball hasn’t formally announced that the Minnesota Twins are among the teams it wants to fold, but that didn’t stop a ruling Friday that the team can’t go anywhere.

Hennepin County District Court Judge Harry Crump ordered the Twins to play its 2002 home schedule in the Metrodome, and also ruled that owner Carl Pohlad can’t sell the team unless the new owner agrees to honor the final year of the team’s lease.

“This throws a significant log in front of a runaway freight train,” said Bill Lester, director of the Metropolitan Sports Facilities Commission, the Twins’ landlord. The attorney representing the Twins and major league owners vowed to appeal.