For the Twinkies the 2009 MLB season starts tonight

Alright, this is it. For the Twinkies the 2009 MLB starts tonight. They have 16 games remaining left on their regular season schedule and 7 of them are against the division leading Detroit Tigers. The Twins are 4 games back so at a minimum, if they are going to catch the Tigers you have to figure that they have to go 5-2 against them putting them only one game behind.

The Tigers have led start to finish and if they do not win at this point, would be considered the "New York Mets of the American League."

Minnesota does have their destiny in their own hands because if they win at least 6 of the remaining 7 games against Detroit, they just have to have a better record than Detroit in the 9 remaining games each team has.

The Twins do have 9 other games to play on their schedule and have to play 6 games against Zack Greinke, Billy Butler and the Kansas City Royals.

You might think that getting to play the Royals is a good thing but the Royals are streaking to the finish going 8-2 in their last 10 games and the Twins are scheduled to face Greinke 2 out of those 6 games.

Trying to score against Greinke has become somewhat of a comedy as teams are trying just about anything to get a run against him attempting to sacrifice runners, bunt for hits, take pitches, even trying to intentionally get hit by pitches as the guy has pitched to a miniscule 2.14 ERA striking out 244 batters, more than a batter per inning (210 innings) and giving up only 44 walks and 180 hits all season pleasing fantasy owners with 1.06 WHIP.

The Twins remaining 3 games are against the White Sox who while not mathematically eliminated at 6 ½ back and having 6 games remaining against the Tigers themselves, would probably have to have to sweep the Tigers all 6 games and also jump over the Twins which would mean that the Tigers would have to lose practically all 12 of their 16 remaining games against the Twins and White Sox for the White Sox to have a shot.

The Twins will be without one of their studs in All-Star Justin Morneau the rest of the way as he is shut down for the season with a stress fracture in his lower back. Morneau was having another stellar season with 30 HR’s and 100 RBI and three weeks left to go in the season. Michael Cuddyer having a decent year himself with 26 HR’s and 78 RBI has moved in from the outfield will get the starts at 1st base the rest of the way.

The way I see it is that since Cuddyer has moved to 1st base, Delmon Young and Carlos Gomez are both going to be getting regular at bats down the stretch in the outfield along with Denard Span. Neither one has done bupkus all year, but they were both top prospects and have both the ability and chance to redeem themselves by getting hot and carrying this team to the playoffs. - Paul Leume

Paul Leume is a MLB columnist from Montreal, Canada. Paul, a one-time beat writer covering the Montreal Expos for the Montreal Gazette is a proud grandfather of 3 girls and now spends his time offering his thoughts and prospective on Major League Baseball on a variety of blogs and websites throughout Al Gore’s internet.

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