With the way the Twins were hitting, they were going to get to those two starters, who do not scare anyone at the plate. The Twins did just that.

The Twins defeated the Tigers, 6-4, on Tuesday night, and they took the rubber game of the series by defeating the Tigers, 7-0, Wednesday afternoon.

On Tuesday night, Robertson put men on base in the first three innings, but the Tigers starter got out of it by the Twins grounding into double plays by three times. Still, it was a matter of time until Robertson would implode.

It happened in the fourth inning when Craig Monroe hit a three-run home run off Robertson, which gave the Twins a 3-1 lead over the Tigers. Robertson gave up five hits in the fifth inning, and the Twins scored three runs in that inning.

Overall, Robertson allowed six earned runs on 11 hits.

Bonine was no better on Wednesday. Everything fell apart for him in the third inning. He gave up 5 runs and 5 hits in that inning. Casey Fossum relieved him to get the final out of the third.

Bonine went 2 2/3 innings while allowing five runs on seven hits and two weeks.

Tigers general manager Dave Dombrowski and Tigers manager Jim Leyland can’t be happy with what they are getting out of their #4 and #5 starters.

If the Tigers are going to be a serious player in the AL Central race, they are going to have to find a pitcher that will give the Tigers a chance to win. Justin Verlander and Armando Galarraga are good, but the Tigers need to get at least one more starter to keep up with the White Sox, who have starters that can win every fifth day.

Currently, the Tigers don’t have that. Who knows how much Kenny Rogers has left? Robertson and Bonine are unreliable. It’s hard to believe Dontrelle Willis will be a factor this season.

It won’t be easy either. The Tigers don’t have much to offer in the farm system that teams want. The one guy that could appeal to teams is Rick Porcello, but the Tigers are not going to give him up for a rental gun, and they should not. There are rumors that the Tigers could sign Freddie Garcia, who can help them.

It will be interesting how the Tigers go about this especially in light of what happened in Minneapolis.

Prior to Monday night’s game, they blew the lead twice against the Tigers this season, and it resulted to losses.

Monday night, the Tigers got to them for the third straight time this season. The Twins had a 4-1 lead, but Jesse Crain, Dennys Reyes and Matt Guerrier could not get it done as they got hit in this game. The Tigers came from behind to defeat the Twins, 5-4, at the Metrodome to start a crucial three-game series.

This was disappointing because the Twins needed to send a message to the Tigers in the first game of a series with a win. They not only blew a lead, but they wasted a good performance by Glen Perkins, who started for the Twins.

The other two bullpen implosions came in April.

On April 14th, Guerrier and Pat Neshek gave up six runs in the eighth inning as the Twins blew a 9-4 lead and at the end, they took a 11-9 loss to the Tigers at Comerica Park.

On April 15th, the Twins pen did it again. Crain blew a 4-3 lead in the eighth inning. The Tigers scored three runs in that inning to take a 6-4 lead. The Tigers defeated the Twins, 6-5.

In sports, everyone looks at trends.

The trends are that the Twins bullpen just don’t know how to get the Tigers out. When the Tigers find ways to beat the Twins late in the game, it says something and it does not become an accident anymore after three times.

The Tigers always do well against Crain so this was no surprise.

Then again, Crain struggles often. He is great at times, but he is unreliable way too often. It’s a given that he will screw it up. That’s just how it is. The last three years, he tends to get hit hard to the point that he implodes.

There must be better options in the seventh inning. Maybe it’s time for Craig Breslow to get a chance to pitch in the seventh. He has been good. He can’t be any worse than Crain.

Of course, it’s a moot point because Gardenhire has an affection for Crain like he does with Nick Punto so Crain will get the ball at the seventh inning no matter how unreliable he is. It’s too bad.

Guerrier has just not looked good against Detroit all season. The Tigers know how to beat him when he is on the mound. He just does not look confident whenever he faces the Tigers on the mound, and it showed Monday night.

He is going to have to find a way to get it done against them because that’s his role. If the Tigers are in his head based on his frustration on the mound in this contest, then he and the Twins have a problem whenever he faces up against the Tigers.

Of course, it says something about the Tigers’ hitters that they get it done against the Twins’ relievers. It shows how good they are, and how smart they are.

