eight and half lead.
























playing for 2nd place?

You are right AX bro....

THE CUBS and the SOX in the world series. SOX in 6.
THat way people will believe both of their curses are over.

Yeah, Our salary is some $50 m less than that of the Yanks.
Can you ever imagine REd SOx having the Yanks salary cap and vice versa and competiting in the same division?
SOmetimes we gotta think that away also.

By the way RED SOX vs. Yankees this season:

We have been leading the series 9-7. IN all those games combined REd SOx have scored far more runs than the Yankees. I guess Yanks fan will prefer to compare their Total wins this season against the Sox's win this season, that way they still have 3 and 1/2 more games won. But Yanks vs. Sox one to one, it's not something they find comfortable to argue about.

I am looking forward to see the REd Sox and Yankees paly in the penant title this year. You guys think we gotta curse on us. How about Schilling??? The Yankees fans should be well aware of that curse.................


Let's not talk about the TWINS. THey are very well balanced team. Both on offense and defense. when I say defense, the pitching also gets included. However, they play in different division. Of Course it's quite easy to play against the ROyals or the White SOx or the Indians or the TIgers. J . Santana have been doing everything right. However, he doesn't have to Face the Yankees as much as Pedro or Schilling does. Imagine putting yourself on the spot light with thousands of cameras, journalists and so so faithful fans expecting a lot of good from you everytime you go to the MOUND, and then imagine yourself ptiching with virtually not as much pressure, and go unnoticed until the last couple of months left in the season. IT's the pressure. Schilling will definitely fill in the shoes of Santana if he were to pitch for the TWINS. Can you say the same about Santana if he were her in Boston??? And see what happened last night (TUESDAY).. FOulke blowed his 21st win of the season when Schilling had an 8 inning shutout ball game going on. By the way that was the 3 rd time Schilling's win was put into jeopardy.
Statistics wise Santana's numbers look impressive but We ALL know Statistics can be deceiving. Especially when you deal with the human beings, leave the MLB pitchers alone.Even if we follow the same stats. the Twins are 3 and 1/2 games behing the SOX. that doesn't really matter because the TWINS had already clinched their division whereas We haven't won anything yet.

But I don't see them winning the World series. I guess, they are gonna face Yankees again.

Oh what A win tonite..
GO SOX GO.
Jai Nepal

** yawns **

happy by choice, I was wrong I should have checked the facts. Don't know why I felt Santana played for Yankees farm system. instead Twins got Johan Santana from Florida Marlins.

On Feb 06, 98 - Minnesota Twins traded Chuck Knoblauch to the New York Yankees for Eric Milton, Danny Mota, Brian Buchanan, Cristian Guzman and cash.

source: http://www.tsn.ca/mlb/teams/player_bio.asp?player_id=606&hubName=RET

Proud bro, Red Sox are still on the 2nd place in AL Division. I will say Red SOx are better team when they beats Yankees in the Playoffs.

I don't agree with the theory that Schilling should win the Cy Young just becoz he has to face Yanks more than Santana does!!!!!!!!! It's not Santana's problem that he plays in central division and not the East, he has racked up impressive outings against whoever came in his way, including Red sox where he had better of Pedro..........it's not fair to assume Santana would not be able to survive the pressure had he been in NY or Red Sox........fact of the matter is he has pitched his hearts out and his numbers are there to prove it..........not many people and media pay attention to Twins coz they are low market team and that's very unfortunate, to clinch the division with 2 weeks to go and with such a low salary cap is commendable effort........they may not have big hitters that Sox and Yanks possess, but their pitching is better than the other 2 and pitching is what ultimately wins ball games..........Yanks are worst among the 3 in this department............I seriously think Twins will defeat the Yanks if they match up in 1st round,
GO SANTANA for Cy YOUNG
GO Twins

Yankees have three game series with Red Sox this weekend and three game series as well with Twins after that. Let the game do the talking. What you say?

Proud bro, you think Boston is a better team NY Yankees coz they have won the match up this year? Red Sox have lost miserably to Baltimore Orioles (5-10???) this year does that mean Baltimore are better team than Red Sox? Care to explain???

and about the MN Twins, if you are a baseball fan, you and I know they have no chances with any playoff teams. It's good that you won the Central division, but there are 4-5 better teams from the East and West than Twins.

Who else do you have beside Santana and Radke (is he still pitching???) on your pitching staff. About the batting, your best ball player, Torri Hunter, the gold glove center fielder is batting avg .275 with 78 RBI. Part time Yankees players like Bernie Williams and Ruben Sierra may have better nos than his. Sorry no comparison between Yankees and Twins.

