I saw the teaser during the Twins game that Torii Hunter would be making an appearance on “Best Damn Sports Show Period.” So I set the DVR and did my duty this morning by watching for any potential Hunter bombshells.

First, this served as a reminder that the show is indeed still completely unwatchable. Torii is a regular guest, but this time they had him paired with C.C. Sabathia and started asking them who would win a 1-on-1 in basketball (Hunter said C.C.), in the 100-yard-dash (”Are you serious?” C.C. asked) and 100-yard swim (”When I swim, I sink like a rock,” Hunter said.)

John Salley managed one serious question, asking why Hunter would turn down a $14 million per year contract extension. Torii again said there was no such offer, and that was pretty much it. Once again, Hunter’s charisma helped save a poorly orchestrated segment. I can’t believe that show has lasted all these years.

Chase Utley’s return was the big story in Philly last night, as the Phillies stayed within three games of the NL wild-card lead with a big win over the Mets. And, oh yes, J.D. Durbin was solid again.

Durbin continues to surprise me. I’ve had Twins people tell me he seemed “scared to death” on a big league mound, and his first appearances for Arizona and Philadelphia this year seemed to cement that notion. But here’s an excerpt from Todd Zolecki’s game story in the Philadelphia Inquirer:

We can’t forget about J.D. Durbin, either. He entered last night with a 1.29 ERA in three road starts and an 8.62 ERA in three home starts.

But he overcame his home struggles. He had a perfect game through four innings before Carlos Beltran hit a leadoff double in the fifth inning. Two runs eventually scored, but in 61/3 innings he limited the Mets to six hits, two runs and no walks. He also struck out a career-high six batters.

He is 5-2 with a 4.22 ERA in seven starts for the Phillies.

“Just getting ahead of guys,” Durbin said. “I made them hit the pitches I wanted [them] to hit. My slider was so much better today. I was able to throw it in every situation again.”

Also, that’s Phillies reliever J.C. Romero in the accompanying photo with the fist pump after lowering his ERA to 1.96. And did someone ask about Kyle Lohse? He’s scheduled to pitch Thursday’s series finale against the Mets. Don’t ask me to explain it, but Philadelphia must be where former Twins pitchers go to find themselves.

The focus for the Twins now obviously is catching Cleveland, overcoming that 5 1/2 game gap, which just happens to be the same gap the Twins had behind Detroit last year on this date.

I’m still struck by Detroit’s latest collapse, however. The Twins are only three back of the Tigers today. Reading the Detroit Free Press, you’ve got Gary Sheffield speaking like a player whose shoulder injury might not let him come back this season, and you’ve got another pitcher joining Kenny Rogers on the DL in Jair Jurrgens.

Michael Rosenberg summed it up the overall state of the Tigers well with this column:

A crazy year just keeps getting crazier. The Tigers’ starting leftfielder, Cameron Maybin, was playing centerfield in Single-A ball three weeks ago. None of the starting pitchers has had a particularly good year. Every day seems to bring a new call-up, injury or demotion.

Yet here are the Tigers, 2 1/2 games out of first place.

The Tigers have one more game with the Yankees tonight, as Justin Verlander pitches opposite Mike Mussina. That one’s on ESPN2 tonight, so I’ll be flipping back and forth from the Twins game.

I’m back on the horse, and the first thing that caught my eye this morning was the pitching matchups chart in our print edition. With the Twins beginning a huge series in Cleveland, here’s a look at how Paul Byrd and Carlos Silva have fared in their past three starts.

Pitcher   W-L   ERA     (Avg. hits and walks per game)

Silva      1-0     1.29     6.9

Byrd      2-1     9.45     17.5

Of course, when these two squared off Aug. 6 at the Metrodome, Cleveland won 4-0.

As a rookie blogger, I’m still learning my way. When the readers show the kind of energy you’ve shown this season, it’s hard on days when you can’t advance the story or at least add to the discussion. But my computer crashed this morning. Our tech gurus gave me a replacement, but I’m way behind on my work for our Sunday editions. So with that, I’m going underground for a few days.

La Velle will keep you on top of the Twins news during this road trip. And check out any of those links on the right side of the screen. Seth Stohs (link now fixed) has had some terrific posts of late, especially his Wednesday post about season splits. Anyway, much as it pains me to do this, I need some time away from the blog to keep afloat elsewhere. Thanks for your understanding, and I’ll talk to you again next week.