They just know how to ignite an run when they have to. They are dangerous at any inning. They play all nine innings, and they are never out of a game.

It’s not just their stars, but it’s role players like Marcus Thames, Clete Thomas, Ryan Raburn and Matt Joyce that just know how to get the hits that they need.

They have figured it out after starting off bad, and that’s why they have the best shot of dethroning the White Sox.

Still, good pitching beats good hitting, and the Twins pen need to figure it out against Detroit if the Twins want to win the division or the wild-card.

With the way things are going, the Tigers should feel like they got a chance everytime they face a Twins reliever that is not named Joe Nathan.

Interleague play is done for the season.

The Twins have a new lease on life after inflating their record against National League teams, which is how they had their 10-game winning streak, which was snapped Saturday night. They finished the two and a half week stretch of interleague play with a record of 13-2, which padded their record to 45-37. The Twins are in the AL Central race as they are 1.5 games back behind the White Sox.

Now, here comes reality.

The Twins are back to playing American League baseball, and July’s schedule does not do them any favors.

On Monday night, they start a three-game series with the red-hot Detroit Tigers, who remarkably have come all the way back from the dead to be an above .500 team. The Tigers are finally hitting, and their pitching has been efficient. It was written here that the Tigers were done, and that they would finish the season in last place. Now, everything has worked out and they are primed to make a run.

Then, they face an underachieving Indians team, who still has the talent to win the division, in the weekend.

It gets even harder next week.

The Twins go to a hostile environment at Fenway Park to face the Red Sox, who rarely lose there. They finish the pre-All-Star break by playing the Tigers at Comerica Park.

After the All-Star break, they face the Texas Rangers, who are no slouch at all.

Then, they go out on the road to face the Yankees and the Indians.

They wrap up the month by facing the White Sox at home.

How can the Twins beat them?

Good starting pitching, but that’s a problem there because the Twins’ starters have not fared well against hitting teams all season. The starters have done well lately, but they were doing this against the NL teams. The starters have struggled against AL hitting teams all season. They have given up home runs against them this season. With the Twins facing AL hitting teams in July, this can’t be good for the Twins starters unless they applied what they learn from getting the NL teams out. If they can have that same success against AL teams, then the team may have a special thing going.

One thing going for the Twins is that they have an ace in Scott Baker. If Kevin Slowey can pitch well as he did in his two starts this week (San Diego and Milwaukee), he and Baker could form a 1-2 duo, which is an important ingredient of a championship team. That’s a big if of course.

The hitting will be fine.

The question is starting pitching.

It will be answered by the end of the month. That answer will dictate what the Twins do for the rest of the season.

They made three clutch plays in that inning, which was the key to this victory. Because of that inning, the Twins were able to defeat the Padres, 4-3, on the afternoon at Petco Park. It was good enough for a sweep and a nine-game winning streak.

The first play came when the Twins were batting in the sixth inning. Brian Buscher is earning his reputation as a clutch player in a short time. He has gotten game-winning hits when he has had the opportunity. He did it again on Thursday. With the game tied at 3, he drove in the game-winning run as his single sent Jason Kubel home.

When the Padres were batting, the Twins got couple of clutch moments in defense and in pitching.

Scott Baker, who was okay in his start, was in a jam to start the sixth inning. He gave up couple of hits to start the inning. With runners at third and second with 1 out, the thought was that the Padres were going to tie the game up.

It didn’t happen.

Brendan Harris made a smart move in attempting to gun out Kevin Kouzmanoff, and he got Kouzmanoff off at home plate. It was a crucial second out. Then, Baker ended the inning by striking out Luke Carlin.

Those three moments defined the way things have gone for the Twins. It seems everything is going their way right now. They seem to get the hits when they need it, and they get a big out or a strikeout to get out of a jam. Maybe it’s destiny. Who knows? There is something magic going on when this occur. It just seem everything is working in bunches.

It remains to be seen if this will keep up because nothing lasts forever.

Still, to see all of this is something.

It sure wasn’t surprising to see the Twins get the sweep. It was expected. The Padres stink, and nothing can stop the Twins now. The Twins will finish off interleague play by hosting the Brewers at the Metrodome this weekend. One has to figure another sweep is in the works especially with the Twins being at home.

The Twins have to love life right now based on those three plays in the sixth inning.

