Once-horrid Twins playing much better

The Twins' horrible early-season record got former General Manager Terry Ryan fired, so it's almost impossible to believe that if the Twins had beaten the Astros on Tuesday night and Toronto lost its game, the Twins would have had the best record in major league baseball since July 2. Since then, the Twins have gone 21-13 and scored the most runs (202) and had the most hits (344) in baseball.

Toronto did lose 9-2 to Tampa Bay, but the Twins blew many opportunities and lost 7-5 to Houston at Target Field. Before they started winning on July 2, the Twins stood at their lowest point of the season at 25-54, 29 games below .500.

And actually, it was former Twins reliever Pat Neshek who killed any chance for the Twins to grab the best record in baseball over that stretch. He came in and struck out hot-hitting Miguel Sano — who had four home runs and six RBI in his past five games — with runners on first and second and two outs in the bottom of the seventh to preserve the Astros' 6-4 lead at the time.

Still, it's incredible that a team was so bad for four months that it got the general manager fired is now is playing like one of the best teams in baseball.

While the Twins pitching staff has really started to improve, there's no question that losing closer Glen Perkins to a torn labrum in his shoulder only two games into the season and starter Phil Hughes to a broken kneecap and thoracic outlet syndrome in his shoulder were big blows to the team.

John Steubs, the Twins director of medical services, talked about their rehab processes.

"Glen is doing just fine," Steubs said. "He's working through the strengthening phase after his surgery and trying to get back his motion. He's working hard and doing well.

Steubs was asked if Hughes' shoulder problem could have been part of the reason he struggled the past two seasons, posting a 4.83 ERA and 12-16 record over 36 starts.

"That's real hard to know," Steubs said. "When he was with the Yankees, he had similar symptoms but was checked out and never really had what we found. Probably that has been there for a while with us. Through this season, we were trying to figure out why the loss of velocity, and this might explain it."

Digging into old files, I found a letter from a 20-year-old Tony Dungy, then a junior at the University of Minnesota. I'm running it here because who would have thought at that time that Dungy would become one of the greatest coaches in NFL history and be named to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton, Ohio, where he was inducted Saturday.

"Dear Mr. Hartman,

"I just wanted to drop you a note and thank you for everything you have done for the team, and myself personally. Now that we finished up strong and the prospects look good for next season everybody will start jumping on the bandwagon again. But you were one of the few who stuck with us all the way and it really helped to have someone on our side when things weren't so good.

"Yesterday I was elected captain of the first team. This is the greatest honor that I have ever received. I want you to know that it probably wouldn't have happened without you and I really appreciate your help. You were always in my corner and now that things are starting to fall into place, I'll try not to ever let you down on the field or off.

"Thanks again for everything.

"Sincerely, Tony Dungy"

Dungy and the Gophers went 6-5 in both 1975 and '76, his junior and senior seasons.

Things might have been different for Gophers coach Joe Salem had Dungy not received a coaching offer from the Pittsburgh Steelers in the middle of recruiting season in 1981, after Dungy had returned to the U and coached the defensive backs under Salem for one season. Dungy had recruited several outstanding players who didn't follow through with their commitment when he left.

• It might be old news, but it is amazing to realize that Twins manager Paul Molitor is one of only four major league players who has 3,000 hits, 500 steals and a .300 batting average during his career. The others are three of the greatest players of all time in Ty Cobb, Eddie Collins and Honus Wagner. Molitor was the lone player to collect his 3,000th hit on a triple until the Marlins' Ichiro Suzuki accomplished the same feat last week.

• The Pioneer Press reported that in four separate big league stints over the past 14 months, Byron Buxton — who in my opinion is the most overrated first-round draft choice in history — has failed to hit higher than .217 or reach base at better than a .257 clip in 39, 99, 49 and 169 plate appearances. Of 271 major leaguers with at least 100 plate appearances since June 7, only former Twins catcher A.J. Pierzynski had a lower on-base percentage than Buxton's .231.

• It's sad to see ex-Gophers player and linebacker coach Mike Sherels quite ill. Sherels not only is a great linebacker coach but one of the Gophers' best recruiters.

• Purdue named Mike Bobinski its athletic director Tuesday. Bobinski is only the fourth AD at Purdue since 1942 and is replacing Morgan Burke, who is retiring after 23 years on the job. The Gophers have had 15 athletic directors since 1942, including recently hired Mark Coyle.