Now Nomie is gone and the Sox are 17-8 since he left. This from a team that played .500 baseball for more than 12 weeks, more than 82 games, which is more than half of a season.

Coincidence? I think not. Let's ask the fellas, who returned home last night to take on the improved Detroit Tigers.

Start with Kevin Millar.

"Sure," said Millar. "You start with the guy who said, `Hey, we want Alex Rodriguez!' . . . Actually, only time is going to tell on this deal. We hadn't played so great before the trade happened. Now we're playing better. I don't know what the reason is. It would be unfair to say that trading Nomar is the reason, but is it part of it?

"I think so, yeah."

ARLINGTON, Texas (AP) -- With each stellar outing, Johan Santana is becoming a top contender for the AL Cy Young Award.

Santana allowed one run in eight innings to win his seventh straight decision, and the Minnesota Twins padded their lead in the AL Central with a 7-4 victory over the Texas Rangers on Monday night.

"If he keeps pitching like that, he's got a serious shot,'' Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said.

Santana (14-6) gave up four hits, struck out 11 and walked one to help the Twins win for the seventh time in eight games, stretching their division lead over Cleveland to eight games.

I didn't understand the hype around Cal Ripken. I didn't get to see him that often, and I looked at the Streak and I wasn't impressed. When I was at the All-Star Game and saw how much people enjoyed seeing him, had come out to the game to see his last appearance at the Mid-Summer Classic, I understood that my not understanding didn't make their love for him any less real, and the fans from Baltimore found something in watching him play for their team for so long that maybe I wasn't ever going to understand it.

Edgar has not been as durable, even as a designated hitter, but for Mariner fans, long-time or newly recruited, it's almost impossible to remember baseball in Seattle without him.