The Twins are coming off of one of the greatest regular-season games in recent years. Will they keep the pedal jammed on the floor against the improving Royals?

Will have updates later, and will get you posted on Indians lefty Cliff Lee. There’s word of him having a sore neck and being unable to pitch Sunday against the Sox.

Then again, Two wins by the Twins and two losses by the Sox, and it doesn’t matter.

 Update: The MRI on Kevin Slowey’s right wrist showed no major damage. The next step is to work the swelling or the soreness down and see how it feels when he tries to throw.

Slowey is holding out hope that he’ll quickly enough to throw in the bullpen and be available to pitch on Tuesday if needed. Twins manager Ron Gardenhire, however, is being cautious and mentioned Nick Blackburn as a candidate to start Tuesday if that game is necessary.

Joe Mauer was nicked up by foul balls yesterday but said he’s good to go. It still will be interesting to see what Gardy does with Saturday’s lineup.

Kansas City’s David DeJesus could miss the series with a sore right hip flexor.

And, if you’re wondering if Cleveland isn’t motivated to beat Chicago this weekend, don’t be. Players from the 2005 team still remember how the Sox came to town at the end of that year and swept them to knock them from the playoffs - and Ozzie Guillen making a choking sign at them.

Here’s a preview story on the Sox-Tribe series.

Update; Brian Buscher left today’s game because of dizziness and was replaced by Brendan Harris.

Programming note: I will be a guest on Rosen’s Sports Sunday this week to break down the Twins’ furious finish. Please tune in.

Royals (73-86)

1. Mike Aviles, SS
2. Alberto Callaspo, 2B
3. Jose Guillen, RF
4. Ryan Shealy, 1B
5. Mark Teahen, LF
6. Billy Butler, DH
7. Alex Gordon, 3B
8. Miguel Olivo, C
9. Mitch Maier, CF

Pitching: Kyle Davies

Twins (87-72)

1. Denard Span, CF
2. Alexi Casilla, 2B
3. Joe Mauer, C
4. Justin Morneau, 1B
5. Jason Kubel, DH
6. Delmon Young, LF
7. Brian Buscher, 3B
8. Nick Punto, SS
9. Carlos Gomez, CF

Pitching: Francisco Liriano

Expected attendance: 35,000

Got word late last night that this man would start for the Tigers if the they have to play a makeup game on Monday against the White Sox.

And here’s confirmation of that in today’s Detroit Free Press.

Don’t know what to make of this. There’s always the chance Garcia would be motivated to beat the team he won a World Series with in 2005 - and get back at manager Ozzie Guillen.

But his long absence because of shoulder surgery can’t be ignored. 

Here’s the write-up of his Sept. 17 start against Texas.

The Twins could win their final four games but still have to root for Garcia to go Ponce de Leon on the White Sox on Monday.

On to better things.

Writers often second-guess themselves, and I kinda wished I would have thrown in a detail in today’s gamer about the 42,126 who showed up at the Dome last night. They yelled for Nick Blackburn when he got in jams and were fired up as Jose Mijares opened with three balls to Jim Thome in the eighth before settling down and getting three outs.

I was mildly surprised that only 35,225 showed up on Tuesday but fans responded on Wednesday. I checked with a Twins official this morning and they are so busy with ticket sales for tonight’s game that they think it could be the largest crowd of the series.

I scanned the crowd last night for old Homer Hankies but saw few. Maybe there will be more out tonight with first place in the division up for grabs. But I want everyone to know that I checked yesterday and, yes, the 2008 Homer Hankies have been ordered.

Pressbox mood: I figured I’d give you a little taste of what goes on in the press box during games. Joe. C. and Pat Reusse might not like it, but they can go off on me later.

Joe Nathan was struggling in the ninth inning Wednesday. A.J. was digging in, and Reusse looked over at someone in the visitor’s on deck circle.

“Nick Swisher?” Reusse said.

“Yeah, he’s going to bat for Uribe,” I replied.

Just then, A.J. hammers one to center field.

“…and A.J. just doubled to center,” I said.

But Carlos Gomez becomes a blur, reaches out and sucks in the ball as the fans go nuts.

“Oh, I forgot that it’s Gomez out there,” I said.

