I watched part of the game tonight and even though the Twins won the game, it certainly wasn't pretty. It's a good thing that Kansas City is in town. The Twins need to right themselves. They can work on some things -- get things straightened out, if you will, and not have to worry too much if they'll win. With Tampa Bay coming up, too, perhaps the Twins can (a) pick up some wins and (b) start playing better. Tonight, they accomplished (a), but I don't really think they accomplished (b).

Over at the Rake, Mr. Zellar pooh-poohs those (like your bestest buddy SBG) who would point out that if the ChiSox even play .500 ball the rest of the way, the Twins have to play really well to catch them. Then, he says, the Twins need to trim half the lead by the All-Star break, which was just 12 games away. Let's see. If the ChiSox win half (six) of their games between now and the break, the Twins will have to win eleven games to shave 5 games off the lead. Because each team won tonight, the numbers are essentially the same. (Just yanking your chain a little, Mr. Zellar, please no comments from your fans!!!!) Seriously, I think Mr. Zellar is right. The Twins need to clobber the Royals and the Devil Rays, because the schedule gets tougher after the break. These are not games that they can blow. They just can't. So are they must win games in June? Maybe. Two games down. Taking care of business tonight, even though it was a little ugly.

Torii Trade TalkThanks to all of you who partook in the Torii poll. Here are the results.

About a quarter of the respondents don't want a trade of Torii at all. Over half are conflicted about a trade, and the rest have no problem with trading Torii.

I think that if the Twins right the ship now and can make a run, I wouldn't trade him. If they do fall out of the race, I'd certainly be willing to dump Hunter. Let's be clear -- it's not because I don't like Hunter's game. There's a lot to like about Torii. He plays hard, there's never a question that he's not going all out. Of the everyday players on the roster, he's the best trade asset that they have (Mauer and Morneau are, in my opinion, untouchable, at least in part because of their low salaries.) If Hunter could fetch a couple of good assets, I'd shake hands and say best of luck and thanks for the memories.

The Twins have made two huge trades of their "best player" over the last 15 or so years. Way back when they traded my guy, Frankie Viola. I was absolutely livid. The trade netted the Twins Rick Aguilera and Kevin Tapani, two huge cogs in the 1991 World Championship team. Turned out to be a great trade. I still have a soft spot for Frankie V., but I certainly enjoyed that World Series Championship. The second trade was the Knoblauch deal. That netted us Guzman and Milton, two of the important parts of the resurgance, plus Buck Buchanan, who was converted into Jason Bartlett. In addition, Milton was converted into Carlos Silva and Nick Punto. That trade, too, worked out great. At $10 million next year, Torii would be a nice piece to trade for payroll relief and acquiring some infield talent. And if the Yanks dangled Robinson Cano and someone else, I'd be awfully tempted to pull the trigger this year, especially if the Twins could make another trade for a fourth outfielder.

Tonight's question. Johan Santana has been struggling a little lately and is currently at 7-4 with a 3.78 ERA. At this time last year, Santana was 6-4 with a 4.38 ERA. We all know what happened next. My question tonight is about what you will think will happen in the second half.

Poll closed, results below

Thanks for stopping by. Have a good day! (And check out the T-Wolves column below. I could use a little reassuring there.)