AL CENTRAL Rebuilt pitching staff keeps Twins in chase

Minnesota opens a three-game set tonight in Yankee Stadium.
KNIGHT RIDDER NEWSPAPERS
ST. PAUL, Minn. -- After more than six months of fielding questions about it, Minnesota Twins general manager Terry Ryan last week had a question of his own.
"Why do you keep picking on our pitching staff?" he said.
Well, uh. . . . Good question.
The Twins would like more pitching depth for the final weeks of the season -- who wouldn't?
But aside from Kyle Lohse's troubles and the occasional struggles of left-handed relievers, the Twins' pitching staff has provided far more answers than questions this year.
That might be every bit as surprising a success story in baseball as the Texas Rangers' run in the American League West and the Cleveland Indians late run into contention.
In fact, a rebuilt Twins pitching staff has the top earned-run average in the AL--a feat that would be a Minnesota first if it holds up the rest of the season--as it prepares to face the all-star lineup of the New York Yankees tonight for the first time this season.
Young candidates
With two legitimate Cy Young candidates in starter Johan Santana and closer Joe Nathan leading the way, the Twins' pitching staff not only has answered all the offseason questions, but it also has made this year's Twins look like a bigger threat to contend deeper into the playoffs than they did the past two years.
If, of course, they can get there again.
The Twins send their top three starters--Brad Radke, Santana and Carlos Silva--against the team that knocked them out of the playoffs in the first round last October.
"They've got the best starting pitcher in the league right now," Cleveland general manager Mark Shapiro said. "And the best closer in the league."
This year's younger, cheaper pitching staff is a better one than the staff that pitched the franchise to the playoffs the past two years. It has fewer veterans and less depth, but the Twins have top-end quality in key roles like they haven't had since the World Series teams.