Twins-Yankees

[PierBridge]

I agree the 1st game is key we need to find a way to win it.

I hope you're kidding about Kubel being the key to the series he's been horrible against the Yanks and I expect more of the same unfortunately. I certainly expect him to lead the team in strike-outs as is his forte.

Hope I'm wrong....Go Twins!

[Big Tom]

Negative Normans or Realists?

I guess I better put down the Twins Crack Pipe.

I give 1 and 4 to the Yanks because of Sabbathia and this being Liriano's first post season start. Pettitte has been less than average since his return and Burnett and Hughes don't scare me at all. Our bull pen is better. and if our starters don't have it hopefully Gardy makes a move instead watching the pinstripes put up a 5 spot.

[harvey lee]

Onm paper I think we are closer to yanks in talent than we've ever been during gardys tenure. The yanks have lost plenty of games this year to teams with a lot less talent than the twins so it definitely can be done. Gardy needs to do his best job ever both strategically and psychologically to get the team ready. This series will go a long way to show he is not baseballs version of marty schottednheimer.

My heart says twins in exciting 5th game walkoff win. My head says we win only game 2 and lose the series in 4. I do have a slight headache though so hopefully my thinking is impaired on this.

Yes, the Twins may be closer to the Yanks this season but look at the games they played.

We all know who dominated who.

[mr_jman]

I know the long history of the yanks/twins series, but I just can't put a whole lot of stock into games played several months ago. Both teams have different personnel than they did the last time they met.

For once, I do feel the Twins will be competitive. I agree with Big Dave on the Kubel take, but go even further and it really is the offense of Cuddyer, Span, Hudson, Hardy, Kubel, and how well our starting pitching staff does as a whole that will win/lose this series.

Everyone assumes Mauer, Thome, and maybe Young/Valencia will come up big. (I can see the disagreements on the latter 2 already!) but to beat the Yanks it really takes someone unexpected to also have a big game on top of some great performances from guys expected to do it.

The Twins fan in me won't let me go against them (Did that last year cause I think we all knew it was going to happen) Twins win this series I DONT CARE IF IT TAKES 3, 4 or 5 TO DO IT!!!!!

[blue_healer_guy]

I keep hearing about how down the yankees are, not just here but everywhere. They play in the east, got a wildcard by 1 game. I feel if we took this same team to the east, we would be about where Toronto is. Yanks in 4.

[mixxedbagg]

Before this post-division-clinching slide, I would have said Twins in 4, but it seems like they've lost their mojo and I'd be surprised if they can just turn it back on. Yankers in 5 games with game 5 being a heartbreaker.

Shouldn't have iced all the starters after clinching.....

[SledNeck]

I hope Andy Pettitte isnt in regular form, he usually OWNS the Twins

[Born2Fish]

I really could care less if the Yankees have killed us all season or whatever. I am behind our Twins all the way 150%. The Twins take this series. Could care less if it is in 3,4 or 5 either. They will get it done. GO TWINS!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[pinkfloyd4ever]

I still say, bean the leadoff batter just to show 'em we ain't afraid

[Triple_D]

Gardy play-off record = not good, horrible in fact.

Yanks in 4

Hope I'm wrong.

[chasineyes]

I still say, bean the leadoff batter just to show 'em we ain't afraid

+1

[Jim Almquist]

I did not think that the Twins had a chance in 87 and they won, so lets hope they can some how pull this off and give us a few more weeks of fun baseball.

[harvey lee]

I agree there is always hope Jim but I have a hard time believing they can do it.

I will watch every play off game as I watched every game this season.

I just do not believe the Twins are good enough to beat the Yanks in a short series, but I guess anything could happen.

[Big Tom]

Yankees have lost their last 9 against left handed starters. Now two of them were David Price and one was Cliff Lee but I think this helps Liriano if he can keep his energy and concentration in check. I also think that three games at the non-homer friendly Target Field helps us. If we can stay away from the long ball, we're a lot better off against these guys.

[OnAFly]

I'm doing my part by really working the elbows and knees on my A-Rod and Jeter voodoo dolls. So far I think it's going well.

[B. Amish]

a little yankee doom and gloom for all you 'realists'. from the new york daily news.

Quote:

In Minnesota, the locals believe this is their year, the year the Twins finally slay their personal dragon and march on to play in the World Series. They figure it's fate: After all these years in a dome, this first season in Target Field is destined to end with November baseball being played in sub-freezing temperatures.

Or call it karma. People in the Twin Cities have felt as if this season has been sprinkled with a bit of magic dust, something to explain how this team could blow away the competition in the AL Central even without Joe Nathan and Justin Morneau.

It seems significant mainly as a contrast to the vibe around the Yankees as the defending champs prepare for another postseason.

