Twins fans, feast your depressed eyes on these gut-wrenching numbers.
Since 2007, the Twins are 14-43 against New York including the playoffs, and 5-20 at Yankee stadium.
Under Ron Gardenhire (since 2002), it’s no better, 24-72 against the pinstripes, and 9-35 in the big apple.
Making matters worse, the Twins are riding an epic three weeks of bad baseball, having lost 16 of 20 and 11 of their last 12.
The Yankees have won eight of 11, granted four of those were against the Twins last week, but the seemingly silent New York bats may be waking up. In those eight wins, they’re averaging nearly seven runs per game, averaging under four runs per contest in all other games this year.
History and currency both on the side of the big, bad Broadway ball club.
Making matters worse for Minnesota is the return of Derek Jeter. The Captain is a career .313 hitter, and .323 against the Twins in 125 games with 47 extra-base hits.
He appeared in the Yankee lineup yesterday for the first time this year, taking the first 91 games of the season to recover from a fractured ankle.
There is still a possibility New York may be without him this series, he tweaked a quad in the late innings of yesterday’s 8-4 win against Kansas City. He is scheduled to undergo an MRI today to determine if he’ll be ready for tonight’s series opener.
The Yankees will still be without Alex Rodriguez, Mark Teixeira, Kevin Youkilis, and Curtis Granderson. With that collection of big boppers missing time, you wonder how they manage to string together hits at all.
Of course, they find a way.
The pitching matchups are all in favor of New York, at least on paper:
Tonight: Scott Diamond (5-8, 5.52 ERA, 1-4 with a 7.03 ERA last six starts) vs. Hiroki Kuroda (seven innings of shutout ball last time out after a 1-3 June).
Saturday: Sam Deduno (4-4, 3.90 ERA, ERA of six in two July starts) vs. Phil Hughes (4-8, 4.55 ERA, July ERA of 2.45 including seven innings of one run ball against Minnesota last week).
Sunday: Kyle Gibson (1-2, 7.27 ERA, ERA near 10 since solid first start against Kansas City) vs. CC Sabathia (9-7, 3.99 ERA, picked up 200th career win against Minnesota last week, went complete against Kansas City in a 3-1 loss Tuesday).
Whether it’s a mental block, a talent gap, or just pure coincidence (impossible, right?), it’s been a one-sided 11 years.
The way the numbers and bounces stack up, taking one of three may almost qualify as a moral victory.
