Taylor Rogers succinctly summed up the meaning of Thursday's Opening Day victory.
"We go to bed tonight in first place," the lefthander said. "Can't beat that."
He knows that status might be temporary, however. Kind of like the way he is the Twins' new closer. For a day.
"It definitely gives me confidence. Glad I got the job done. But we're going to need everybody down there," Rogers said after posting his third career save. "I guess since it was the first game, it kind of sheds more light on things. We'll see how things play out as we go."
Things played out wonderfully for the Twins when new manager Rocco Baldelli summoned him to face pinch hitter Greg Allen with two outs in the eighth inning and a runner on first base. Allen worked the count to 3-2, but Rogers froze him with a 94-miles-per-hour fastball at the knees and walked to the dugout. Then came a surprise.
"I got back in the dugout and [pitching coach] Wes [Johnson] said, 'You're going to go back out and finish this.' I said, 'Let's go.' "
Two strikeouts and a routine fly ball in the ninth, and Rogers had sealed the victory, extended his streak to 27⅓ scoreless innings, dating back to July, and given himself the inside track on the permanent closer job — if Baldelli decides to eventually appoint one. He's made no such promises, though.
"The staff has been really good with us about communicating their side of things. They're very clear," Rogers said. "They say, 'We think you match up this way with these guys, the other guys match up this way, and we're just going to play it as the game goes and kind of let the game come to us.' "