Michael Cuddyer said it best when he described the baseball season recently: the first forty games you look to keep close, the next eighty or so you look to pull ahead, and the final forty you look to hold that lead.

The first phase of the season was successful for Minnesota. They stuck right in the race through the first forty games, sticking within four games or so of first place in the American League Central.

Now halfway through the second phase, the Twins are still playing like they're in the first phase; simply sticking in the race. In 2006 when the Twins won the division, they pulled away, and they did the same when they barely missed out on October baseball last season.

As the Twins entered July and the final game of their nine-game road trip, they were looking to move two games above the .500 mark for the first time this season. Seven times the Twins had been a game above .500, and seven times they lost the next game to fall even in the standings.

The biggest struggle for the Twins as they near the midway point in the season has been getting over the .500 hump. They've had no trouble sticking around the mark through the first three months, but staying above it has been another story.

In their eighth attempt to move more than one game above .500, the Twins succeeded. A victory over the Royals not only gives the Twins a 6-3 record on the road trip, it also gets them over one of the initial humps needed to make a playoff run.

How long the Twins maintain it will be the next key. With first-place Detroit visiting the Metrodome this weekend, and the gap potentially only three games, Minnesota has a chance to draw even with a sweep, gain ground with two wins, or fall back with one or fewer victories. 

Interleague play first began in 1997, and since that time, the schedule has seen more and more National League teams added. The Twins' style of play, often referred to as 'small ball', has been compared regularly to that of the National League 'style'. So it's no wonder that the Minnesota Twins have succeeded in interleague play since the tradition began.

In recent years, the Twins have dominated interleague play, posting some of the best records in all of baseball. Since 2006, the Twins have gone an incredible 53-19 to give them a .736 winning percentage over that span of games.

All-time, since the tradition began 12 years ago, the Twins have the second best interleague record. Only the Yankees (133-95) have more wins than the Twins (132-96) against the National League. The Twins' all-time winning percentage in interleague play is .579.

Aside from winning games against the National League during a span of six series in interleague play, the Twins have also fared well with attendance in their three hosted series. This season, hosting the likes of Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, and Houston, the Twins drew a total of 302,468 fans for an average of 33,607 visitors per game.

The Twins won't be making the move to the other league any time soon, but it's clear that recently at least, they benefit from playing National League opponents; both for reasons shown in the standings and ticket sales.

Finally a Cure

For the past week Denard Span has felt dizziness when in the field and has lost sight of the ball when at the plate. The illness finally took it's toll when the second-year pro struck out last week in Oakland on a pitch he never saw coming. 

Yesterday, Span was diagnosed with "vestibular neuritis". Also referred to as a vertigo, in medical terms it means "dizziness and nausea resulting from an inner ear disorder". The sickness can stem from many things, and in Span's case they all make sense.

From a basic cold to influenza to bacterial infections and even long flights, a vertigo can be the result of many things. Luckily for both Span and the Twins, the illness isn't long-term and also can be cured rather quickly with medication and simply rest.

Span last played one week ago before exiting after his second at-bat. While doctors felt Span might be able to return in the back end of the two-series homestand, the team opted instead to allow him extra healing time and placed the leadoff hitter on the disabled list. Span is eligible to return next Thursday, but the team's first game in St. Louis next Friday seems like a more likely scenario.

Re-working the Crain

Jesse Crain was once a top prospect in the Twins' bullpen. After being promoted in August of 2004, Crain showed nasty stuff including a top-notch fastball clocked in the mid-to-high 90s. In his fifth major league season, Crain has now experienced something he never likely considered -- a return to AAA Rochester. 

With an ERA of 8.15 in just over 17 innings of work, the move is a good one for both the Twins and Crain. The team could have ousted Crain, but with options remaining, the better plan is to have Crain re-work his mechanics, regain his confidence, and return to the majors in the same fashion he did back in the summer of '04. 

The Twins bullpen has improved in recent weeks, and the inclusion of a newly found Jesse Crain in the second half would be a huge help as the team makes a run at the playoffs. 

The baseball draft isn't quite like the one you see each spring in football or the one you see each summer in basketball. The players selected most often don't make an impact until some years later, and while nearly every draftee in the other drafts sign, those selected in the MLB draft often have the choice of signing, going to college, or even an independent league. 

Nonetheless, a roster is composed of several draft picks, and while it takes many years for most players to develop into major leaguers, everybody starts somewhere. Joe Mauer started as the first overall pick, Justin Morneau started off as a third-rounder, Joe Nathan started as a sixth rounder, and so on.

With their first round selection and the 22nd overall pick in the 2009 MLB Draft, the Minnesota Twins drafted Kyle Gibson. Whether he'll ever make it to the majors is hard to tell, but just like Mauer, Morneau and everybody else, he'll start somewhere and could someday be a regular in the rotation.