They deserve to be praised. They are pitching well.

With that said, the Twins’ hitters should get their props too for the Twins’ winning streak, which is now at eight games after a 9-3 victory against the Padres.

Everyone in the lineup is hitting the ball right now. The Twins are not just relying on Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer to win games. It’s everybody for the most part. Guys like Alexi Casilla, Brendan Harris, Brian Buscher, Michael Cuddyer, Jason Kubel, Delmon Young and Craig Monroe are contributing in Twins’ victories.

There has been comparisons of this team to the 2006 team as of late because of this winning streak. While the jury is out on the Twins’ starters, anyone can compare this team to the 2006 team when it comes to hitting. In 2006, the Twins had fringe players such as Jason Tyner, Nick Punto, Jason Bartlett, Mike Redmond and Luis Rodriguez that found a way to win games. This year, the Twins have fringe players such as Harris, Buscher, and Monroe that are getting it done.

The Twins are just taking good at-bats right now. They are making the pitchers work. Most of the players are not hacking at the first pitch. They find ways to get on base and get the hits.

Because of the way the Twins are hitting these days, they are never out of it. It showed last night when the Twins were able to get to Greg Maddux after falling behind 3-0. They went to work by scoring three runs in the third inning to tie it. Then, Brendan Harris hit a two-run home run to give the Twins a 5-3 lead. Monroe put the finishing touches by hitting a two-run home run in the eighth inning to give the Twins a 9-3 lead.

The Twins thought the hitting would be a strength heading to this season. They were doing okay in the first two months of the season, but right now, it’s just night and day with this group. The hitters are living up to expectations.

It remains to be seen if the starting rotation can be good, but one thing going for this team is that the hitting will make an interesting summer.

The hitters should get their due along with the pitchers for this surge.

The Twins may not be a good team, but they are a hot team. They won seven in a row last night thanks to couple of fringe players playing the role of an unsung hero.

Brendan Harris and Brian Buscher hit back-to-back home runs against future Hall of Fame closer Trevor Hoffman last night to give the Twins a 3-1 victory over the Padres at Petco Park. This extends the Twins’ winning streak to seven games.

The Twins are living right when this scenario happens.

Hoffman may not be the dominant closer that he used to be with age catching up to him, but still for the Twins’ role players to hit couple of home runs is just odd. First of all, one would think those two would get bloop hits at best against him. Second of all, the Twins rarely do well against closers.

It happened last night, and that’s why the Twins are rolling.

Every game is a referendum for Harris. Gardenhire has a soft spot for Nick Punto, who was activated from the disabled list. He is itching for an opportunity to play Punto everyday because of Punto’s defense, and the fact the manager trust Punto more.

Harris needs to have a game like last night to continue to play. He has to produce if he is going to play often. The hope is that he keeps producing since he gives the Twins a better chance to win than Punto. Harris at least has hitting ability where he can get hits everyday while Punto gets hits maybe once or twice a week. Harris hasn’t done bad at shortstop either. Harris is a better option than Punto, but Gardenhire does not think that way. He has had a soft spot for Punto since the day the utility player came to Minnesota for Eric Milton, and he will do anything for Punto to play no matter how bad he plays. It’s up to Harris for Gardy to turn his affection to him instead of Punto.

As for Buscher, he does not have to worry about his standing with Gardenhire. He is going to be the everyday third baseman from now on. This was an easy choice. Mike Lamb has been useless all season so anyone would have been an improvement. Buscher won the job the minute he had the game-winning hit against the Brewers on a Saturday night few weeks ago. Since then, Lamb has not played much.

Buscher needs to continue to validate his role as an everyday player. He has to keep hitting, and he has to help win games. Last night was a good example of what he has to do consistently. He has to play like an impact player.

Harris has to feel good knowing that his hit gave him a chance to play tonight. Buscher has to be confident that he can be a reliable player.

As for the Twins, they are living a charmed life when role players are winning games and beating a Hall-of-Fame closer.

That’s the reason why the Twins went 6-0 in this homestand.

As a result of this accomplishment, the Twins are right back in the AL Central race as they are 1.5 games back of the first-place White Sox, who got swept by the Cubs this weekend.

