Marching into the Bronx (cue "Taps")

The bad news: After surging into first place in the Wild Card standings, the Twins inexplicably dropped two in a row to the Royals. I know, I know, the Royals aren't that bad, but the Twins were playing at being playoff contenders, and had baseball's best home record to boot. Meanwhile, the White Sox kept winning, effectively reclaiming a Wild Card lead that they aren't likely to lose anytime soon, especially considering they're taking on the lowly Royals now. Mean-meanwhile, the Twins are headed to Yankee Stadium for three games with a pitching rotation--"Homer" Silva and the Shaky Rookies-- that's surely got the Bombers itchin' to swing. Oh yeah, and Luis Castillo sprained his ankle, Radke's bum shoulder will force him to miss a start this weekend, and Joe Mauer is slumping.

The good news: There is none. Unless you count the fact the Liriano's season probably isn't completely over. Or the fact that the Twins acquired the aging right-handed slugger Phil Nevin to hit in the DH spot. Does that count as a silver lining?

More gloom and doom (and optimism, too) welcome in the comments.