The Minnesota Twins lost to Toronto Wednesday night meaning the team has come up on the short-end stick in eight of the last 11 games.

While the Twins have been one of the great stories of the 2008 season, bullpen shortcomings coupled with the need for another big bat in the lineup and defense that isn’t quite up to the team’s traditional standards have combined to prevent the team from taking advantage of the concurrent struggles of division-rival Chicago.

They’re still within a game. But they’re not going to win the AL Central unless the bullpen starts picking up the pace. Eddie Guardado, brought in to help a tiring staff of relievers a couple weeks ago, has given up 10 baserunners in 2.1 innings since returning to Minnesota and is sporting an ERA above 18.00 during that span.

In fairness, they’ve been on their longest road trip of the season, due to supposed scheduling conflicts with the Republican National Convention. But they’ve also been playing Seattle, Oakland, and Toronto during this road trip, which has resulted in a 5-8 record thus far. During the last 13 games the White Sox are 6-7 – a team that truly harbors hopes of competing deep into the postseason needs to take advantage of that slide, at home or on the road, and bury the opposition in the standings.

The Twins have been a great story this season. Overcoming the losses of Johan Santana and Torii Hunter while receiving little of immediate help in return to remain in contention this late in the season has been impressive.

And in more fairness, with the ransoms teams like Seattle were seeking in return for some of the pieces the Twins tried to acquire, I’d probably have held my ground as well.

And further yet, the team should be well-stocked to make strong pushes for the playoffs in 2009 and 2010. But nothing is guaranteed. These opportunities don’t come along often. This road trip is going to be a hard pill for the team to swallow if they end up watching the playoffs on television. This stretch has been an opportunity wasted.