The Twins keep facing tough pitchers, suffering injuries and injury setbacks, and winning. This isn't the way it's supposed to work.

They're 21-9 over their last 30 games, while their closer has imploded, their key injured players have failed to return to the lineup (other than Joe Mauer, who hasn't been himself anyway), and their lineup continues to look like the one the Twins take to Bradenton in early March.

Their 3-2 victory over Tampa Bay on Tuesday makes the Twins 38-46. At the time of this writing, they're seven games behind Cleveland, and second-place Detroit is losing.

There continues to be little logical basis for thinking this team can win this division, and yet I can't write them off. Michael Cuddyer keeps carrying the team, and even as Matt Capps threatens to permanently lose the closer's job, Joe Nathan and Glen Perkins are dominating when they get the ball in the late innings.

On Wednesday, if I were Ron Gardenhire, I'd plan for Perkins to be my closer, for Nathan to handle the eighth, and for Capps to get a day off.

After the game, Gardenhire was beside himself. He spoke with Capps earlier in the day, telling Capps how much he wanted Capps to bounce back, and then Gardenhire had to take the ball from him again in the ninth.

Gardenhire stressed that this team needs Capps to turn it around, and he's right. Even with an effective Capps, they're thin in the bullpen. I'd ease Capps back into action, knowing the Twins will need him in at least a setup role down the stretch.

Capps is a pro, and he stood up like a pro after the game. He and Gardenhire say he's healthy ,and Capps didn't make any excuses. What's good about that is the guy who doesn't make excuses has a much better chance of turning himself around.

Scott Baker said his elbow strain is mild, and that he almost didn't tell the training staff about it. But when I suggested that the easiest course of action would be to skip his start on Sunday and give him the All-Star break to rest, he sounded like he agreed.

Baker said he could have continued to pitch, but that risking further injury ``just wasn't smart."

Baker is now 7-5 with a 3.01 ERA. He's become exactly what the Twins projected him to be when they drafted him, a guy capable of being a No. 2 or 3 starter on a contender.

Cuddyer continues to surge, and isn't it interesting that he seems to play his best when the Twins need him the most? He's now hitting .291 with a .362 on-base percentage and a .469 slugging percentage. He is by far this team's best healthy player right now.

Even watching this team every day and talking to the manager and other members of the organization, I'm still not sure exactly how they're winning. The lineup isn't very good. The starting pitchers have been great for a month, but they aren't an intimidating lot. The bullpen has been a mess all year, and the Twins still make too many errors and mistakes on the bases.

Cuddyer and Nathan have been two of my favorite people to cover, and Perkins is the rare important player who proved smart and savvy and persistent enough to break completely free of Gardenhire's doghouse. Tuesday night, those three won the game, and somehow didn't get hurt in the process.