Postgame: Cuddyer reflects on the road to 99 losses

The Twins have Carl Pavano lined up to pitch Wednesday's season finale, and they really hope he has a chance to help the team avoid 100 losses.

A win Monday would have been nice, but they squandered a 3-1, sixth-inning lead in an eventual 7-3 loss against the Royals.

So they're 61-99 with two to play. It'll be Anthony Swarzak vs. Kansas City's Sean O'Sullivan on Tuesday.

"It's extremely important," Twins right fielder Michael Cuddyer said. "As I said the other day, pride factor. You don't want to have a triple digit in the loss column. You don't want to lose 99 either; I guess we don't have a choice for that one."

Before the bottom fell out in August and September, the Twins had climbed back to respectability. They were 20 games under .500 before reeling off a 15-2 stretch in June.

"Think of where we'd be if it weren't for that run," Cuddyer said.

That's a staggering thought.

"I just know we haven't played very well this year," said Cuddyer, whose two-run homer Monday gave him 20 homers and 70 RBI. "You can't fault our effort. We've given effort, we've run balls out, we've tried. We just haven't been very good."