Jim Souhan: There's some hope for this muddling team

The Twins have muddled through the first two months of the season, somehow ending May near the top of the AL Central.

This team is not that good, and yet surviving an ugly and inconsistent April and May gives the rebuilding Twins a chance to be relevant all summer.

Here's how this patchwork team could contend:

• The division continues to stink. Detroit is old, slow and lazy. Cleveland can't hit, hasn't pieced together its bullpen and has Fausto Carmona on the disabled list. You can't trust the White Sox, and the 2008 Royals are the worst team the division has seen since ... the 2007 Royals.

• The Twins' young pitching continues to improve. Nick Blackburn is for real. Kevin Slowey appears to have turned the corner. Scott Baker is coming back from the disabled list. Glen Perkins is a lefty with guts and stuff.

Brian Duensing and Francisco Liriano could help this season. And Boof Bonser, assuming he is demoted to make room for Baker, could help the bullpen.

• Matt Guerrier continues to pitch better than anyone would have expected. Guerrier was a pleasant surprise as a long reliever in 2005, a key factor in 2006, and now he's becoming the Twins' only logical choice to replace Pat Neshek as Joe Nathan's setup man.

• Nick Punto's return improves the Twins' up-the-middle fielding and allows Brendan Harris to be a utility player who can also pinch-hit. Harris' lack of range was not going to keep him in Ron Gardenhire's lineup for long.

• Mike Lamb continues to improve. He lacks range, hasn't thrown well and isn't hitting lefthanders, but he has hit well in the clutch. He and Harris could provide a solid platoon at third, with the other giving the Twins a pinch-hitting option.

• Delmon Young and Michael Cuddyer start driving the ball. Young had three hits Saturday, but none were pounded or pulled, and he's got to start driving the ball or Gardenhire will be forced to give Craig Monroe more at-bats.

Cuddyer hit his second homer Saturday -- meaning he's one shy of Luis Rivas' total this year for Pittsburgh -- but at least he swings with malicious intent. Young looks content to bloop hits to right field, which is not his job.

• Jason Kubel earns the everyday designated hitter job. He had a rough night Saturday, but remains second on the team with 27 RBI. Gardenhire will have to ignore his bad days and remember that Kubel is one of his few hitters who can win a game by himself.

Breslow has good career numbers and made quite an impression in his first appearance as a Twin Saturday. He struck out Bobby Abreu and Alex Rodriguez, got Hideki Matsui to fly to center, struck out Jason Giambi and got Robinson Cano to pop out.

If Breslow can help Dennys Reyes neutralize opponents' lefties, and give Gardenhire another late-inning option, the bullpen could again be one of the best in the league.

• Livan Hernandez doesn't go the way of Ramon Ortiz. Hernandez is 6-2, but his ERA has risen to 4.60, and you have to wonder how long he can get away with an 83-mile-per-hour fastball (when he reaches back for something extra) in the American League.

The Twins need one veteran to eat innings while the young starters learn on the job.

• Joe Nathan, Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau stay healthy. They are the Twins' only elite players. Nathan holds the bullpen together and Mauer, even without a homer, is irreplaceable.

A lot has to go right for the Twins to contend. So far, the competition has been lousy enough to allow a mediocre team to dream.