But also note...who in the AL has a 3rd starter that can shut down the Yankees? Hughes will probably be good for 5-6 innings of 4 run ball. It's not good...but Dunsing (sp?) probably won't shut down the Yanks in New York.
I got your back Sparky , I have been to every Yankee playoff series in the past 15 years and will be at all 3 this year too. Yanks sweep Minn on way to face Bobby one last time on his way out for the chip.
LETS GO YANKS! 
Seeing that Georgia is my new home...I'd love that scenario. However...the Braves are on life support with Timmy and Cain awaiting. 
fuck em.....they deserve it for shitting on the Yanks down the stretch.....
Yanks play the Rangers in the ALCS......Tampas bats will let them down.....expecially facing Lee twice.....
fuck em.....they deserve it for shitting on the Yanks down the stretch.....
Yanks play the Rangers in the ALCS......Tampas bats will let them down.....expecially facing Lee twice.....
And if Longoria isn't at full strength...they really have no chance. And facing Lee is not exactly a warm welcome.
It was a terrible stretch. To have over a month's worth of terrible road starts and still have an ERA under 5 means you did something right somewhere along the lines. And now he has extra rest. So instead of not being able to put someone away...he now can.
Of course. The more innings he pitched, the more he wore. It's gotta be hard going from the rotation to the bullpen and back to the rotation. But you have to think extra rest will be better for him.
How quickly you forget about the Twins' 2-8 finish. 
How quickly you forget about the Twins' 2-8 finish.
LOL of course you either ignore the fact that this was after the Twins clinched, resting vast majority of every day starters, bullpen and setting up their rotation or you intend to continue to paint a picture that helps you. You used to be fairly objective but you are getting worst and worst. So much that I am not putting you in the same category of all NYY that all baseball fans have long begun to despise.
Oh yeah, of course you forget too that NYY were 8-14 since September 10 (being for the most part only BAL) during the middle of pennent race when the Twins either clinched or had the clinch in the bag. But yeah that is the same thing isn't it?
Actually Twins lost their last 9 playoff games if you want to know the truth. Momentum is big in this game. If Twins win game one you might be shocked how quickly they can beat anyone. They have a lot of confidence this year and have been playing like it down the stretch (before they clinched I mean). I agree with you in that it does seem that all teams that have clinched or about to clinch didn't appear to give two $hits about the rest of the games. You might be right about the NYY too but I cannot say I watched enough games to be able to have an opinion one way or the other about their motivations. Of course the other side of that coin could be that Girardi was just making his typical bad bullpen calls too. Other than Mo there really isn't a no brainer to call in every circumstance for NYY so playing the matchups/numbers can be a bit tricky.
Oh yeah I also agree that having a healthy Mauer is important and that is exactly what MIN was trying to do for the vast majority of the month of September. However, the Twins went on their run without Justin Morneau and believe it or not but in the past three years (since his MVP season) Justin has missed a lot of games and the Twins have won 75% of the game that Justin DID NOT play in. So I don't think you can call him the missing link. I have thought long and hard about this stat and honestly don't have an answer to why the Twins appear on paper to play better without him. My only thought is that if Justin doesn't play that moves Cuddy to 1st, Kubel to right and Valencia to 3rd. Perhaps Valencia is the missing link. Or perhaps the team just got hot down the stretch each of the past three years (which they did). Who really knows but it is certainly not worthy.
On any other team Phil Hughes was a 12-12 pitcher
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