Justin Morneau, the 2006 AL MVP and three-time All-Star who had 30 home runs and 100 RBI, was finished for the season, knocked out by a stress fracture in his back. Trailing by 5½ games, Minnesota had lost its home run and RBI leader, the first baseman who along with catcher Joe Mauer was one of the guys the Twins depended on to carry their offense.

"Everybody was, I won't say panicking," says Denard Span, a 25-year-old outfielder completing his first full season in the big leagues. "At the same time, when you lose an MVP-caliber player, it's kind of hard to replace that. Everybody just kind of sensed that everybody has to pick up their load a little bit."

Span did. So did Delmon Young, who was two days short of his 24th birthday. And veterans Michael Cuddyer, Orlando Cabrera and Jason Kubel.

It took nearly all of the remaining 21 games and a whole lot of hot hitting for Cuddyer to pass Morneau with 32 homers, for Kubel to get to 103 RBI. Just as it would take every last day — and then one — to catch and beat the Tigers.

Maybe one game down to the New York Yankees in their AL Division Series is a minor bump compared to that September mountain, but it's the same supporting cast the Twins are looking to beginning with Game 2 tonight at Yankee Stadium.

"You always say injuries give somebody else an opportunity to step up and get it done," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire says. "But then when you lose an MVP, you have to take a step back and try to figure it out. We've been fortunate enough a couple of guys have gotten hot."

How could anyone predict the Twins would go on a 17-4 run? Or Cuddyer, who moved to first base from right field, would hit .325 with eight homers and 24 RBI during the 21 games, or Young would hit .353 with four homers and 17 RBI, Cabrera .355 with 19 RBI and 25 runs, and Kubel drive in 21 and hit six homers?

"I don't know, to tell you the truth," Mauer says when asked for an explanation. "Guys are just picking each other up."

In reality, Morneau hadn't been much help for nearly a month. Battling back pain, he had been 7-for-70 over the previous 20 games with two homers and six RBI, and the Twins were spinning their wheels —9-11 through that stretch.

Now, though, faced with a definitive diagnosis, there no longer was hope he'd start hitting. The rest of the team came together — and maybe even accelerated a growing-up process.

The Twins pride themselves on winning with home-grown talent. They mostly draft players out of high school and bring them slowly through the minor league system.

Cuddyer, drafted in 1997, Kubel (2000) and Span (2002) have known no other organization. All needed seven pro seasons to become full-time major leaguers. Young is an exception because he already had been in the majors since 2006 when the Twins acquired him from the Tampa Bay Rays two winters ago.

Span was sent back to the minors after a poor spring training in 2008 despite hitting .323 at Class AAA the previous season.

"That's when he became an angry young man," Gardenhire says, "and said, 'I'll show you.' He's proving that he should have been there at the beginning, which is sometimes a good thing."

Says Span: "It was one of those defining moments in my life. More than my career, I would say my life. I feel like that's where I grew up to become a man and take a little more responsibility. … I feel like if that didn't happen, I would maybe not be talking to you here."

The final piece was Cabrera, who's taken to calling himself a good-luck charm after reaching the postseason for the fifth time in six years with four teams.

"I had just watched him for three days beat our brains in," says Twins general manager Bill Smith, who acquired him from the Oakland Athletics on July 31.

Cabrera was 6-for-13 with five RBI in three games against the Twins the week before the trade.

"It's playoff experience," Smith says. "It's big-game performance when we really want it."

And now is when they particularly need it.

Enlarge By Paul Battaglia, AP Former MVP Justin Morneau missed the final 21 games of the regular season for the Twins.