As Twins face Chris Sale, little from last time seems familiar

Three thoughts from the weekend in Minnesota sports:

• What a difference a year makes. The pitching matchup Sunday between the Twins and Red Sox — Ervin Santana vs. Chris Sale — was the same matchup exactly one year earlier.

There were, shall we say, a few differences. It was Twins vs. White Sox a year ago, when Sale pitched for Chicago. The Twins entered the game with an 8-21 record, while the White Sox were 20-10.

The final score was indicative of those records as Sale and the White Sox trounced the Twins 7-2. The Twins also lost the Santana-vs.-Sale rematch on Sunday — with a close game getting out of hand in the ninth inning — but their record dropped to a much more respectable 15-14 in the process.

The last three pitchers to work a year ago for the Twins — Fernando Abad, Kevin Jepsen and Michael Tonkin — are no longer on the major league roster. But perhaps the most stark difference comes from the changes in the Twins lineup from last year to this year.

This was the batting order a year ago: Darin Mastroianni, Eduardo Nunez, Miguel Sano, Trevor Plouffe, Joe Mauer, Oswaldo Arcia, Jorge Polanco, Kurt Suzuki and Danny Santana. Only Sano, Mauer and Polanco remain on the Twins roster.

• Despite the Twins' better start this season, this still feels like a vulnerable time. A cynic, or at least a skeptic, might point out that the Twins have feasted against teams that have struggled and that when they've played better teams the results haven't been great.

That trend continued over the weekend when the Twins lost two out of three to Boston. And their next nine games are against the decent White Sox, then Cleveland and Colorado — two tough opponents.

The Twins' three best starting pitchers this season — Santana, Hector Santiago and Phil Hughes — have collectively overachieved a little so far, while the bottom of the rotation is in flux. The bullpen has been shaky lately as well. Minnesota will need to steady itself and prove itself against quality opponents if it hopes to quiet the skeptics.

• It's unfair to say the balance of power in Twin Cities sports has shifted from Minneapolis to St. Paul, but with the Lynx over at Xcel Energy Center for the summer it is interesting to think about victory distribution among our pro teams.

In Minneapolis, you have the Twins, Timberwolves, Vikings and United. The Twins and Wolves were well below .500 last season, the Vikings were right at .500 and United is an expansion team in Major League Soccer.

In St. Paul, you have the Lynx, Wild and Saints. All three had winning records in their most recently completed seasons and all of them made the playoffs.