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Updated at 5:38 a.m., Thursday, November 13, 2008

MLB: Twins give Gardenhire two-year extension

Bloomberg News Service

The Minnesota Twins have given manager Ron Gardenhire a two-year contract extension and re-signed his coaching staff through the 2010 season, the team announced today.

Gardenhire, who has managed the Twins since 2002, guided them to an 88-75 record and finished one game behind the Chicago White Sox for the American League Central Division title after losing All-Star pitcher Johan Santana in a trade and longtime outfielder Torii Hunter through free agency.

His contract now runs through 2011.

"Ron and his staff have done an outstanding job over the last seven years, and none was better than the 2008 season," Twins general manager Bill Smith said in a news release. "We had a lot of new players and a lot of young players, and our major-league staff did a marvelous job with a changing cast of players."

The 51-year-old Gardenhire has a 622-512 record and trails only Tom Kelly on the Twins all-time wins list. Since 2002, he has the fifth-most wins among all managers.