28-year old righty reliever Jesse Crain looks finally healthy and he’s pitching his best baseball since the 2005 season. Crain has pitched in 56 games (0 starts) for the Twins this year and he is 1-0 with 1 save, a 2.70 ERA and a 1.11 WHIP. He has only given up 41 hits while whiffing 47 batters in 53 1/3 innings this year. Don’t be surprised if Crain works his way into the set-up man role for the Twins if he keeps pitching like he is right now because Matt Guerrier and Jon Rauch have not been sharp as of late.

New closer Matt Capps is looking good so far for the Twins. He has pitched in 5 games for the Twins so far and he is 1-0 with 2 saves, a 1.80 ERA and a 1.40 WHIP. Capps has more zip on his fastball than Jon Rauch had as he has 8 strikeouts in only 5 innings for the Twins. Capps addition has made the whole bullpen stronger as Rauch has slid back into a set-up man role which he does so well. This isn’t saying that Rauch was not a good closer though as the Twins wouldn’t be where they are now without him.

With the acquisition of closer Matt Capps last night the Twins will use Jon Rauch in the 8th inning now. Rauch has pitched in 37 games (0 starts) for the Twins this season and he is 2-1 with 21 saves, a 3.05 ERA and a 1.36 WHIP. Rauch did a solid job as the closer for the Twins but he will also likely be solid in a set-up role making the Twins’ bullpen even stronger.

Many experts scratched their heads when the Twins re-signed Carl Pavano but it looks like the team knew exactly what they were doing. Pavano has pitched in 20 games (all starts) for the Twins so far this year and he is 12-6 with a 3.26 ERA and a 1.01 WHIP. He only has walked 19 batters while giving up 126 hits in 143 2/3 innings as he has been pounding the strike zone all year long. His best year besides this one came way back in 2004 for the Marlins when he pitched in 31 games (all starts) and was 18-8 with a 3.00 ERA and a 1.17 WHIP. 2004 was the only season that Pavano has won more than 14 games in his career but he looks like he’ll make 2010 the second time. The Twins need Pavano to keep up the good work because the rest of the rotation (except Francisco Liriano) is pitching poorly.

27-year old lefty Brian Duensing burst onto the scene for the Twins last season. He pitched in 24 games (9 starts) for the Twins in 2009 and he was 5-2 with a 3.64 ERA and a 1.37 WHIP. But the rotation was pretty full this spring so Duensing agreed to pitch out of the bullpen where he has been awesome. Duensing has pitched in 30 games (0 starts) for the Twins this year and he is 2-1 with a 1.95 ERA and a 0.93 WHIP. It will be interesting to see if the Twins can resist the urge to use Duesing as a starter in the near future if Nick Blackburn keeps pitching B.P.