“Torii Hunter does NOT catch that ball,” Joe C. barks out.

Reusse and I agreed.

After the game, Twins manager Ron Gardenhire wasn’t sure if that was Gomez’s best catch, “but it may have been the most important catch of the year.”

And, of course, Gomez shows up in the clubhouse wearing a Superman t-shirt.

“Every time I see the ball hit to me,” he said. “I think I can catch it.”

Every I see the ball hit to him, I should think that too…..

Minneapolis Bartman: We almost had our own Steve Bartman moment in the fourth inning, when Brendan Harris caught a foul ball by DeWayne Wise to end the inning.

A fan, sitting in the front row of a section behind third base, reached out as Harris went for the ball. It looked like he nearly touched it.

“If he had touched it, I would have knocked his beer over,” Harris said. “And he had a full one too, I saw. But it kind of sliced back, so it came back in play. I saw an arm come out then, I guess, some alligator arms.

“Close to being a Bartman moment.”

Harris tossed the ball into the stands after making the catch.

“Definitely to the guy next to him,” Harris said.

Blackie’s back: It wasn’t pretty. He had to pitch out of some jams. Alfonzo Marquez could have called a couple more strikes. But Nick Blackburn got through five innings to win just his second game in his last nine outings.

He got two strikes on a lot of hitters but got into some battles.

“It wasn’t an easy five innings,” he said, “but I felt good. I felt confident. My pitches were finally where I wanted them to be.”

Blackburn (11-10) has thrown 187 innings, fourth most by a Twins rookie.,

“Blackie was awesome tonight,” Joe Nathan said. “He went five innings, but I don’t think it really shows what he did.”

Delmon rolling: Delmon Young is batting .500 (15 for 30) during an eight-game hitting streak.

You always have to check opponents rosters to be familliar with the left-handed relievers who could be used to try to slow down Joe Mauer, Justin Morneau and Jason Kubel.  The White Sox have four of them

White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen brought in lefthanders Clayton Richard and Boone Logan in the middle innings on Tuesday - with bad results.

Mauer singled of a 1-2 pitch from Richard to open the fifth. Morneau smoked the next pitch for a RBI double. Even Brian Buscher came through with a sacrifice fly to score a run.

Logan faced three batters in the seventh. He got Morneau to ground out, but left an off speed pitch over  the middle of the plate to Kubel, who turned it into his second homer of the game. Then Delmon Young hit the next pitch out to left.

“Clayton looked good,” Guillen said. “Logan looked the same way he has all year long. It’s hard for us to put that guy there.”

I’m guessing Ozzie meant to say it was a tough situation for Logan to be in.

 Guillen also has lefties Horacio Ramirez and Matt Thornton in the bullpen. Thornton, who has a 2.00 ERA this month,  is one of Guillen’s weapons to lock down late-inning leads. Guillen needs all his lefties to step up in this series - but they didn’t on Tuesday.

For more Sox news, here’s the Chicago Tribune’s notebook from Tuesday’s game.

The White Sox can send the champagne home after losing on Monday. They won’t be able to clinch the AL Central title here after the Twins beat them 9-3 to move within 11/2 games of first place with five to play - possibly six for the Sox if they have to make up the rained out game with Detroit on Monday.

“We played a bad game all around,” White Sox skipper Ozzie Guillen said.

Chicago didn’t get any timely hits. The big missed opportunity came in the fifth when the White Sox loaded the bases for A.J. Pierzynski, who grounded out to short to end the inning.

Pierzynski is batting just .186 this month.

“I’ve messed us up this month,” he said. “Hopefully, somebody is going to pay. Hopefully it starts tomorrow.”

Never count out Pierzynski. When he falls 0-2 in the count, it seems like the at-bat is just beginning.

Other Sox notes:

• They are 5-10 in their last 15 road games.
• They are 1-6 at the Dome this year.
• Ken Griffey, Jr., hit his 610th career homer, moving past Sammy Sosa and into sole possession of fifth place on the all-time list.
• Justin Morneau was a guest on ESPN’s, `Baseball Tonight.’ A few moments after Morneau was off, Karl Ravech said that the Rays would play the White Sox in the first round of the playoffs if Tampa Bay wins the division…..