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When the Minnesota Twins rallied to take three out of four from Detroit going into the All-Star break, virtually all of Minnesota jumped aboard the bandwagon. Playoffs, here we come, and all that.

When second baseman Brian Dozier missed the All-Star roster, but was a late addition to fill in for an injury, he made us all proud by socking a home run for the final A.L. run in a 6-3 victory, and Glen Perkins got to pitch the final inning.
Now it’s back to the real world. I said it was an amazing thing the All-Star Break had done for baseball in Minnesota. The Twins had risen with a hot run after the first month to challenge Kansas City for the Central Division lead, and that series victory over Detroit rendered the Tigers to near-.500. But going into the All-Star Break, the Twins were still worthy of our breath-holding to see how long they can stay up there in contention.

When we got back to the real world, Twins fans everywhere were saying, “We’re in! Playoffs, here we come.” You heard it everywhere that the Twins were the top wild card team in the American League, and we reveled in it.

The balloon came down to earth a bit when Oakland whipped our lads two out of three – winning the deciding game of the series 14-1, for the worst whupping the Twins suffered all season.

On to Los Angeles, to face the California Angels of Anaheim and/or L.A. And now it’s back to question marks.

Going over the lineup sheet, we’re swept off our feet by the rookies, Miguel Sano and Bryan Buxton, but both hit the injury list. We think the Twins are pretty solid around the field, but to me, the strength of the team in the second half will be continued excellence by the starting pitching, with hoped-for improvement by the middle relief guys.

We had our fingers crossed at the start, and it looked appropriate until the team took off in May. But now the starting rotation looks very good. We like Kyle Gibson, Mike Pelfrey, Tommy Milone, and Phil Hughes, and sometimes Trevor May. We know we have Perkins to close, and May has looked good in the bullpen.

Defensively, I worry about catching and shortstop, where the Twins have seemed adequate at best. Kurt Suzuki is pretty good, but doesn’t hit behind the plate; at shortstop, Santana, Escobar and Nunez make up a committee that can look very good or very erratic – you pick the day.

Joe Mauer is very good and getting better at first base, and Brian Dozier is simply spectacular at second, while Trevor Plouffe is looking better every day at third.

The outfield has been much improved with the arrival of Rosario, the hoped-for maturation of Hicks, and the steady hand and leadership of Torii Hunter in right.

That leaves the offense. Sano brought some much-needed pop, and we keep waiting and hoping for Joe Mauer to climb above his current .275 and get back up and over .300. Dozier, Plouffe, and Hunter should all be threatening .300, but are competing with each other at .260, .259, and .256.

Dozier continues to attract raves for his home runs, with a team-leading 20, and Hunter is next with 14, with Plouffe at 12. But the runs are being driven in by committee, with the bottom of the order as likely to come through as the top, on any given day. That’s OK, too. But there’s nothing wrong with a .300 hitter here or there in the lineup.

FAVRE’S BIG DAY

To the Brett Favre ceremony, to retire No. 4 at Lambeau Field in Green Bay, all I can add is: “It’s about time.”

I know there are diehard homers among fans, who hope opposing players fall apart, or even get injured, just so the home team can win. In football, I was a Green Bay Packers fan before the Vikings came along, and I remain one of very few who hopes that both of them can succeed.
When they play each other, I pull hard for the Vikings. Otherwise, I like to see both of them win.
But when Brett Favre was there, first with the Packers and then, briefly, with the Vikings, he was one of those amazing charismatic leaders who could almost will his team to win. He got criticized for gambling at the end of games, but it was only because he wanted to win so bad, and he was going to put his team in position to try to win, at all costs.
When the Packers decided it was time to give a young Aaron Rodgers the ball, they rudely informed Favre that he would come to came as No. 2. Favre, a legend, was demoted before training camp.

A more astute management might have said: “Brett, you’re not getting any younger, and we’ve got this young flash behind you, so our plan this year is to let him play more and you a little less. You’ll still start, but he will come in sooner and the two of you will share the job of quarterback.”

I think it could have made Favre feel like a mentor and continue as franchise leader. Instead, he reacted the way any hot-blooded superstar might, and he went home. The Vikings got him, and I was thrilled both for the Vikings and especially for Favre when he led them to their best seasons in the past decade of two – including beating Green Bay.
Now, all is forgiven. The fans who booed Favre when he showed up in a purple No. 4, filled the stadium and properly cheered Favre into the Packers Hall of Fame.

It’s about time.

British Open Leaves Spieth Breathlessly Short

Last weekend would have been excellent for finding a comfortable chair and focus in on the British Open on your big screen. Except, of course, for the fact that the weather was too nice, and nobody should have stayed indoors for any reason.

