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MAY 15

After 40 games, the Twins are 20-20, in second place, 1.5 games behind the Indians in the Central Division.
Whoa. Things were looking waaay up for a second there. Twenty games later, though, and the Twins are still playing .500 ball.
Francisco Liriano is back in Rochester after giving up six in the first 0.2 innings of an 11-2 rout at the hands of the Oakland Athletics. Livan was starting to look a bit like el reencarnaciĆ³n, until the Twins came home and got hot, winning five straight—two against the White Sox, and a three-game sweep of the imminently write-offable Detroit Tigers—including Livan's instant redemption for a regrettable outing in Texas.

So the Twins strode to first in the Central, then headed to Chicago, where they took only one of three, but in grand fashion: Carlos Gomez hit for the cycle and the Vet pitched a gem of a complete game, with the only run coming in the bottom of the ninth.

Then came the Red Sox series, during which the three-four-five hitters went 15-for-42 and scored 11 runs. Add to that the six spot of Monroe (/Kubel), and the seven spot of Delmon Young, and the middle five scored 16 of the Twins' 25 runs and hit .323 for the series.

They are 14-10 at the dome and more importantly, 13-8 against the Central Division. If they can play without miscues like these (Dustin McGowan is a good pitcher, but the Twins should be able to make a helluva lot more out of five walks in five innings.) they shouldn't be playing .500 ball for much longer.

As for injuries: Pat Neshek is likely out for the rest of the season. Nick Punto's got a bad hamstring. Matt Tolbert looked like he might have been injured in a head first slide today. On the bright side, Scott Baker should be starting rehab this weekend.

Twenty games ago, I said the Twins should be able to piece something together this season should Livan get us fifteen. He's already got six (and the boys are 8-1 when he's out there). However, the season's not even a quarter over. There's still a lot of ball left, and with the way things are going in Cleveland and Chicago, this summer's going to be full of surprises.

Todd Pitman