Three quick thoughts after the Twins beat the Rays in 12:
1. Colabello: His 26 RBI are the most through the first 20 games of the season for the Twins. He's about to break Kirby Puckett's club record for RBI in March-April. His transformation has been stunning, I'm still waiting to see how teams adjust to him. But he's spraying the ball everywhere. And he's hitting fastballs, cutters, splitters, everything.
2. Bully for the bullpen: Twins relievers are on a run of 25 consecutive scoreless innings that goes back to April 15. The strength of the team last season is still a strength this season. Antony Swarzak and Casey Fien are really looking good right now.
3. Pelfrey: He pitched better. But he gave up a 4-2 lead and walked three batters. He was happy the team won, but not pleased with how he pitched. The walks are bothering him.
La Velle E. Neal III has covered baseball for the Star Tribune since 1998 (the post-Knoblauch era). Born and raised in Chicago, he grew up following the White Sox and hating the Cubs. He attended both the University of Illinois and Illinois-Chicago and began his baseball writing career at the Kansas City Star. He can be heard occasionally on KFAN radio, lending his great baseball mind to Paul Allen and other hosts. Mark Rosen borrows him occasionally for WCCO-TV.
Phil Miller covered three seasons of Twins baseball, but that was at a different ballpark for a different newspaper. Now Miller returns to the baseball beat after joining the Star Tribune as the Gopher football writer in 2010, and he won't miss the dingy dome for a minute. In addition to the Twins and Gophers, Miller covered the Utah Jazz and the NBA for six years at The Salt Lake Tribune.
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