Twins vs. Kansas City News And Notes

Schedule (All Games FSN)

• Tuesday: 7:10pm, Scott Diamond vs. Will Smith
  
• Wednesday: 7:10pm, P.J. Walters vs. Luke Hochevar
  
• Thursday: 7:10pm, Liam Hendriks vs. Luis Mendoza

Royals Notes

• Give the Royals some credit. While the Twins and Indians have been racing to the bottom, KC has been playing okay baseball. The Royals are 21-17 since August 1, and just took two out of three against Chicago over the weekend. They're even a half-game better than Boston right now.
  
• With the Wild Card race heating up and Detroit starting to look like it's on the outside (4.5 back), the Royals will have a real chance to play spoiler in the final three weeks of the year. Kansas City has seven games against Detroit left, including the final three of the year, and just swept the Tigers at the end of August.
• Remember the name Bubba Starling. He's played all of 53 games in rookie league ball, but the Royals are already excited.
• The Twins won't see him in this series, but starter Jeremy Guthrie is 4-1 with a 2.01 ERA since August 1. Guthrie had a 6.35 ERA with Colorado this year and got demoted to the bullpen at one point. He is 33. He's pretty much straight-up league average. And yet, he's a free agent this offseason, and I guarantee some GM out there is thinking, "You know, I bet Guthrie wouldn't look so bad in our rotation..."
• Royals Review is pretty excited: A Royal might actually lead the league in a positive offensive category!
• Also at RR: The community is pretty much ready to dump Luke Hochevar.

Twins Notes

• Health news! Denard Span took batting practice over the weekend, and is targeting midweek for a return - he's eligible to come off the DL on Wednesday. With Phil Mackey of 1500 ESPN floating the possibility that he may not be back next year, it'd sure be nice to see him in a Twins uniform one more time.
• Health news! Matt Capps threw from 120 feet on September 7, so if the Twins need someone to pitch from out by second base, Capps may be a candidate.
• Health sort of news! Chris Parmelee missed last night's game with right groin soreness, and is day-to-day. There's nothing worse than groin soreness. I sometimes limp until 10am just until I confirm that my groin muscles are working pain-free, just to be on the safe side.
• Health lack of news! We don't know what's going on with Josh Willingham's hamstring, or as we've taken to calling it, The Willinghamstring. He's been in and out of the lineup for over a week, though he played last night.
  
• Glen Perkins would seem to be the closer of the future, and since I know you're wondering, I looked up his contract details. The guy's signed through 2016 ('16 being a club option year), averaging about $3.5 million per year. Right now, that looks like a steal.