From The Windup is FanHouse's daily, extended look at a particular portion of America's pastime.

I don't know if you've been paying attention, but there are some things going on in this country right now that are far more important than whether or not the Cubs will win the World Series, or whether New York will collapse on itself should the Yankees miss the playoffs.

No, I'm not talking about the new Beverly Hills 90210 - though it's nice to see Lori Loughlin getting work - I'm talking about the upcoming election for President of the United States. Yeah, you've probably noticed in the last few weeks that all your favorite crappy sitcoms and celebrity dancing shows haven't been on in favor of a bunch of people giving speeches in front of sycophants. We call these the Democratic and Republican National Conventions.

For the first time in my life, I've paid pretty close attention to both of these conventions this year. You see, even though I've never been shy about my feelings about this country of ours, and those who have been chosen to run it, I've never actually exercised my right to be a factor in the decision.

That's right, at 27 years of age, I have never voted in a single election. Not for President, not for Governor, not even for Student Council President in high school. So when November 4th rolls around in two months, I will be stepping into a voting booth for the first time, and though I'm somewhat excited about it, I still face a pretty tough question.

Just who am I voting for?

With baseball set to start using instant replay on Thursday, there are a lot of different opinions floating around as to whether or not baseball should be doing this. Some are perfectly fine with the whole thing, thinking that it's about time the game finally adapted to this new-fangled technology, and then there are those who are whole-heartedly against it.

Hell, Sal Fasano actually compared the use of replay to armageddon (Note to Sal: Shaving your mustache? That would be armageddon). On the opposite end of the spectrum from Sal, there's Twins lumberjack Justin Morneau. Justin is happy baseball has finally decided to join the 20th century, though he wishes they weren't just using replay on home run calls.

... the Twins first baseman said Tuesday he wishes MLB would go even further and have instant replay available to decide whether any batted ball is fair or foul.

"I don't know why they didn't go all the way," Morneau said. "That could be just as big.

"Everybody's human, everybody's going to make mistakes. Why not take advantage of all the technology to make sure those [fair or foul] calls are right?"

While I don't want to go out of my way to help a Minnesota Twin feel better, I don't think Justin will have to wait too long to get his wish.

Somehow, only five weeks remain in the baseball season. Other than injuries, a contending team's schedule might be the biggest factor in determining which teams get a shot at postseason glory and which spend October on the golf course.

The following is a quick breakdown of what the AL teams still fighting for a playoff spot will face over the season's final weeks.

Red Sox

The Good: After Boston finishes a three-game set with the Yankees on Thursday, it will play 20 of its final 29 games at Fenway Park, where the team is 43-18 this year.

The Bad: The Red Sox still have to face Toronto seven more times. The Red Sox are 4-6 against their divisional rivals this year, and perhaps more distressing, have surrendered more than six runs per game against the light-hitting Jays in 2008.

Key Stretch: From Sept. 8-21, Boston will face Tampa Bay and nemesis Toronto 13 times. All things considered, the Red Sox have a very favorable schedule down the stretch, with four off days remaining. The injuries which are rapidly piling up will play a much bigger factor in whether they get a chance to defend their title than who they face.

No, no ... this isn't a case of a minor leaguer being traded for maple bats. Nope, the hamburger is question is righty pitcher Mark Hamburger. So yes, Eddie Guardado is worth more than ground beef patties. He's certainly worth more than that to the Twins, who have brought him back for the minor leaguer.

Guardado has had a nice bounce back season for Texas after two injury plagued seasons for the Reds, going 3-3 with a 3.65 ERA, a 1.11 WHIP, 23 holds and four saves. Key is that hitters are batting .220 off of Guardado, while the Twins bullpen is in the lower half of baseball with a .262 BAA. Guardado had recently returned to closing for Texas after the injury to C.J. Wilson, but its obvious that at the age of 37, his value is greater as a set-up guy for a contender than as a closer for a .500 team ... especially at this point, where the only lefty the Twins could bring out of the 'pen these days was Craig Breslow (edit: and Dennys Reyes). So to the Twins, Guardado isn't exactly chopped liver (or chopped steak.)

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups.

Boston Red Sox (74-55) at Baltimore Orioles (67-62) 1:07 PM ET

Daisuke Matsuzaka is the very case study of new breed vs. old guard. The old guard will see Matsuzaka's 15-2 record and his 2.77 ERA and tell you that he's gotta be one of the best pitchers in baseball. The new breed of fan will tell you that his 1.37 WHIP and his 77 walks in 126+ innings tell the future of a man who's been lucky to get out of jams that he created for himself against mediocre teams. Which side are you on?

Today, Dice K goes up against the Blue Jays ... and while everybody is talking about the job that Jerry Manuel is doing for the Mets after taking over mid-season, there's been a similar, quieter turnaround in Toronto, where Cito Gaston is 32-23 this season after taking over for John Gibbons, who started the season 35-39.

While folks around baseball keep talking about what a surprise the A.L. Central has been this season with the faltering Tigers and Indians losing more ground everyday to the White Sox and Twins, when you think about it, it isn't surprising at all. Contending for a division title is what the Twins do.

What I'm wondering is how much longer will the Twins still be in the race. They're only a game behind the White Sox right now, and a half game behind Boston for the wild card at the moment, but that could be changing very soon. You see, while the Twins are pretty dominant at home (46-23), much like everybody else in baseball this season they've struggled on the road (26-31).

