Here we are, sitting on the 15th of June, and the Twins are in last place in the American League. All of this recent talk about realignment in baseball, and the Twins would be sitting 15th out of 15 teams in the AL. So, if the Twins are in last place, with the worst record in the American League, then why are Twins fans getting excited?
With Wednesday night's 4-1 win over the White Sox, the Twins have now won 10 of their last 12 games. Their bats have started to come alive a bit, their pitching has greatly improved from earlier in the season, and they are starting to do those "Twins-type" things once more, like stealing bases, hit-and-runs, and moving runners over. Add all of those facets together, and you have one of the more dangerous teams in the American League Central.
Oh, and there's one more thing to mention. Health.
Wednesday afternoon, the Twins outrighted left-handed reliever Dusty Hughes to Triple-A Rochester to make room for Tsuyoshi Nishioka. And that's not all. It is expected that All-Star catcher Joe Mauer will be back in the starting lineup on Friday. Combine those with the returns of Justin Morneau, Jason Kubel, Jim Thome, Glen Perkins, Joe Nathan, and Denard Span over the next two to three weeks, and this team will finally be healthy again, and become a serious threat in the Central Division.
So, we've covered the health aspect, and we've mentioned the "back-to-basics" mentality of stealing, bunting, and hitting and running. But the biggest factor right now that has led the Twins to one of the best records in baseball in June is the fact that, as a team, they've begun to realize that the can win. The confidence of each player is at a season-high right now. Alexi Casilla, who was having a hard time hitting out of a paper bag in April and May, was hitting .374 for June going into Wednesday's game. Delmon Young, who was having a hard time hitting thin air when he swung, as begun to hit balls hard, and has almost as many extra-base hits in June as he had throughout the first two months of the season. Michael Cuddyer has suddenly become more of the leader than many people, including myself, thought he should be in the absence of Joe Mauer. The starting rotation has been incredible throughout the last three weeks, including two complete games by Carl Pavano, including Wednesday's gem. All told, if you've watched the Twins play over the last two and a half weeks, you would think this was the team leading the division, not bringing up the tail.
What the Twins need to do is continue executing their game plan. As they've been executing the plan, each player has been gaining confidence. That confidence has become contagious. It will be incredibly important for the players currently in the lineup to foster this confidence further, as the returning players start to reintegrate themselves back into the lineup. Mauer, albeit a three-time batting champion, has not been hitting well during his rehab stints over the last 10 days. Those rehab games were primarily meant to get him used to catching games again, but the hope is that the bat will quickly return to what we're all used to. Nishioka had a very rough start to his Major League Baseball career before he went down with the leg injury. It will be important for the guys to make sure his confidence begins to soar, just as theirs has been. Likewise for the others as they gradually return from their various injuries.
If anything could derail the Twins right now, it would be a sharp detour from the "team" attitude that these guys have right now. As some of the guys begin to return and reclaim their spots, guys like Drew Butera, Matt Tolbert, Luke Hughes, and Ben Revere will likely see their playing time diminish. If those guys let their egos get in the way of the team, the confident, gritty team we've seen in June could quickly become the train wreck they were in April and early May. It will be up to the leaders of this team to hold it all together. The Mauers, Pavanos, Cuddyers, and Morneaus will need to ensure that these young guys know they're still a very important part of this squad. They will need to make sure they understand that importance, because no doubt they will be needed at some point in the future. It's up to the veterans to get this message across.
What we're seeing now is the beginning of a great comeback run by the Twins. They're playing the right way, they're playing with confidence, and we as fans need to make sure we have confidence in them to make this miraculous run a reality in July, August, September, and hopefully into October.
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