Twins first to clinch spot in AL playoffs

CHICAGO -- Nothing fazes the Minnesota Twins.

Threatened with contraction three years ago, they ran away with the AL Central title. In disarray at the All-Star break last year, they regrouped and won the division again. And 2004? This might just be the most improbable run of them all.

Forced by economics to replace half of the team, then riddled with injuries, the Twins should have been out of contention two months ago. Instead, they're making room at the Metrodome for another AL Central trophy after clinching Monday night and getting ready for the third straight trip to the playoffs, a first in the team's 44-year history.

"No matter what you throw at us, we're going to try and bob and weave," said Torii Hunter, one of the players left from the contraction team. "We might get hit every once in a while, but we're going to try and bob and weave, try to make do and try to stay alive. I think that's what's keeping us going and proving a lot of people wrong."

It's one thing for the New York Yankees or Atlanta Braves to win year after year. The Braves have one of the most stable organizations in the big leagues, with Bobby Cox the manager since 1990 and John Schuerholz in his 14th season as general manager. The Yankees have more money than some small countries, allowing them to build a star-studded lineup and go after any player they want.

But the Twins? They put the "small" in "small-market team."

Their payroll at the start of the year was $53.585 million, less than a third of what the Yankees were spending. Their highest-paid player, Brad Radke, will earn $10.75 million this season, which doesn't even crack the top 25 in the list of biggest paychecks.

It's not as if the Twins can count on continuity, either. They lost Eddie Guardado, LaTroy Hawkins, A.J. Pierzynski, Eric Milton, Dustan Mohr, Denny Hocking and Kenny Rogers in the offseason, and then traded Doug Mientkiewicz in July.

Losing that kind of talent would make most teams want to curl up in their clubhouses and wait for spring training.

Not the Twins.

"We really don't think about all those things," manager Ron Gardenhire said. "It's not like we sit around and go, 'Wow, let's show 'em.' We just go out and play. We go out and have some fun, and we've got good players."

While the Twins have managed to keep a core of key veterans -- Hunter, Radke, Jacque Jones, Corey Koskie, Shannon Stewart -- who can show the newcomers the Minnesota way, general manager Terry Ryan also has shown a knack for finding the right people to fill his holes.

Joe Nathan was a former starter who had one career save when the Twins acquired him from San Francisco in the Pierzynski trade. Now he ranks third in the American League with 43 saves, blowing only three all year.

Johan Santana has gone from a little-known member of the bullpen last season to a favorite for the AL Cy Young Award. He's won his last 11 starts and leads the league in ERA (2.65) and strikeouts (254).

And young players who come up through the Minnesota farm system get an early introduction into what Gardenhire and the Twins expect. The Twins bring a lot of minor leaguers -- coaches and players -- to spring training so everyone in the entire organization can be on the same page. What Gardenhire does with his club is no different than what's done at Double-A New Britain.

"It has to be the whole system," Gardenhire said. "It can't just be one level, it has to be everywhere. And we've got a pretty good system going here where everybody talks about the same thing."

That hasn't gone unnoticed by the opposition.

Though the Chicago White Sox clearly had more talent than anyone else in the division, they'll be on their couches for the playoffs for a fourth straight year. Even worse, they had to watch as Minnesota clinched on their field Monday night.

"They do all the things we don't seem to do," White Sox pitcher Mark Buehrle said.

Still, with all of the changes, even the Twins weren't sure what to expect this year. They soon found out, though. Minnesota led the division from July 25 on, and held a 13 1/2-game lead with 12 to play.

At 88-62 going into Tuesday night's game against the White Sox, the Twins figure to top the 90-win mark, too.

"Losing Eddie, LaTroy, A.J., guys that we've won with for the last two, three years, it was tough. I didn't know what to expect," Hunter said. "As it turned out, we've still got the heart. We still went out there and played hard, took every pitch, every inning and played it to the fullest."