Hope is a good thing, but it can be slippery as a greased eel and just as hard to hold onto. For the past few weeks I've been pretty down on this team and at times I've shaken my head in disgust and declared them hopeless, but in the past week or two we've seen some signs that the team may be coming to life again. The two Eds continue to lead the Twins offense with Escobar taking an AL Player of the Week nod and Rosario playing like a bona fide All-Star (.379/.455/.828/1.282 in June). Adrianza's bat has come alive and hopefully his base running competence isn't far behind. I am heartened by the decision to move Miguel Sano to Fort Meyers for a complete retooling of his plate approach. I'll leave swing mechanics to the experts, but he definitely needs to work on pitch recognition, plate discipline, and situational hitting if he wants to avoid being tagged the next Delmon Young (nobody doubts his talent). Joe Mauer is back, Polanco will return to the field in a couple of weeks, and it sounds like Ervin Santana should be available for the second half. A win today would put the Twins four games under .500 and just three games from the division lead, and I like the way the team is trending. In April, the Twins posted a winning percentage of just .364. In May it was up a full 100 points to .464, and for June it's up to .600. That may or may not be enough winning to make it to October. If the Twins play .600 ball the rest of the season they'd only net about 88 wins. While they sneaked into the playoffs last year with 85 wins, they also finished 17 games behind Cleveland in the division, which is not exactly the catbird's seat, and the wildcard competition is looking to be much tougher this time around.

Jake Odorizzi (3-3, 4.19 ERA) takes the hill for the Twins who are looking to not only sweep the Indians but win their last six contests against them. The Tribe counters with 23-year old Shane "Don't call me Justin" Bieber (0-0, 6.35 ERA) in just his second major league start. Play ball!