As you might have noticed, the Twins are playing better baseball over the past month or so. Since falling to 28-31 with a loss at Oakland, Minnesota has gone 15-9 to position itself nicely in the AL Central Race at three games above .500 for the first time all season. While nobody would confuse the record produced during that stretch with being red-hot, the Twins have been quietly cool and efficient: taking two of three in six of their past seven series. Their team ERA since the start of June is almost two runs better than it was in April (when it was a gross 5.26). The bullpen has been far more stable now that there is no chance Jesse Crain or Luis Ayala can come into a game. In short: this is the blueprint envisioned when the season began.

All of that, of course, makes the next six games — starting with three, starting tonight, against the Yankees — even more important. We all remember mid-May, when the Twins were handed one of the more frustrating four-game sweeps in recent memory at Yankee Stadium. So there’s that. The three over the weekend are against the White Sox, who will be the biggest division threat once Detroit decides to fade for good.

A couple more simple 2-of-3s would do nicely here, but they’re hardly automatic heading into the All-Star break. So we ask of you: what will become of these six games, and have you seen enough from the Twins in this last stretch of play to believe they are a real contender?

Also: Sunset Rubdown is a very good band. We swear they are a band and not a service you get at a “sauna” with no windows. They’re from Montreal, which we believe is in Canada. Excellent show at the 7th Street Entry last night. If you have the means, we suggest you check them out sometime.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 7th, 2009 at 8:17 am and is filed under Main. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.