Front Page: Five Reasons the Twins Can Beat the Yankees

[RandBalls Stu]

The last couple decades of this matchup have been hard to watch if you’re a Minnesota fan. Even though the Twins won 101 games this season, they enter this series decided underdogs once again. You need a reason to buy in to this year being different. Here are five of them.

• 1987. That Twins team was the fourth best out of four teams. They had no business beating Detroit. They had no business beating St. Louis. The third starter was Les Straker. Al Michaels made fun of the Metrodome the entirety of the World Series. Whitey Herzog’s haircut was dumb as hell. Tom Kelly was 17. They won anyway.

• This can’t keep happening. If ever a team was due to beat another team, it’s the Minnesota Twins versus the New York Yankees. The math is just ridiculous at this point. You are more likely to get hit by spooky lightning while winning the Powerball than to have New York’s record vs. the Twins the last 20 years (don’t look this up). This dominance is unsustainable.

• We’re good people who deserve nice things. We volunteer in the community. We maintain healthy relationships with our family. We donate to charity. We stay off our phones in restaurants and have meaningful conversations with the rest of the table. The ROI on common decency should frankly be better than what Twins fans have gotten. “You do the right thing because it’s the right thing, not because of some potential reward,” some might say. Some might blow it out their ass, no disrespect.

• The Yankees pitching is different now. Remember when the Yankees had Mike Mussina and Andy Pettitte and they shut out the Twins every game from 1999-2018? Even though they were retired for many of those years, and they just kept doing it anyway? I’ve checked New York’s playoff roster. Neither Mussina nor Pettitte is on it. This is the most positive development for the Twins since they got $50,000 and Johan Santana from the Marlins for Jared Camp. This is not a joke and I am not kidding.

• DOBNAK. He’s probably going to start Game 2 or 3. He and Devin Smeltzer are the best stories in a season of great stories for the Minnesota Twins. The national media loves guys like this, and they thirst to tell these kinds of tales. I’m not saying Fox or ESPN will lean on MLB to give the Twins a break. I’m also not saying that’s the reason Phil Cuzzi is not a part of this series’ playoff crew. I’m just a man who notices things is all. Nothing more than that. DOBNAK.

That weight off your shoulders? That lightness in your step? That’s optimism. Embrace it.

 

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[glunn]

Great article! I am drinking your Kool-Ade.  

 

[beckmt]

We have a chance.  Still find it hard to believe that some writers think the Yankees starting pitching is better than ours.  Twins have to get ahead early and keep hitting.  Force the Yankees to decide early how much of their good bullpen they want to use to keep the chance to catch up.  Fall behind early and it will be difficult.  

Go Twins!

[Monkeypaws]

It wasn't until their 6th try that the Dodgers finally beat the Yankees in the World Series.

 

How many times have they beaten the Twins in the playoffs?

 

Hmmmm.....

[insagt1]

can the Twins win? Of course they can!! But the Yankees will be favored by just about everyone. Until theTwins actually beat them in a series they won't be taken completely seriously. Twins record in post season against NY is abysmal. How does that matter?

 

What everyone wants to downplay as irrelevant is history. Sorry, but history is that intangible, invisible force that hangs over a franchise like Los Angeles smog. It is irrational to be sure...different years, different players, different leadership....but it doesn't seem to matter. Its there like an unwanted guest who just continues to overstay his welcome.

 

Its totally illogical for sure. But its also undeniable. And it isn't just an outlier. All those years the Bruins could not beat the Canadiens in the playoffs...years...heck decades. How about the A's futility in postseason since 2000. Or Atlanta now losing their 9th straight game one of a post season series. All those consecutive divisional pennants (14..if you don't count the 1994 season that the Expos 'won' and had stolen from them) and yet only ONE world series championship.

More recently the Caps inability to beat Pittsburgh, no matter how much better they may have been before finally slaying that dragon..and you know it was on the mind of every single player.. Bufalo Bills--losing 4 straight super bowls and then going 17 years without making the playoffs. And intertwined in their futility was the infamous 'Music City Miracle'...there is no logical explanation for that game. How is it that organizations like the Red Sox and Cubs failed every year for decades....even when their teams were exceptional?

 

History hangs over teams and while its inexplicable (and players and managers like to tell you it doesn't matter) its still undeniable. To think otherwise is like sticking your head in the sand, refusing to come up for air. New year, new players.....until someone breaks the spell, it will always be there.

 

So now its 2019. And 'everyone' tells us that the Yankees will prevail....because they always do. There will always be an unexpected error, a HR, a bunch of walks, a wild pitch, some 2 out magic, a blown call by the umpires....something will happen to the team that always loses to continue the horror...many will say.

