What a difference a day makes.
On Monday the Twins were 2 1/2 games behind the White Sox. The Twins cruised over the Royals and the red-hot Blue Jays swept the Sox in Chicago. Now the gap is only a game.
The heroes included Justin Morneau, who hit his 23rd homer and knocked in two to up his RBI total to 119; Denard Span, who went three for five with two runs and an RBI; Brian Buscher, who went three for four with a run and an RBI; and starter Nick Blackburn, who allowed two runs and five hits in seven innings.
Maybe it was the day off Monday. The Twins had a brutal road trip and probably just got tired. (And ran into a team that's put it all together at the end of the year, the Jays.)
The Twins have a decent shot. Injuries to Carlos Quentin and Paul Konerko will hurt the White Sox. On the other side of the ledger, though, the Twins have bullpen issues. Matt Guerrier, in particular, has just pitched too many innings. There are some tired arms in the pen.
You also have to wonder if the Twins' inexperience will hurt down the stretch. A lot of their key players have never been through this before.
A third factor hurting the Twins is that they appear to be out of the wild-card race. That tough road trip took its toll.
The pitcher the Twins beat Tuesday had had some success against the Twins. But this time the team got to Brian Bannister.
It's Kevin Slowey vs. Kyle Davies on Wednesday.
Keywords: Denard Span, Justin Morneau, Kansas City Royals, Minnesota Twins, Nick Blackburn