The Twins were fortunate to face a bad NL team and an underachieving NL team at home so they were a beneficiary of good timing. It also helped that the White Sox have struggled since being swept by the Twins.

The Twins have been great at home for several years, and this year is no different. They are 25-16 at the Metrodome. They play with a swagger at home as they feel they can win every game. They know how to get the big hits when they have to, and the turf is conducive to the Twins running game. They often take advantage of the other team’s mistakes at the Dome. The other teams tend to struggle to catch the ball with the lights at the roof. Their pitchers have given quality starts on the mound.

It’s a different story when the Twins are on the road. Their pitchers can’t pitch and their hitters can’t hit at all.

It’s impressive how the Twins do well at the Dome when one has to look at the fact that the crowd is small at best and the place tends to be dead more times than not.

The Nationals and the Diamondbacks were the opposing teams in this homestand.

The Twins had to feast on a bad team and a struggling team.

The Twins easily had their way with the Nats, and that was expected because the Nationals stink.

The Diamondbacks have been struggling prior to their series with the Twins, and they showed why they have struggled this weekend.

The Twins made Randy Johnson look old by hitting every of his pitches on Friday night. They made Arizona implode by getting base hits after base hits in the seventh inning on Saturday night. On Sunday afternoon, Arizona self-destructed again after Conor Jackson lost the flyball that was hit by Delmon Young. The Twins scored five runs as a result of Jackson’s error in the fifth inning. It was the turning point of the game as the Twins took the lead and not look back after trailing 3-0.

They did what they have to do in beating up the teams that they should be beating.

The Twins have to feel good with what’s going on. They have a new life in the standings. It remains to be seen what happens after this coming week. They get to play an awful Padres team on Tuesday, and then they go back home to play the Brewers, who are nothing special. They should do well this coming week, and they should take advantage of this like they did this past week.

The team should be very thankful that they were in the right place at the right time with what transpired this week.

It was well-deserved.

His performance on the field and his loyalty to the team are two main reasons he was honored by the organization.

Aguilera was a big part of the Twins’ success when they won the championship, and he was one of the players worth watching during the team’s dark days in the mid-90s.

Aguilera came to the Twins as part of the Frank Viola trade in 1989. The Twins moved Viola because he and the team could not agree on a new contract. Viola’s contract was about to expire. The Twins were able to get good players in return for Viola. Aguilera, David West and Kevin Tapani, who were the players that came for Viola,  contributed to the Twins’ championship in 1991.

The Twins have had some good closers since 1989, and Aguilera is in that group.

He was a guy that the Twins can count on to close it out in the ninth.

After being a starter during his time with the Mets, he was converted as a closer in 1990, which was his first full year with the Twins. The Twins had to find a closer with Jeff Reardon signing with the Red Sox in the 1989 off-season. Twins manager Tom Kelly used Aguilera to close out a game in an early regular season game, and the rest is history.

Aggie made TK a genius for trusting him. He did well in his first try in that role as he saved 32 games in 1990. In 1991, he saved 42 games. Overall, he had 254 saves as a Twin.

Talk about efficiency at its best.

He was so good as a closer that he was an All-Star for three straight years from 1991-1993. He was up there with Dennis Eckersley and Lee Smith as one of the premier closers at that time period.

When Aguilera was traded to the Red Sox in 1995 as a rented gun, he could have stayed in Boston or sign to a contender instead of playing for Minnesota, who was starting from scratch. Instead, he wanted to be a part of a young team that the Twins were going to build.

What he did was refreshing, and it says a lot about him. He did not moan and complain about it, and he tried to import his pitching knowledge to the Twins’ young pitchers who were trying to establish themselves.

He was a class act. He was respected and liked in the locker room.

To show how well-regraded Aguilera was, the late Kirby Puckett was very upset when the Twins closer was traded in 1995. Puckett questioned the Twins’ commitment to winning.

There was everything to like about him as a competitor and a human being.

Those attributes are why he is in the Twins’ Hall of Fame.

My Five Cents:

– Great performance by Nick Blackburn in Saturday night’s game against Arizona. He has been very good at home. If he can only figure it out on the road. His seven innings put the Twins in a position to have that good inning in the seventh.

– The Twins fans have to like how the Twins got it done in that seventh inning and then to see an avalanche of runs and hits come after Justin Morneau’s hit sent Joe Mauer home to tie the game. This was by far the best inning by the team this season so far.

