I realize I have not discussed the Twins much in this space lately. I also realize that in the time between my last post and this one, this team has caught serious fire (Winning 18 of 21 games) and now sit within spitting distance of the lead in the division mere days away from the All-Star Break.

This is not to say I have not been paying attention. I have actually made it to a few games, even one quite memorable trip to Milwaukee to take in the Twins interleague border-battle with the Brew Crew (more on that in a moment). I have watched a good portion of their home stand, in fact. I spent one night in a skybox cheering on the Twins as they mounted a huge inning to beat the Diamondbacks at home, then spent a few nights in my recliner, watching portions of their sweep over the Padres (I never finished any of those games, since the late start forced the late innings to cruise past my bed time. Yes, I am getting old). And I took in most of the Detroit series and caught 2 of the 3 games this weekend vs. the Indians.

But I decided against posting about the team during all that time for a couple of reasons:

1. This was on the heels of a sweep the Twins suffered at the hands of the White Sox at the beginning of June; a sweep I felt would either rally the team or leave them despondent. When they lost the ensuing series against an already struggling Cleveland team, I'd feared the worst and started protecting myself against disappointment and meltdown.

2. It seemed like this team was getting fat off of weaker NL teams. I felt even more certain of this fact after the Twins dropped the first game of the series with Detroit by a score of 4-5 - it was like that first series at Detroit all over again. Twins take the lead, hand it over to their vaunted bullpen, Twins mismanage said bullpen and take the loss.

Yet, the Twins continued to confound my expectations of a let-down. Even as Justin Morneau's bat has cooled off slightly, they keep winning games. The bottom of the order has shown life, and Denard Span has managed to fill in nicely for the injured Michael Cuddyer, creating a ridiculously fast 9-1-2 lineup turnaround that seems to be giving opposing batters fits (just ask Cliff Lee*).

*I am going to rip off Joe Posanski a moment and do the asterisk thing here. All apologies to the best sports blogger in the world, but this is a parenthetical inside a parenthetical and I see no other way of dealing with it: Listen, Cliff. You weren't working a no-hitter when Gomez bunted. It's the first inning. He's told to bunt, that's what he does. You know what that looked like? That looked like someone hanging by a thread getting pissed because he can see the thread slowly starting to unravel. Given the fact that this sweep seemed to signal the end of your team's season, I guess I can understand. Go start the All-Star game now and go down in history as the worst pitcher ever to do so...and get over it.

The fact is, Twins fans, this is a good run and you'd better enjoy it while it lasts. This is like the best dream you've ever had, where you score the winning touchdown in the state championship game by outrunning everyone on the field in a Steve Young-like scamper then dunk the ball to end the NBA finals and run out of the stadium and hop into your Porsche to make your flight to Morocco where you spend a weekend with your favorite woman in a hotel where they fan you on a chaise lounge 24-7.

Or is that just me?

This season has been a dream within a dream. The team is doing well, while everyone else seems to be falling to the wayside. Unfortunately, all available statistics seem to point to this team waaay overachieving, particularly when you compare their overall batting average with their batting average with runners in scoring position. This has been extensively covered everywhere else. I will not reiterate the stats here.

What I will say, however, is that I am continuing my wait-and-see approach when it comes to my expectations for this team going forward. I said a while back that this is a .500 ballclub, and I still feel that's ultimately the case. This is not to say that this will be their final record for the year, however.

I still feel that this team got fat off of a weak interleague schedule. Moreover, it seems the Twins have gotten fat off the longest home stand of the season at the same time, a roll that allowed them to overcome that loss in the first game of the Detroit series, and one that allowed them to steamroll a pathetic Indians team and by all accounts permanently leave them in the proverbial rear view mirror. Whether the Twins do the same to the Boston Red Sox will remain to be seen - and this is my point. The Twins schedule now gets a little tougher, with a three game set at Fenway before 4 games in Detroit heading into the All-Star break. Boston is one of the top teams in the league right now, while Detroit had found a resurgence of their own before losing the series in the Metrodome against the Twins. Beating them on the road might prove to be a much more difficult task, especially if the Sox take some wind out of the Twins' sails.

This run may very well dictate what the Twins do as the trade deadline approaches. Those of us who are used to watching this team operate know that the chances of this team being a "buyer" come the deadline are pretty remote, but this team more than likely won't do poorly enough to be a "seller" at the deadline, either.

It's hard to know where the Twins would look to upgrade, in any case. The outfield is already at capacity (especially once Cuddyer returns from the DL) and the emergence of Alexi Casilla seems to have taken care of any uncertainty at second base. Brian Buscher is hitting pretty well at third and has thus far managed to hold off the glut of part-time players this team is hanging onto who are overmatched when asked to perform on a daily basis (Mike Lamb, Nick Punto, Brendan Harris).

Yes, the drumbeat continues. I would love to see someone really take the reins at that position, which I am not as yet convinced anyone has done quite yet. Buscher is a solid ballplayer, but not a long-term solution for a team with playoff aspirations, particularly when you consider that he's only starting to perform at the major league level at the age of 27, an age when most major leaguers should have a couple years of service under their belt. This is not a long-term solution.

I hate to admit this, but if Nick Punto continues to play at his current pace, he's a good guy to keep as a defensive sub or a very part time member of the lineup. Beyond that, anyone else should be up for grabs.

Now, if you try packaging Lamb or Buscher with prospects to get a third baseman from somewhere, maybe you can get someone in return who can cement that position and add some more pop to the lineup. Perhaps go the route the Brewers took in acquiring C.C. Sabathia - use prospects in return for a proven, high-impact player headed into his walk year. Roll the dice for once.

Who am I kidding? There's as much chance of this happening as there is of Lynne Spears winning a mother of the year award. More than likely, the team we have heading into the All-Star break is the team we'll have to finish out the year. Thus, we in Twins territory better hope "clutch" hitting continues to be contagious, and these guys don't wake up from the dream that has been the first half of the 2008 season.