Twins are more sluggish than sluggers, but their bouncers find right holes

Francisco Liriano's control of his pitches was remindful of April, which means nonexistent. The Twins made a pair of infield errors on routine plays. The hitters flailed at servings of slop from Oakland pitchers for the second time in three games.

Add it up and what do you get on a Wednesday afternoon at the Metrodome?

A 3-1 victory for the Twins that gave them an 11-series home winning streak. Only the 1969 Twins matched that, by winning 11 consecutive series at Met Stadium from mid-June through mid-September.

The Twins left town for two weeks trailing Chicago by one game in the American League Central. The White Sox mugged visiting Seattle again Wednesday, winning 15-3. They had 10 home runs in the three-game sweep to put their season total at a major league-leading 188.

The Twins hit two home runs while winning two of three against the Swingin' (and missin') A's, putting their long-ball total at 90.

You know what we have left in this division race? We have the second coming of slugging Marvin Hag- ler against dancing Ray Leonard.

We have a 5 1/2-week version of their fight on the night of April 6, 1987, and Twins fans can only hope the result is the same: a puzzling split decision in favor of the dancer.

OK, the flashy part doesn't often apply to the Twins, but "carefully timed flurries" and exaggeration of speed "at the expense of power" ... that's our boys in the summer of '08.

The Twins are 40-19 since the morning of June 13. That's a .678 pace and the best record in the major leagues.

We've already explained the 71-33 (.683) charge to a division title in 2006 as a miracle. If that closing run was mystical, this is something beyond that. This is fiction.

I mean, if you were in the Dome on Wednesday, weren't you looking around for a Lady in White standing in an aura of light as Mike Redmond blooped and bounced a pair of hits that drove in the decisive runs?

That's right. Gardenhire gave his co-MVP, Joe Mauer, a day off to rest those catcher's bruises before the long road trip, and again plugged in the 37-year-old Redmond -- both behind the plate and in the 3-hole in the batting order.

It was 1-1 in the third when Carlos Gomez bunted for a hit (as opposed to his more frequent bunts for an out) and Denard Span was hit by a pitch.

Punto failed to advance the runners with a sacrifice bunt, then struck out on some lefthanded slop from Oakland starter Dallas Braden. "Aaaahh," groaned the Dome audience. "Boo" screamed the blogosphere.

Redmond was next. The outfielders were shallow, and yet he was able to drop a little fly in front of left fielder Emil Brown for a 2-l lead.

That was the score in the sixth, when Punto opened with a single and stole second. This time, Redmond managed to get a bouncer past Braden and the ball hippity-hopped into center for another RBI.

"Hitting the ball hard is what gets me in trouble," Redmond said. "That's why I order the bats with the softest wood possible. I don't want the ball to carry when I hit it."

"When I hit the ball at first base like that, it goes down the line," he said. "I was upset. That has to be a hit."

And the other two? "Well-positioned," he said.

Just like the Twins of '08 -- no flash, no power, but well- positioned.