Following the Twins dramatic, exciting 6-3 come-from-behind win last night over Cleveland, Twins fans heard the news that Justin Morneau would miss the remainder of the season with a stress fracture in his back.
If the Twins had given their fans reason to believe that they were a playoff team, this would be the type of news that devastate Twins fans. Unfortunately, the Twins, outside of last night's win, have not shown Twins fans that they are really contenders. So instead of devastation, it was more like a rude reminder of what this Twins season has been. Not rude like Kanye West, but just rude like another nail in the coffin.
How about this Twins fans? Justin Morneau has not played the last two games. And the Twins are 2-0. Morneau clearly has been playing hurt for the last month. As Joe Christensen pointed out after the game, he had just seven hits over his last 70 at bats. It wasn't just the numbers. You could see in the awkwardness of Morneau's lumbering swings that something just wasn't right. How often did we see him swing and be unbalanced? That is a sign that he was compensating for something, and now we know that something was a back that has probably hurt him a lot more than he ever let on.
The Twins know plenty about this injury. Minor Leaguers Drew Thompson, Whit Robbins, Joe Benson and Oswaldo Sosa have all missed significant time the last few years with the injury. Robbins told me last night that it just takes time to recover and you can't do much to make it better other than rest it. For a professional athlete, and certainly someone who works as hard as Morneau, that will likely be the most frustrating part over his next three months.
For the Twins, they will just need guys like Jason Kubel, Denard Span and Michael Cuddyer to continue to step up and produce. Joe Mauer will need to somehow continue his inexplicable season. They will also need a couple of players to come up with some timely, surprising production. With Cuddyer likely to get the bulk of the playing time at 1B, Delmon Young will probably be in the lineup most days. Young, along with Carlos Gomez, and maybe Brendan Harris or one of the middle infielders, will have to put together a strong final three weeks. You don't replace Justin Morneau in a lineup. You just don't, and it would be silly for fans to think it could happen. But if everyone plays a little cleaner, more crisp brand of baseball, they can overcome it.
Can they overcome the 5 1/2 game deficit to the Detroit Tigers? Well, if you thought they could before this news, then you should still think they can. If you thought their playoff chances were over before, this certainly won't change your mind.