The season begins way back in February in Spring Training. February seems a distant memory when going into the stretch run in September.

The baseball season is a marathon and only the strong survive. The teams with the best pitching, hitting, and defense come to the head of the pack in September.

Watch the teams that have something left in the tank as September unfolds. If your team is running on fumes with 20 to go, there is trouble ahead.

Teams in trouble are Seattle, Houston, and Boston.

Teams cooking are Oakland, New York, Anaheim, Los Angeles, and Arizona

The Giants are alive, but not hitting very much and St.Louis has injury after injury stalling their progress. The Braves and Twins are in with no worries right now.

The A’s streak is over, what does it mean today?Minnesota is a very tough team to beat at home. The Twins are 38-12 against righties in the Dome. They win with speed, defense, and pitching and enthusiastic fan support.

Brad Radke pitched Friday night like he is capable of pitching. If the A’s meet the Twins, he will pitch the first game of the series and probably the last.

Cory Lidle should not pitch in a short series against the Twins. The A’s will be tested defensively in Minnesota and their outfield defense will put the pitcher in constant peril. Mulder, Hudson, and Zito can work out of trouble, Lidle can’t on a consistent basis.

Today, Mulder will get the A’s back on track. He will keep the game close. Lefties have a much better chance of slowing down the Minnesota attack. The A’s are still hitting, just missing some opportunities last night. Joe Mays pitched well in Oakland last week, I expect this game to be another nail biter.

It is inevitable that when a long winning streak ends, a more modest losing streak follows. The A’s will have to dig deep to make sure this doesn’t happen. Anaheim is rolling in Baltimore and Oakland doesn’t want to limp into California Monday night after losing this series to the Twins.

The Yankees are gearing up for October, you can just feel it. They are slowly getting the pitching into shape, Jason Giambi is doing his usual September MVP thing, too.

Mike Mussina goes for win number 17 today against a pathetic Detroit offense. Mussina has dominated every Detroit team he has seen throughout his career.

Mickey Callaway has filled in admirably for Aaron Sele in the Angel rotation. Brendan Donnelly is the best set up man Anaheim has going. Tim Salmon is back in the line up and Garret Anderson is red hot. Rodrigo Lopez is the best the Orioles have on the mound and may keep this one close.

The A’s will be watching the scoreboard and would get a huge mental boost, if the Orioles slow down the Anaheim attack tonight.

Freddy Garcia didn’t do much more than hang on to a big lead in KC Friday night. He surrendered 12 hits in six innings of work. Seattle hit the ball pretty well which was expected, considering the oppositon. Tonight, Ryan Franklin goes against Miguel Ascencio who will put up a better effort than last night’s starter Shawn Sedlacek. Again as with the Angels, the A’s will watch this score, and will be thankful if Seattle is still six back after the weekend ends.

The Giants are hitting .264 as a team, if you take Bonds and Kent out of the mix, they are hitting .247. Somebody needs to get hot and soon, as the Dodgers come in Monday and they can hit Giant pitching.

Rick Helling is not my idea of a tough September pitcher, many say Ryan Jensen has a dead arm, so expect some offense in Pac Bell, even though it is a foggy Saturday early in the day.

The Giants fans need to stay positive, this team is within striking distance of LA with 22 to go. How many September races between these two teams have we seen, and all are exciting and very unpredictable. Dusty Baker has done a great job getting the Giants in position considering all the problems he has had with the personnel this year. It ain’t over just yet.

I know Greg Maddux will be a hall of famer someday, but Kevin Millwood is the best starter on the staff today. Maddux just doesn’t look right to me, let’s see how he pitches against Montreal’s Tomo Ohka, who has been lights out recently.

Chan Ho Park may have an impact in the West. Park works against Tampa Bay and will be watched by Oakland and the boys in the division very carefully because they will see plenty of the Rangers very soon and Park has been hot.

They are dropping like flies in St. Louis, Pujols and Drew left the game with injuries last night. It doesn’t seem to faze the Cards as they roll on each day. How about Andy Benes and the job he is doing? I saw him in Pac Bell in July and realized he was throwing very well, but I never expected the power he has shown.

Houston faces Omar Daal and counters with Carlos Hernandez. Low scoring game again, Houston is running out of chances to catch the Cards.

The A’s streak is one for the ages, now they must regroup and win in a very tough park.

History tells me that the Twins will spoil the party this weeknd, I think Minnesota will take the series and make this race even tighter.

Hey, it’s September, this is what baseball is all about.

Expect the unexpected.