Turns out, the season's not over yet. Paul Molitor complimented a few players for helping to turn around the Twins' fortunes after that lousy 1-6 start. Here's what he had to say:

— Great day for Trevor Plouffe, and a great sign for the Twins. The third baseman was 4-for-34 before smashing his 11th-inning game-winner on Friday, and he kept that momentum when he returned to the lineup Sunday. Two singles and a double added more than 60 points to his batting average, and while .205 isn't where he wants it, either, it's headed in the right direction.

"The home run obviously gave him some confidence," manager Paul Molitor said. "He went to the opposite field a couple of times, and is still showing a lot of quickness, staying on the ball. So it's just a matter of time before he gets going."

— Also having a good day: Shane Robinson, the backup center fielder. Jordan Schafer is off to a shaky start in center field, and with a left-hander pitching Sunday, it was a perfect chance for Molitor to give him a break. It didn't hurt, then, that Robinson smacked three hits, drove in two runs, and ranged all over the outfield for six fly balls.

"He made the team out of spring training because he's a good all-around baseball player. [Coming up] through the Cardinals system, he learned how to play the game right," Molitor said. "He has good at-bats — lefthanded [pitching], righthanded, doesn't matter. And he's instinctively intelligent on the defensive side. He's in the right place and he gets good jumps. I have a lot of confidence when I put him in there."

— Lefthander Aaron Thompson didn't allow a run over two innings in relief of Trevor May, helping protect a lead that was 4-1 at the time, and it's clear that Molitor's confidence in the rookie reliever is growing. Sunday's outing was his sixth straight without allowing a run, a span totaling 8 1/3 innings.

"Every time I run him out there so far, he's done a good job. To get those six outs in the seventh and eighth [innings], that was important for us," Molitor said. "You just don't ever want to assume anything in a big league game, so to get those couple of zeroes that was good for us."