As they say, you meet the same people on the way up as the way down.

The Twins are meeting the same fans — those who were ecstatic when their lead grew to four games over Cleveland in early May are now frightened by the prospect of the same edge more than two months later.

And of course they're seeing the same team, Cleveland, that they zoomed past with an over-their-heads 21-8 month of May. The Twins are 20-18 since then — not bad, sure, but cool enough for the preseason division favorite to apply heat after catching fire.

The Twins are still the better of the two teams and still in the best position with the division lead and a very favorable schedule. They've dabbled with adversity in the past six weeks, but this is their first real, true rough patch.

If they're worthy of winning, they'll pull out of this funk. It's about as simple as that.

Read Michael Rand's blog at startribune.com/randball. michael.rand@startribune.com.