The twins know how to find relief.

"Why, it's good old reliable Nathan, Nathan, Nathan ..."--Lyrics from (Oldest Established) Permanent Floating Crap Game In New York, from the musical Guys and Dolls

Sure, the crapshooters were singing about the gangster Nathan Detroit, but for our purposes, let's just pretend a) they were referencing the Twins' closer, and b) there's nothing at all odd about bookies belting out show tunes.

Joseph Michael Nathan, at this writing, has as many blown saves this season as he does possible first names. The spring training caterwauling about Minnesota having imploded its bullpen has become the most ludicrous song since "In the Year 2525," by Zager and Evans. Forget 2525; by the year 2001, the Twins were supposed to have been contracted, remember? Instead, they made the playoffs in 2002 and 2003 and, coming soon, 2004. Once again, the bullpen has saved the day.

There are other airtight American League bullpens headed to the playoffs: the Yankees with the Quantrill-Gordon-Rivera trio, the Angels with K-Rod and Troy Percival. Lurking in the shadows are the Rangers, featuring the Dominican connection of Francisco Cordero, Carlos Almanzar and Frank Francisco, who sounds like he should have a part in Guys and Dolls. But the Twins are anchored by Venezuelan fireballer Juan Rincon, who sets up the man with the Guys and Dolls accent, Mr. Nathan himself.

But though "Joey Nathan" has a nice Coney Island ring to it (and though Nathan's Coney Island has made some great hot dogs in its day), this is a guy who actually was ...