BOSTON -- WE INTERRUPT this seemingly interminable stream of negativity to pose a question with a hint of positivity:

What if Carl Crawford becomes, well, Carl Crawford again?

The answer may not matter this year — considering that even after Sunday's high-wire 6-4 win over the Twins, the Red Sox are still a game under .500 and facing a steep climb in the American League wild-card race. But given how much money he's owed, and how good and game-changing that player was, it's one that could have major implications on the franchise moving forward into 2013 and beyond.

Especially if the answer is yes.

“I said it last year, and I said it again this year: He's somebody on your team that you need to have,” said Boston catcher Jarrod Saltalamacchia. “It's tough to find a guy with five tools like that. He does.”

It's a question that arises on a day like Sunday, when Crawford celebrated his 31st birthday by turning back the clock a bit. He opened the game by singling and easily stealing second, then followed that with a run-scoring groundout before knocking another single. And this time he didn't even need to use his legs to make a difference on the bases.

His presence at first seemed to preoccupy Minnesota pitcher Nick Blackburn, who subsequently served up a meaty pitch that Adrian Gonzalez took over the left-field wall for a two-run homer. Next the Sox left fielder singled and scored again, and even when the Twins did find a way to get him out, it came when his scorching line drive just so happened to be rocketed right at the first baseman.

It was a day that had Crawford feeling like his old self again — and if that's a feeling he can experience consistently, it has the potential to change the way the perspective on a contract that still has five years and more than $100 million remaining.

He might still be somewhat overpaid, but if Crawford can regularly return to being the player who typically hit .300 and used his speed to terrorize teams in Tampa Bay, he has the potential to turn the focus from the deal to the difference maker. And he has the chance to be a player who's not seen as an unmovable albatross, but instead as part of the solution for an organization with no shortage of problems to solve.

“He was hitting with two strikes, he was hitting the ball hard, stealing bases, advanced the runner,” manager Bobby Valentine said. “Had a damn near perfect game, and when he's like that he can make a big difference.”

“That's what he's done for 10-plus years now,” added Saltalamacchia. “For me, it's not a surprise. I'm just glad he's doing it for us, and not someone else.”

The afternoon brought him to .279 since his return from a three-month stint on the disabled list, but Crawford is now up to .343 with a 1.034 on-base plus slugging since last Saturday — when he was held out of the lineup because the training staff has supposedly limited him to playing only four consecutive days to give his achy elbow some relief.

Sunday marked the eighth straight day Crawford played — yet he looked strong in going 3-for-5 for the second time in three games. Also adding a quality catch to the mix when he leapt to snag a ball at the base of the Green Monster, he did a little bit of everything the Red Sox hoped he would when they signed him. He hit. He caught. He caused havoc.

He looked like Carl Crawford again. No question about it.

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GONZALEZ, Boston's other big acquisition of the 2010-11 offseason, delivered the big hit of the game. And, in doing so, delivered more evidence that he has returned to the MVP-caliber player he was in the first half of his debut year with Boston.

In his first season with the Sox, Gonzalez finished with a .338 average, a .957 OPS, 27 homers and 117 runs batted in. In his last 37 games, after going 2-for-3 Sunday, Gonzalez has a .393 average and a .994 OPS. He also has six homers and 30 RBIs, which equate to a pace for 26 and 131 when projected over a full season.

And since the All-Star break, the first baseman has been even better. In 21 contests he's hitting .392 with a 1.055 OPS, and at a pace equivalent to 39 homers and 162 RBIs.

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STARTING in place of Josh Beckett, who is expected to pitch Wednesday against Texas, Franklin Morales wasn't efficient, but he was certainly effective. The lefty needed 108 pitches to navigate through six innings, though he managed to allow just one run as he did, striking out four while surrendering three hits and three walks.

With his ERA as a starter now down to 3.06, Morales' return to the starting rotation was something the Sox had been thinking about even before Sunday's need arose — the trade for southpaw Craig Breslow is believed to have been made in part to facilitate that — so the Sox may not be inclined to move him even after Beckett slots back in.

“It's an easy decision,” Valentine said. “We just have to figure out all the other parts. He wants to start, I want him to start, we've just got to figure out how. We can't always count on a guy getting injured and missing a start to plug him in. He's been lights out.”

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THE RED SOX and Twins made a minor deal Sunday, with Boston sending rookie-league outfielder Jeremias Pineda to Minnesota in exchange for Danny Valencia, a third baseman who finished third in 2010 AL rookie of the year voting, but has hit .198 in 34 big-league games this season. He was optioned to Triple-A Pawtucket upon acquisition.

The 21-year-old Pineda, a switch-hitter, was leading the Gulf Coast League with a .421 average; soxprospects.com ranked him as the organization's 58th-best prospect.

Dave D'Onofrio covers the Red Sox for the New Hampshire Union Leader and Sunday News. His e-mail address is ddonof13@gmail.com.