No mo' Morneau in Minny: Justin out for season with back injury

Anyone who watched the Twins over the last month or so could easily tell that Justin Morneau(notes) wasn't himself.And on Monday, we found out the reason why he was hitting only .100 with two homers and six RBIs since Aug. 16. Morneau has been playing with a stress fracture in one of his vertebra and will miss the season's final 18 games as part of an expected three-month recovery. From the Star Tribune:"It's been bugging me for a while,'' Morneau said. "It's one of those things where you can play through the pain if you feel like you're doing something to help your teammates win ballgames, but when you go out there and you don't feel like you're helping anyone, that's when you take a step back and go, 'All right, maybe I'm doing more harm than good.'''Michael Cuddyer(notes) will assume Morneau's position at first base as the Twins try to pull off a long shot and make up 5.5 games to catch Detroit. Minnesota ...