Still, the British Open gave us all a lengthy view of how great modern era golf gave has become. The best pros in the world were gathered in Scotland, birthplace of the game, for four turns at the fine old St. Andrews course. It was magical just to gaze through the TV at those majestic rolling hills, where the fairways looked as well-groomed as the greens, and in the background you could see things like castles and stately old buildings.

The focal point for me was Jordan Spieth, the impressive young man who won the Masters, then the U.S. Open, and was at the top of his game as he tried to win the third straight major at St. Andrews. The thought of anyone doing that is incomprehensible, and yet here was Jordan Spieth.

The tournament was played while we were sleeping, so unless you wanted to sit up from midnight to 6 a.m., you had to turn it on early in the morning and catch the final few holes, up to about 9 a.m. The play of the leaders was nothing short of amazing, with Dustin Johnson taking command on the first two rounds, with a 65 backed up by a 69. But the crowded field behind him was right on him, putting on all sorts of pressure, and Dustin Johnson faltered to a 75 on the rain-delayed third round, and, unfortunately, backed it up with another 75 at 284 – way back.

And interesting group of hungry golfers tore through the rain and gloom and wind, and a young man named Paul Dunne emerged as a viable leader. A college player, he was striving to become a rare amateur in position to win the British Open when he fashioned 69-69 and then a fantastic 66 to take the lead after three rounds. Dunned, however, may have also been overcome by pressure as he shout a 78 on the final round and tumbled out of contention, with a 282 that made him the fourth highest amateur in the field.
The leader board, meanwhile, took on an unusual look, with names like Marc Leishman, Zach Johnson, Louis Oosthuizen, Jason Day, Sergio Garcia, Justin Rose, Danny Willett, Adam Scott, and others all crowding to the top.

And then there was Jordan Spieth. He had shot a scorching 67 on the first round, then slipped to 72 on the second, perhaps causing some to overlook him. But he came back with a rousing 66 on the third round and was in perfect position to vault past the leaders and win, after all.

Most impressive about Spieth is that he’s so calm and cool that it’s easy to forget how young he is. With all the raving and praise for amateur Paul Dunne, only 22, we all might have overlooked the fact that Spieth is 21 – several months younger than the “kid” we were all talking about.

The final round was pushed back to Monday, because of the lost Friday to rain and wind. It couldn’t have been more dramatic. Several different golfers looked to be in perfect position to grab the claret jug, but it came down to the incredible fluctuations by Spieth.

He four-putted the eighth hole for a double bogey, which would have been enough to send most of us to the clubhouse in despair. Instead, Spieth came back for two birdies in a row.

Spieth nearly chipped in on No. 13, and he came up on the leaders by the time he had reached 16. It was there that he sent a 50-foot putt over that undulating surface, curving it artfully back to the right where it dropped in. A 50-foot birdie putt, and Spieth was tied for the lead with two holes to go.

Jason Day slipped, but Leishman just missed a birdie putt on 18, while Oosthuizen birdied 18, and Zach Johnson dropped in a 30-foot putt on 18 to leave those three all tied at 18 under par. Leishman might have won outright, but he missed a birdie putt attempt on 18. Oosthuizen hit a fantastic wedge 5 feet from the hole on 18 and sank  it to join the three-way tie.

Spieth, who seemingly couldn’t fail after that putt from a time-zone away on 16, just barely missed a putt for another birdie on 17. He sent his tee shot wide on 18, but got back to the point where he could have joined the top, tied threesome with another birdie. He went for it, too, but his putt just missed, and Spieth had to settle for 17 under, finishing 67-72-66-69 – 274, tied with Jason Day, the first round’s co-leader, one off the lead pace.

The plan for Zach Johnson, Leishman and Oosthuizen was a four-hole, total score playoff. Leishman suffered a bogey on the first playoff hole and never challenged. Oosthuizen stayed even with Zach Johnson until the fourth of the four holes, but his 12-foot birdie attempt on the final hole caught the extreme edge of the cup and kept on going. Johnson – whose 66-71-70-66--273 was outstanding, was the only one of the three to sneak under par on the four-hole playoff, and he carried off the cup in an emotional follow-up.

After five days of such memorable golf, the playoff actually was a bit anticlimactic. It was a tribute to Zach Johnson’s calm consistency. The winner was overcome by emotion, proving indeed he’s a “normal guy” from Cedar Rapids Iowa.

Jordan Spieth is in an interesting position as the circus moves on to the PGA, August 13 at Wisconsin’s Whistling Straits. Spieth, at 21, joins Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Tiger Woods as the only players to win the Masters and U.S. Open before narrowly missing at the British Open. Of that impressive foursome, only Spieth had the British Open  lead after 16 holes.