"First baseman Justin Morneau has a theory behind the Minnesota Twins' remarkable comeback despite his team's inordinate amount of injuries this season.

The Twins, who were 16-1/2 games out of first place June 1, are within 6-1/2 entering the second half of the season that begins Thursday against Kansas City at Target Field.

Besides Morneau, the Twins still are without regular outfielders Jason Kubel and Denard Span.

"You've got one of the best managers (Ron Gardenhire) in the game, and you've got guys who come up (from the minors) and buy into the program," Morneau said. "Guys are trying to stick in the big leagues, but they're willing to move a runner over and get rewarded with high-fives instead of getting rewarded with a hit.

"When you come into that environment, you realize little things like that as a baseball team and baseball player are expected of you. You're expected to buy into the program, and guys seem to do that when they come up."

Morneau has been in the Twins' organization for 12 years. "