Hoping for a Yanks-Twins playoff series

Bob Matthews – October 6, 2009 - 3:00am

PAUL BATTAGLIA The Associated Press

Minnesota’s Joe Mauer should be a landslide pick for AL Most Valuable Player this season. He spent five games with the Red Wings on a rehab stint in 2004.

Leading off with thoughts on today’s Detroit Tigers at Minnesota Twins one-game playoff for the American League Central title and a playoff berth:

Rochester Red Wings fans should be proud of the current Twins who have contributed to the team’s remarkable 16-4 finish minus injured slugger Justin Morneau and veteran third baseman Joe Crede. Michael Cuddyer, Jason Kubel, Denard Span and Matt Tolbert have been regulars in the lineup throughout the surge. Jose Morales has been a frequent designated hitter. Pitchers Scott Baker (today’s starter), Nick Blackburn, Brian Duensing and Jeff Manship have been in the starting rotation. Bobby Keppel, Jesse Crane, Francisco Liriano and Matt Guerrier are in the bullpen. Alexi Casilla, Matt Buscher and Justin Huber are on the bench.

The Wings have reached the International League playoffs just once (2006) since the Twins replaced Baltimore as parent club in 2003, but no major-league team has promoted more Triple-A players than Minnesota over that span. The Twins obviously know what they’re doing.

The Twins getting this far should make Joe Mauer a landslide pick for AL Most Valuable Player. All things considered, he’s probably had the best all-around season by a catcher in Major League Baseball history. Ordinary players would’ve spent the 2004 season playing for Rochester after spending the previous season in Double-A and Triple-A, but Mauer bypassed Triple-A and has been a star ever since. He did spend five games with the Red Wings on a rehab stint in 2004. Naturally, he hit over .300 (.316, 6-for-19 with 3 doubles).

That means two of the last four AL MVPs would be former Red Wings — Mauer and Morneau (outpolled Derek Jeter in 2006).

Left fielder Delmon Young has been an unsung hero for the streaking Twins. In recent weeks, he has looked like the hitter they expected him to become when they traded shortstop Jason Bartlett and pitcher Matt Garza to Tampa Bay in order to obtain him in November 2007, after he was runner-up for AL Rookie of the Year. Minnesota has the makings of a terrific lineup next season, with Mauer, Morneau, Kubel and Span from the left side, and Young and Cuddyer from the right. If they can somehow add a bit more pop at second base and third base in the offseason, they could be a powerhouse in their new downtown stadium.

Today’s pitching matchup favors Minnesota, with their ace (Baker) against Tigers rookie Rick Porcello.

If the Twins win today, their reward would be the chance to take on the New York Yankees in the best-of-five AL Division Series in an apparent gross mismatch. My pick would be New York in three games. But you can’t completely discount these Twins.

I’ve ranked the starting position players for all of this season’s playoff teams. Assuming Minnesota makes it, here is how I compare the Yankees-Twins starters compared to those of the Red Sox, Angels, Phillies, Cardinals, Dodgers and Rockies:

1B: Mark Teixeira (Yankees) No. 2 (behind only Albert Pujols of the Cardinals)… Michael Cuddyer (Twins) No. 7.

2B: Robinson Cano (Yankees) No. 2 (behind only Chase Utley of the Phillies)… Nick Punto (Twins) No. 8.

SS: Derek Jeter (Yankees) No. 1 (slightly ahead of Troy Tulowitszki of the Rockies)… Orlando Cabrera (Twins) No. 5. If Minnesota had him all season, it would’ve won the division long ago.

3B: Alex Rodriguez (Yankees) No. 1… Matt Tolbert/Brendan Harris/Brian Buscher (Twins) No. 8.

LF: Johnny Damon (Yankees) No. 6… Delmon Young (Twins) No. 7.

DH: Hideki Matsui (Yankees) No. 2 (behind only David Ortiz of Boston and just ahead of fading Vladimir Guerrero of the Angels)…Jose Morales (Twins) No. 6.

I give Minnesota the advantage at only three spots:

CF: Denard Span (Twins) No. 4… Melky Cabrera (Yankees) No. 6.

RF: Jason Kubel (Twins) No. 2 (behind only Andre Ethier of the Dodgers and just ahead of Bobby Abreu of the Angels)… Nick Swisher (Yankees) No. 7 (a loaded position).

C: Joe Mauer (Twins) No. 1… Jorge Posada (Yankees) No. 3.

The Yankees have the advantage over the Twins in top-three starting pitchers and in the bullpen with Joba Chamberlain (finally) for the seventh inning, Phil Hughes for the eighth inning and Mariano Rivera for the ninth inning.

The 3-2 overtime loss by the Rochester Americans Saturday night to the Lake Erie Monsters in their AHL season-opening home game was a disappointment, but the turnout of 4,124 was even more disappointing. After a summer loaded with encouraging veteran free-agent signings, many of us figured area fans starving for good hockey would flock to see the new-look Amerks. Apparently, it won’t be easy to lure them back after two generally dreadful seasons.

Of the 15 AHL teams to play at home this season, only Peoria (1,355) and Binghamton (3,927) had smaller opening-game crowds than Rochester. The AHL average crowd through 17 games is 6,483.

A-Rod had an amazing final game of the regular season on Sunday — two HRs and an AL-record record seven RBI in one inning — to finish with his 13th season (and 12th in a row) with at least 30 HRs and 100 RBI. He entered the game with 28 HRs and 93 RBI, and finished 30-100 — not bad for 124 games after starting late due to hip surgery. Of course, his fast finish puts even more pressure on him to produce when it really counts in the playoffs. In his last 13 playoff games with the Yankees, he’s 7-for-44 (.159) with 1 double, 1 HR, 1 RBI and 15 strikeouts.

Summer Bird is closing in on the great filly Rachel Alexandra for 2009 Horse of the Year honors. Saturday at Belmont Park, he became the first three-year-old since the great Easy Goer in 1989 to win the Belmont Stakes, the Travers and the Jockey Club Gold Cup. If he wins the $5 million Breeders’ Cup Classic Nov. 7 at Santa Anita, he’d have a very strong case for Horse of the Year.

Indianapolis Colts quarterback Peyton Manning is the obvious NFL Most Valuable Player frontrunner through Week 4. He’d be the first four-time league MVP. At his current pace, he’d pass for 5,344 yards this season. The NFL record is 5,084 by Dan Marino in 1984. … The Buffalo Bills rank 26th in total offense (290.8 yards per game) and 27th in total offense (allowing 377.0 yards per game). … Among the many other troubling stats for the Bills, Terrell Owens ranks 60th in the NFL (158) and Lee Evans ranks 68th (148) in yards receiving this season. … The New York Giants haven’t missed wide receiver Plaxico Burress yet. Steve Smith leads the NFL in catches (34) and yards receiving (411). He had 57 catches for 574 yards last season.

Syracuse University wide receiver Mike Williams is enjoying a fine season. He ranks seventh in the nation in receptions per game (8.2) and is fifth in yards receiving per game (124.60). He leads the Big East in both categories.

Syracuse ranks 92nd among the 120 NCAA major-college football teams in total offense (331.40 yards per game) and 86th in total defense (381.40 yards allowed per game).

SU ranks last in the eight-team Big East Conference in both categories.