Surprising Twins to be tested on long road trip
The AL playoff teams already would be determined if the Twins would have just gone away.
No such luck for the White Sox, Rays or Red Sox, who would be a lot more content if the Twins did what was expected after losing Torii Hunter and Johan Santana and to a lesser extent Carlos Silva and Matt Garza.
But they’re challenging the White Sox for first place in the Central and the Red Sox for the wild card.
The Twins of Ron Gardenhire continue to succeed in a smaller market, thanks to fundamentally sound play and the likes of hitters Justin Morneau, Joe Mauer and Delmon Young, a new-look rotation that includes five guys aged 24 to 26 - four of whom had a combined 31 big-league starts before this year - and two pitchers the Giants let get away, All-Star closer Joe Nathan and Francisco Liriano.
With Friday’s win, they improved to a major-league best 42-19 since June 13 and evoke memories of their wild finish in 2006, when they went 71-33 and stormed to a division title.
Four teams have a winning road record, but not the Twins, who sometimes are downright lousy away from the Metrodome. They’ve been swept in Chicago, New York and Boston while getting outscored 100-32.
Tags: Road Trip, Trip
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Sunday, August 24th, 2008 at 7:07 pm under