A funny thing happened on Minnesota's road to extinction. The Twins took Exit 141A and cruised into first place instead.

Halfway through a season they weren't supposed to be playing, the Twins hold an 8½ game lead in the American League Central and it's time to yank the Homer Hankies from the back of the closet, set the radio dial to 830 WCCO (the Good Neighbor) and prepare for Minnesota's first postseason since native son Jack Morris was stomping and snarling out on the mound.

Off Base Power Rankings

1. Atlanta Seems like they've been in first place since TBS was just a radio station

2. Yankees Funny how Torre never runs out of players with these guys

3. Barry Bonds Next admission: He eats Wheaties every morning

4. Twins News flash: Torii Hunter just robbed Roy Hobbs of a home run

5. PT 109 Next near-impossible salvage job: Raise the KC Royals

6. Ted Williams Bad news: His son froze him. Worse news: The Yankees just bought his DNA

7. Bud Selig Memo to Witch Doctor: You can remove pins from his voodoo doll now

8. Wall Street Under their accounting practices, the AL won 12-8 in 10 innings

9. All-Star Game Baseball's fix: Bill fans who were at the game $20 for the two extra innings

10. Marlins South Florida declared federal disaster area following Hurricane Loria

True, it's a little premature to print playoff tickets. After all, the Twins held a five-game lead at the All-Star break last year and it disappeared as quickly as the state's budget surplus. But this year is different. After winning the division last year for the sixth time in seven seasons, Cleveland surrendered several weeks ago when it traded Bartolo Colon. The second-place White Sox, meanwhile, are in such disarray that Frank Thomas doesn't even show up on time. And the Twins built their 9-game lead despite losing Joe Mays and Brad Radke to the disabled list much of the first half (both are expected back soon).

"We've got a little more depth this year. Not a lot but a little," manager Ron Gardenhire said. "We've had a couple guys come up from the minor leagues who've helped. And we've been through a little bit of a warmup for a pennant race last year and hopefully we learned from that. Hopefully, we'll maintain our lead this year."

This is Gardenhire's first year as manager and he began it with one foot in the grave thanks to Bud Selig's contraction plan. The Twins can't forget that -- they're asked about it every time they play in another city -- but Gardenhire says they haven't talked about it much since spring training.

"The only thing that really got to me last winter was when Bud said, 'Why is this a sad day?'" Gardenhire said. "He had just announced that baseball was going to contract two teams and he asked, 'Why is this a sad day?' That was probably the worst thing I've ever heard anyone say in the game of baseball."

Thanks to last year's second-place finish, the Twins were the trendy pick to win the awful AL Central, so their big lead is no surprise. What is surprising is that the Twins owe much of their success to the bullpen. So many predicted the bullpen would be the Twins' weakness that new pitching coach Rick Anderson heard a group repeat it at Minnesota's spring training complex in Fort Myers. That group, unfortunately, was the Twins relievers.

Anderson knew better. And despite the dire predictions, the bullpen phone's ring is as comforting to Minnesotans as Garrison Keillor's slow, deep voice saying, "It was a quiet week in my hometown, Lake Wobegon." Everyday Eddie Guardado has become Good Night, Guardado as the new closer, leading the American League in saves the first half and earning a spot on the All-Star team.

The relievers credit Anderson, who coached most of them in the minors, for the turnaround, plus the addition of veteran rMike Jackson, about the only free agent confident (and desperate) enough to sign with a team targeted for extinction. "I really didn't have a choice," said Jackson, who provides almost daily pitching seminars for his penmates, who include J.C. Romero (4-1, 2.05 ERA) and LaTroy Hawkins (3-0, 1.47 ERA). "I didn't think they would get contraction through before the season started. I was hoping and praying they wouldn't."