Gibson was ranked as the fourth prospect on Baseball America's draft list before he was diagnosed with a stress fracture in his forearm. He will likely not pitch until late July, but could still get some innings in before the minor league seasons come to an end. 

The young righty from Missouri hits 93 MPH with his fastball, 84 MPH with his slider, and 82 with his changeup. He projects as a top-of-the-rotation starter, and the Twins hope they'll see him there within a few years.

While the Minnesota Twins have excelled at home with a record of 21-12 through their recent series with the Cleveland Indians, they've been far from good away from the Metrodome. Away from the confines of the Teflon roof this season, the Twins have went a horrendous 6-16. 

At home this season, the Twins have hit .281 with 39 homeruns and 173 RBI. On the road, the offense has hit .263 with 23 homeruns and 88 RBI. The average is lower, but it isn't terrible, and the inflation in the homerun and RBI numbers is due in part to the team playing 11 more games at home. 

What has really hurt the Twins is their clutch hitting. When the Twins were swept by the New York Yankees two weeks ago, they lost the four games by a total of five runs. In the series, the Twins went 4-38 with runners in scoring position. Just a hit in each game, and instead of being swept, the Twins could have have walked away with a sweep.

Last weekend, in Tampa Bay, the Twins won only one of the three games. The two losses came by a combined five runs as they lost by two and three runs respectively. In the series, the Twins went 3-28 with runners in scoring position. Again, a hit or two with runners on, and the Twins could have won the series.

If the Twins can win more than 50 games at home as they've done nearly every time they've made the playoffs, and be near .500 on the road as they've also often done when they've contended, they could be right around 90 wins when all is said and done -- almost certainly enough to contend in the American League Central.

The Twins don't need to blow teams away on the road, but they must do better than their league-worst six wins if they want to be in the race come July. With 19 of the their next 25 games on the road, the Twins' test has just started.

The MLB Draft will take place next week, and teams are gearing up to make decisions on who exactly they'll take with their picks. A source has informed Twins-Territory.com that the Minnesota Twins have their eye set on University of California outfielder, Brett Jackson.

The Twins have the 22nd pick in the first round of the draft, and a recent mock draft done by MLB.com has Jackson headed later in the first round to the New York Yankees. Some reports say that the San Francisco Giants have interest in Jackson with the 6th pick, and the team has even had him at their ballpark for batting practice in front of team personnel. 

The source reports that the Twins today had Jackson visit an optometrist, and he tested for a 20/10 vision. The source believes that if Jackson is on the board when the Twins pick, which he very well might not be with the interest of other teams, that the Twins will most likely make the selection. 

In the past two drafts, the Twins have selected outfielders with Ben Revere and most recently Aaron Hicks. Some reports have the Twins looking to add pitching with the first pick, but the team has long been known for taking the top player available on their board.

We were lucky enough to receive an e-mail with some great updates on the construction of Target Field. In recent days we've seen the stories of players visiting the construction site and the team's logo going up above the scoreboard. The park is approximately 70-percent complete according to some reports, and this upcoming summer most of the project is set to be complete including the installation of the seats and most importantly the grass.

Enough with the comments though, the pictures received in the e-mail are far better. The attachment included the pictures that were put together by Paul Johnson. 

While I'm not positive if Paul Johnson took the pictures, he did put the picture sheet together with all of these, and they look great. The ballpark is getting closer with each day, and within the next few months the bulk of the project should be completed.

Outdoor baseball if officially getting closer. 

** What Joe Mauer is doing currently is hard to fathom. After hitting nine homeruns last season in over 500 at-bats, Joe Mauer has hit nine in under 80 at-bats, and in less than a full month of play. Mauer is on pace to hit over 60 homeruns. While that surely won't happen, it's amazing how fast he's turned into a league-leading slugger.

** While Mauer has amazed the entire baseball world, Justin Morneau's numbers have been overlooked. Morneau is hitting near .350, he's second in the American League with 14 homeruns, he leads the league in OPS, and he's in the top five in slugging percentage and RBIs. The former MVP is on pace to break all of his career highs which is pretty good considering he drove in 129 runners last season.

** Seeing Joe Crede and Michael Cuddyer finally heat up is a welcome sign for the team's lineup. Crede won't hit for a high average, but if he can continue with his power and stays healthy, a 20-plus homerun season could be in store. Cuddyer meanwhile is reminding everybody why the team signed him to a big extension prior to last season. He's been on fire and is on pace to hit 28 homeruns and drive in 109 runners.

** Francisco Liriano and Scott Baker to say the least have been frustrating to watch. Both have shown signs of being the ace that the team is looking for, but right when it seems like they've finally figured it out, along comes the big inning. Baker's biggest problem has been the one big number in the middle of innings, but Liriano's problems seem to be his composure. A leadoff hit or walk seems to take away Liriano's control and he never seems the same after.

