You leave town for a week...

...and everything changes.

So I dropped off the grid for a week, spending most of my time either on a train or in a car and therefore disconnected with whatever the Twins were doing. To be honest, I couldn't care less what the Twins were doing, having reached my frustration threshold at a record pace this spring. Then, a few days ago, I get back to Minneapolis to find a completely different team on the field. Well, not completely. Fat Tony's still out there, as is Castro, unfortunately. Still, changes are being made, which proves that the team isn't ready to roll over for the Sox and Tigers just yet (and how about those Tigers, by the way?). A few of those changes:

Boof Bonser. I like the demotion of Kyle Lohse more than words can say, and if his line from his debut can hold up through a few more starts, this move will just keep getting better. Plus, his name is Boof. C'mon.

Cuddyer has a better handle on his role. That makes a cute headline, but I'm not sure it's entirely accurate. He just seems to be settling down, thanks to a guaranteed job and decreased expectations. His numbers lately have looked more and more like the prospect he's always been touted to be. That's perhaps that best news of the year so far.

Jason Kubel. With Shannon Stewart on the disabled list, Kubel once again has a chance to prove that he belongs. The trouble is, Gardenhire keeps starting Lew Strikeout in left field and plugging Kubel in to pinch-hit during high-stress ninth-inning situations. Kubel's looking like the Cuddyer saga all over again, and that's perhaps the worst news of the year.

Check that. Carlos Silva is the worst news of the year. Whoever wrote this has to feel like a total jackass right about now.

The stadium. This probably won't affect the current team, but I'm jazzed about it anyway.

Francisco Liriano. He's as good as anticipated, and if Silva ever makes his way back into the rotation, it's not gonna be "Franchise" who loses his spot. It should be Radke, but his seniority and contract are both too large to let that happen. Plus, then we'd have three rookie starters, and I can't recall a team ever doing that.

Gardenhire. Because some things never change, even when they ought to. He's still managing like he's entitled to his job and not in danger of losing it, as he should be, and he's still throwing tantrums like a 250-pound toddler.

Is it a better team? Maybe. Their recent home-stands seem to testify to that, and if they can win as often on the road as they do in the Dome, they'll be over .500 in no time. The first step is winning tonight's match-up between Liriano and his West Coast counterpart, "King" Felix Hernandez. It could be the Santana-Buehrle rivalry of tomorrow. Me, I'm rooting for a blow-out.