OAKLAND, Calif. -- Somewhere out there, Bud Selig undoubtedly was saying, "See? I told everyone those guys didn't belong."

What a thing. Against all odds, the Twins built a contender on a budget of aluminum recycling and car wash money, dug themselves from beneath six feet of dirt, crawled from the grave of contraction, gained the support of fans nationwide, won their division and returned to the postseason for the first time in 11 years ... and then played the first two innings as if Selig was right all along about them not belonging in the majors.

	“	I was kind of hot. I have to apologize to some guys because I was yelling and saying things to get us going. I was yelling, 'Let's go. We're better than this.' I just thought a lot of guys got nervous and weren't ready. ”
		— Torii Hunter, after the Twins' misadventures on defense.

Already underdogs to Oakland starter Tim Hudson and perhaps the best team in the league, the obviously jittery Twins opened the postseason by throwing balls wildly into the outfield, throwing wildly from the outfield, throwing wildly to first base, missing a throw to the plate, dropping an infield popup and falling behind 5-1 before the second inning ended. It got so bad, catcher A.J. Pierzynski said the word "chaos" was too mild a description.

"That was the ugliest thing I've ever seen," Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire said. "We thought we were ready. I thought we had done everything right to prepare for this and then we go out and we can't catch popups, we can't throw the ball and we can't catch it."

Gardenhire was smiling when he said that, which he could afford to do after his team staged an impressive rally to win Game 1 of its Division Series by beating Oakland 7-5 Tuesday afternoon in the sort of game that matures a young, inexperienced team quickly. The Twins brought in the old guard -- Kirby Puckett, Kent Hrbek and Tony Oliva -- to hang around the team this week but they won't be needed. The young Twins faced their initial test and passed.

"It was huge," Gardenhire said. "We knew it. We embarrassed ourselves for the first three innings, not catching the ball and looked a little bit like folly. So yeah, we come back and win a baseball game like that, in tough situations, that's got to do nothing but help.

"But I've been proud of these guys all year playing nine innings. Well, actually we played six. We were there for three and played six."

Heck, they started so badly they barely made it to the stadium on time. Starter Brad Radke and several Twins took the wrong BART train from the team hotel and were 10 miles away from Oakland's Coliseum before someone noticed that they were getting farther and farther from the stadium with each passing minute.

"I never noticed -- someone else did," Radke said. "I probably wouldn't have noticed until we got to Washington or wherever that thing ends."

Everyone knew the Twins were inexperienced but few realized that extended to public transportation.

"We've had guys go to the Astrodome even though the Astros don't play there anymore. We've had guys go to Shea Stadium when we played the Yankees," first baseman Doug Mientkiewicz said. "You just realize we're not the brightest group of players. But when you're with the general manager, you figure you ought to be in good hands."

Yes, Minnesota general manager Terry Ryan was on that same train to nowhere. Which was fitting. That man followed a long, difficult and veering road to get the Twins back to the postseason, so it was only right that it would take him a little longer to get to the first game of the playoffs. And after all the horrible Twins teams over the past decade, it was fitting they would open with two innings that should have been accompanied by calliope music.

The Twins made three errors in the first two innings and should have been charged with four but got the benefit of the doubt in the second inning on Scott Hatteberg's popup in front of the mound with two outs and Ray Durham on second base. Third baseman Corey Koskie, Pierzynski, Radke and Mientkiewicz had the ball completely surrounded -- Come out with your hands up!-- and then watched it drop to the ground for a "single" that scored Durham.

"If I could have dug a hole in the dirt to crawl into, I would have," Mientkiewicz said. "Obviously you want to win but you really don't want to embarrass yourself and that's what we were doing."

When questioned by reporters, none of the Twins could quite agree on just who should have caught the ball but Gardenhire asked Radke in the dugout whether he lost the ball in the sun. "He said, 'No, I was looking right at it,'" Gardenhire said later, shaking his head. "A little later he said, 'I probably should have caught that.'"

Well, yeah. That might have been a thought.

Two batters later, Jermaine Dye hit another popup to the same spot but this time Mientkiewicz called for it all the way and caught it for the third out. "Somebody was going to catch that second one," Pierzynski said. "No way that was going to drop."

"Every time the ball went up, I was gasping for air," Gardenhire said.

Two innings into the postseason they had battled so long and hard to reach, the Twins trailed by four runs. Radke slammed his glove against the back of the dugout in disgust and center fielder Torii Hunter lit into his teammates.

"I was kind of hot," Hunter said. "I have to apologize to some guys because I was yelling and saying things to get us going. I was yelling, 'Let's go. We're better than this.' I just thought a lot of guys got nervous and weren't ready."

Words are nice, Hunter said, but what helped more was Koskie hitting a two-run homer off Hudson in the top of the third to cut the lead to 5-3. "I can't emphasize enough how big that home run was for us," Mientkiewicz said. "After we played the first two innings and to only be down by two runs? That was enough to motivate us."

Mientkiewicz made it 5-4 with a home run off Hudson in the fifth, and Oakland manager Art Howe went to the bullpen one out later, bringing in lefty Ted Lilly to face a series of left-handed hitters. Howe said he didn't think Hudson was throwing well but Lilly pitched worse. The first four batters he faced all reached base and the Twins took a 6-5 lead they never surrendered. Radke shattered bats for five innings and the Twins' deep, excellent bullpen held Oakland scoreless the rest of the way.

The Athletics won 103 games, led an inexperienced team 5-1, had at least one hit every inning ... and they not only lost the game, they lost Olmedo Saenz when he ruptured his right Achilles tendon while running out a foul ball. After getting knocked out by the Yankees in the first round of the past two postseasons, they must be wondering if they're ever going to win a series in October. Thanks to Tuesday's loss, they definitely will have to win at least one game in the Metrodome, where the Twins have lost only once in 12 postseason game.

The outlook was much different in the Twins' clubhouse. Even after overcoming all that they had on the way to the playoffs, Tuesday's come-from-behind win was something special.

"That's a win you'll look back on even when you quit playing," Mientkiewicz said. "Down four runs against what I consider the best pitching staff in baseball and we still come back and win, and it's our first playoff game? It's just a sigh of relief."

Jim Caple is a senior writer for ESPN.com.