SoCalTwinsfan Junior, Jr. ran into the living room while sporting a Minnesota Twins jersey with a 25 on the back. He ran over to his grandfather and jumped on his knee.

S: "Whatcha doing, Grandpa?"

G: "Watching Byron Buxton's final baseball game."

S: "You mean of the season?"

G: "Nope. It's the final game of his career. He's retiring after today."

S: "But he's the best baseball player in the world!"

G: "No doubt about it. But he says he's too old to play such a difficult sport. He's going to try something easier. He's already signed a contract with the Timberwolves." Continue reading Game 62: Buxton’s Twins 4, Gallo’s Rangers 3 →

There were no smoke and mirrors needed on Sunday as the Twins got a legitimately good pitching effort from Mike Pelfrey against a bad Brewers team and it was enough to avoid getting swept by the team with the worst record in the majors.

The good news is a number of other good teams have stumbled recently so the Twins still have the best record in the AL.

Fortunately, the Twins aren't blind to some of the underlying problems. After the game, the Twins demoted Danny Santana to Rochester and called up Kennys Vargas. That means the Twins only have the Eduardo's to play shortstop, with Escobar getting the starting nod. The guess here is that another middle infielder will be called up (probably Bernier) when the Twins decide they are recovered from the doubleheader and the ensuing bullpen game on Saturday enough to go back to "just" a 12-man pitching staff.

More efforts like Pelfrey's on Sunday will speed up the process. He had 7 Ks and 1 semi-intentional walk in 8 innings. he did give up 1 hit an inning, but it was never more than 1 and the defense helped him stay in the game longer with three double plays plus one great diving catch by Nunez to prevent a double down the line that would have put the tying run in scoring position with two outs in the eighth inning.

Glen Perkins closed it out with another save. He's 21-for-21. I'm a little surprised this isn't receiving more hype than it is. The bullpen has a nice shiny ERA overall, but Perkins is the only real dominant pitcher in the bullpen. At least manager Paul Molitor has recognized that enough to bring him in twice for four-out saves. Hopefully, the Twins won't be slow to make changes when they are needed, especially with some legitimate power arms in the minors.

Up next for the Twins will be the Royals in a battle for first place. The Royals have been using their own smoke-and-mirror act this season. The Twins are the only team in the AL with less strikeouts than the Royals, who somehow still sport the league's second-best ERA.

What a way to finish off a month for the ages. The Twins woke up today on June 1 in first place with the best record in the American League.

The Twins went an incredible 20-7 in May. The Twins haven't had that many wins in any month since June 1991. That, of course, was when the Twins had their amazing 15-game winning streak that jump-started their run to their most recent World Series victory. In other words, most of those that are graduating from college this spring weren't even born the last time the Twins had a month like this. I wonder had many Citizens weren't even born yet.

It's not hard to figure out who were the main contributors on offense to the 'Mazing May. The trio of Brian Dozier (.985 OPS in May), Torii Hunter (.957) and Trevor Plouffe (.951) carried the Twins' offense in May and Sunday was no different. Dozier had three hits and scored three runs, Plouffe had a game-tying two-run home run in the sixth inning and after Josh Donaldson homered against the Twins, again, Hunter had a two-run double to put the Twins ahead for good.

Hunter's big hit looked like it was misplayed by former Twin Chris Colabello, but when you put a guy like Colabello out in left field, you can't complain when that ends up costing you some runs. Colabello also dropped a line drive sac fly by Joe Mauer in the first inning, but Mauer was eventually erased on a double play. Still, it was really nice to see the other team be punished for playing a DH in the outfield. At least the Twins have been putting athletic middle infielders in the outfield.

On the pitching side, Ricky Nolasco was attempting to go to 6-0 in May despite an ERA over 4.00. However, he had to leave the game early with an injury. It appeared at first to be an arm injury but turned out to be just an ankle injury. Even if Nolasco is out for a while, the Twins should be just fine with Tommy Milone dominating in AAA.

This is the main difference between this team and those of the previous four years is its depth. When injuries occurred, the Twins usually ended up looking to journeymen or worse to fill the void. A couple years ago, Milone probably would have been considered the team's ace. Now he has to wait in AAA for a spot to open up.

The Twins' best pitcher in May was Kyle Gibson, who went 3-1 with a 1.36 ERA and a 1.06 WHIP.  Mike Pelfrey was 2-1 with a 3.21 ERA, but he had a 1.36 WHIP and a convenience store of a BB-K ratio (7 BBs to 11 Ks), so he's overdue for some serious regression. Phil Hughes went 4-0, but he had a 4.64 ERA and struggled to keep the ball in the park (6 HRs allowed) and to locate his backdoor cutter to lefties, which meant just 15 Ks in 33 IPs.

