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The season has technically started, but I think it's still early enough to fairly submit my predictions. Feel free to add yours to the comments.

The Twins offered Mike Lamb a 2 year $6.6 million contract to man third base in 2008 and 2009, with a $3.5 million club option for 2010. Will they get their money's worth on this deal? Let's see:

The Twins signed their second former Houston Astro infielder of week, offering Mike Lamb a 2-year deal worth $6.6 million with a club option for 2010. Lamb has not surpassed 400 AB since his rookie season of 2000 with the Texas Rangers. He spent his years in Houston playing behind third baseman Morgan Ensberg.

Joe Mauer had been slumping (only by his standards) the past couple weeks, but he busted loose for 4 hits in Monday night's series opener against the Dodgers. Joe Mauer's 5 RBI led the Twins to an 8-2 victory setting up a pretty good opportunity for a series sweep with Liriano and Santana taking the mound for the next two games. The 5 RBI were a career high for Mauer and the 4-5 night pushed his batting average up to .377.

The Twins continued their winning ways by taking 5 of 6 games in interleague play last week. Impressively, they beat pitchers Roy Oswalt, Roger Clemens and Mark Prior. The Twins outscored their opponents 31-15 as their pitching was solid and they continued to get timely hitting. The only bad thing to say about week 12 was that the two teams in front of the Twins—the Tigers and White Sox—did just as well as the Twins.

The last time I saw a team play as poorly as the Cubs did on Sunday was in late May when I walked past a little league game. The Cubs made 3 official errors in the game, but also made a number of mistakes that weren't scored as errors. Balls found their way into holes as Cubs players simply looked at eachother in hopes that the other guy would make the play. The Cubs out-hit the Twins 11-10, but the lopsided 8-1 score showed just how awful the Cubs were. The positive is that the Twins took advantage of the mistakes—something all good teams do.

The Twins 8-game win streak came to an end with a 5-3 loss on Wednesday night in Houston. Carlos Silva put together another quality start, but the lack of run support and a shaky outing from Kyle Lohse combined for the loss. Silva gave up a solo homerun in the 1st inning but then put together 4 scoreless innings before allowing 1 run in the 6th and walking the only batter he faced in the 7th. Juan Rincon came in and threw a wild pitch and gave up a double which tied the game.

The Twins won the first game of the series against Houston and extended their season best win streak to 8 games. The win didn't come easy though as Brad Radke was back to his old antics of allowing homeruns. He gave up a solo homer in the first and Lance Berkman hit a 3-run shot in the 3rd to put the Astros up 4-1. The score would remain at that until the 7th inning when the Twins mounted a 3-run rally to tie the game.

Week 11 was a good week for the Twins. They got good pitching from their starters and bullpen and the offense came up with big hits when they needed them. The week started off with a sweep of a pretty good Boston ballclub and ended with the sweep of a not so good Pittsburgh team. The biggest positive from the weekend series was the Twins ability to win 3 straight on the road where they have struggled mightily this year.

Nobody could've guessed that the Twins would sweep the Red Sox, but they pulled it off Thursday night as they continue to play their best baseball of the season. The sweep was a crushing blow to the Sox who came into the series neck-and-neck with the Yankees. This week has by far been the biggest week of the season for the Twins. They have not only won 4 straight and 6 of their last 7, but they've also ridded themselves of Tony Batista and Juan Castro. Juan Castro was traded Thursday to the Cincinatti Reds for a low-end prospect. Also, young players like Jason Kubel, Joe Mauer and Justin Morneau have shined and Jason Bartlett is now getting his chance.