Yankees plays by the rule so donýt whine about how much Yankees have or notýý

Pitching staff of MN with Santana, Radke and Silva(probably) in the playoffs will obviously have the upper hand when compared to that of Yankees, but u are right........Twins have no firepower in batting lineup when compared to that of the Yanks.......but if u talk about firepower in batting lineup, orioles and Whitesox have arguably the best of lineups and yet they can't make the playoffs(bad luck for orioles to be in east) .....all because of their lack of pitching capabilities, last year Yanks eliminated Twins coz they had Petitte, Clemens in their rotation to go along with their power lineup, this year their lineup just got a lot better but pitching got worse as well ........so its interesting to see who comes out on top when Twins pitching battle the Yankees lineup.........although to many it may sound like a futile series and waste of time when yanks and twins play in the ALDS(i.e. if they indeed matchup in playoffs) .but i games are not decided in paper and they are played for a reason........so we will see in playoffs..........
go twins

but if u talk about firepower in batting lineup, orioles and Whitesox have arguably the best of lineups and yet they can't make the playoffs

>>> don't know how much AL West do you wathc. You should have heard of team name called Angels. They got the best lineup. So does the Rangers and As. Don't know how can you add White Sox, their both offensive power big hurt and M. ordonez are hurt for some time now. Orioles have a good line up with Tejada, Palmerio and lopez but nothing coampred to Yankees or even Red Sox. Orioles will be really good next year, they need some pitching. Watch out Red Sox, 2nd place mite not be your from next year :)

About the Yankees pitching staffs, yeah their ace was hurt. But do check the last 4-5 starts for all the Yankees starter and you will be surprised.

AL Central divison fans, you should start to watch some AL west and east games, so you can know how great of a divisions they are. AL Central divison is like an AAA division for East and West

Angles do have the best lineup in terms of batting average in AL, but Orioles and Wsox are not far behind, in fact Orioles have better batting average(3rd in AL) than that of Yanks and W sox have more homer runs than that of As, Angels and Red sox........and as far as comparing central div to east and west divisions.......i agree central div is not as competitive as the other 2, but that doesn't imply all the central div teams are bad and AAA teams........and just for stats.......here is Twins 2004 season record VS some of the AL Playoff bound teams, 4-2 against Rsox, 2-1 against yanks, 4-5 against angels, 5-2 against rangers...........so don't just start judgin a team by its div......

unkown, I didn't check the stats when i replied last time. I judged them with the players. Angels have awesome lineup of Vald Gurrerro, G. Anderson, J. Gullien, T. Glaus and Erstad. compare those lineup to your MN Twins and you woul dknow what I meant.

i hope you are not saying Twins having a better record vs AL East is a better team? if you are a real baseball fan, you know what i meant about AAA division. Let's not forget that about the series last year. Yankees swept them in the reg seasona but they were managed to win the first game. It will happen the same thing again this year. Yankees over Twins 3-1 (if Twins were to play on the west div, they would ranked 4th after Angels, As and Rangers)

Having a better stat (pitching or batting) doesn't guarentee you a win. Ask Red Sox fans, what happened to thier killer batting lineup and the best pitching staffs last year. you gotta have will like Yankees do to play the championship game :)

Go Red Sox.

Yankees suck.

Both are good teams... May the best win!!! :)

Ax, I am not a die hard baseball fan but fan enough to know AAA.........I know what u mean when u compare central as a AAA team, and I also know what Angels have and what Yankees have in terms of lineups.........so basically the fact that Twins do not get to play enough games with Yanks, Sox and Angels in regular season would imply whatever record they have against those teams do not reflect their true ability(or inability as u might say).............you r right about AL west as 3 teams are still in the race for one playoff spot and that race was never on as far as the central division concerned..........coz twins pretty much ran over the wsox, indians and all............but u cannot just say they would be ranked 4th if they played in west division........i remember last yr when yanks eliminated twins in postseason.....but as every red sox and cubs fan would tell u.....every yr is different and that's why they actually play the game......and as i mentioned before, yanks from last year and this yr cannot be compared when it comes to pitching, they SUCK.............
I know Yanks and SOx matchup is mostly desired by the fans but that may never happen at all if twins rattle up the Yanks.............

WHo thinks The tWins have the best Starting Rotaionin the AL??
I still believe the As are the best in that category followed by the Red Sox. TWins: they have a good rotation but not good enough to beat the Yanks or Soxs in series of 3 0r 5 games. If the Playoffs were to be decided in one game like FOotball than I will say all the teams have equal opportunity of winning the World Series. In fact, the best team always wins the whole thing. That's why they have series of 5 or 7.