Well, thanks to the Republican National Convention hitting Minneapolis this week, the Twins are about to embark on a 14-game road trip starting tonight in Los Angeles against the best team in baseball. After their two week trip they'll get to return home for six games before heading out on another 10-game trip.

Which means 24 of the Twins next 30 games will be played out of a suitcase. Meanwhile the White Sox get to play 13 of their next 22 games in Chicago, where they're even better at home, going 45-19. The way I figure, if the Twins can't manage to win at least half of their games on these two road trips, by the time they take on the Sox at the Twinkie Dome in for a three game set starting on September 23rd, their season will already be over.

In 2006 Twins first baseman Justin Morneau won the American League MVP award, hitting .321 with 34 homers and 131 runs driven in for the division winning Minnesota Twins. At the time there was plenty of uproar coming from the east coast where a lot of Yankees fans thought that Derek Jeter deserved the award.

Personally, if I'd have had a vote that year (I didn't, though that didn't stop me from calling Bud Selig non-stop to share my opinion) I would have voted for Morneau as well. He's a terrific player, but generally toils in obscurity thanks to the fact he plays for the small market Twins, and I thought he deserved to be noticed. Though Justin would prefer nobody knew who he was.

"I like it here. I like it the way it is," Morneau said. "I like being able to go to the plaza in Kansas City and walk around and nobody knows who I am. On our off day (last week in Kansas City), Joe (Mauer) and I went to see a movie, and we went out for dinner, and nobody saw us.

"[The Yankees] can't do that.

"I like being the underdog, too. Nobody really ever expects us to win. That makes it more gratifying when you do win."

Considering that Justin grew up in Canada, it's really no surprise that he would also enjoy Minnesota. I mean the place is basically Canada anyway, minus the universal health care and Loonies. Of course, I'm pretty sure the $80 million the Twins will be paying Justin over the next six seasons goes a long way towards his enjoyment of the place as well.

I've often felt that Minnesota Twins outfielder Michael Cuddyer has been unappreciated. His teammates Justin Morneau and Joe Mauer get all the attention (well, as much attention as the Twins get anyway), while he puts up solid numbers every season and gets no real fanfare. Plus, besides his bat, the guy is pretty good out there in the field and he has a cannon for an arm.

It's got to be pretty frustrating for Cuddyer, but probably not as frustrating as the 2008 campaign has been for him. Injuries have kept him sidelined the majority of the season, and now when he was so close to getting back on the field for Minnesota, he goes and breaks his hand while rehabbing in Rochester.

What happened? Well, I'll let Michael tell you. From Buster Olney's blog:

"I don't know if this season can get any more frustrating on a personal level. The play happened last night while I was rehabbing in Rochester. I was on first base after a walk when Garrett Jones hit a fastball off of Ross Ohlendorf. I jumped, but apparently not high enough and the ball hit the top of my foot, cracking the second metatarsal. I am not sure of a time frame for the injury, but they say typically four weeks or so is pretty normal for something like this. So hopefully I will still be able to get back and give a boost as the beginning to middle of September and pennant race is in full go. The thing that frustrates me the most is that I really pride myself in preparing to play a full season, but no matter what you do you can't prepare for a dislocated finger, torn ligaments and a broken bone! Like I said, though, the goal for me is to get myself ready to help us in some capacity in September."

On Deck is FanHouse's look at the day's most intriguing baseball matchups

While they have had many chances to take over the AL Central lead from the Chicago White Sox, the Minnesota Twins had been faltering all summer to capitalize on Chicago's mistakes. They would get to within a half-game of the White Sox only to lose every time Chicago opened the door.

That is, until yesterday. After taking three of four from the Sox and two of three from the Indians over the weekend, the Twins are finally on top of the division (again) where nobody expected them to be (again). Now today the Twins will begin to find out that sometimes the only thing tougher than catching the team in front of you is staying ahead of them once you get there.

Is it a coincidence that on the day the Twins finally woke up and brought Francisco Liriano back from minor league purgatory that they gained control of the division? Probably, but his presence in the rotation will go a lot further in helping them hold onto it than Livan Hernandez would have.

Will they hold onto their lead, or let it slip through their grasp? It's still too early to tell but they will begin their quest to put some distance between themselves and the competition after the jump.

There are a lot of people who felt the Twins should have made a move before yesterday's deadline, myself being one of them, but instead the Twins decided to stand pat with what they have. It's a move that may hurt them now that they've lost second baseman and team spark plug Alexi Casilla could miss the rest of the season.

Still, sometimes it's not the trades that you make as much as it is the players you get back from the disabled list. Of course, Francisco Liriano has been off the disabled list for a while and blowing hitters away in Triple-A, but the team has just now decided to call him up. Though that does mean they have to make room for him, and that's why the team designated both Livan Hernandez and Craig Monroe for assignment.

Hernandez is 10-8 with a 5.48 ERA in 23 starts and has allowed 199 hits in 139 2/3 innings. He pitched poorly in his last start against Chicago on Wednesday and gave up five runs in the first two innings of his previous start against Cleveland.

Left-handed pitcher Francisco Liriano, a sensation in 2006 before an arm injury knocked him out of action for more than a year, will take his spot in the rotation. Randy Ruiz, a 30-year-old career minor-leaguer, can play first base and right field. But he will likely be used as a right-handed designated and pinch hitter.