Wild card watch: With the win, the Twins are 2.5 games behind the Yankees for the top wild card spot. They currently are holders of the second wild card. They should be 1 full game ahead of the Angels, unless Oakland rallies tonight, and they are 1.5 ahead of Baltimore.

The Yankees and Indians were rained out. They will play a traditional doubleheader Wednesday in the Bronx.


As for tonight, the game got closer than it should have, but a win is a win. And it is a win over Chicago, which should happen again and again. These are the games the Twins need to win.

The remaining schedule favors the Twins. Of their opponents, only the Yankees and Indians have better records than them. Chicago is the worst of the rest, and the Twins need to treat them as such.

The Twins, a week ago, left Chicago grumbling after losing three of five games to the White Sox. They should be bullying a youthful White Sox team while strengthening their grip on a wild card spot. Twins manager Paul Molitor denied that there was a bad taste when I brought it up after the game.

"It's a road series you game up a little short in," he said. "We blew one game late, which made a difference in winning or losing the series. I just think postgame, some of those games, I was a little frustrated at how we went about it. In the big picture, you are going to have days were your approach isn't going to be perfect. Guy are not machines."

Sure, but I was told by others that they were ticked after the Chicago series. So I'm curious to see how they respond this week. They have their second and third best pitchers going the next two days, and can use the White Sox to protect the wild card slot they currently occupy.