** While the team's two "top" pitchers have been hard-to-watch, two of their youngsters, Slowey and Blackburn, have pitched very well. Blackburn has the best ERA in the rotation, and Slowey has started to become the pitcher everybody envisioned him becoming last season. If Swarzak does anything remotely close to what he did in his debut, he could be the pitching addition the team needs.

** On a final note, the bullpen. It's been hard to watch the team blow leads, but things have seemed a little better at least recently. It could have a lot to due with the long outings from the starters, but maybe the bullpen is slightly improving. The team does still need to make some sort of addition to help stabilize the eighth inning. 

Craig Breslow might have been the best move for the Minnesota Twins last season; Bill Smith gave up nothing for the lefty when he claimed him off waivers, and the Twins received 49 outings and a 1.92 ERA to help stabilize a tremendously inconsistent bullpen.

With the strong numbers, the Twins were comfortable enough to move forward without lefty Dennys Reyes, and the Twins allowed him to move on this past off-season. Breslow had put up solid numbers, and if everything would have gone according to plan, he would have been the lefty specialist in '09 and possibly beyond.

Struggles with control haunted Breslow through April and May, and the Minnesota Twins have decided to move in a different direction. Breslow through his most recent outing in the series opener with the White Sox, posted an ERA of 6.28 and walked 11 batters in only 14.1 innings of work.

Much more than a baseball player, Breslow was a community guy. Drafted out of Yale University, Breslow was one of the smartest players on the roster, and he put his knowledge to good use with his Strike Three Foundation; an organization to help find a cure for pediatric cancer.

Breslow will move on to Oakland and hopefully settle in the way he did with the Twins in '08. Meanwhile, Anthony Swarzak, a highly touted pitching prospect, has been called up from Triple-A Rochester where he posted a 2.25 ERA in seven starts. the righty is expected to fill in for Glen Perkins with a start on Saturday.

It’s still far to early to judge a not even two-year-old trade, but it’s always intriguing to look back at what could have been compared to what is.

Back before this past season, the talks were hot on the Johan Santana front as the Minnesota Twins looked to move their All-Star lefty before he entered the final year of his contract.

The Winter Meetings brought rumors; some farfetched and some that seemed feasible. There were demands by other teams with set timetables, and there were offers made, pulled, and remade.

Eventually, after more than a handful of teams made bids, the race narrowed to a three-team sprint between the Red Sox, Yankees and Mets. With the two American League East rivals finally deciding to stay put after talks broke down, the New York Mets took the prize while the Twins received four highly touted prospects.

Since the trade, two of the players received have played at the major league level – Phillip Humber and Carlos Gomez. Deolis Guerra was touted as a right-handed Johan Santana, but is still only 20-years old. Kevin Mulvey meanwhile projects as a number three or four starter and currently sits at Triple-A Rochester.

That’s what is.

What could have been however is a different story. While rumors ran rampant and it’s hard to tell what was real and what was fake, from reports, it seems that the final offer from the Red Sox consisted of Jacoby Ellsbury, Jed Lowrie, and Justin Masterson as the base of a deal with one other throw-in prospect.

In the first of a three-part series, here is what might have been had Santana become a member of the Red Sox.

Jacoby Ellsbury

The left-handed hitting centerfielder would have been the base of the deal much like Carlos Gomez was in the actual trade. The one difference is that Ellsbury has performed how the Twins had hoped Gomez would to this point – hitting for a good average with some steals.

Last season, in what would have been his first season with the club, Ellsbury hit .280 with 9 homeruns and 47 RBI. Ellsbury also stole 50 bases in a total of 145 games. Thus far in ’09, Ellsbury has posted a .296 average with one homerun, 10 RBI and 15 steals in 28 games.

Jed Lowrie

Lowrie wasn’t viewed as a very big part of the offer, but last season he established himself as a potential shortstop of the future. Lowrie filled in for the Red Sox down the stretch and hit .258 with 46 RBI in 81 games; a pretty good haul for a young shortstop.

This season Lowrie has been plagued with the injury bug, and he is currently missing a bulk of time with a wrist injury. The youngster is hitting only .058 in just five games.

 Justin Masterson

The pitcher that many wanted was Jon Lester, but he and Ellsbury were not available in the same deal, so the pitcher instead was Justin Masterson. The then 23-year old was highly touted, but many questions remained.

Last season in 36 games, nine of which were starts, Masterson went 6-5 with a solid 3.16 ERA. The righty struck out 68 hitters in a total of 88.1 innings. The great season has thus far not been matched in ’09 as Masterson currently sports a 5.28 ERA in eights games and four starts.

Conclusion

The deal that could have been with the Red Sox currently seems like it would have benefited the Twins more than their haul of Gomez and company. Lowrie and Masterson were both very good last season, and Jacoby Ellsbury would have put, in a way, two Denards in the outfield.