Really, the Yankees and Twins are the two best teams in baseball right now. Say what you want about the Twins not having Liriano or no starters outside of Santana, but we still have the top bullpen in the league and the 3rd best team era overall. Our pitchers have walked only 327 batters, the lowest in the league by far (Cleveland has the next-lowest total at 396 walks given up), and have struck out more players than any other teams in the league besides the Cubs and Angels. We also are tied with Toronto for the highest team batting average, are tied with Oakland, Seattle, and the White Sox for 3rd in team fielding percentage at .986, and our batters have struck out less than any other team in the league.
Mauer has the highest average in the league.
on June 7th, the Twins were 25-33. Since June 8th? 64-28 (and Morneau is batting .375 since June 8th, too, by the way). Liriano's only made two disappointing appearances since his last productive outing on July 28th, and the twins have been 30-19 since then, which, admittedly, isn't as good as they were during the period from June 8th to when they lost liriano after the 28th, but it's still a .612 winning percentage, which is very, very good.
Radke hasn't pitched since August 25th, and the twins are 14-9 without him.
So why have the twins remained successful?
#1: clutch hitting.
#2: Strong pitching. Santana's currently leading the majors in all three triple crown pitching categories, and Silva seems to have finally found his stride again. Garza, Baker, and Bonser are stepping up and delivering solid performances, and when they buckle, the Twins' bullpen is there to back them up.
It's funny how the twins are STILL regarded as underdogs to even advance past the 1st round when they're the hottest team in baseball in the last 4 months.
I have been a fan long before that, but could not register with GAF with a free email account. I finally got a real provider.