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“I think it just proves that you can’t count us out,” right-hander Boof Bonser said after giving up those early runs in Sunday’s 7-6 victory over the Detroit Tigers.
Bonser was referring to both the game and the season.
“We’re starting to come together now,” he said, sounding a bit like manager Lou Brown — that crusty character in the movie “Major League” about the collection of has-been and never-will-be players that defies expectations and wins the pennant.
These Twins have more talent than that fictional bunch from the classic 1989 comedy, but they entered this season in a similar situation after center fielder Torii Hunter left as a free agent and two-time Cy Young Award winner Johan Santana was traded to the New York Mets for four prospects.
While first baseman Justin Morneau, closer Joe Nathan and right fielder Michael Cuddyer were given big-money contract extensions and promising left fielder Delmon Young was acquired along with a handful of other useful players, few viewed this club as a playoff contender.
But after five weeks, thanks in part to slow starts by the favored Tigers and Cleveland Indians, Minnesota is atop the AL Central.
“We’re starting to get to know each other,” backup infielder Nick Punto said, adding: “Spring training isn’t enough. You don’t really get to figure guys out until that season starts, and it can take a month or two. Hopefully it only took a month, and we’ll keep rolling.”
The Twins have won five in a row to push their record to 16-14, the poorest among the six division leaders. Two games above .500 in early May is hardly cause for celebration, but it is a mild source of pride for anyone in the front office or the clubhouse who spent month after month hearing how devastated the team would be without Hunter and Santana.
The building block for a strong season, general manager Bill Smith said, was maintaining clubhouse cohesion. The Twins have a new No. 1 starter in Livan Hernandez and five fresh faces in the starting lineup, including Young, center fielder Carlos Gomez and second baseman Brendan Harris.
So far, all those newcomers have fit right in with the team’s core of Nathan, Morneau, Cuddyer and Joe Mauer.
“They’ve all meshed very well,” Smith said. “We have a great collection of players, a great collection of human beings, on this team. We’ve always been proud of that. I think a lot of the guys we brought in this winter fit that mold.”
It takes more to win than just guys who get along, of course.
The stability Hernandez (4-1 in seven starts) has brought to an inexperienced rotation has been a huge lift. Francisco Liriano’s return from major elbow surgery was so rough he was sent back to the minors indefinitely, but Bonser, Scott Baker and Nick Blackburn have been good enough to keep the Twins competitive in most of their starts.
Nathan has been perfect, converting all 11 of his save attempts. And while Young has yet to hit a homer, Everett and Lamb are batting .205 between them and Gomez has made his share of overeager rookie mistakes, the offense has been timely enough to overcome a last-in-the-league .310 on-base percentage.
“Guys are playing hard, and you can win a lot of games with playing the game the right way,” said Mauer, who is hitting a Twins-best .333.
As for Liriano, Smith stressed Monday that he won’t be back with Minnesota anytime soon.
“This isn’t going to be a 10 or 20-day thing,” the GM said. “We brought him up and maybe tried to catch lightning in a bottle a little bit to see if he might be able to excel, and he didn’t. I think it was a good wakeup call, a good message, that he’s got work to do.
“He came through the rehab portion great. He’s healthy. He’s strong. The elbow is strong. He has no concerns about that, but he hasn’t pitched in a year and a half, and it’s going to take awhile to regain the command, the control and probably the confidence that he can still get major league hitters out.”
For now, the Twins are getting along fine without him. They have stiffer tests ahead, though. Tuesday launches a stretch of 40 games in 41 days, including a four-night series starting Friday against the league-leading Boston Red Sox.
“We knew that we had a good team,” Mauer said. “We’ve just got to keep going out there and playing. It’s still early in the season, and anything can happen, but we like our chances.”
