Time for Revenge: Twins-Yankees

I'm getting very jacked up for the Twins-Yankees series that starts tonight at the Dome. It's time for some sweet revenge after the Yankees beat the Twins in four straight games back in May at new Yankee Stadium in the Bronx, three of the four games ending on walk offs.

The Twins are playing pretty good baseball right now. They have won four straight series and six out of the last seven. However, they have been very fortunate to avoid the aces of opposing teams. The Twins didn't have to face Carlos Zambrano, Yovani Gallardo, Chris Carpenter, Zach Grienke, or Justin Verlander. This week alone, the Twins have to face Fat C.C., Burnett, Danks, Floyd, and Buehrle. That is no easy task for any team. The Twins offense was inconsistent for much of June, only averaging about 4 runs per game compared to around 6 in May. However, June was the first winning month for the Twins because their starting pitching began performing better. Both the pitching and the hitting have to be at the top of their game this week when they face the top pitchers from the Yankees and White Sox.

The Twins have been dominating right handed pitching ever since Joe Mauer came back on May 1. The Yankees will put up Sabathia, Burnett, and recently called up Sergio Mitre against Baker, Perk, and recently called up Anthony Swarzak. I like the Twins in the Thursday matine matchup. The middle game is a toss up to me because both Burnett and Liriano are going well right now. I would give the Yankees the edge in the opener tonight with C.C. If the Twins can find a way to take the opener, a sweep is not out of the question. The key to beating C.C. tonight is this: Make his fat ass come off the mound and field his position. I would put Gomez in the lineup and have him, Span, and Punto bunting early and often. Tire Sabathia out a bit, maybe force some errors, and get under his skin.

The Twins bullpen is very key in this series as well. As the Twins witnessed in New York, the Yankees are as good as any team in the league at coming back in the late innings. Guerrier, Mijares, Nathan and Co. will need to be on their game. The Hammer is one of my favorite Twins and is virtually unhittable right now, so hopefully he can exact some revenge on his hometown team after blowing the opener in the Bronx back in May.

It's gut check time for the Twins this week right before the All-Star break. If they can continue to get good starting pitching, they have a good chance to go into the break in first place. Let's start the week by getting revenge on the Evil Empire. Very excited to see Baseball Immortality Derek Jeter, A-Rod and Co. play in the Dome for the last time. Let's play!