With a 2-1 win today in Oakland, the Twins won their first road series since taking two of three from the Diamondbacks June 7-9. Most importantly, they kept themselves alive in the AL Wild Card race. Other teams in the race had varying success this weekend. While the Yankees swept four games from the Rangers, the Indians were swept in three games by the Devil Rays. Toronto took two of three from Baltimore, the White Sox lost the first two against the Red Sox (today's game has been delayed by the rain), the Angels are closing in on a sweep of the Mariners, and Oakland, of course, lost two of three against Minnesota.

As for today's game, Rich Harden was nearly unhittable. The Twins had only one hit off of Harden today - a third-inning homerun by Michael Ryan. Thank goodness for the Twins, Harden threw 115 pitches in eight innings, so was lifted for All-Star reliever Justin Duchscherer in the ninth. Joe Mauer led off the inning with a double down the line in left and advanced to third on Morneau's groundout to first. Matthew LeCroy drove in the go-ahead run with a single out of shortstop Bobby Crosby's reach up the middle. He was lifted for pinch-runner Jason Bartlett, who was subsequently picked off at first (?!). Lew Ford then singled, but Ryan fouled out to end the inning. Joe Nathan came on and retired Crosby, Eric Chavez, and Dan Johnson in order to pick up his 29th save on the season. Juan Rincon pitched a perfect eighth to get the win and improve to 5-4, while Duchscherer takes the loss and drops to 6-3. Conceding just one run over seven innings, Carlos Silva's ERA dropped to 3.33.

Tomorrow starts the series we've all been waiting for. The Twins haven't played the White Sox since April 19, and are 1-4 against Chicago this year. The Twins open a three-game series at U.S. Cellular Field on the southside tomorrow night as Kyle Lohse (7-11, 4.21 ERA) will face Jose Contreras (7-6, 4.18 ERA). Gametime is at 8:05pm ET/7:05pm CT.

Game two of the three game series in Oakland between the Twins and Athletics is in progress. I, unfortunately, am unable to watch the game due to a national live television blackout (damn you FOX!). A few changes in the lineup again today for the Twins. Mike Redmond is catching and batting eighth and Jason Bartlett is at shortstop and batting ninth. Joe Mauer is still in the lineup as the designated hitter and he is followed once again in the lineup by Morneau. Lew Ford and his hot bat moves up to fifth in the lineup, while the Michaels Ryan and Cuddyer move up one spot in the lineup. With Bartlett in the game for Punto, Luis Rodriguez moves up to the second spot behind Stewie, leaving Bartlett to bat ninth.

The game is entering the bottom of the fourth as I type, and we're still tied 0-0. The teams have two hits a piece, and Joe Mays has one walk and one strikeout. The two Twins hits belong to Redmond and Bartlett. More to follow later....

UPDATE: The M&M Boys ride again! With one out in the top of the sixth, Joe Mauer hit a single to left, and Morneau followed with a two-run homerun to right. Ford grounded out and Ryan flied out to end the inning, but the Twins take a 2-0 lead.

UPDATE: Forget a win in this one - Mays once again couldn't hold a lead. His contract ends after this season, and let's hope they don't bring him back. Mays got Kotsay to ground out, but it all fell apart after that in the bottom of the sixth. Crosby tripled to the wall in right, Chavez walked, and Dan Johnson singled to right, scoring Crosby and moving Chavez to third. Jay Payton followed with a three-run homerun, putting Oakland up 4-2. With Minnesota's inability to score runs, this one could be over. J.C. Romero is in now to replace Mays... but it's a couple batters too late.

UPDATE: Out of the inning, but damage done. Romero got Hatteberg to ground out, but then gave up a single to Swisher. He was then replaced by Jesse Crain, who struck out Ellis, but Oakland is up 4-2. Saarloos is out of the game now, having been replaced by Kiko Calero.

UPDATE: So that's that. Joe Mays blows a lead and nobody can drive in runs. Huston Street came on in the ninth with a 5-2 lead and gave up a walk to Cuddyer and a single to Redmond. Cuddyer and Redmond each advanced on a fielding error, putting men on second and third with nobody out. Street then proceeded to strike out Bartlett, Stewie, and pinch-hitter Tiffee to end the game. Oakland wins 5-2 and Minnesota's playoff hopes are virtually gone.

Kirk Saarloos gets the win to improve to 8-6, while Joe Mays takes the loss and drops to 5-8. Huston Street picks up his 15th save.

Mays hasn't won since July 3 - a 3-2 win over Tampa Bay - and has now dropped 5 straight decisions. Unlike the rest of the team, he's not entirely suffering from a lack of run support either. In his last 7 starts - all Twins losses - the Twins have averaged 4.14 runs per game, but his ERA in those last 7 starts is an astounding 8.31! I almost hate to say it, but if the Twins want any chance yet this year, they might have to waive Mays and call up either Baker or Liriano to take his spot in the rotation, because an 8.31 ERA is virtually going to guarantee a loss every time he pitches. Even Boston's offense couldn't overcome that poor of pitching.

So, we come to the rubber match tomorrow in Oakland. Carlos Silva (7-6, 3.42 ERA) will take the mound for Minnesota against Rich Harden (9-5, 2.90 ERA). Silva also hasn't won since July 4, but he's 0-3 in six starts with a 2.80 ERA since that last win, and the team is only averaging 3.17 runs per game behind him (they won 2 of his no-decisions). He could ever get some run support, he could be headed toward a year like last year's 14 wins. Game time tomorrow is again 4:05pm ET/3:05pm CT.

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.

While Oakland beat the Royals 16-1, the Angels lost tonight to the Devil Rays 6-4, creating a tie atop the AL West. The Angels have won only 4 of their last 12 games. The best-case scenario for all teams chasing the A's and Angels for the Wild Card spot in the AL is for the Angels to keep losing, because it doesn't look like the A's are going to go on an extended losing streak anytime soon. The Yankees, Indians, Twins, and Blue Jays are all within striking distance, but none of them have been able to make any gains with Oakland running away.