I’ve always admired Winston Churchill who some people feel was the greatest man of the 20th century. He has a lot of competition including Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Mahatma Gandhi and Albert Einstein, but he and Britain stood alone against the Nazi tide in 1940. He was turned out after WWII, returned to office and later died January 24, 1965 at age 90.

Churchill was famous for his quotes and could well have been talking about the Minnesota Twins when he said “Russia is a riddle, wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma.”

The whys of Twins inconsistencies are a mystery. They are a riddle inside an enigma. They can look like world beaters one day and the Toledo Mud Hens the next. The pitching staff with the exception of Nick Blackburn and Joe Nathan has been uneven. Glen Perkins started the season as seemingly the ace of the staff, hurt himself and is now coming back to replace Anthony Swarzak, who started and ended his stint for Perkins on a high note with two bad games in the middle. Swarzak now is the best major league pitcher in the minors. Francisco Liriano, the possible replacement for Johan Santana, pitched poorly at the start of the season and in keeping with the pitching staff inconsistencies has pitched well recently. Scott Baker started very badly and has done better in his last few games. Luis Ayala and Matt Guerrier have improved and Jessie Crain has not. Lefty Jose Mijares has been inconsistent and R.A. Dickey has been a godsend when one of the starters gets knocked out in the early innings.

My point to all this is that when the Twins’ pitching takes the mound, you don’t know what to expect. If you think that’s frustrating for us fans, you can imagine how the pitching coach Rick Anderson and manager Ron Gardenhire feel.

However, there is the possible ray of sunshine. The trend of the last few games has been upward for the staff, although two series have been against the Oakland Athletics and the Chicago Cubs, two of the worst hitting teams in the majors. The staff, with the exception of Crain, has all shown they can pitch well on occasion. What needs to happen? Consistency.

Members of the infield and the outfield have joined the pitchers inconsistency. Nick Punto didn’t hit, now he is. Matt Tolbert never hit but fits the Gardenhire mold for weak batting, good fielding infielders. Brian Buscher hit last year and not so much this year. Alexi Casilla has been the Twins’ starting second baseman twice and has now returned to Rochester for the second time.

Outfielders Delmon Young and Carlos Gomez have joined the parade. Both with worlds of talent occasionally on display. That is what is so frustrating, the maddening inconsistency of the two. We are well into the second season for Gomez and the third season for Young, which have included two Twins’ spring trainings, supposedly the time when the knots are untied and the players learn to be major leaguers. One plate appearance Gomez can look good and the next time he is up swinging at a ball in the dirt. Young appears to have used his power to left field and on the next at-bat grounds weakly to the second baseman.

The year so far has been very inconsistent, and what does a team consist of, but its players.

Viking coach Bud Grant had varied types of teams. Fran Tarkington and Joe Kapp could not have been more dissimilar. Both teams looked similar to each other. They weren’t, but Bud Grant was.

That’s why I hold out hope for our Twins. Ron Gardenhire for all his virtues and faults is very consistent. Perhaps the whole team will catch it from him and who knows, maybe light bulbs will go on over their heads.