I counted them out many times during the 2009 season.
Due to the lack of consistent pitching through most of their season. Due to the lack of their most potent power hitter throughout September. Due to the fact that they were seven games out on Sept. 6.
Whenever I have doubted the Minnesota Twins, they turn around and put me in a box with a dramatic resurgence.
After battling back to beat Detroit 6-5 on Tuesday night in extra innings, every baseball fan expected a weary group of Twins on Wednesday in their ...
Pitching wins championships but the deep, powerful lineups featured on 2009 playoff rosters will fluster hurlers. The first few games of playoff baseball shows that hitters will make their case about the hierarchy of postseason importance.
There could be plenty of walks, home runs, and inflated ERAs in the playoffs with batting orders reading like All-Star rosters, pitchers with little or unfortunate postseason experience, and baseball’s ERA leader and top AL Cy Young Award candidate, Zack Greinke, unavailable to baffle hitters.
The Twins sent rookie pitcher Brian Duensing to the mound against ...
Everything went according to plan for the New York Yankees in Game One of their American League Division series against the Minnesota Twins.
The Yankees got six-and-two-thirds solid innings from CC Sabathia, they used the long ball to their advantage like they have been all year, and even got Alex Rodriguez to contribute in their 7-2 victory over the Twins.
Believe it or not, the Twins actually had a 2-0 lead in this game heading into the third inning. They got a clutch two-out hit from Michael Cuddyer and then Joe Mauer ...
Wednesday night was the first ever playoff game being held at the new Yankee Stadium. It was also the first playoff game being held in the Bronx in two years.
The Yankees did not disappoint their fans one bit.
New York sent up their work-horse ace in CC Sabathia for Game One while Minnesota sent up rookie left-hander Brian Duensing.
Through the first two innings, the Yankees and Twins went scoreless as Sabathia and Duensing got off to good starts.
But in the top of the third inning, the Twins picked up a few ...
The common refrain going around the Yankee fan base right now is that while nothing is guaranteed, and that the Yankees are not guaranteed to win their series against the Twins, there is a different feel around this year's squad than there has been in many years. This team is likable, fun to root for and really damned good.So nevermind CC Sabathia's less-than-stellar post-season ERA or Alex Rodriguez's absence of a decent post-season since the 2004 ALCS.This is a team where expectations are not just high for the free ...
Everything changed in the bottom of the third inning.
When Derek Jeter stepped to the plate with the Yankees trailing 2-0 to the Twins in Game One of the American League Division Series, a lot of questions were racing through the minds of Yankees fans.
Why has our opponent scored first for the ninth time in our last 12 playoff games? Why has Alex Rodriguez failed to pick up a hit in his last 18 postseason at-bats with runners in scoring position and past 28 with runners anywhere on base?
Why is Jorge ...
You have to hand it to the Yankees—they are exactly who we thought they were.
Brian Duensing didn't pitch poorly by any stretch of the imagination, but it is not difficult to surrender runs to this potent New York offense. Early on, Duensing was locked in, sprinkling his fastball in among his great breaking balls. He was getting ahead in the count and kept the ball on the ground, doing everything possible for his team.
It's cliche, I know, but one poor pitch to Derek Jeter was a major turnaround point in ...
The Twins won their division in dramatic fashion last night, as I had hoped they would, since the Yankees have owned the Minnesota Twins for the last several years. As I wrote after the Yanks swept the Twins in May:
Amazingly, the Yankees have dominated the Twins in this millennium, winning 40 out of 58 contests in the regular season, plus six of eight in the postseason, for an overall record of 46-20 since 2001. This is the second best winning percentage they have against any team in the AL ...
Today I was at physical therapy as I continue to recover from an injured right shoulder, and I got there at about 4:30. The Phillies and Rockies were on, and I got sick watching how well Cliff Lee was doing. He was mowing them down, and I overheard a conversation talking about how people need to “root for New York.”
Give me a break. I asked the therapist, who is about as arrogant a Yankee fan as there is, what time the game was. I didn’t have an antagonizing tone or ...
By Ryan of The Sportmeisters
About The Minnesota Twins:
A day after clinching the AL Central in a one-game playoff, the Twins travel to the Big Apple to take on the Yankees. At 87-76, the Twins closed a seven-game deficit, going 17-4 over the final month to tie the Detroit Tigers and force the playoff before clinching the AL Central.
Their success will hinge on potential AL MVP Joe Mauer, who came back from an injury to hit .365 with 28 home runs and 96 RBIs. They are without Justin Morneau, but Jason ...