Our starting rotation has 8 of those wins, and unlikely ace Livan Hernandez has 3, with 33 innings pitched. Boof Bonser went on a diet and shed 30 pounds during the off-season. Despite his three quality outings, our offense has puttered behind him, and he has only a single win thus far. He gets the ball tonight in Oakland.

Scott Baker has a pair of wins and looks sharper with each outing. It will be exciting to watch him decimate the pricier lineups this season in Detroit, New York, and Boston. After a few rough outings, last year's call-up Nick Blackburn had a gem of a game last Friday.

Joe Nathan has been nothing short of fantastic, posting a 0.00 ERA and seven saves in seven opportunities. Last night, he struck out the side to help the Twins to their tenth victory of the season.

The lineup is beefy. Just take a look at this Twins' ad. Morneau, Mauer, and Cuddyer come sashaying in, wearing construction helmets, slo-mo'ed all to hell, and start blasting the ball all over downtown Minneapolis ("Lay sumpn' in there, Meat"). What big-league pitcher would want to face these guys three in a row?

But seriously, they've been only mediocre. Morneau went 0 for his first 13 before finally getting a base-hit on which Michael Cuddyer injured his finger sliding into third. Joe Mauer got a theme song.

Carlos Gomez, acquired in the Santana trade, has looked speedy on the basepaths, and hit-or-miss in the outfield. He's a so-so leadoff hitter with the ability to become an incredible leadoff hitter. Delmon Young has been playing good ball, but still needs to work on his discipline at the plate. As for the other new guys: Adam Everett has gone on the DL with a strained right shoulder after hitting .158 through his first nine games. Mike Lamb's at .186. Brendan Harris has a .283, and four errors in the field. Matt Tolbert is hitting .400 and looks like a part of the future of the organization.

Jason Kubel is looking more and more like an every day DH, and now that his knees seem to be under him, he's finally getting the at-bats he deserves. Craig Monroe has a good bat on the other side of the plate, and will likely prove valuable off the bench. And the last piranha—little Nicky Punto—has shown he's ready to play the role of utility infielder with the same grit he always has.

The team looks good, no doubt. But at this point, it's all prognostication; with a 10-and-10 record, the boys aren't really giving us a ton to go on. If Livan can get us fifteen, and Morneau keeps crushing the ball, they might have a chance to contend. But with so many question marks, and no clear leader, it could be a long, slow summer in Twins Territory.

–Todd Pitman