The Twins, after beating the Padres 4-3 on Thursday, have won more game in a row than they have since they went on a huge roll two years ago.
During the streak, the Twins have outscored opponents 56-19, and their starters have gone 8-0 with an ERA of 2.17. Wow.
The heroes Thursday were Scott Baker (3.57 ERA), who held the Padres to three runs in six innings, got his first big-league hit and scored a run; Justin Morneau, who went three for four with a homer and three RBIs; and the bullpen, which held the Padres scoreless over the final three innings.
The Padres were up 3-0 when Morneau hit a two-run jack to get the Twins back into the game. Morneau has 12 homers, which isn't great, and 62 RBIs, which is pretty good.
Brian Buscher kept up his torrid hitting pace by going two for four with an RBI. He's hitting .386 and appears to be the third baseman of the future.
Meanwhile, the Twins bullpen has a new setup/hold guy, Craig Breslow. Picked up on waivers from the Indians a couple of weeks ago, he was third in the bullpen rotation that did so well against the Padres. First Jesse Crain (2.70), then Dennys Reyes (2.31), then Breslow (1.47), then Matt Guerrier (3.02), and finally Joe Nathan (1.38).
Nathan has converted 21 of 23 save chances, and the Twins won the two games when he blew saves. Which means that if he gets in the game, the Twins are perfect.
Joe Mauer got the day off, with Mike Redmond catching. He's a more than capable replacement, going two for five to boost his average to .286. Interestingly, Jason Kubel has been playing left field in place of Delmon Young. You wonder if Young will be converted to a DH when the team gets back to American League play. Young has proved to be a problem in left field, and nearly lost a game against Arizona when he let the ball go past him.
The Twins didn't gain any ground on the White Sox, who beat the Dodgers, 2-0. They're a half-game back; the Tigers are five back; and the Indians and Royals are seven and a half back.
You'd guess everyone in the division hopes the Indians fall from contention and end up trading C.C. Sabathia to a team such as the Cubs or Brewers. That would make it tough for Cleveland to contend for the next few years.
Watch out for Detroit, which has also been hot. The Twins have crucial series at home against the Tigers and White Sox looming. As well as they've played recently, they need to do well against division rivals to contend. They were swept by the Sox a couple of weeks ago in Chicago -- and looked badly doing it.
It's the same old (sad) story for the Padres. They were ahead 3-0, just as they were Wednesday, but they lost. Their bullpen hasn't been great and they have trouble scoring runs. But they're only eight and a half games behind Arizona. All the NL West teams have been horrible against American League teams.
Khalil Greene's hitting only .229, which is quite a drop for him. And the team has had trouble with catchers.
But how can a team with that much quality starting pitching not make a run in that weak division? I mean, Jake Peavy, Chris Young, Greg Maddux. Yet they're far back and in last place, which makes it tough -- they have to pass four teams.
Still, they're in a weak division and it's only June, so anything can happen.
The Twins need to remember that too. Now they're riding a nine-game winning streak, but it can go wrong very quickly and very easily.
Keywords: Brian Buscher, Craig Breslow, Joe Nathan, Justin Morneau, Minnesota Twins, San Diego Padres, Scott Baker
