Do the Yankees really want to face the Twins this year?

Ah so the other day on Twitter, I saw that someone I followed was taking a poll on who as Yankee fans, they would like to see the Yanks face in the first round. Majority were fine with losing the division and facing the Minnesota Twins in round one, instead of having home field advantage against the Texas Rangers.

So many fans may remember the Twins as the team that the Yankees have beat up on every season since 2003, both during the regular season and during the postseason. In fact this year the Yankees have played better against the Twins (4-2) then they did against the Rangers (4-4). The Yankees faced the Twins twice early in the season when the bombers were playing much better then now, however against the Rangers they would be 1-4 outside of a three game sweep of the Rangers in early April when Texas was still struggling.

What many forget is that even last year when the Yankees swept the Twins in the first round that it was much closer then it seemed. The Twins had used up much of their pitching just to get into the postseason and were forced to start Brian Duensing in game one. Of course that was no match for CC Sabathia who dominated the Twins and gave the Yankees their first postseason victory since 2007.

Game two was not as easy for the bombers, but there were helped out by Carlos Gomez who over ran second base before Delmon Young could score. Nick Blackburn shut down the Yankees bats, even though AJ Burnett was doing the same. Eventually the Twins took a 3-1 lead, scoring two runs off Phil Hughes in the top of the eight. This was when Alex Rodriguez and his magical 2009 season came into play in the bottom of the ninth, when he hit a two run homer off Joe Nathan. To many Nathan was considered to be the best closer outside of Mariano Rivera until this season when he had season ending elbow surgery. The Yanks and Twins went to extra innings, in the top of the 11th inning of play the Twins had the bases loaded with no outs, but the Yankees managed to overcome a miracle and get out of the jam. The bottom of the 11th Mark Teixeira hit a line drive down the left field line and just like that the Yankees had a 2-0 series lead. This was a game the Twins could have easily had, but blew so many opportunity's.

In game three the Twins had old pal Carl Pavano on the mound against Andy Pettitte. From the start the Yankee hitters could hit Carl Pavano who earlier that season had quieted the Yankee bats. Pettitte was doing the same thing but the Twins drew first blood against Andy in the bottom of the sixth to give them a 1-0 lead. The Yanks had struggled against Pavano all night, but once again A-Rod came up and homered to tie the score, and moments later Jorge Posada also hit a solo shot,this time to give the Yankees the lead. Pavano struck out nine Yankees that night, and gave the Twins every chance to win. But the Twins pen gave up two more runs and the Yanks pen gave up none.

The Yankees of course won, but many forget that it wasn't as easy at it seemed. It helped in game two that the bombers had home field advantage (along with a effective Burnett), but this time they wouldn't.

The Twins this season have already won the division and are just waiting on who the opponent will be. All the talk is about the Rangers pitching since it has the big name Cliff Lee, but the Twins may have a better staff overall. They have Pavano again who is having a revival season (17-11 3.83), Francisco Liriano (14-9 3.48) and Scott Baker. The Twins also have a stacked bullpen and have three relievers that have been closers on other teams in Jon Rauch, Brian Fuentes and Matt Capps.

The Twins may not have the same offense that the Texas Rangers have, and suffered a blow when Justin Morneau went down (Morneau has begun to work out with the team, although it is unlikely he will see any game action). Jim Thome has stepped it up in Morneau's absence, Michael Cuddyer and Justin Kubel have been having great seasons as well. Joe Mauer has only hit nine home runs this season and is day to day with inflammation in his left knee. But when the playoffs come around that shouldn't stop him from at least being the DH.

The Yanks would be at Target Field for ALDS games 1,2 &5

The only thing that I do like about the possible match up is that the Twins don't steal bases. In fact they only have one player (Denard Span) that has double diget steals (26). Posada will be behind the plate, most of the postseason and it has been noted that his defensive skills have declined with age.

With the way the Yankees have played in September (12-15 record), a lot of negativity and questioning surrounds the club. The Rays also have struggled in September, practically giving the Yanks a shot at the division title over these past few days. It seems as if neither team wants the crown, but along with the division comes home field advantage and a chance to avoid a first round match up in Minnesota.