For a few moments, the Minnesota Twins looked like the offense this roster was built to be.
For one inning at Target Field on Sunday, the Twins looked like the offense everyone in the clubhouse keeps insisting is still in there.
Brooks Lee fouled a pitch down the right field line, then turned around and drove the next one into the same spot for a grand slam, giving Minnesota a 4-0 lead.
Kody Clemens added a solo home run two innings later, and the Twins led 5-0.
The Phillies then scored seven straight runs and won 7-5, finishing off a three-game sweep of the series.
The five-run lead disappeared in the sixth and eighth and that part of the day belongs to the pitching staff.
But the first five innings belong to the lineup, and they were a reminder of what this team can do when it connects.
Set The Tone
Lee's blast was his 18th home run of the season, already a career high, and his second career grand slam.
Clemens followed with his 21st homer of the year, one of the better power numbers in this lineup.
Together they produced three of the Twins' seven hits and all five of their runs, a burst of offense Minnesota has not shown often enough during a rough August.
Looking For A Spark
That first inning is the real version of where this team stands.
The talent for an afternoon like Sunday's first five innings is real, and it showed up fast against a Phillies starter who had no answer for the top of Minnesota's order.
The important part is stretching one big inning into a full nine, night after night, and that is the part this lineup still has not solved.
Sunday was another example of the pattern that has defined the Twins all August.
A quick burst of runs followed by long stretches where the bats go quiet and leave the pitching staff no room for error.
The Twins sit at 60-65 and are just a game and a half out of the final American League Wild Card spot, with several teams to pass along the way.
They have also lost six of their last ten games, a stretch that includes this sweep.
A lineup that can produce a five-run start the way Lee and Clemens did Sunday gives Minnesota a path back into the race if the pitching settles down behind it.
Atlanta visits Target Field for three games starting Monday, then the Twins head to San Diego.
Sunday's first inning was proof the bats can still do damage, a question Derek Shelton has addressed before this season when the top of this order got hot.
Clemens has quietly turned into one of the more reliable pieces of this lineup, and his 21st homer of the season is another sign of it.
Lee, meanwhile, is putting together the best power season of his career, with his 18 home runs already a new mark for him.
Minnesota has flashed this level of pop before, like the three-homer night against Houston back in July.
The Twins need it to become a habit if they want to be playing in October.
