Jim Souhan: Revive their rotation and the Twins are a whole new ballclub

Their most valuable player is home, nursing a head injury. Most of their starting pitchers have spent the past six weeks showing a new breed of Twins fans what it was like to watch Scott Klingenbeck.

The team has played so poorly for so long that some Minnesota sports fans may start thinking that standing on a sideline in Mankato watching linemen grapple might be more entertaining than sitting in Target Field on a beautiful August night.

But before we declare the current Twins slump to be the unofficial opening of football season, let us, for at least a day, dwell on the kind of far-fetched positive possibilities that so often in the last decade have come true for our Metrodome refugees.

On Friday night at Target Field, the Twins won the first game of the season that felt vital, beating the White Sox 7-4 and moving 3 1/2 games out of first place in the AL Central.

More important, the victory featured a return to competence for Francisco Liriano, who had never before beaten the White Sox and had faltered in two of his previous three starts.

Now, instead of falling 5 1/2 games behind with no chance to win the series, the Twins send their de facto ace, Carl Pavano, to the mound Saturday with a chance to climb to 2 1/2 from first.

With Justin Morneau home nursing a head injury and no true ace to take command of the rotation, these remain dire circumstances for the Twins. But before we start taunting Packers fans about the inevitable return of Brett Favre, let us revisit Twins history:

• In 2004, they were a half-game out on July 24 and won the division by nine games.

• In 2006, they trailed by 10 1/2 games on Aug. 7 and won the division on the last day of the season.

• In 2008, they trailed by three games on July 26 and lost a Game 163 playoff to the White Sox.

• In 2009, they trailed by 6 1/2 games on Sept. 8 and won a Game 163 playoff against the Tigers.

Of course, the Twins also folded under the pressure of high expectations in 2005 and 2007, but the moral of the story is this:

"Liriano was super," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "Exactly what we needed. A good dose of medicine."

Pavano has been the Twins' surprising panacea, a savvy veteran with the guts to stop losing streaks.

Friday night, Liriano for the first time this season looked eager to accept the terms of a stout challenge.

The three not-so-young righthanders are more problematic.

Instead of hoping that Scott Baker will someday become an ace, the Twins should hope he can hold down the third spot in the rotation, giving them frequent quality starts. He should be capable of that.

He might need a trip to Rochester to fix himself, but he could be a key to the Twins' late-season fortunes.

Kevin Slowey is the most problematic of the starters. He pitches to contact, but often it is very hard contact. He doesn't change speeds well, and can't afford to miss his spot by more than a couple of inches.

He needs a trip to Rochester to learn a changeup from Class AAA pitching coach Bobby Cuellar, the master who taught the pitch to Johan Santana.

If the Twins want to win a playoff series, they need an ace like Roy Oswalt. If they want to win another division title, they might need no more than Brian Duensing in the rotation and a little more guts and guile from their other young starters.