AUGUST 19, 2009 -- MINNESOTA 5, TEXAS 4

Yet another shocker on Wednesday, as the Twins come back from a 4-0 hole this time around, scoring the final five runs to beat the wild-card competing Rangers by a run. The resiliency shown by the Twins has been honorable, and it's nice to see that the Twins haven't completely thrown in the towel at this point of what has been a lost season. It's pretty hard to carry over momentum from one season to the next, but at the very least the Twins can find out who belongs on their roster and who they can easily dispatch. That would at least be the logical thing to do, but when you're confident playing Nick Punto on an everyday basis, that sort of undermines your talent-appraisal skills. And it's sorry to say that these wins might not be the best thing for the team right now. They are in limbo as an organization currently. They're five and a half games behind first place, but they're also four games below .500. It's hard to gauge whether the team can actually pull off a run and compete for the division or whether they aren't suited for a race in the first place. If it were up to me, I would start the 2010 rebuilding process right now. Let's face it; even if the team were to make the playoffs, there's absolutely no way they can beat anyone in the playoffs, and a division title would likely mean they may win 83-85 wins, which in any other division in baseball would have put them in third place at best. But it's tough for Bill Smith to wave the white flag at this point, however, with the Brett Favre circus in full gear, now might be the best time to do that. Get rid of stopgaps like Crede and Cabrera and get the young kids up here to get their feet wet, the Danny Valencias and Anthony Slamas of the world.


Another encouraging sign in Wednesday's win was that the Twins offense came back largely without the help from Joe Mauer, who went hitless in three at-bats, drawing two walks. The sixth inning in which the Twins scored four runs to take the lead was that much more astounding when you consider that the last three runs scored with two outs and runners in scoring position, just the sort of situational hitting that the Twins have really struggled with this season. Nick Punto may have gotten the biggest hit of the bunch, as he drove home the second run of the inning with his single, and that perhaps sparked Denard Span and Orlando Cabrera to follow up Punto's knock with two hits of their own. It was yet another discouraging loss for Ranger fans, who have been pleasantly surprised with their pitching staff this season, only to see that Achilles heel of years past come back to haunt them the past two nights. And again, the Twins have lucked out two nights in a row here after getting poor starts by their starters. Scott Baker was able to pitch into the sixth inning, but did put the Twins in a 4-0 hole. Though these two comeback wins were refreshing to see from the Twins, the fact remains that that sort of starting pitching will not consistently win you games. And there's no reason to think that Anthony Swarzak can post good numbers on Thursday, which probably means he'll pitch a gem. The team continues to be a head-scratcher.
Photos: AP/Tony Gutierrez.

AUGUST 18, 2009 -- MINNESOTA 9, TEXAS 6

The Twins fall behind 5-0, as Carl Pavano struggles to get through four innings. It appears that the formula for losing, which the Twins have darn near patented in the last few weeks, is again on track. Then something funny happened on the way to the middle innings. The Twins came back. Seldom Young, of all people, who had just struck out pathetically on a pitch at his head with a runner on third and one out in the second inning, ignited the rally, doubling home two to tie the game at five in the sixth inning. When Phil Humber threw the ball to nobody covering third base in the bottom of the sixth, which gave the Rangers the lead again at 6-5, it appeared that this would be how the Twins would lose -- pathetically with a Triple-A pitcher losing the game on an asinine fielding decision. But then what happened? Joe Mauer led off the seventh with a home run, his second of the game, and then there's that pesky Seldom Young winning the game with a two-run blast of his own in the seventh. Shocking. Absolutely stunning. The only thing that would have made it more surprising if Nick Punto had done it all offensively and defensively (in other words, been worth the four million dollars the Twins are shelling out for him). After Joe Nathan quickly retired the Rangers (in his first save opportunity of the month) in the ninth, the Twins could breathe easy again, as they posted a key win in a situation where the Rangers, in sole possession of the wild card lead coming into the game, needed to win.


It's a nice win, sure, a little late of course, but yet another example of how the offense certainly can produce for you. The Twins played the game shorthanded again, as Justin Morneau sat on the bench one day after dizzy spells forced him to leave the game, and Jason Kubel had to exit early in Tuesday's contest due to fouling a ball off his knee. But the bigger story in the game should have been how the starting pitching continues to betray the Twins. Pavano's now had two bad starts following his brilliant debut with the Twins, and Tuesday's win was more of an anomaly than a harbinger of future success. You're not going to win a whole lot of games when you're starter gives you four pathetic innings and you have to (again) rely too heavily on an already overtaxed (and lacking in the talent department to begin with) bullpen. The Twins lucked out on Tuesday, but there's no reason to expect this "winning" thing will continue.


As a few of you commented on last night, the whole Brett Favre saga is now in full gear, and though I'm glad I don't blog about the Vikes, I will say some words about it here as they relate to the Minnesota Twins. I'll tell you one thing: Brett Favre in a Vikings uniform is an absolute godsend to the Minnesota Twins. Why? Well, that circus is now in full gear, and with the Twins season rapidly falling apart, Ron Gardenhire and his bunch of clowns can relish the fact that the media darling Favre will likely steal all of the attention in this media market. September is likely going to be a miserable month for the Twins, as they're going to be fighting for third place and staving off the Indians; but with Favre helming the Vikings, not many people around Minnesota are likely going to care much about the Twins' troubles. It's an understated quality of Ron Gardenhire's undeserved job security, that the Vikings (and the Wild, it can be argued) really own the town in terms of Minnesota pro sports. The Twins are more than happy to be second banana to their Metrodome cohabs, because Minnesota sports fans will quickly latch on to the Vikings and soon forget about the Twins' woes. Ron Gardenhire should almost feel obliged to thank Brett Favre personally, just because it makes his own idiocy that less visible to the public.

Photos: (1,2) AP/Tony Gutierrez; (3) AP/Hannah Foslein