New York Yankees Topic Page

The Twins enter game 3 of the AL Division Series down 2 games to none to the high powered Yankees. They'll try to leave the controversy of Friday night's game behind them and hope that the Metrodome magic can, once again, propel them to victory with their backs against a wall.

The Twins will send mid-season acquisition, Carl Pavano, to the mound. Pavano spent 4 injury plagued seasons in New York before the team cut ties with him. His mound opponent will be 38 year-old lefty Andy Pettitte. It seems like the Twins always struggle against left-handed pitchers, but the team, as a whole, has actually hit left-handed pitching slightly better than right-handed pitching this year.

• 2009 Twins vs. LHP: .285/.344/.441
• 2009 Twins vs. RHP: .269/.345/.423

The Twins fell by a score of 6-4 in the 3rd game of the series and the final of 7 games against the Yankees this year. They never led for a single inning in the series, and are now a demoralizing 0-7 against the Yankees this year.

The string of losses puts the Twins in 3rd place in the AL Central--4 games behind Detroit and 1.5 games behind Chicago. They also fell a game below .500 for the first time since June 24th.

Before the season starts I have to get my predictions set in stone, so people can point and laugh at me at the end of the season. Please share your picks in the comments.

American League

East: Tampa Bay Rays

Central: Cleveland Indians

West: Los Angeles Angels

Wild Card: New York Yankees

Cy Young: Roy Halladay

MVP: Grady Sizemore

ROY: David Price

Before I say anything, I just want to make it clear that the deal is still tentative. The Mets and Johan Santana will need to agree on a fat contract extension before Johan will waive his no-trade clause. It's pretty unlikely that they won't reach a deal, but we can still hope.

The Twins are coming off a split with the Chicago White Sox after a fabulous April start from Johan Santana and a 3-run homer from Justin Morneau on Sunday. The Twins sit atop the AL Central standing with a 4-1 record (2 wins ahead of Cleveland who hasn't been able to play due to weather). The Yankees are off to a bit of a rough start, similar to last year. They'll begin their first road trip tonight at the dome after a 2-3 homestand against weaker teams like the Devil Rays and Orioles.

It's opening day! In case you're not a weekend reader (which is common), please be sure to check out the two posts I made over the weekend discussing the hitters and pitchers on the Twins opening day roster. This year I want to start previewing each series, so here's the preview of the opening series at home against the Baltimore Orioles.

Last week I whined about how difficult it was to pick a player of the week, since the team as a whole had played so poorly. I hoped that this week's decision would be difficult for a different reason, and my wish has certainly come true.

The Twins played their most exciting game of the season Saturday night against the Yankees, pulling off a victory in the bottom of the 9th inning with a 2-run hit by Justin Morneau.

Scott Baker, the Twins fifth starter, gave the Twins their best start of the season, against arguably their best opponent. Baker went 7 innings giving up only 3 hits, 1 walk and 1 run to a potent Yankee lineup.

In Baseball, you'd rather be playing well in the month of September than in April, so you have some momentum going into the playoffs. However, when it comes to making the playoffs, April games count just as much as those in September. The first few weeks of the Twins' season could prove to be pretty important when it comes to how the season is going to turn out. Let's take a look at the tough matchups they'll be facing right away.