If Minnesota's pen is among the league's best, the outfield may be the best, led by Torii Hunter, the AL's best center fielder. Five years ago, he was so frustrated in the minors that he considered quitting baseball. This summer he became the first Twin since Kirby Puckett to be voted to start the All-Star Game, where he reminded everyone of Puck when he robbed Barry Bonds of a home run. Jacque Jones (13 HR, 56 RBIs) has provided power from the leadoff spot and Dustan Mohr and Bobby Kielty have helped Minnesota's right fielders hit a combined .310 with 52 RBIs. Hunter is a video-game junkie who says he spends as much as six or seven hours a day playing them. But he's really able devote an adequate amount of time to his gaming in the winter. "I play about 10 hours a day in the offseason,'' he said. "I play all day long."

Video baseball games are among Hunter's favorites and he's pleased to see his talents have been recognized there as well.

"The player in the 2002 video game is way better than the player in the 1999 game,'' he said. "He had this wide strike zone and he swung at a lot of balls and he had no power. Now he's a much better hitter. Hopefully, 2003 will be even better."

Well, that's the hope for everyone in Minnesota. The Twins reached a court settlement guaranteeing they will play in the Metrodome next year but everything else regarding the future is as unpredictable as the governor's mood swings.

The contraction threat devastated the Twins' offseason ticket sales, so attendance is actually down slightly from last year. The legislature approved a stadium deal but owner Carl (Montgomery Burns) Pohlad helped sandbag a proposal in St. Paul, so the issue will likely go back to the state next year for even more debate. And with baseball's labor situation, no one wants to buy the team from Pohlad.

In other words, it's never a quiet week in Lake Wobegon anymore.

But that's all right. Eight months after learning they were told they had six weeks to live, the important thing is that the Twins are still here, still playing and still providing Minnesotans a compelling reason to go inside on a warm, summer evening. Or a cold, wet October evening, which would be even better.

Box score line of the week
We said it before the game and we said it afterward. The biggest problem with the All-Star Game is the emphasis on getting everyone into the game, rather than on the leagues competing to win as they did in the old days. The game is for the fans, and which do you think the fans would rather see: Barry Bonds, Ichiro and Sammy Sosa each playing more than three innings (which they didn't) or Robert Fick and Randy Winn playing four and five innings, respectively (which they did)? The problem can be summed up in Barry Zito's pitching line:

.1 IP, 0 H, 0 R, 0 ER, 0 BB, 0 K, three pitches

Three pitches! Sure, Zito pitched Sunday but c'mon, three pitches? If you can't do better than that, don't bother coming.

We understand the need to protect players from injury but Freddy Garcia had only pitched two innings when they stopped the game. He hadn't pitched for five days and wasn't going to pitch for another five. If he can't throw more than 31 pitches in 10 days, what's he doing on the All-Star team?

And running out of players was no excuse for a tie. When National League manager Bill Terry needed a second baseman due to injury in the 1934 All-Star Game, he received permission to re-insert Billy Herman, who had been a pinch-hitter in the third inning, at second base in the seventh inning. There is even precedent, sort of, for having position players pitch. Ichiro pitched an inning in the 1996 Japanese All-Star Game.

Lies, damn lies and statistics
OK, because you demanded it, here are some final All-Star notes from when it was a game and not just an exhibition: Nine previous All-Star Games went into extra innings (including 1967's 15-inning marathon) without running out of players. Ten (count 'em, 10!) position players played all 15 innings in 1967 and the losing pitcher, Catfish Hunter, pitched five innings. Yogi Berra caught all nine innings of the All-Star Game six times, squatting behind the plate for every inning from 1951-55. Pete Rose played five different positions in the 1979 All-Star Game. Senator Jim Bunning, who called for a boycott if the players strike, pitched three innings in all three games he started as an All-Star. Greg Maddux, meanwhile, was the last pitcher to throw three innings in a game and that was eight years ago (that same year Cal Ripken played all 10 innings) and he's the only one to do it in the past 13 years. ... Oh, and one last note. Ted Williams broke his elbow but stayed in the game and drove in a run in the 1950 All-Star Game. ... With Charlie Manuel's canning, there now have been eight manager firings this season (including Boston's Joe Kerrigan in spring training). Just two years ago, there were none the entire season. Of the 30 managers at the end of last season, a dozen aren't managing the same team this year. If the White Sox can Jerry Manuel, no manager from the end of last season will remain in the A Central. ... It's sad to see Charlie Manuel go. He was so dedicated to the game that he pitched batting practice once while wearing a colostomy bag. ... Maddux stole a base Friday for the first time in five years. In between those steals, Rickey Henderson stole nearly 200 bases. ... During Jarrod Washburn's 10-game winning streak, Livan Hernandez has lost 10 games.