To Someone who thought REd SOX had the best pitching rotation last year...... >>Bro you are Dead wrong. Our LINEUP was the best. Not the starting rotation. As and Yanks were better than us. Our advantage was in batting. That's why we were able to beat the As with a series getting out of hand (trailing 0-2). Some Questionanle COaching decision took the World Series away from us.

THis year, Our batting lineup is almost the same. Our Defense had vastly improved. On top of that we have improved our pitching overall. Our CLoser is better. We got a better pitcher(debatbale) than Pedro, in the form of Kurt Schilling. I will say Schilling is the CURSE for the Yankees.

And on the same page, I will say the tWINS are not good enough to score enough runs. Short series during the regular season don't really tell enough as of which team is better or not? THe REd SoX are a very different than when they played the twins. Period.

Yeah ANgels are damn good team. whether they can get to the playoffs or not is still debatable. They gotta good all round team but you gotta get to the playoffs first. Actually Angels were favored by most of the Baseball Pundits to win the World Sereis this year. See how they are doing now? Same with the Astros in the NL.

This is the time to wakeup guys.

GO SOX GO
jai Nepal

Which team has the Most intimidating LIneuP?

Yankees, Twins, Angels or the REd SOX??
Whoud would you rather face from a pitching perspective??
THe ANgels, The TWINS, the REd SOXs or the Yankees.

If I were a middle man I would have saif the TWINS. It's an honest opinion. There's not a single guy who is so fearful that our pitchers have to worry about every single picth they are goign to throw to. Don't get me wrong. Our pitchers do really concentrate on every single picth they throw no matter who is in th lineup. However, to go to the mound with Confidence is a different story. THat's what the PTCHers in the AL will have if they were to face the TWINS.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

Which Starting rotation would you rather face in the Playoffs?

The Angels (Considering they go to the playoffs), the AS, THE TWINS, the Yankees(Do they have a very dependable Starting rotation yet?) , orthe REdSox??

THe answer will be the Angels. However, to pick from the Yanks, Twins and hte SOxs. The Answer will again be the TWins. Is Radke 100% now, has to be, because Santana cannot win the whole the thing by himself. Even if he gets healthy. Who would you rather face: Santana and Radke (1-2 punch), EL Duque and ------- (not sure yet..prolly the MOOSE), or Schilling and Pedro.
It looks like the Yanks but it's not. COz playoffs are 5 and 7 games long. IN a five game series the Yanks are the weakest. In a seven game series the Twins are the weakest.
By the way facing the Red SOx will be the last priority for any COACH.

So guys, Be honest and have your own assessment. I see the REd Sox as the favorite in the AL.

GO Boston GO.
Jai Nepal

okie Proud bro got that rite about Twins. I am already excited about Yankees playing Angels for the ALCS. It will be nice to beat them since they beat us 2 years ago.

I still think Red Sox got the best AL pitching rotation with Schilling, Pedro, Lowe and Yankees killer Knucklehead. But they still have not resolved their bullpen like last year. Thatýs why I say they will lose to Angels (if they were to make it) As donýt have enuf firepower to beat Red Sox.

Proud bro, are you sure your team going to make it coz they have 7 games left with Yankees and the other team which they struggle almightily (sp???).

foe, we are talking about three teams :p

i agree somewhat with Proud Nepali that red sox are the favorite in the AL, but they are not clear cut favorite and they can expect stiff challenge from the As or the Rangers.......and if Yanks and Red Sox meet up in ALCS again....i think it will be Sox who will come out on top simply because of their pitching, but i don't think even yanks have easy path past first round where they r likely to face the Twins, yeah they dont have formidable lineup and all, but what matters is how u win the game, not how many homers u hit, a 1-0 victory counts same as 9-0 thrashing..........so of course the pressure is going to be immense on radke and santana to win their games coz Silva is not dependable(unless Twins catch fire with bat somehow)..........whatever, i just think its going to be interesting series and not a walk in the park for the yanks that many of u think...........same for red sox.............so i am rooting for small market teams like twins and As...........happy watchin...

unknown, when i compare teams the stat I look at is called On Base Percentage and when i have to compare the players, i check Runs Scored

here's on Base % for the best AL Teams, and Twins stand the last place

Teams ------------------On Base %
Boston Red Sox --------- .359
NY Yankees --------------.356
Oakland As --------------.346
Anaheim Angels ----------.341
Minnesota Twins ---------.332

*****************************************

The Yankees clinched their 10th consecutive playoff berth last nite, but there was no champagne, no screams of joy and no hugs of celebration. When asked to Manager Torre about the Yankees low-key approach after clinching a playoff spot, "they will have a big celebration after they win World Series." That tells what Yankees are aiming for. Twins and Red Sox are nothing but a bump in the road to the 27th World Championship ;)

here's Yankees players statement after the play off Birth
Captain Derek Jeter - We're not playing to get in the playoffs. We're trying to win our division.
Alex Rodriguez - Clinching the wild card is good, but we have lofty goals for late October.

