Yankees Roundtable

Last Week :Next week will be all about the playoffs so let's discuss something completely different this week, Jesus Montero.  What are your thoughts about him and what do you think the Yankees should do with him?

This Week: Enough with the fluff, it's playoff time.  What are your keys to the series, and who's going to win?

Jeff:  As i said in my "Yankees Preview" I believe the Yankees are going to win in 4 games.  The primary reason for this is that I don't think the Twins combination of Liriano/Pavano/Blackburn is enough to overcome the Yankees' offense.  Still, the key is Game 1.  This is because of the Yankees starting pitching troubles, outside of CC Sabathia; and Sabathia is starting Game 1.  If Sabathia doesn't turn in a stellar performance Game 1 and the Yankees fall in an 0-1 hole against the Twins, their starting pitching may not be enough to overcome the Twins.  
Still, i don't see Sabathia being anything short of brilliant on Wednesday, and the Yankees will find their three wins in the first four games.
Go Yankees!

Ben: It's no surprise that the key for the Yankees is their pitching.  They have the best lineup in baseball and although they don't have great bullpen depth, they have 4 guys (Mo, Joba, Robertson, and Wood) that are all above average, and in Mo's case, the best ever.  Sabathia is going to start game 4 no matter what, and he has a history of success in that regard so I'm not too worried about him.   I am however, worried about Pettitte.  There is a small chance that he's just not right and throws a clunker in game 2.  If that happens the Yankees would have to use their bullpen more and then have a big hole in the rotation to fill later in the postseason, if they were to get there.  This isn't a huge concern but it's there, and its somewhat unnerving.  

ANYWAYS, CC will shoulder the load (again) pitching (well) on 3 days rest in this series and throughout the rest of the postseason, hopefully.

Prediction: Yankees in 4

Steve: The key will be big fat CC Sabathia. He will go in game 1 and he will go in game 4, and I'd be surprised if he didn't pitch close to eight innings in both. If the Twins can get to CC quickly in game 1, then a panic will bubble up on the Dark Side. Certainly Francisco Liriano can go inning for inning with CC and the Twins can come up with enough singles to get a few across and seal the deal (and maybe a couple dongs from lumberjacks Thome and Kubel), but that's the only scenario I see worrying the Yanks. They've got too powerful a lineup to have any excuse to screw this up.

Another key to the series is how many Yanks will be fresh and healthy enough to go full speed for the postseason. Sure, they botched the last month of the season and it cost them home field, but Swisher, Gardner, Pettitte were treated with kid gloves all year so that they could really bring it when it mattered. It matters now. I wouldn't be surprised to see the Yanks come out like a new beast and just bury the Twins, like they have time and time again.

The pitching concerns outside of Sabathia will keep my prediction conservative, but I'm still saying Yanks in 5.