Twins Player of the Game: Sweeping the A's Edition

Even after winning four in a row earlier this month, it looked like the Twins were on their way to another non-competitive month on the whole. And then came the Oakland Athletics.

This isn't, of course, any indictment of the A's or sign of Minnesota being able to make a big turnaround, but even in bad seasons a bad team can pull off a sweep. That's what the Twins did. The result is a 12-16 month (.429 winning percentage), which is one hell of a lot better than their 6-16 April.

With May in the rear view and the draft just around the corner, let's see how was your Player of the Series.

Francisco Liriano: 6 IP, 3 H, 0 R, 2 BB, 9 K

This was the start that we all knew was coming, eventually. It came a lot later than we all expected, sure, but he rotations needs him now more than ever. Just as impressive as all those strikeouts: three hits allowed. For a guy who'd allowed 44 hits in 34 innings as of this morning, that's a good thing.

Josh Willingham: 4-for-11, 2 HR, 2B, 7 RBI, 2 BB

A walk-off homer in game one. A big double to help the Twins rally in a come-from-behind victory in game two. An early RBI single and a homer later in game three. Does any other player on this list really even merit consideration?

Joe Mauer: 2-for-9, 4 BB, 5 R

It's hard to vote for a guy who only picked up a pair of hits and didn't drive in a run this series (Willingham got them all). But it's also hard to ignore a guy who was on base 40% of the time and played such a big part in scoring runs.