The Twins have been walking around with a bit of a different attitude this year. It's no surprise really when you look at their record (11-5) and realize that they still haven't really clicked on offense yet. They've beaten teams that expect to be in the playoff hunt come September (Boston, Los Angeles, Chicago) and they've beat up on the teams that they need to (Kansas City, Cleveland). They've won five straight series and look to continue that trend on their upcoming 9 game road trip.
Perhaps the biggest difference between this year and years past is the extra money spent on acquiring quality players that will hopefully be the rest of the puzzle for this young Twins team. Orlando Cabrera, Carl Pavano, and Jim Thome are adding a veteran presence to a strong core of players in Kubel, Cuddyer, Span, Mauer and Morneau. Francisco Liriano has looked sharp in his two most recent outtings and while he may never return to 2006 form, he could be a dark horse ace for the Twins. Kevin Slowey has also looked sharp in the starting rotation.
Last year when the Twins won the division, needing a 163rd game, they spent only 9 days in first place the entire season. This year? Well they've almost doubled that total (16 days) and it's not even May yet. They haven't lost 2 games in a row yet this year and already have 2 team shutouts of their opponents (compared to 7 all of last year).
The Twins beat up on the division last year, which is generally a good indicator of a playoff contender, to the tune of 46-27 and are off to a strong start this year going 6-3 so far. They also posted another impressive inter-league record at 12-6 which they hope to build on this year.
It is only three weeks into the season, but so far this Twins team is living up to expectations. When the offense finally gets going, watch out for them to take the next step and maybe even take 2 out of 3 from the Yankees in New York (My bold prediction for the year).
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