Right now it’s a lot of fun being a Minnesota Twins fan. They have been beating up on everybody and everyone. Best pitcher, Cy Young award winners, it doesn’t matter. Down they go. What’s amazing is that the team ranks in the middle of the pack as far as on-base and slugging percentage. In fact, dead last in home runs, yet third in runs scored. How are they doing it?

They are hitting in the clutch, at least that’s what it used to be called. Now, clutch hitting is called situational hitting. Kind of a namby pamby term if you ask me.

Leading the hitting attack for the Twins are Carlos Gomez and Alexi Casilla. When they get on base, they disrupt the pitcher, the infield and the catcher through speed and score more often than not.

Like Donald Rumsfeld, I’ll ask myself a question and then answer it. Will the Twins continue their sensational clutch hitting? Probably not. Will the two table setters Gomez and Casilla continue their play? Probably. Will the Twins’ continue their hot streak? No. Will the team with G and C contend for the title? I think so.

They are fun to watch and if they are not the two fastest men in the majors, I’d like to know who is. If Gomez was not on the team, we’d be raving about Casilla. They are indeed a dynamic twosome.

Some of the twosomes that have played a large role on the world’s stage are Lewis and Clark, Hitler and Mussolini and we can’t forget the Dynamic Duo Batman and Robin. As you can see, twosomes are a mixed bag, some evil some good. However twosomes in baseball history are generally good, depending of course on whether you are rooting for the twosomes’ team or the opposition.

There have been pitchers Johnny Sain and Warren Spahn of the Milwaukee Braves that inspired the baseball doggerel about their pitching staff: “Spahn and Sain and two days of rain.” The Brooklyn Dodgers had a wonderful double play combination in Jackie Robinson and Pee Wee Reese. More recently has been the Boston Red Sox’s David Ortiz and Manny Ramirez. But perhaps the most feared duo in Major League history were Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig.

To give you an idea of how dominant the two were: Babe Ruth hit more home runs in 1927 than any team in the American League. Babe Ruth 60, the Washington Senators 56 and Lou Gehrig 47. With Ruth and Gehrig the Yankees won 110 games in a 154 game schedule and swept the National League team. The cry was “Break up the Yankees!”

Gomez and Casilla are not Ruth and Gehrig and don’t pretend to be. In fact the analysts are at a little bit of a loss to explain the duo and their impact. There have been speedsters before, but I can’t remember two of such caliber on the same team. Not only that, if you want to add outfielder Denard Span, you may well have three of the top five sprinters in the league.

Granted “you can’t steal first base” to use an old baseball cliché . On the other hand to use another cliché, “Speed doesn’t slump.” What is particularly interesting about Gomez and Casilla is their youth. They are still learning the game and if Gomez advances as far as Casilla did in one year, 2009 should be a banner season.

Baseball is a game of measured strides over a lengthy period of time. That is part of the joy of watching a team and the players on it. Who knows, maybe Gomez and Casilla are “flashes in the pan.” and won’t continue to be a force for the Twins. But maybe they will and I’m betting that way. But no matter, won’t it be fun to go along for the ride.