Game 1: Twins @ Indians

Well, the Twins will look to rebound from a difficult weekend home series versus the Los Angeles Angels as they hit the road to face a revamped Cleveland Indians team that is less than a week removed from dealing two of their most recognizable players - Cliff Lee and Victor Martinez.

After the Tigers 6-5 victory last night over Baltimore, the Twins now sit 3.5 games out of first place. That is certainly not an insurmountable, but the Twins are going to have to fix a number of things in order for them to overcome such a deficit. On August 4th last season, the Twins were in first place ahead of the Chicago White Sox by 1/2 game - so they are in a much different scenario.

Rather than looking down at one reasonable threat, the Twins are currently looking up at two teams - the Tigers and White Sox.

As Dick Bremer said during Sunday's telecast - this week should be the tell-all as to whether the Twins will be contending for the AL Central in late September or not. They begin with a three game series with the Indians tonight before traveling to the Detroit for what should be a critical series for both teams.

Following two terrible starts from Anthony Swarzak and Glen Perkins and a disappointing end to Nick Blackburn's start on Friday, the Twins turn to Scott Baker (8-7, 4.86 ERA, 4.12 xFIP) who has been their best starter over the past few weeks. It is no secret that Baker must pitch well for the Twins tonight - for the sake of a struggling rotation and tired, less than consistent Twins bullpen.

Even after trading away Martinez and Ryan Garko, the Indians as a team are still hitting .318/.389/.589 versus Baker in his career - which is helped immensely by Travis Hafner, Grady Sizemore, and Jhonny Peralta who have killed Baker in his career.

As for the offense? Well, they will be facing left hander David Huff (5-5, 6.39 ERA, 5.20 xFIP) who has had an inconsistent major league rookie campaign. However, that should mean nothing to the Twins who have had their struggles with pitchers who, on paper, you would think they would be able to handle. You just never know with this game and the Twins offense, despite some impressive offensive numbers, have been known to display uninspiring and frustrating at-bats at times.

This team needs a jolt - a reason to be excited again. It is unfortunate that the Twins played poor baseball after the acquisition of Orlando Cabrera but even he cannot help the struggling pitching staff. Maybe Scott Baker will provide that jolt? After all, he is the 'veteran' of the staff. Someone needs to step up - anyone. It is not as if there is a 2006 version of Francisco Liriano waiting in the wings.

Who knows? Maybe it will end up being Baker. That is what makes this game so great.