From left field
Mike Veeck pulled off another imaginative promotion the other night when he held a Nobody Night at the Charleston River Dogs game. In an attempt to set the record for lowest attendance, Veeck locked out fans, refusing anyone into the ballpark until the sixth inning when the game became official. So technically the River Dogs didn't have any fans, but they still fell short of the record low attendance, which is held of course, by the Expos.

Veeck's best-known team, the St. Paul Saints, also held Bud Tie Night this week, reacting quickly to the All-Star Game fiasco by giving away neckties with Bud's caricature on them. Even without Veeck in the daily operations, the promotions go on with the great St. Paul crew.

Some of Veeck's best (or at least, most memorable) promotions:

Promotion	The skinny
Disco Demolition Night	Resulting riot nearly ended his career
Mime Night	Mimes performed slo-mo replays
Ty Cobb	Popped out to short
Vasectomy Night	Free vasectomies on Father's Day; cancelled after Catholic protest
Lawyer Appreciation Night	Lawyers billed by the inning
Fireworks Day	Fireworks display during the afternoon
Tonya Harding Mini-Bat Night	And Tonya even took part
Séance Night	Tried to contact Thomas Edison's spirit
Labor Day	Pregnant women got in free

Win Blake Stein's money
This week's category is: He Must Have Had A Lousy Agent.

Q: Who pitched the most innings in a single All-Star Game?

A: Lefty Gomez pitched six innings of the 1934 Game. Gomez, by the way, pitched 25 complete games that year and won 26 games.

From the cheap seats
Most readers (or at least, most who bothered to respond) liked my idea for changing the All-Star Game to a U.S. vs. the World format. The biggest objection was from readers complaining about the inclusion of Puerto Rican players on the World team instead of the U.S. team. I put them there because Puerto Rico has its own Olympic team.

And Mark Ryan had a great idea, writing:

"Someone on BaseballPrimer.com had a really good idea for an All-Star format: young vs. old. If you're under 30, you're on one side, and if you're 30 or above, you're on the other. 'Greens vs. Greys' would solve the problem of perpetual all-stars. Cal Ripken could have started for the Greys in 2001 with no controversy. Excellent but relatively unknown players like Bobby Abreu and Erubiel Durazo would get to take center stage. And, just like in the U.S. vs. world format, you'd get to see players from the same team face off: 'Now batting against Kerry Wood, Sammy Sosa!' "

Jeff Dumont, meanwhile, suggests that we relieve the managers of the selection pressure by letting the players vote for the reserves (no voting for teammates though.) And I especially liked the idea submitted by one reader who wrote that the All-Star selection process could be improved by making all the players stand against the playground fence and picking them one by one.

As for last Tuesday's debacle, well, let's just say people weren't too happy with the way that game ended, either. Linda Vessa might have summed the many feelings up the most succinctly when she wrote, "These guys just can't seem to get it right. We just want to love the game."

At least Michael Cieslinski played out the game on his excellent Dynasty League Baseball game and the National League won 9-8 on Shawn Green's walk-off homer in the bottom of the 12th off Freddy Garcia. Too bad you missed it.

(By the way, this was another one of those weeks where I received so many e-mails that I couldn't begin to read more than a small percentage. But really, I do appreciate the responses.)

Infield chatter
"One thing about it, we weren't going to run out of pitchers."

-- Pittsburgh manager Lloyd McClendon on the Pirates' 3-2 victory over the Brewers in 10 innings two days after the All-Star Game fiasco.

Jim Caple is a senior writer for ESPN.com. He can be reached at cuffscaple@hotmail.com