As much as many of us have declared the season all but over, I’m perfectly willing and ready to be wrong.

I am ready to be the best White Sox fan you can imagine for a weekend.

I will never boo A.J. Pierzynski again if the White Sox sweep the Tigers.

I am prepared to believe in Jeff Manship tonight.

I will not cringe at Tolbert and Punto being in the lineup.

I want to donate nine more items to the k-bro foodshelf challenge. (The total is 47, as of today.)

I will double that number to 18 if the Twins sweep and the Tigers get swept.

I will expect Delmon Young and Jose Mijares to hug it out.

I believe Zack Greinke will get smacked around on Saturday.

I know Gardy will use his bullpen well.

I expect Jason Kubel will end the season with 100 RBIs.

What are you doing?

The flight attendant didn’t grab my Crackberry last night even though I ignored the first couple of warnings to turn off all electrical devices because the plane was going to take off soon. I was getting the 15-second refresh on mlb.com and the Twins had the bases loaded … and I figured that a 2-0 start was a good thing even though Jose Morales grounded into that double play. Unfortunately, the Gamecast gave no sense that Delmon Young’s bases-loaded single was anything other than a routine hit, so I didn’t know that the Twins would have led 5-0 in a ballpark if they hadn’t been playing in Comerica’s  jumbo-sized center field.

Then, as soon as the wheels hit the ground in the Twin Cities, I fired up the C’berry and …

DET 7 , MIN 2 (seventh inning)

$#!+The bad news was what happened, the good news was that I didn’t have to watch Carl Pavano serve those meatballs to Inge and Ordonez and the others.

Because  it’s pretty unfair to comment of what I didn’t see go down, I will let Joe’s game story and Jim’s column stand in for me.

For now, I’ll say out loud what I suspect most of us understand: Missing their first baseman, third baseman and 60 percent of their anticipated rotation and having underperformers playing daily in left field and at second and third bases, the Twins dragged out this thing for a long, long time in September. You can win with a cobbled together and mirror-filled lineup for a period of time. But not indefinitely.

And that definitely has caught up with the Twins this week.

Now, there’s nothing but hope.

That was a lot of baseball to watch and play to end up in the same position as where you started the day. The  Twins came that close to sweeping the Tigers, going up against two of their three best starters and battling until the final out on a great and maddening day of baseball that made you want to smack and salute — at various times — the person who created the concept of the doubleheader.

When it comes to pitching, doubleheaders are managed differently — even with the longer pitching staff of a September roster. Joe Nathan was likely to be the only significant pitcher who was going to see action in both games, which can be just about the only reason I can think of for bringing in Bobby Keppel with two outs and the bases loaded in the fifth inning of the nightcap. The Twins were losing 3-0 at the time and I was hoping for Gardy to spend Jesse Crain in that situation. As mediocre as Keppel has sometimes been, however, the one strength among his statistics is that he had allowed only 3 of 14 inherited runners to score this season — until the single by Brandon Inge made it 5-0.

Otherwise, the expanded roster  is mainly an illusion for a team in a pennant race. This time of year is a bit like basketball in that a manager pretty much shortens his bench for the home stretch. Redmond, Buscher and some others haven’t seen significant action for weeks, which explains why you only saw one pinch-hitter in the ninth inning when they Twins scored their final run — courtesy of two Detroit misplays. Yes, I was among those cringing when Nick Punto came to bat with two outs in the ninth (before his fly-ball double), but the way things have been played out lately, I don’t think there was a better option in that situation. No, not even Brendan Harris, whose on-base percentage has dipped below Punto’s and who has struggled more than usual against right-handers. The Twins were fortunate that Alexi Casilla returned from exile in Game 1 and doubled in the ninth to give the Twins a good chance to win without going into extra innings.

There have been several times this season when we have reached what we thought was a crossroads, when the Twins had to absolutely and totally win or else.

Today, we have reached the final, for-sure crossroads.

The Twins look to have favorable pitching match-ups today and Thursday and they … must … win … them … both.

To be two games down with three games to play (including a start against Zack Greinke) would mean that the White Sox would have to be our enablers this weekend, as they were last weekend when they took 2 of 3 from Detroit, and I’m just not willing to bet on that. I don’t even want to think about Friday’s game with Kansas City, when Gardy will have to anoint a starter that will leave us squeamish no matter whom he chooses. (Thanks to the Royals for choosing to start Greinke on Saturday, when he will likely face Nick Blackburn, and Lenny DiNardo, with his 7.52 ERA, on Friday.)

Risks will have to be taken that all of us would rather avoid. For example, does Gardy get Harris a start today or Thursday to get another bat ready for the weekend, at the expense of the decreased range that comes when he plays third base and Orlando Cabrera plays shortstop? I can argue both sides of that one, based both on past results and current performance. My answer means nothing compared to Gardy’s, which is why his stomach is churning — and I’m enjoying this belated ride, however frustrating it sometimes (often) becomes.

Finally, this is really it.

On the road and watched the last three innings in a bar in Granville, Ohio. No Dick ‘n Bert. Just Pink Floyd in the background.

No deep thoughts cuz writing on a Blackberry precludes such things.

More tonight! Stay away, rain!!

Just when you think that the biggest issue facing the Twins and their pitchers is who’s going to start Friday night’s game against Kansas City — Liriano, Manship, Blyleven or Ron Davis — this thing called outdoor baseball bites the Twins in the butt and plays havoc with any kind of planning.

It remains to be seen whether Monday’s rainout is the only wrinkle thrown into the schedule during this week’s series in Detroit. If both games are played today, the Twins will put in a 10-hour workday and then have a good sense of how much the remaining games mean when they’re finished with Rick Porcello and Justin Verlander, who will be solid candidates for Rookie of the Year and Cy Young respectively.

Beat ‘em both and the Twins are tied for first with the weaker end of the Tigers’ rotation being thrown at them Wednesday and Thursday.  The Twins pretty much have to win 3 of 4 against Detroit, given that the Tigers aren’t likely to be swept by the White Sox and the Twins have another encounter scheduled with Zack Greinke.

A sweep would be hellacious, but you don’t talk out loud about such things. (That’s why people ask for a 6 at the blackjack table when they need a 7 to hit 21.)

I’m pretty much at a loss right now when it comes to figuring out how the Twins starting pitching would set up for the rest of the season, whether or not they can get through the next three days without rain messing with them even more. I mentioned to Ms. Baseball on Sunday — during the latest batch of Liriano troubles — that it wouldn’t bother me if Gardy started Jesse Crain on Friday to see how far he can go and them have a half-dozen arms ready to follow him. At the same time, though, Crain hasn’t given up a run in his last 15 games (15 innings, 10 baserunners, 9 strikeouts) and I can make a case for him being ready to pitch relief three or four times in these final seven games.

I could think that one out loud until your eyes glaze … and then follow up with wondering whether Gardy would start Blackburn or Duensing on three days of rest on Saturday against Greinke.

If those are meaningful decisions, it will mean that the Twins have done themselves well in Detroit, which is the issue of the moment. And for each big decision that Gardy would need to make, Jim Leyland will have to do the same for the Tigers.

Go away, rain. Let’s get at it.