OK, this is getting ridiculous. When the Mendoza Line wrecking crew of Rene Tosoni (.190), Matt Tolbert (.198) and Drew Butera (.176) keys your comeback victory, something officially crazy is happening.
The Twins are 14-3 in June -- including a loss on June 1 that left them at 17-37, a perfect 51-win pace through exactly one-third of the season. That was barely two weeks ago. They were 16.5 games out of first place. They had the worst record in baseball by a long shot. Pretty much everybody who had watched them for 54 games was conceding that the season was over with four months left. They couldn't pitch, hit or field. They looked lifeless and without answers. Seriously: Wha' Happened? Well ...
*Starting pitching: It starts here. The starters have a 2.07 ERA this month and are averaging almost 7 innings per start. That's twice as good as May (4.17), which was already better than April (4.97).
*Relief pitching: Surprise! Guess who has a better ERA than the Twins starters in June? Yep, it's the Twins relievers (1.82). They've undoubtedly been aided by the starters' ability to go deep in games, thus limiting the exposure. But the crew has been pretty good. Matt Capps closed back-to-back-to-back one-run games from Thursday-Saturday.
*Michael Cuddyer: The offense as a whole has been marginally better in June, but really the pitching (as well as other factors noted below) is carrying the day. The Twins' OPS as a team in June is .702 -- better than May (.667) and the awful March/April mark of .613, but still well below last year's season total of .762. But certain players have turned it on, and Michael Cuddyer tops that list. His resurgence started a little in May, but in June he's been scorching (.333 BA, 5 HR, 15 RBI and a 1.085 OPS). In a lineup full of call-ups, he's been a consistent big bat in the middle of the lineup.
*Alexi Casilla: The No. 2 hole was a nightmare for the Twins for much of the season. With Casilla hitting .328 (.392 OBP) this month and locking down that spot in the order, the table is being set much more consistently. Ben Revere has done some nice things, too, at the plate (and his range in center field is wonderful) but his overall numbers (.314 OBP in June) aren't what we thought they'd be.
*Fortune: The Twins are 6-1 in one-run games during this streak. And let's face it: They've done the bulk of this good work without contributions from their big guns. Joe Mauer is back, but he's barely made an impact (one hit in three games). Tsuyoshi Nishioka has helped further stabilize the middle infield (another key reason for the turnaround in June), but that was already coming around once Casilla started to play better. Delmon Young is hitting .323 this month, but he's still not the hitter he was in 2010. Jason Kubel, Jim Thome, Justin Morneau and Denard Span have been hurt through much or all of the resurgence. Outside of a couple hot hitters, it's been a different hero every night kind of thing. Danny Valencia hits a couple homers that stand up. The Mendoza Crew comes through. Things like that.
As such, when you ask us if the Twins can keep this up (not a 14 of 16 pace, but a pace that would allow them to reach and surpass .500, thus really getting them a legitimate shot to be in a race at the end), the answer is complicated. No, they can't keep pitching this well. No, they can't keep leaning on comebacks fueled by unlikely sources. But track records tell us all the guys who have been hurt should make major contributions when they come back (including those recently back like Mauer). The hole the Twins dug while many of those players were healthy was maddening. The way they have clawed a lot of the way out without those players is heartening. Eventually, they will need to write a new winning script that puts those players into the mix in starring roles. Can it happen? Yes. Will it happen? By the time they're all back, we'll have about half a season to find out.