If any of you don't know about Red Sox and Yankees and their rivalry, you better watch the game tonite. Ace vs Ace, Power vs Power and the green monster. It will be one of the best games of the season.

go MUSS go!!! show those naysayer what YOU and YANKEES are all about.

Ax, unlike U, i don't just compared Onbase % and runs stat as they are just part of the actual story, u can score a lot but doesn't mean a thing if u don't have defense and pitching to defend it, and yeah i read that stuff about yanks clinching the playoff and their lack of emotion.........i am least surprised with their reaction coz all along in season they have sitting in 1st place, why would they celebrate when clinching 1st place for 12th time in a row( i think)..........and yeah Twins celebrated their clinch coz that's only their 3rd in a row..........and that in now means Twins are happy just with spot in playoff and have no desire to win the ultimate.......Torre Hunter said after clinching, Bring on the yankees, he would much rather prefer to play than sox coz he and the team knows they can take care of the yankees if they play to their potential.....so derek jeter just said what each ball player would say, they play to win, not just to go to playoffs, that doesn't make jeter sth extra special, he said that last yr to and see what happened.......twins celebrated coz they have bunch of new players like ford, morneou who never experienced playoffs before.........and they actually felt good to clinch it in chicago coz chicago and that pitcher(forgot his name) making a fuss about twins making playoffs and basically making statements out of jealousy............and ya i know Sox and Yanks rivalry and i like it the most in the baseball.......i m sure these games coming would be fun ones and Sox would have to play exceptionally well if they are to clinch the 1st place(4 1/2 behind Yanks) with 2 weeks left is not good.......but Mussina against pedro..don't think that will be best matches of the year.........mussina will throttled around by Sox sluggers........

unkown said "Torre Hunter said after clinching, Bring on the yankees, he would much rather prefer to play than sox coz he and the team knows they can take care of the yankees if they play to their potential"
>>>what's mite be .275 hitting avg with 78 RBI would be :) oh yeah I forgot he hits third ;)

Unkown said "so derek jeter just said what each ball player would say, they play to win, not just to go to playoffs, that doesn't make jeter sth extra special, he said that last yr to and see what happened......."
>>> He is not someone speical. It's his 9th(?) season in the league and he has been to been playoffs every year and been to World Series 6 times and won it all 4 times. He has scored 100 runs every seaosn but an injury plauged last season. He is .315 life time hitter with .386 On Base Percentage. I can go and on about his performace on the filed. please visit following link if you need more info about him
http://nyny.essortment.com/derekjeterbiog_rkjp.htm

can you name me another player who been consistent than him in past 10 years?

unknown said "twins celebrated coz they have bunch of new players like ford, morneou who never experienced playoffs before........."
>>> Please check the picture and I am sure all Twins roster was not rookie ;)

unkown said "and ya i know Sox and Yanks rivalry and i like it the most in the baseball.......i m sure these games coming would be fun ones and Sox would have to play exceptionally well if they are to clinch the 1st place(4 1/2 behind Yanks) with 2 weeks left is not good......."
>>> it's nothing new for Yankees fans. They been wanting for so long... 1918 !!! ding dong!!! It's same old story. Personally for me, Red Sox brings the best out of yankees. Nothing excites me more than beating Red Sux ;)

Red Sox are good team but Yankees are better ;)

back to same thing again??? Red Sox vs Yankees??? what happened to ALDS matchup between Yankees and Twins

I was talkin about SOx and Yanks this weekend.......and by talkin about them i am not sayin Yanks will beat twins in playoffs.........i still think twins can beat Yanks in the playoffs and come offseason they will get more help in pitchin dept and claim this time they won't falter.......that's what's been happening the last few yrs, losing to d'backs, angels, marlins........and i am sure next yr too they clinch playoff spot and not be too thrilled about it like always........and Jeter will say We want to win it all.......still he is not someone special.........bernie williams and others have been thru the same postseason that jeter has........and u think Yanks are not worried at all to see Twins in 1st round..........sending 6 guys to scout every twins game in chicago and now in cleveland..........think againm i guess u will see in playoffs and then only realize........and ya that 3 game series in bronx next week........