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	Monday, July 17
	Midseason report: Minnesota Twins By Marty Bernoski ESPN.com
	The biggest news to come out of Minnesota this year was Brad Radke's contract talks. Now that he's signed, there's not much to talk about. But we'll give it a shot in our first-half review of the Minnesota Twins First-half MVP: Through July 6, Eric Milton leads the team in wins (8) and strikeouts (87). The 24-year-old posted three consecutive wins from May 20-June 1 (23 IP, 2 ER, 22 SO), dominating the A's, Rangers and Blue Jays. Milton's strong pitching continued through June, going 4-1 with a 3.47 ERA while striking out 39 in 36 1/3 innings. Milton has gone at least six innings and allowed less than three runs in eight of 18 starts. Biggest disappointment: With runners in scoring position, Butch Huskey's already dismal average gets even lower: .183 (11-for-60) with 22 RBI in 64 games. Overall, he's hitting only .223 with five homers and 27 runs batted in. Huskey struggled to hit .203 in June and is 2-for-17 in his first five games in July. That's pretty poor production from the DH spot. Huskey's not even close to matching last year's .282 average, 22 homers and 77 RBI with Boston and Seattle. That's why the Twins waived him on July 6. Biggest surprise: Matt Lawton, the Twins' lone All-Star representative, leads the team in average (.326), RBI (55), doubles (27) and stolen bases (17) through 87 games. He's off to a career-year and could rewrite his personal record book. Lawton's best year was 1998, when he batted .278 (155 hits), scored 91 times and drove in 77 runs. Second-half goals: As of July 5, the Twins are 18 ½ games behind the first-place White Sox and 11 games behind the A's for the wild-card spot. A pennant run would be great fun but it's not in the immediate future. Looks like it's time to work on those young arms and bring up some prospects. Perhaps they might find some power in the minors. Through July 6, the Twins' 71 homers rank dead last in the AL. Grade: -- 37 wins in 87 games is about as good as it gets. (Scale: 1 to 4 baseballs; 1 = worst, 4 = best) We told you what we thought of the Twins' first-half performance, now you've told us. Here is what you had to say about what the Twins have to do in the second half.		ALSO SEE Midseason Feedback: Twins MLB midseason reports ESPN.com's All-Star Game coverage Kurkjian: Stories of the first half Ten second-half questions for the AL Ten second-half questions for the NL