The Minnesota Twins are back in action tonight in Oakland following yesterday's travel day. They come into the game fresh off their fourteenth inning win Wednesday night against the Seattle Mariners to avoid the sweep. Oakland enters tonight's game in sole possession of first place in the American League West following last night's win over the Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim. Surely everyone by now has seen the replay of Jason Kendall's game-winning run in the ninth when Angels closer Francisco Rodriguez failed to catch a return throw from the catcher allowing Kendall to score.

2004 AL Cy Young winner Johan Santana (10-6, 3.68 ERA) takes the mound for Minnesota against rookie Danny Haren (10-7, 4.08 ERA) of the Athletics. The Twins made quite a few lineup and roster changes for tonight's opener in Oakland from Wednesday's starting lineup in Seattle. Stewie leads off, followed by Punto (shortstop) and Mauer. Justin Morneau moves back into the cleanup spot, finally reuniting the M&M Boys. Matthew LeCroy drops to fifth, followed by Lew Ford (center). Michael Ryan gets the start again in right field and bats seventh. Michael Cuddyer makes his return to the starting lineup at third base and bats eighth, and Luis Rodriguez bats ninth and plays second base. Jacque Jones gets the night off after going 1-for-7 on Wednesday night with an RBI and 2 strikeouts.

Entering tonight's games, the Twins trail the White Sox by 16-1/2 games and the Indians by 4-1/2 games in the AL Central. The Angels lead the AL Wild Card standings, followed by the Indians (2-1/2 back), the Yankees (3-1/2 back), the Blue Jays (6 back), and the Twins (7 back).

First pitch tonight is at 10:05pm ET/9:05pm CT.

UPDATE: Twin-killing Minnesota native rookie Dan Johnson got the first hit of the ballgame with two out in the bottom of the second, connecting with a ground-rule double down the line in right, but Jay Payton fouled out to end the inning. Through two in Oakland, still 0-0.

UPDATE: Santana already has 3 strikeouts through three, giving him one more than he had in his entire previous outing last Saturday against Boston.

UPDATE: I mentioned before the game that the M&M Boys are reunited in the 3-4 spots in tonight's lineup. This is the 28th time this season that Mauer and Morneau have batted third and fourth, respectively, in the lineup. With LeCroy's troubles, the Mariners had no trouble intentionally walking Joe Mauer twice on Wednesday, so Morneau was moved back into the fourth spot tonight to protect Mauer. In the previous 27 games that they've batted back-to-back, the team is 14-13. They were a regular duo through May 23, but Gardy broke them up for the game on May 24 to insert a righty in between them. Since May 24, they've batted third and fourth five times, most recently July 15, and the team has gone 2-3 in those five games.

Morneau got the first hit for the Twins tonight with a two-out single in the top of the fourth. Lew Ford was the first Twins baserunner with a walk in the second.

UPDATE: Early games in the American League are now all final. Yankees beat Rangers 6-5, Red Sox beat White Sox 9-8, Tampa Bay beat Cleveland 8-6, and Blue Jays beat Orioles 12-0. Royals missed out on an opportunity to end their 13-game losing streak when their game against Detroit was postponed due to rain. Angels and Mariners are tied 2-2 in the third.

UPDATE: Twins take a 1-0 lead after the top of the fifth. Lew Ford got a leadoff walk and stole second. Ryan struckout looking, but Cuddyer followed with an RBI single to right-center. L'il Rod hit into an inning-ending 6-4-3 double-play, but the run has been scored.

UPDATE: Dick and Bert were discussing the 1965 Twins bobbleheads during the bottom of the fifth. They mentioned a program to trade them, and Bert asked Dick what one would do if they got a Harmon Killebrew and didn't want it. Dick replied, "Then you need to get your head examined. I mean, who wouldn't want a Harmon Killebrew bobblehead?"

UPDATE: Santana has his strikeout pitches working again tonight. He struck out the side in the fifth and now has seven strikeouts in the game.

UPDATE: This game is flying by. Just over an hour since the first pitch and we're already heading to the bottom of the sixth. Tuesday's 1-0 loss to Seattle clocked in at just 2:01 - a Safeco Field record. Could we be even faster tonight?

UPDATE: Santana gets another 1-2-3 inning in the sixth and has now sat down twelve Oakland batters in a row, including six strikeouts in that span (five in a row at one point). Last out in the sixth came on a diving catch in foul territory by Stewie. Santana has also been very efficient tonight. Even with 8 strikeouts through six innings, he's only thrown 68 pitches.

UPDATE: With a single in the seventh and walks in the second and fifth, Lew has reached base in six consecutive at-bats going back to Wednesday night's game. He also has the only run in the ballgame.

Santana sat the A's down in order once again in the seventh and now has retired 15 A's batters in a row.

UPDATE: The Twins website is reporting that both Jacque Jones and Juan Castro could be headed to the disabled list. Castro strained a patella tendon in his left knee in the tenth inning on Wednesday was lifted for pinch-runner Jason Bartlett. Jones apparently has a strained oblique muscle. He played through the pain on Wednesday, but is out of the lineup tonight. Gardy says he'll give Castro and Jones off tonight and tomorrow, and then they'll evaluate on Sunday whether the two need to go to the DL. Word is that catcher Mike Redmond is on alert in case he needs to come in and play third base tonight....

UPDATE: Santana has yet another 1-2-3 inning in the eighth. That's 18 in a row for those of you keeping track at home. A's haven't had a baserunner since Nick Swisher's leadoff single in the third. With only 89 pitches through 8 innings, it looks like he might be headed for a complete game.

A's starter Dan Haren is also still in the game and has mostly kept the Twins batters in check as well. Twins have had only six baserunners in the game, and Lew Ford accounts for half of them.

UPDATE: Santana is getting set to come out for the bottom of the ninth. Twins still lead 1-0.

With the injuries, the only bench players Minnesota has available tonight are Jason Bartlett, Mike Redmond, and Terry Tiffee. Twins will only have three bench players available tomorrow as well.

UPDATE: Mark Kotsay hit a two-out double to end the streak. Santana had retired 20 batters in a row.

UPDATE: Whew, it's over. After Kotsay's double, Bobby Crosby worked a walk, but Eric Chavez flied out to Lew Ford in center to end the ballgame. Both pitchers went the distance, but Santana picked up the win to improve to 11-6, while Haren get his first loss since May 26 and drops to 10-8. Santana's final numbers on the night: 9IP, 3H, 0ER, 1BB, 9K. He got his second shutout of the season and third of his career. Most importantly, his changeup and fastball were working again tonight. He last struck out 9 batters on July 1 against Tampa Bay. Tonight's game clocked in at exactly 2 hours - one minute less than Tuesday night's game in Seattle.

The Twins will look to pick up their third win in a row tomorrow afternoon as Joe Mays (5-7, 4.95 ERA) takes the mound against Kirk Saarloos (7-6, 4.21 ERA). The Twins last won three in a row July 19-21.