Undoubtedly they believe they can beat the Twins, a team they've owned for years. It's just that being around the ballclub you get a sense that, down deep, these Yankees aren't sure they have a championship run in them when they open the playoffs on Wednesday.

Yankee fans seem wary as well, at least the ones I know, and that's just not like them. I remember last year at this time how convinced most of them were that, despite years of early-October exits from the playoffs, they were on their way back to the top.

Unlike Minnesota, it wasn't so much the new stadium as the new players, CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnet, and Mark Teixeira, whose performance made everyone, fans and players, feel as if it were the Yankees' year.

Now, well, Burnett's dreadful season alone has changed that feel. A shaky September, with Burnett a big part of it, has raised plenty of questions about the Yankees and whether they are capable of raising their play when the postseason lights come on.

Privately I asked a couple of key players in Boston over the weekend about whether they felt the vibe was different. And while each made the point that he had faith in this team, each admitted to being curious as to what the postseason would bring.

"Last year (in the postseason) it was all about pitching and big, clutch hits," one player said. "Are we going to get that again?"

It was a pointed question that led to a discussion about the difference between the 2009 team and this one. Don't think the players haven't been keeping score, right along with the media, on GM Brian Cashman's much-discussed moves last winter.

"Now is when you'll find out the final grade," was the way the other player put it.

All in all, the Yankees have survived nicely without Johnny Damon, Hideki Matsui, Melky Cabrera and Jose Molina this season, and over the last several weeks Curtis Granderson's hot bat has at least somewhat offset the poor return on the acquisitions of Nick Johnson and Javy Vazquez.

All along, however, you knew that a verdict was going to come down to how the Yankees play in this postseason.

That's when Damon and Matsui, in particular, shined so brightly a year ago, Matsui as the World Series MVP and Damon with that memorable at-bat against Brad Lidge and the subsequent steal of both second and third on one play.

"Don't underestimate how important Johnny was in the clubhouse, either," one player said. "When things got tense, he was the guy who kept us all loose. After a tough loss he was the guy who made everybody go out to a karaoke bar and have some laughs."

Then there was the security blanket that Molina, even as the backup catcher, provided with his elite defense. He guided Burnett to safe landings in some big games, a task that seems practically heroic based on what we've seen this year, and he provided Joe Girardi a late-inning option to stop any running game.

In the interest of bringing along Francisco Cervelli, Cashman decided to let Molina go, and while Cervelli has done a solid job as a backup, he's not in Molina's league as a receiver or thrower. And the way teams have run on Posada lately, stolen bases could become a major issue in this postseason.

Of course, if CC Sabathia and Andy Pettitte deliver big starts and Alex Rodriguez hits the way he did last October, there's a good chance all of the pieces fall into place again.

In that case, the Yankees will own the Twins again the way they have for a decade. Going in, however, the good karma seems to be in Minnesota. We'll see if it means anything.

[mr_jman]

Harvey Lee HAS to be a lifelong Vikings fan! Thats the only explanation for ALL the negativity around another Minnesota playoff run. HAHA GO TWINS!!!!! PROVE HIM WRONG!

All in fun!

[PierBridge]

All times on the schedule are Eastern!

So 7:37 PM tonight and 5:07 PM tomorrow "Thurs" our time for the Twins tilts!!!

[zepman]

Let's get it on!!!

[MinnesnowtaWild]

So since the games are back to back to back on TBS...what happens if the Phillies vs. Reds game goes into extra innings and goes past 7:37?

I will be pretty upset if I miss the Twins.

[MNice]

I'm a twins fan and hope they get it done!! Gun to my head...I'd have to say the yanks in 4, I think their experience, PLAYERS and pitching staff are a cut above ours.

Hope like heck I'm wrong.

Here's another thought.. Just because one picks the yanks, does not mean they are not fans. I'm not a fanatic, just a fan. If they win or lose, my life pretty much stays the same. If they do lose, don't start whining and complaining..... it's just a game. I often contended that the fans care more than the players, and still believe that's true. Just enjoy some good games and have fun!!

[harvey lee]

+1. How true that is.

[harvey lee]

Harvey Lee HAS to be a lifelong Vikings fan! Thats the only explanation for ALL the negativity around another Minnesota playoff run. HAHA GO TWINS!!!!! PROVE HIM WRONG!

All in fun!

I sure am a lifelong Vikings fan. I am also a lifelong Twins fan and will be till the end of my time.

I hope like heck I am wrong. I am simply looking at the 2 teams and when I do, I in all honesty believe that the Yanks are the better team.

That's just being honest and living in a world of reality. Sure I can dream but reality is typically spot on.

[CALVINIST]

So whats the Twins batting order for game one? I suppose TBA. What SHOULD it be?

[Big Dave2]

http://www.theyankeeu.com/2010/10/2010-alds-preview-the-twins-lineup-21887