Column: Twins Facing More Adversity

Minnesota Twins starting pitcher Francisco Liriano throws in the first inning of their baseball game against the Oakland Athletics in Minneapolis Wednesday Sept. 13, 2006. (AP Photo/Andy King) (Andy King - AP)

-- The general manager has no catch phrase and, at last check, no book for sale. The team plays beneath a dingy, inflatable dome with a plastic outfield fence and no redeeming value other than keeping out the large mosquitoes and occasional April flurries.

Ozzie Guillen called them piranhas, though he meant it in the nicest of ways.

And all year long they've had to feel like they were frantically pedaling a stationary bicycle, going nowhere as they chased teams so far ahead that any thoughts of the postseason seemed as absurd as a Minnesota winter without snow.

So when rookie sensation Francisco Liriano walked off the mound in pain Wednesday after throwing only 28 pitches, the Twins weren't about to take down their Hefty bag fence in right field and call it a season.

Not when they've come this far. Not when there is so little left to go.

"It's not devastating. It's not earth-shattering," outfielder Michael Cuddyer said. "It's very disappointing for him on a personal level. But we've been here before."

Indeed they have. The sign in manager Ron Gardenhire's office reads "Improvise and Overcome," and the Twins have been doing just that since the dark days of May when the team was mired so deep in the AL Central that no one gave it a chance of coming back.

Now they're selling playoff tickets. Not a bad statement for a team Major League Baseball was considering getting rid of only a few years ago.

"We're going to be fighting all the way," third baseman Nick Punto said.

That fight got tougher when Liriano lasted little more than two innings in his return from the DL before coming off the mound awkwardly after throwing a ball to Bobby Kielty of the Oakland A's.

He's surely done for the season, meaning the Twins will have to ride the arm of American League Cy Young lock Johan Santana. That, and hope the rest of a ragtag collection of starters can pick up some slack.

The Twins had hoped that Liriano's elbow would hold up and that he and Santana would carry the club down the stretch. But it's important to remember that this team didn't exactly lay down when Liriano was put on the DL on Aug. 8 with a strained ligament in his throwing arm.