The bullpen was pretty much lights out with the lead, which seemed like almost every day. Glen Perkins was 13-for-13 in save opportunities in May. In fact, Blaine Boyer was the only Twin to be given a blown save in May despite Boyer having a 0.68 ERA and 0.98 WHIP while filling in as primary setup man to Perkins with Fien injured for most of the month. And again the Twins have shown great depth in the bullpen because Ryan Pressly and Michael Tonkin were called up when Fien and Tim Stauffer were injured and, if anything, the bullpen was better than before. Pressly pitched well enough that the Twins decided to go with a 13-man staff for now when Stauffer returned. Stauffer allowed two runs, including a home run, in 2 1/3 innings on Sunday. A few more outings like that and maybe the Twins will finally jettison him and bring Tonkin back up.

That bullpen depth was tested on Sunday when Nolasco left without recording an out in the second inning. Stauffer was the only reliever to allow an earned run, although J.R. Graham did allow a pair of inherited runners to score after relieving Nolasco and then allowed an unearned run in the fourth.

What was even more amazing about this May is it wasn't like the Twins were completely healthy. Not only were Fien and Stauffer hurt, but so was Oswaldo Arcia. However, Eddie Rosario was called up and instantly improved the outfield defense (how could he not?) and his OPS has actually been slightly better than what Arcia was doing. Also, Joe Mauer has one of the worst healthy months of his career with a sub-.700 OPS. However, he still came through with 17 RBIs, which would put him on pace for 102 over a full season.

Many, many Twins fans spent most of May asking how long this will last. Well, the longer this continues, the harder it is to consider it a fluke. Even more exciting, the longer this continues, the sooner the Twins can fill holes with top prospects like Byron Buxton, Miguel Sano and Jose Berrios. My advice for nervous fans is to stop worrying about the future and just enjoy the now. Because as of right now, no one in the AL has been better than the Twins.

I keep waiting to wake up from this dream, but it hasn't happened yet. The Twins will start Memorial Day with the third-best record in the AL, only three games out of first place and in position to be host to the AL wildcard game.

After a 1-6 start, the Twins have now gone 24-12 and have outscored their opponents 181-139. They finished this road trip at 4-1 to give them they're first winning road trip of the season. After starting 1-5 on the road, the Twins have since gone 10-7. They've also played three more road games than home games this season. They are 2-7 against the Tigers on the season and 23-11 against everyone else. They are 3-3 vs. the Royals and have a winning record against everyone else.

They've done all this without any truly great performances outside of closer Glen Perkins, whose perfect start to the season would go largely unnoticed if he didn't already have 16 save opportunities.

Other than Perkins, the closest thing the Twins have to legitimate All-Star candidates were on display Sunday. Brian Dozier led off the game with a home run and then added a three-run shot later in the game to essentially put the game out of reach. Dozier now has 9 HRs on the season to lead all AL second basemen and is on pace for career highs in HRs, 2Bs, 3Bs, RBIs and even runs scored. He finished second in the AL in runs scored last year with 112.

The offensive firepower allowed Kyle Gibson to cruise through his latest good start, with this one probably being his best. He went 8 innings, only allowing an opposite field solo home run to Jose Abreu when the Twins led 5-0, and struck out a career-high-tying eight batters with 0 walks. Gibson is now 4-3 with a 2.72 ERA. His peripheral numbers on the season aren't anything to write home about, but he's heating up at the right time. He's 3-1 with a 1.32 ERA in May, which includes a 21-5 K-BB ratio after having a 6-12 K-BB ratio in April.

The Twins managed to get a winning record for the first time in 2015 on Sunday, and there was much rejoicing in Twins Territory for something that normally is considered a rather minor accomplishment, especially this time of the year. After all, even last year, the Twins had a winning record as late as May 24.

But considering how this team started and everything it has gone through, it really seems like almost a miracle to get above .500.

Consider this: The Twins' top 3 starting pitchers coming into this season have made just seven starts and are 1-5 with a 5.67 ERA. Just the fact the Twins have a winning record despite being 0-5 in Phil Hughes' starts is amazing. That means the Twins are now 13-7 when Hughes and Ervin Santana doesn't start. Add on to that, that Tommy Milone was already demoted to the minors before the end of April.

Now consider that the Twins' already thin bullpen has been hurt by injuries to both Casey Fien and Brian Duensing, who have both seen time on the DL. Tim Stauffer also is on the DL now, but that goes in the addition by subtraction category.

Now add on to that the fact that the offense has been below average. A number of the younger hitters have had a hard time just making contact let alone making offensive contributions. Brian Dozier, Oswaldo Arcia and Kennys Vargas are each on pace for just a dozen home runs this season.

