Minnesota Back In Action As Underdogs Against Yankees In ALDS Game 1

NFL News - October 7th, 2009 - Written by Scott

The New York Yankees are well rested and tonight, will play the Minnesota Twins in Game 1 of the Playoffs.  The Yankees are back in the playoffs after missing last year's post season.  Their streak of 13 consecutive playoff appearances was snapped last year after finishing third in the AL East.  The Twins clinched their playoff appearance last night.  They went into extra innings with Detroit to win their first Central title in three years.  They will need a strong outing from their starting pitcher, Brian Duensing, after they used seven relievers last night.  The Yankees finished the regular season 103-59 and the Twins, 87-76.  New York swept the Twins this season winning all 7 of their games.

C.C. Sabathia will start tonight for New York as the Yankees will be seeking their 27th championship.  Sabathia finished the regular season with a 19-8 record and a 3.37 ERA.  He is 9-4 against the Twins with an ERA of 1.91 over his last 13 starts against Minnesota. 

Derek Jeter is leading the Yankees with a team high .335 batting average.  Adding Mark Teixteira to the team this year has proved to be a great move.  He is leading the team in both home runs and RBIs.  He has 39 home runs and 122 RBIs during the regular season.  Teixteira also batted .483 against the Twins this season with 4 homeruns.  The playoffs will also provide third baseman Alex Rodriguez to improve on his post season numbers.  In his last 16 playoff games, he has struglled at the plate greatly.  He is only batting .143 with 1 home run and 1 RBI.

The starting pitcher for the Twins, Duensing, will have his work cut out for him tonight.  His bullpen is relying on 24 hours of rest and fatigue could set in if needed in Game 1.  During the regular season, Duensing posted a record of 5-2 with an ERA of 3.64.  His only appearance against the Yankees came in relief where he surrendered 4 runs and 2 hits in 2 2/3 innings of work.

Joe Mauer is without a doubt the leader offensively for the Twins.  He has a batting average of .368.  He is the AL batting champion and is the best all around player for Minnesota.  Michael Cuddyer leads the team in home runs with 32 and Jason Kubel is the team leader in RBIs with 103.  They have played well offensively against the Yankees during the regular season, despite losing all of their matchups.  Defense and pitching have hurt them in their losses.

BetUS sportsbook has the odds listed for tonight's game.  The Yankees are at -1 1/2 (-180).  The odds to win the series for New York are at 3-0 (+150), 3-1 (+250), and 3-2 (+350).

In tonight's game, the odds for the Minnesota Twins are at +1 1/2 (+160).  The odds to win the series for the Twins are 3-0 (+2500), 3-1 (+900), and 3-2 (+700). 

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