I'm Not Sayin'. I'm Just Sayin'.

This is not another rant against Justin Morneau, a fine player who is nonetheless over-rated because he collects RBIs like they're stamps, thanks largely to Joe Mauer's freakish on-base regularity.

Morneau is a hitting machine, cranking out a .286/.358/.511 career line in five full and two half seasons. He's won an MVP (the one rightfully belonging to Mauer or Derek Jeter), come in second in the voting another time (about eight spots too high), and joined four All-Star parades. He was having his best year yet in 2010 (.345/.437/.618 with 18 dingers in 81 games) before suffering a serious concussion.

How valuable was the Canadian's presence to the Twins this season? Minnesota won and lost in roughly equal measure with Morneau at first base, 4.5 games out of first place at the moment of his departure. Since then, their newly cobbled together lineup has won 21 of 31 and roared into the division lead.

It's been an all-hands-on-deck adventure. Michael Cuddyer, the replacement at first, has picked up the slack, batting .308 and swatting four homers and nine doubles for the month. Joe Mauer, back from injury himself, has finally gotten acquainted with Joe Mauer. So has Delmon Young. Jim Thome's increased playing time adds a .973 OPS to the mix. In total, the Twins are scoring six runs a game in their slugger's absence, up from fewer than four at the time he got kicked in the head.

I'm not sure how much, if any, of this reflects on Justin Morneau. It seems likely that the team will further prosper upon his return. Still, it's the second year in a row that this has happened.

Last year, Morneau went down on September 12 with the team two games below .500. A 17-4 surge followed, making up 5.5 games in the standings, plus a playoff win. Hmmm....

Okay, to be fair, it was pitching that launched their rocket without Morneau last year and a patch of easy schedule helped this year. The point is, if Justin Morneau were really the critical cog that many think he is, you'd expect his team to falter without him. I mean, consider where the Giants would have been five years ago without Barry Bonds. Instead, for two straight years, the Minneapolis nine has kicked the season into gear exactly after losing the guy whom baseball writers seem to think is their MVP.

b