Continued: Back in two weeks: Twins hit the road

One suitcase or two?

"I got everything in one," Twins righthander Scott Baker said.

"I had to sit on my suitcase to get it closed," outfielder Denard Span said.

Was there enough room to pack for a road trip of two-plus weeks?

"I took my whole underwear drawer and threw it in," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said.

One more question: Six, seven or eight wins? Higher? Lower?

The road trip the Twins have talked about all season is now upon them, as they packed up following their 3-1 victory over Oakland on Wednesday and headed out for their longest stretch of games away from home since 1969.

It's a 14-game, 15-day grind that takes them to Los Angeles, Seattle, Oakland and Toronto -- the sixth-longest road trip in Twins history. They've looked at the group of white spaces on their pocket schedules all season. They knew they had to vacate the Twin Cities for the Republican National Convention. So they will try to catch the AL Central-leading White Sox, the team they trail by just one game, with the August heat of the postseason race bearing down on them.

At issue is their 26-31 road record, 15th best in the majors. And their first series is against the Angels, who have the second-best record in baseball.

The Twins should learn a lot about where they stand in the playoff picture by the time they return and unpack their used, smelly clothing. And just when they get used to being at home for six games, they'll head out for a 10-game road trip to Baltimore, Cleveland and Tampa Bay. That's 24 of the next 30 games on the road.

"We have a chance to go to the playoffs," said Twins catcher Mike Redmond, who was 2-for-4 with two RBI on Wednesday. "I don't care if we're on a 50-game road trip. You've got to be fired up to go out there and play these games because they mean something.

"There's a lot of teams out there where it doesn't mean anything for them. We have an opportunity to go out there and control our own destiny and get to the playoffs. That's what it's all about. Not all teams can say that."

Only four teams in the majors have winning road records. But the Twins' road problems stem from getting swept at Chicago, New York and Boston by a combined score of 100-32, so they feel they are somewhat unfairly labeled as a poor road team.

"I think it looks a lot worse than it is," Twins closer Joe Nathan said. "I don't think we're going out there and are like, 'We are in trouble now because we are playing on the road.' It's one of those things were we've got our tails beat around pretty good for a pretty good stretch so it made our record look pretty bad."

Still, they must prove that playing on the road isn't that big of a disadvantage.

"We've done well," Twins first baseman Justin Morneau said. "So far we're right in the race. Obviously it is tough stretch. If we want to make the playoffs we are going to have to play well, and that's it. We can't feel sorry for ourselves. Go out, deal with it, try to win series, come back and that's it."

The Twins on Wednesday won their 11th consecutive home series, which has the Twins baseball communications department searching the planetary datalinks to see the last time they did that.

Lefthander Francisco Liriano (4-3) struggled with his mechanics but gave up just an unearned run over five innings largely because he was pitching against an Oakland team that hasn't had a winning streak in more than a month.

The Twins offense, however, managed just six hits off A's starter Dallas Braden. Redmond's RBI single in the third drove in the winning run.

But Wednesday wasn't the day to talk about how ugly a win it was. It was about how the Twins will handle a four-city road trip.

"What makes up for a [long] road trip is six or seven wins right out of the chute," Redmond said.

Sounds like Redmond has packed two weeks worth of motivational speeches.

"Hopefully our energy is up, which I expect," he said, "because that's my job."