ALDS 2010: Yankees vs Twins

TWINS!

Yes, they (NY) have the "been there, done that" attitude and experience factor. The twins have been through some adversity this year and found their stride in the second half. When the pressure was off after they clinched the division, they seemed to relax and almost mail it in. Can they crank it back up again? I hope so. Will they be able to? Who knows.

The Twins do have a stronger bullpen than they have had in the past. There are 3 guys there that have at least 20 saves this season, and a decent lefty/righty ratio out there. The new home stadium could be a factor, and having home field is a bigger deal than it seems on the surface. It's not going into the cold of the NY stadium and that environment. While NY still had a great record, there is the possibility that age is catching up with them. That the wear and tear of the season has worn them down some. Neither team comes in hot. You can argue that NY played better teams at the end of the year, and that may be true, but they had more incentive to win those games, and they still didn't turn it on. As for Pettite, he's coming off an injury. Has he truly found his form yet? If he hasn't, it doesn't really matter that he's always turned it on in the playoffs. They'll bunt against CC and piss him off and throw him off his game.

All that being said, I like the Twins chances here and think it will be a much closer series than NY fans expect it to be. It would not surprise me at all if this one goes 5 games, and is literally decided by a couple runs in total differential through the series.

Go Twins!!!!