Two out of three ain't bad

Anytime you take two out of three from the home ballpark of one of the teams you are chasing, you take it. You're happy with it.
But still, seeing Scott Baker mow down the top run-scoring team in the league only to suffer a 1-0 loss, is disappointing.

In his last three starts, Baker has allowed four runs in 20 innings.
While many fans have kicked and screamed about Baker's struggles, I have steadfastly insisted that he will be a better than average major league starter.

I'm not going to claim victory on that debate based on three starts, but I think it serves as a reminder to how impatient, impractical, and in some cases just plain stupid, some Twins fans are in regards to young pitchers.

Starting pitchers take awhile to develop. Unless your name is Santana, Liriano, Verlander or Felix Hernandez, you can't just walk in and dominate, no matter how good you were in Triple-A.
Baker's numbers through this stage in his career are very similar to that of Frank Viola and Brad Radke, so there's still plenty of reason for optimism.

Having said that, Baker could still be trade bait, and he certainly increased his value by shutting down Detroit in front of a national TV audience.

If a trade happens, it will hopefully bring a 3B, because the Nick Punto experiment can't go on any longer.
Punto still plays terrific D, and he's a good utility guy, but his average is in danger of falling below .200.
Jeff Cirillo can play third, but not everyday, and Luis Rodriguez is proving to be pretty worthless, so it's understandable why Gardy keeps running Punto out there. But this team can't be taken seriously as a contender with a replacement-level hitter at 3B, DH and potentially LF.

*Jason Bartlett is playing much better. He's 16-for-16 in steals, has his average up and is starting to pick up some extra base hits. A big second half from him would be huge for this team.

*RonDL could be back after the break. Yawn. I-I mean, hooray!

*Joe Mauer is hitting .299 with 4 homers. Minnesota fans treat it as sacrilege to say anything bad about the guy, but I'm going to nominate him as one of the most overrated players in baseball. Aside from a six week stretch last year in which he hit almost .500, carrying him to the batting title, Mauer has been pretty much a .300 hitter with below-average power since joining the Twins.
Yes, he's a terrific defensive catcher, and yes, he's still ridiculously young. I have no doubt he'll continue to get better. I'm not saying I don't think he's good, or that I wish the Twins had a different catcher. I don't.
I'm just saying that calling him an elite major leaguer right now is stretching the truth.

*Torii Hunter is hitting .303 with 17 homers and 63 RBI. When you consider how barren the Twins minor league system is when it comes to OF's, I don't see how finding a way to resign Torii isn't a major priority.