Sweeeeeeep!!

The Twins have made up 3 games since Thursday in the American League Central due to the rain-shortened 2 game sweep over the division leading Indians.  I know it's a long season and a 3 game winning streak may not completely turn the year around, but what an encouraging weekend it was for our beloved Twins.  We saw some great things from the team, though, over this 3 game winning streak that will hopefully signal many more victories to come.  Here's what jumped out at me this Easter weekend...


1.   The offense put up 10 runs on Saturday, the first time we had even scored 6 runs in a game this year, and the first time we had won by more than 2 runs.  A breakthrough like that will really help to take the pressure off the offense, and that showed with some clutch hits again on Sunday.

2.   Thome and Kubel punished the right field wall on Sunday, blasting 3 balls off the wall (Thome twice, Kubel once).  The middle of the lineup is beginning to catch it's breath after the slow start.  Morneau is scalding the ball, and Cuddyer even had a nice little hit streat going this week.

3.   Denard Span has finally begun to embrace his role as the leader in the outfield.  After a rough season defensively last summer, Span has been much improved so far this year.  I've seen him take charge on balls to the gap, be more aggressive on hits over his head going to the track, and he made a fantastic catch coming in on a line drive off of Hannahan's bat in the 9th today which saved the game.  Span is getting on base and even hitting with a little power this spring - so congratulations Mr. Span.  I would still like to see him be a little more aggressive on the basepaths, and hopefully some more leads in games will allow him to do so.

4.  Perkins and Hoey have been rock solid setting up for Capps at the end.  I would have been extremely nervous at the beginning of the season if you would have told me our 8th and 9th innings would go something like Perkins, Hoey, Capps.  Today, I knew once we got to Perkins it was over.  Mijares on the other hand still makes me bite my nails, because I have begun to expect the 4 pitch walk out of him every batter.

5.   We finally won a series!!  With an off day tomorrow, we needed this win to give us that positive feeling heading into the Tampa series.  The pressure isn't completely off, and we're still in 4th in the Central, but to get that first series win out of the way with this 3 game winning streak we're on, I figure they can go ahead and start printing those World Series tickets now.  Just kidding.  But for real, positivity is overflowing from my fingertips right now!

This is going to be a fun summer, and this weekend I believe will become a trend for the Twinkies this summer.  We have too many great players on this roster, even with injuries that come up, to stay at the bottom of the division for too long.