And the outfield defense continues to be terrible and shortstop Danny Santana leads the world in errors.

With all these problems, how is this team not in last place let alone have a winning record?

At the end of April last year, the Twins were at .500, but that felt like a mirage. Many things had gone right for them, especially on offense. Chris Colabello was getting a couple hits and an RBI it seemed like every game, but he quickly came back to earth as scouting reports and a high strikeout rate caught up with him and he was demoted before the end of May.

This year, outside of Shane Robinson in a part-time role and Aaron Thompson in middle relief, it doesn't seem like the Twins have anyone playing over their heads. Even the Twins' run differential has vastly improved after that 22-1 beatdown by the Tigers to start the season. The Twins are now just -1 in run differential. That means they are 13-9 with a +20 run differential since that opening series in Detroit.

More problems will arise, as they always do in a long season, but the Twins also appear to be better prepared to cover their problem areas. Remember, Ervin Santana will be plugged into the rotation in July, so he can pick up the slack if a start like today for Mike Pelfrey turns into more of the norm. Also, Taylor Rogers and Pat Dean both have ERAs near 2.00 in AAA and Alex Meyer has been better of late, including a great start Sunday before walking his final two batters to lead off the 8th inning. If the Twins are willing to go down to AA, Jose Berrios, D.J. Baxendale and Tyler Duffey could all be worthy of consideration for a callup in a few weeks.

As for relievers, the injuries have made room for Michael Tonkin and Ryan Pressly. Both throw in the mid-90s and have shown improved breaking balls. Pressly was really impressive Sunday. His curveball for strike 3 called with the bases loaded was so nasty that Chris Herrmann couldn't even catch it. Otherwise, Lester Oliveros is in AAA with a 0.833 WHIP and 16.5 K/9. In AA, the Twins have three relievers that can reach triple digits at times, including Zach Jones, who has a 0.625 WHIP and a 14-1 K-BB ratio in 8 innings.

So the Twins have certainly had their fair share of problems, but have they been lucky to win in spite of these problems or have these problems kept them from having an even better record? Only time will tell for sure.

These Guys Ain't So F'n Bad

In my favorite baseball movie, Major League, which is based on a fictional miracle run to winning the pennant by the hapless Cleveland Indians, they show a montage of Indians fans right after the roster is set at the end of spring training. All of the fans are complaining about that they don't know who most of the players are or that they just suck (with a lot of worse language thrown in).

After the season starts and the Indians somehow hang around .500, the movie goes through another montage of the same fans, most of whom are talking about how this team might not be so terrible after all, including a construction worker who looked up at a fellow worker and exclaimed, "These guys ain't so [redacted]-ing bad!" (The Japanese groundscrew were still not convinced).

I think I'm starting to get to that point with the Twins.

After a brutal 12-3 home opener following a disastrous initial road trip, the Twins were 1-6 on April 14 and had been outscored 45-16. They had just found out a week earlier that their biggest free agent signing in team history, Ervin Santana, was going to be suspended for the first half of the season and their second-biggest free agent, Ricky Nolasco, was going on the DL with a sore elbow. Paul Molitor's tenure as manager could hardly have gotten off to a worse start.

Since then, however, the Twins are 7-4 and have outscored their opponents 44-36, which means they have allowed an average of 3.27 runs per game in that stretch. In fact, they have the best record in their division in games played after April 13.

The Twins (8-10) are closing in on .500 despite the fact that they have won 0 games started by Phil Hughes, Santana or Nolasco. The Twins are 8-5 in games not started by their presumed top 3 starting pitchers.

On Sunday, the Twins also saw a continued resurgence from Joe Mauer, who's raised his batting average 49 points to .299 over his last five games. He had three hits on Sunday, including a tiebreaking two-run triple in the 11th inning. He could have had five hits after lining out twice. He also was intentionally walked, which gives him as many walks on the season as strikeouts (11 of each).

Also, for a second-consecutive game, the bullpen played a key role in a win. On Saturday when Trevor May got hurt in the fifth inning of a tie game, I figured that was all she wrote right there. But the bullpen only allowed two runs on a two-run home run with a five-run lead late while the Twins' batters took it to the Mariners' bullpen. Then on Sunday, the Twins' best relievers of Aaron Thompson, Casey Fien and Glen Perkins combined for four scoreless innings with 4 Ks and 1 BB. Those three relievers have no greater than a 0.75 WHIP, which is incredibly good.

There's still plenty of problems and concerns with this team, but at least for now there's at least some small signs that maybe this team won't be so [redacted]-ing bad after all.