– This was a huge win with Brandon Webb facing the Twins on Sunday afternoon. The Twins get the series with Saturday night’s win instead of waiting Sunday to get a series win, which would be a daunting task.

– Brian Buscher and Delmon Young are playing well.

– When was the last time Carlos Gomez done something significant on the Twins?

Twins fans can stuff the ballots all they want, but the reality is that Jason Varitek and Kevin Youkilis will likely win the votes for their respective positions that Mauer and Morneau are battling for.

Varitek and Youkilis will win it not because they are better than the Twins’ duo, but they will win it because they play for an city and an organization that gets exposed by the national media. Plus, they play for a very popular team so there goes Mauer and Morneau’s chances of starting.

With that said, Mauer and Morneau will likely be All-Star reserves, which is not a bad thing.

Those two earned the right to be All-Stars because they have been the Twins’ best players this season, and they have been the reason why the Twins have stayed afloat in the standings.

Mauer had a rough year last year because he was not healthy. He was playing through a knee injury, and when he couldn’t take the pain anymore, he decided to go on the disabled list. He also had to go through an unfair criticism by Torii Hunter for not wanting to play through the pain.

This year has been a different story. He has been healthy. He is driving in runs as he has 28 RBIs. He is up there in the batting average as he is batting .335 heading to Friday night’s game against the Arizona Diamondbacks. He is always on base often. He has solid behind the plate as always. He has done great with the Twins’ young starters in working with them in how to approach batters and what pitches to throw.

As for Morneau, he has had an excellent season.

While he has only 11 home runs, it does not discount the year that he has had so far.

He has drove in 56 RBIs. He is hitting in the low .300s. He has been the team’s clutch player. Every time the team needed a big hit from him, he has gotten it done. His defense at first have been superb all season.

Morneau has done a good job of not relying in swinging for the fences to get his hits. He is finding a way to produce by getting extra base-hits.

What’s remarkable is that he has been able to play through the pain. He has had a sore back, sore shoulder, and sore leg yet he finds a way to perform through. He has not missed a game this season. He has showed toughness and grit for him to play at a high level.

It’s hard to come up with any other player that has done better than Mauer and Morneau at their respective positions.

The decision for American League manager Terry Francona should be easy when it comes to selecting reserves for catcher and first base.

The Twins can do a super job of getting everyone to vote for the M&M Boys as starters, but that’s not going to work one way or another.

Being a reserve can do at this time.

The Nationals have certainly played the role of a patsy in these two games. It’s been that way for every NL team when they play the Nationals. When times are tough for the other team, the Nationals are there to cure that team’s woes. The Twins are thankful for that.

The Twins went on to a 11-2 victory against the Nats last night at the Metrodome.

In this game, the Nationals showed why they are one of the worst teams in baseball. They can’t hit, field, and pitch. People in Montreal should be happy that this franchise, which used to be the Montreal Expos, is no longer in that city.

Washington’s hitting was horrible for the second straight night. They could not have a big inning as they left men on base three times, including the bases loaded in the seventh inning. They did not hit the ball hard outside of Felipe Lopez’s home run. They looked clueless at the plate as they just did not know how to get to Kevin Slowey, who won his second straight to improve to 4-6 for the season.

When one saw this display of the Nationals’ hitters, it does not become an accident that they are last in batting average and scoring per game.

The Nationals’ starters have done okay, and they got two quality starts in this series.

The game was actually close at 3-1 in the seventh inning, but the Nationals relievers were horrible in this game.

They gave up a total of 8 runs in two innings of relief, which took place in the seventh and eighth inning. In those two innings, they gave up 4 walks.

The Nationals also did not distinguish themselves defensively. They had three errors in this game, which including a throwing error. They had a hard time of throwing to the cutoff guy, and the Twins were able to run for extra-base hits in this contest.

They also got picked off on base in this game.

The Twins can talk about how they might getting back on track by winning games and getting good pitching performance, but the only thing that they did was take advantage of a schedule by beating a horrible ballclub. It’s too bad for them that the Nationals are not in the division or in the American League.

After getting a good look of Washington, there is no reason to think the Twins can’t go for the sweep today.