BASEBALL / PLAYOFF REPORT : AMERICAN LEAGUE : If There’s a Willis, There’s a Way

Probably no one appreciated the Twins’ AL championship more than Carl Willis, who was thinking about other lines of work after compiling a 6.39 earned-run average for triple-A Colorado Springs last season.

Minnesota signed Willis as a free agent last December, a move that paid off against the Blue Jays. Willis yielded one hit in 5 1/3 innings, a fine followup to his 8-3 season.

“Honestly, after last season, I didn’t think I’d be in baseball again,” the right-hander said. “If there’s any guys out there struggling, this says to them, ‘Never quit.’ ”

The Twins’ bullpen never quit throwing strikes. The relievers gave up only two unearned runs in 18 1/3 innings during this series. “It’s amazing,” Willis said. “We just went out there and threw strikes. The key to this whole team is defense. We know if we put the ball into play, the guys behind us are going to catch it.”

The Blue Jay pitching staff led the AL with a 3.50 ERA, but their starters in this series had a cumulative 5.87 ERA.

Twin third baseman Mike Pagliarulo, who hit the game-winning homer in the 10th inning of Game 3 and drove in two runs in Game 4, is enjoying the attention he’s been receiving lately. Most of the attention, anyway.

Pagliarulo’s geniality was tested by an article in Sunday’s Toronto Sun referring to him as a “fading slugger.” Pagliarulo hit .333 in this series and hit a career-best .279 with six homers and 36 RBIs.

The average length of each game was 3 hours, 19 minutes. Extended TV breaks are helping prolong the games: the interval between innings is 2 minutes, 40 seconds for CBS, compared with 2 or 2 1/2 minutes for games on ESPN. Once the telecast resumes, there’s still another few seconds before the ball is put into play, so the time between innings can exceed three minutes.

Manuel Lee’s leadoff single in the third inning Sunday ended his 0-for-13 streak. . . . In winning Games 1 and 4, Twin right-hander Jack Morris tied an AL playoff record for victories in a series of any length. He’s the ninth pitcher to win two games in a series. . . . The two passed balls charged to Blue Jay catcher Pat Borders in the second inning was the first time a team has committed two passed balls in an AL playoff game. . . . Kirby Puckett’s first-inning homer gave him the distinction of being the 10th player in AL playoff history to homer in consecutive games. . . . Roberto Alomar and Devon White were the only players to have at least one hit in each game of the series. . . . Chuck Knoblauch’s sixth-inning double ended an 0-for-9 slump and was his seventh hit of the series, tying him with Brian Doyle of the Yankees for most hits by an AL rookie in postseason play.