 

Its our turn. Its WAY past our turn. But if anyone thinks that if Twins fall behind 2-0 that the players aren't being weighed down with the 'here we go again' anvil, think again. Its inescapable, because at the end of the day, they are all human. WHY can't we beat these guys for a change?

 

For me, I believe that on paper the gap between these two teams is as narrow as it has ever been. So how they perform and deal with the pressure of post season is out there. They say the team that wins game one of a 5 game series wins the series just about 3/4 of the time. Thats huge. So Berrios must bring his 'A+' game tonite to give us a chance.

 

Go Twins!!!

Edited October 4, 2019 by insagt1

[USAFChief]

OK...who are you, and what have you done with Randballs Stu?

[TFRazor]

I just want us to treat the Yankee's like we treated the Orioles this season. So lots of bombas and a couple of laughers, then "On to Cincinnati"

[ashbury]

OK...who are you, and what have you done with Randballs Stu?

"Area man poses as RandBalls Stu, finds out satire is more difficult than it looks."

[woolywoolhouse]

[gunnarthor]

2010 was our magical year and they swept us. I'm not going to believe we can beat them until we actually beat them. Until then, I image that Berrios will give up 3 HR in the first two innings tonight, that we score a few in the fifth but get locked down after that and lose 8-4. 

 

I hate being a pessimist. 

[partial_lattice]

Optimism leads to disappointment. Disappointment leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering.

Though, we've had plenty of suffering over the last 9 years, so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Go Twins!

[jimbo92107]

Let's remember that there is a public perception of the Yankees, but it can be very different from how the players themselves view this match up. The Bombas speak for themselves - Yankee pitchers know damn well how the Twins won 101 games this season, just as Twins pitchers know how the Yankees got here. The players know that this is going to be a hard fought slug fest. 

 

For that reason I would suggest that Baldy's boys should work the count in Game 1, other than that first pitch, where the leadoff hitter should try to take that first center-cut heater well over the fence. Yankee hurlers probably will start off nibbling around the edges, seeing if they can get excitable Twins hitters to bite on sucker pitches. Be ready to take a few walks, then cash in! 

[Number3]

Yankees probably see no way they can lose this series and Twins will probably not feel they have won until the 27th out in the 3rd win. That is the biggest hurdle...above the neck. If the Twins can play loose and confident, they can win this. Its that simple.

 

Go Twins!

[SpicyGarvSauce]

Twins get swept, 3-0. Hello winter.

[Puckett34]

 

Twins get swept, 3-0. Hello winter.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYmOqPFyJPw

[SpicyGarvSauce]

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aYmOqPFyJPw

 

Come on man, it is a bit...I think negatively, with the hope of something positive happening. Like, when I said the Twins wouldn't beat Clevinger in the DH'er a few weeks back.

[Puckett34]

 

Come on man, it is a bit...I think negatively, with the hope of something positive happening. Like, when I said the Twins wouldn't beat Clevinger in the DH'er a few weeks back.

I figured. Just battling sarcasm with more sarcasm

[ashbury]

I figured. Just battling sarcasm with more sarcasm

I'm glad this got sorted out. But let's please leave the personal edge off of the sarcasm. Other readers may misunderstand.

[Battle ur tail off]

Trevor May will decide this series for the Twins. Write that down. It will be a close game and he is the one most likely to implode IMO. He has to keep it together and throw strikes, attack hitters when we are in a 1-run game and he has to face dangerous hitters. 

 

Twins are going to score. I have faith that Cruz is going to have a monster series and if Kepler is back, he is going to have an impact. Sano will hit at least 1 bomb that is going to make a difference as well. NO ERRORS, especially out of the SS position. Polanco must play excellent defense. 

 

LETS GO TWINS!!

[ashbury]

Trevor May will decide this series for the Twins.

What you say can apply to any of the relievers, but I have to concur. Trevor needs to turn off the brain, and let Lurch come out. Get the signal from the catcher, rear back and hit the mitt, and let his stuff do its job en route. A little stomping around the mound between pitches is a plus, as long as he's not stalling.

[Brock Beauchamp]

For what it's worth, I totally read The Office bit as retaliation to that post as satire. It also made me laugh because Michael's sheer hatred of Toby is always funny, particularly that scene.

[Puckett34]

 

For what it's worth, I totally read The Office bit as retaliation to that post as satire. It also made me laugh because Michael's sheer hatred of Toby is always funny, particularly that scene.

You read it correctly. But I could also see how it could be misconstrued. Things are tense right now. I also try to not pass up a opportunity to use that video and quote it off hand regularly.

Edited October 4, 2019 by Puckett34

[Circus Boy]

I'm rooting for the team from Grain Belt Country.

[ashbury]

I'm rooting for the team from Grain Belt Country.

We'll try to remember plenty of Circus Boy Updates.