Carlos Quentin Opened the Door; Time for the Twins to Walk through It

The road trip from hell is over, and not a game too soon.

The Twins ended their longest road trip in 30-odd years by blowing two late leads and then getting shut out 9-0 by Jesse Litsch.

But the news today was much, much better.

Francisco Liriano dominated the Tigers, striking out nine and allowing no runs and just three hits to Tigers not named Marcus Thames. Still, 7IP 5H, 2ER, 1BB, and 9K is a solid line, especially since the offense exploded for 10 runs on four extra base hits, including Justin Morneau's fifth inning grand slam.

The Twins got another piece of welcome news out of Chicago, even though the Sox destroyed the Angels 10-2.

Sox slugger Carlos Quentin will miss two to three weeks at the minimum with a broken wrist, meaning he will almost surely miss the end of the season series between the Sox and Twins.

Now, before you post comments telling me you hope Justin Morneau takes a foul ball to the eye, so that I know what it's like to have the heart and soul of the lineup ripped away from me in the middle of a playoff chase, remember this: Quentin didn't get this injury in the course of playing the game.

Just like I have no sympathy for a pitcher who hurts himself punching a wall after getting pulled, I have no sympathy for Quentin, who punched the barrel of his bat with the side of his hand.

It is a freak injury, no doubt, but one that the Sox will surely regret.

No matter how or why, the door is now open for the Twins. They are 1-0 on their current homestand and have five games left, all against beatable opponents.

Coming on the heels of their 14-game trek and ahead of another 10 games away from the Dome, the Twins need to capitalize on whatever openings they have.

And it certainly seems that they'll have a substantial one over the next two to three weeks.