The Twins and General Manager Bill Smith were second-guessed pretty good when they decided to sign closer Joe Nathan to a four-year contract worth $47 million in March.

What you read in newspapers and heard on radio and television talk shows before Nathan's deal was something like this: "The Twins are wasting their money if they are considering signing Nathan because the starting pitching will be so bad, they won't need a closer."

However, that theory has turned out wrong so far. Nathan chalked up his ninth save in as many opportunities Wednesday to help the Twins beat the White Sox 4-3 at the Metrodome.

A year ago after 27 games, Twins starting pitchers -- including the great Johan Santana -- had an ERA of 3.87, compared to 4.41 this season after Wednesday's game. The team's record after the same number of games last year was 15-12, compared to 13-14 this season.

Maybe Smith knew what he was doing when he locked up Nathan for four more years.

"What we've always said is that the bullpen's only as good as the last guy with the ball, and he's one of the best in the game," Smith said. "To have him there, it makes everybody better."

Contrary to what I and others thought, the young and inexperienced Twins starters haven't been a disaster. Smith has been proven right.

"They're young starters," he said. "The one thing you need at the back of the game, when you get a lead, you need one of the best closers in the game, and it's good to have him out there.

"We like our starters, they're just young. Nick Blackburn did a nice job today. He held us in there for seven innings [giving up three earned runs and eight hits]. We're pleased with Blackburn and [Scott] Baker and that group. I think they've got good days coming."

Hanging in there Smith likes the position the Twins are in now.

"We've only played 27 games and we've had a few that we've let get away that hurt a little bit, but we like the position that we're in," he said. "I think Carlos Gomez is just starting to come along. We're kind of waiting for Delmon Young. He's swung the bat better this week. We still think he's going to be a big impacter in the course of the year. Joe Mauer's been hot lately. We've got a lot of good players on this club and we're excited about what's coming in the next five months."

Sweeping the two-game series from the White Sox gave Smith some hope for the future.

"Yes, that's our priority, to win the division," he said. "That's why we play 162 games. This is a good White Sox team here, they're in first place coming in here, they're [14-12 now] and we battled them pretty well. We just beat the first-place team two in a row, so that's why they play all the games and if it works out, we'll keep going."

One big criticism of the Twins is that they haven't been very consistent. But to be honest, they have competed a lot better than I thought they would. I was expecting Detroit and Cleveland to dominate the division.

Wheeler undecided The Phoenix Coyotes have offered Gophers hockey star Blake Wheeler a contract, but he hasn't decided whether to sign or come back for his senior year.

Gophers winger Ryan Stoa, who suffered a season- ending knee injury in the second game last season, was drafted by the Colorado Avalanche but will not turn pro and will return for his senior year.

Kent Patterson, a goaltender who played high school hockey at Blake and was on the Cedar Rapids team in the USHL last year but was hurt most of the season, has committed to the Gophers.

Gophers hockey coach Don Lucia said the job application to replace assistant Mike Guentzel, who resigned April 18, has been posted. Lucia won't announce a successor for two weeks. However, he did admit former Gophers captain Scott Bell, now the Hamline hockey coach, is one of the top candidates for the job.

Jottings Seeing Dallas face San Jose in the Stanley Cup playoffs reminded Lou Nanne, a former North Stars player and GM, of when it appeared the club was going to move to San Jose in 1990 and Minnesota would be without an NHL team.

But the league finally allowed the roster of the North Stars to be divided after the 1990-91 season, allowing the team to remain here and San Jose to have a franchise. The other big edge given to San Jose at the time was that the North Stars didn't participate in the next draft. Eventually the North Stars moved to Dallas in 1993.

Maybe the Twins are fortunate they didn't trade Santana to the Yankees. Of the New York pitchers talked about in the potential trade, Phil Hughes has posted a 0-4 record with a 9.00 ERA and Ian Kennedy is 0-2 with 8.53 ERA so far this season. Melky Cabrera, the Yankees outfielder rumored to be in the trade, is hitting .289 with five home runs.

Former Gophers football players getting a shot at the pros: linebacker Mike Sherels is getting a tryout with the Vikings; the Ravens signed wide receiver Ernie Wheelright to a free-agent contact; fullback Justin Valentine signed with the Jets. ... Joe Mays, the North Dakota State linebacker who had nine tackles and two tackles for loss against the Gophers in the Bison's 27-21 victory last October, was drafted in the sixth round by the Eagles.

Former Gopher Marion Barber III, who has developed into one of the best running backs in the NFL for Dallas, is a restricted free agent and should be entitled to a big raise, but he hasn't signed for the 2008 season. ... Former Vikings quarterback Daunte Culpepper is without a job but was in Green Bay last week for a workout.

Julian Dehn, the under-16 tennis champion in Germany in 2005, has signed a tender to attend Minnesota. Dehn also won the under-18 doubles title in Germany in 2007 and was ranked 131st overall in Germany during the summer of 2007.

Sid Hartman can be heard weekdays on WCCO AM-830 at 6:40, 7:40 and 8:40 a.m. and on his Podcast twice a week at www.startribune.com/sidcast. shartman@startribune.com.