Paul Molitor thinks Twins can turn it around for good

When Paul Molitor was named the new Twins manager in November 2014 he knew he was taking over a rebuilding squad. Already this season he has experienced all the ups and downs that go with managing such a team.

Still, Molitor must be feeling much better after the past two days, with the Twins scoring two victories over the Angels after losing nine in a row. The fact that both victories featured rallies gives a lot of positive momentum, which was previously hard to find.

Molitor spoke after the game and said the team's approach on Saturday was just what he wanted to see.

"I thought we came back out today after our first win and swung the bats better from the start of the game," he said. "With [Jered] Weaver out there I thought we had a better approach trying to stay in the middle of the field. Ricky [Nolasco] hung in there after a tough second inning, gave us big outs all the way through the seventh and we found a way to get a couple there."

When I talked to Molitor before the Angels series started, his team was on a nine-game losing streak and looked lost. That was a familiar pattern from recent Twins squads.

Molitor took over a team that posted a 265-383 record from 2011-2014. And while there was young talent coming up — such as Miguel Sano and Byron Buxton — the consensus was the Twins were years away from contending.

But last season the Twins surprised everyone by going 83-79, finishing in second place in the American League Central and three games out of the wild card. It was their first winning season since winning the division in 2010.

So it had to befuddle Molitor when the team started so poorly, and he was asked if the ups and downs of a baseball season ever made him question his decision to become a manager.

"No, I don't question that," Molitor said on Thursday after the team fell to 0-9. "I had a very enjoyable first go-round, and I enjoy the challenge of trying to motivate these guys and get the most out of them.

"You go through something like this [winless start to the season], and that's just kind of a test of your character and how strong and resilient you are. It's easy to be the happy guy when you're winning games, but the true challenge comes when you face adversity."

And for two games it seems that the team has at least been able to fight through that early-season adversity in winning its first series of the year.

During the nine-game skid, the Twins' 3.69 ERA ranked 14th in baseball, better than the average of 4.03. But their hitting was abysmal.

It stood to reason that eventually the Twins offense would start producing. Friday, the Twins showed some of their potential when they came back with some big late-inning doubles in their 5-4 victory over the Angels. Saturday they used home runs to rally for a 6-4 victory.

Molitor says when an offense struggles, it can manifest throughout the lineup and make things much worse.

"It's one of those things that snowballs in the game," he said. "It's not like we've played bad baseball. It's the fact that we haven't had a good start offensively. Defensively we've been fine, pitching has been fine, but it gets pretty glaring when the offense has trouble putting runs on the board."

That snowballing continued over the weekend, but in a positive way with so many players contributing.

Joe Mauer had a game-tying RBI single on Friday. Park, who struggled early, got Friday's game-winning RBI and then hit an insurance homer on Saturday — a monster shot to dead center.

Oswaldo Arcia, who sat on the bench for most of the season so far, came in and hit the home run that gave the Twins the lead for good in the eighth.

These are the sorts of approaches and successes that Molitor expected. Even after falling to 0-9 he still believed this was a good ballclub.

"I have confidence in the ability," he said. "We have the same core players as we had last year. We've changed a few parts, but for whatever reason the start has been troublesome for a lot of people, including myself.

"Without getting too cliché, there's 153 games to go, and there's no self-pity involved. It has to come from within. It's going to take a little intestinal fortitude for us to get back on track."

Molitor said that Thursday, and now there are 151 games left. But things certainly look much more positive for this Twins ballclub after some much needed success.

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Sid Hartman can be heard weekdays on WCCO

AM-830 at 7:40 and 8:40 a.m. and Sundays at 9:30 a.m. E-mail: shartman@startribune.com