ALDS predictions...

[MnWilly]

Well, I am going to go with Twins in 5. It all comes down to tonights game. CC is the Yankees only pitcher worth a shit right now. If we can get to him.... TWINS in 5.

P.S. I am partial to TWINS in 5, I have tickets to game 1 and game 5 :D

[Chadwick]

I also say Twins in 5.

[Kyrillian]

Yanks in 4!

CC and Pettite will be solid, Hughes is a ?

[Klaus]

Not really happy with the way the Twins have played over the last 10 games but I still hold out hope they will win in.... 4 ??

[Hauser]

Without Morneau we lose in 5 :( Yanks are too consistent and have always had the twins number especially post season time. I hope I am wrong. Burnett not pitching helps us tho...

[Trany]

Sorry Boys, Yanks in 3 sweep. As much as I hate to admit it.

By the way Favre To Moss?

[Kyrillian]

Without Morneau we lose in 5 :( Yanks are too consistent and have always had the twins number especially post season time. I hope I am wrong. Burnett not pitching helps us tho...

Burnett pitching would have helped you:P

[Chadwick]

Well, it's hard to argue. The current era twins as a team and players like Kubel, Mauer, and Thome have for all intents and purposes proven they just dont show up for the playoffs. Probably half of the starters for the first two games simply have no playoff game.

As good all around ball players as guys like cuddyer and hudson are they cannot carry a team to a champinship much less beat the yankees in a best of 5.

Whereas the yankees, to a man all elevate, in the post season.

I understand Danny Valencia as a rookie not having the chops yet but guys that have been in the league and the postseason more than a couple times have to be able to play in the postseason or they simply dont have it in them. It's so bad they should Put Punto in, at least he is a ballplayer that shows up for the playoffs has proven so many years in a row now.

[Trany]

I would say is not that they don't show up, you need solid pitching and clutch hitting, and those have been the killer. I bet you that the Twins have the highest LOB percentage in the league, you cant leave ducks on the pond and expect to win, especially in the post season. Twins 2010 total Runs 781 Total Hits 1521 Diff 740.

That is atleast 740 runners Left on base, I didn't add in walks or hit by pitch, but thats ~50% of your hits, are left on base, because lack of hitting, or hitting into double plays. 50% is poor, the yankees are around 40%.

[Dath]

We would have had a much better shot if we had pulled the trigger on sending Ramos to Seattle for Cliff Lee rather than getting Capps. For postseason success, you need a dominant, innings eating ace. As good of seasons as Liriano and Pavano have had, neither is that.

[Kyrillian]

Pavano isn't a pressure pitcher. He couldn't even handle the regular season in NY.

[Chadwick]

I would say is not that they don't show up, you need solid pitching and clutch hitting, and those have been the killer. I bet you that the Twins have the highest LOB percentage in the league, you cant leave ducks on the pond and expect to win, especially in the post season. Twins 2010 total Runs 781 Total Hits 1521 Diff 740.

That is atleast 740 runners Left on base, I didn't add in walks or hit by pitch, but thats ~50% of your hits, are left on base, because lack of hitting, or hitting into double plays. 50% is poor, the yankees are around 40%.

Half or better of the teams overall and situational individual batting averages were far worse in the 3 games vs new york than durring the year.

That is not showing up. The twins allthough not great were mid pack in all situational team batting averages and they had plenty of comeback wins throughout the year. The yankees are simply solid for 9 innings in the playoffs and the twins are not. No offense.

[Ender]

I expected the Twins to win at least 1 game at home, but figured the Yankees in 4.

The Yankees just significantly overmatch the Twins in 7/9 positions, and have an ace pitcher in CC. People were hoping Peditte would still pitch bad since he was struggling at the end of the season, but they forget that he is like 19-8 in the post season and historically one of the best post season pitchers ever to play the game.

I don't know what it is, but the Yankees always dramatically increase their caliber of play in the postseason, while the Twins continually do not perform nearly to their potential.

People are blaming the management, and maybe to a small degree that is warranted since it is the managements job to prepare the players, get them motivated, and lead them to win games. But, it is not bad management when your players just don't get it done on the field. I heard some ridiculous stats on the radio today, and one of them was that the Twins in their last 5 post season appearances are batting .240 collectively. That is TERRIBLE, and will never win postseason games. They were batting probably close to .300 collectively in the regular season, which would win postseason games.

There are two things this ball club still lacks: An ace pitcher (they have not had one since Santana), and power. Did they have more power this year than past years with Thome? No. Why? Because Mauer only hit 9 homeruns and Morneau was out 3/4 of the season including the playoffs. Thome did a pretty good job of making up for some of that, and Young certainly helped too. But they did not IMPROVE in this category, and they need to in order to beat the Yankees. Think of what this ball club would be like if they had someone like Bautista in the lineup on top of Young, Mauer, Morneau, and Thome (maybe not another season for him though). Then, you are talking about matching up with the Yankees bats.

I hope they figure out something for next year with 11 free agents, but something tells me that this situation will get worse before it gets better. This ball club needs to change its attitude though. No more midnight champagne celebrations when you clinch a playoff spot 2 weeks before the end of the season... that should be an expectation and business as usual, not your ultimate goal. They need to carry over their focus and determination into the playoffs in order to beat anyone besides the White Sux or pathetic Royals.