Having one 9 of their last 11 games, the Twins are still the worst team in the American League. But at least they're currently sporting a better winning percentage than the Cubs and the Padres, and they're currently neck-and-neck with the Rockies for the third worst record in baseball.
In spite of those facts the Twins have already won four series in a row, and have a chance at sweeping their second in that same span. Let's take all three from the Cubbies.
Cubs: Johnson (LF), Castro (SS), DeJesus (RF), Soriano (DH), Baker (1B), Mather (CF), Barney (2B), Stewart (3B), Hill (C)
Twins: Span (CF), Revere (RF), Mauer (DH), Willingham (LF), Morneau (1B), Plouffe (3B), Dozier (SS), Butera (C), Carroll (2B)
In his last two starts Liriano has allowed one earned run in 12 innings while striking out 17, walking just 3 and allowing 7 hits. I said recently that his trade value was smudged because of his horrendous start to the season, but a few more outings like the last two and I'll be eating crow. Somebody will give up something worth while for a pitcher who can throw like Liriano, provided he gives them a reason to.
Here's what I said about Dempster in my pitcher preview for the Cubs over at SB Nation Minnesota:
At 35, Dempster is off to one of the best starts of his career. His once erratic command seems to have toned itself down as walk rates have hit a career low. He's doing a great job of mixing speeds between his four and two seam fastballs, off-sets it with a sinker, and of course he still has a pretty good slider.
The one thing that sticks out with Dempster: 25% of balls in play against him have been line drives, and yet his batting average on balls in play is just .250. While there isn't a complete correlation between those two numbers, you could easily expect his BABIP to be 120 points higher.