Eventually, the spotlight will fade. Baseball's gravity will take over and the Minnesota Twins will begin to sink in the AL Central.

	Tom Kelly is the longest-tenured head coach or manager in major pro sports.

Despite the fact that the Twins will make collectively this season what A-Rod will make alone, the last thing manager Tom Kelly wants to talk about is payroll. This is the best start in team history and the Twins currently have the best record in baseball. The Minnesota Twins are the feel-good story of the early baseball season.

Kelly told me last week that Twins' fans and his players don't care about payroll. He knows he can't do anything about it, so he prefers to not comment on it. All he can do is ask his team to go out and play like he wants them to: hard and without excuses. He manages the same way.

If the Twins end up in last place, it won't be from lack of effort. They have considerable young talent. Two of their most promising players are Eric Milton and Cristian Guzman, who were acquired in the Chuck Knoblauch deal. They had to give up their biggest star for two rising ones, but when Milton and Guzman reach their potential, the economic climate in baseball will force another trade. This is the treadmill the Twins play on.

One of two teams in the AL that still plays on AstroTurf, the Twins have been built with their surroundings in mind -- defense and speed are still the keys to their success. However, with only 116 home runs last year, they have yet to take advantage of the so-called "Homer-Dome."

There is no shortage of lefties in Minnesota's lineup. They don't hit for power but they do have speed. They also have a better-than-average pitching staff with Milton, Brad Radke, Mark Redman and Joe Mays. But they lack a legitimate, intimidating closer.

Of course, baseball's landscape has changed dramatically and the topography doesn't allow a team with the Twins' salary structure to play in October. But they are a team the fans can get behind in April; people want these guys to win.

Kelly doesn't want or need anybody's sympathy. In the high-heeled world of baseball finance, Kelly led the '87 and '91 Twins to world championships on a shoestring budget. When he was on my radio show, I promised Kelly that next time we'd talk about his lineup and not his payroll. He thought listeners would appreciate that. Kelly knows his team has always been the embraceable Twins.