MVN: Most Valuable Network

When Joe Girardi took the job of replacing Joe Torre as Yankees manager couple of years ago, he decided to wear the #27 in the back of his uniform to indicate his team's goal was to get the Yankees to win their 27th World Series championship. The Yankees were several outs away from winning their 27th championship in 2001, but the Diamondbacks were able to scratch off some hits, and it was good enough to beat Mariano Rivera and the Yankees, which gave the Diamondbacks their first ever championship.

Since then, the Yankees have been on a championship drought, and Yankee haters have been getting a good laugh out of the Yankees' failures, which featured blowing a 3-1 series lead against the Red Sox in the 2004 ALCS and then, losing to a young Marlins team in the 2003 World Series.

Here's hoping Yankees haters enjoy those years because they could be in for a rude awakening this year. The Yankees have everything going for them in winning a championship this year because they finally have the pitching to go with their hitting.

The Yankees' starters are the best in baseball. When a team has five great starters that can be aces for the other team, that's a very good situation for them, and that's how a team wins championships.

We all thought CC Sabathia and A.J. Burnett were going to wilt under pressure in NYC, but that has not been the case. In fact, those two have embraced pitching in NY by going out and performing quality starts, and they even go deep in games, which saves the bullpen.

Plus, add in Joba Chamberlain, Chien-Ming Wang and Andy Pettitte, and that results to a scary rotation come October.

Everyone thought the Yankees' bullpen was going to be a weakness, but that has been their strength all year. Girardi has put relievers such as Phil Coke, Alfredo Aceves, Jonathan Albaladejo and Phil Hughes in a position to succeed, and it has worked out well.

The Yankees have fielded a great lineup for the last few years, and this year is no different. Mark Teixeira is having a MVP season in his first full season in the Bronx, and he has the leadership in him to go out and do well whenever he is at the plate, which has rubbed off well on his teammates.

The offense has struggled in the postseason, but it has not helped the starters and the relievers have not done well enough to compete with the other team's starters so the hitters got exposed for what they are. This year is going to be different because the Yankees pitchers are much better equipped to match up well the other team's pitcher, and the Yankees' hitters are good enough to get at least some runs late in the game.

Yankees fans love to rip on Girardi for whatever reason, but all he has done is win and earn the respect of his players by having his team prepared every game and getting the most out of them. The Yankees play the game well, and that's a credit to what Girardi and his staff has done.

Girardi is a great tactician, which is something Joe Torre never was despite what Torre's sycophants think. All Torre had to do is give them specific roles to do, and hope for the best.

Girardi at least knows his players' strengths and weaknesses, and he knows when to use the right guys to hit and pitch, which is something Torre never grasp during his overrated tenure at the Bronx. Also unlike Torre, Girardi is not afraid to call out veterans or take them out of the game if they are struggling.

Girardi also knows how to get the trust of Alex Rodriguez, which is something Torre could not do. Torre could not stand Rodriguez to the point he would do anything to humiliate him such as batting his troubled start eighth in an elimination game against the Tigers in the 2006 ALDS.

A good manager and a great pitching staff will be the difference for the Yankees winning it all, and which team is good enough to beat the Yankees. The Red Sox and the Dodgers are two teams that can unseat the Yankees, but those two teams don't have that great of a starting pitching unlike the Yankees.

For folks that thought the Yankees were going to stop spending with George Steinbrenner out of the way, they were kidding themselves. The Yankees will always spend because they have the money, and they sure know how to do it right.

Plus, the organization has gotten much better in developing young talent and formulating a great farm system by taking a page of what the Red Sox did in the Theo Epstein era.

Yankee haters have enjoyed a nice time these last year, and it was a great experience, but successful teams just never die unless an owner suddenly has lost interest in winning like 49ers owner Dr. John York.

This year, it will be the Yankees that will be celebrating, and Girardi will wear #28 next season.

 

Prior to last night's start against the Yankees, Scott Baker boasted a 2-0 record in his two career starts against them because he pitched flawlessly by not allowing walks and hits. The Yankees were swinging at his pitches, and they were muttering stuff out of frustration when they were called out on strikes on both occasions.In his third career start against the Yankees, Baker did not come close to what he did in his two starts. He had nothing with his pitches, and he was out of the game by the fourth inning with the Twins trailing 3-1 with the bases loaded. Not only was it a short night for him, but it was also for the Twins as they received a 10-2 beating by the Yankees.What doomed Baker in this contest was his lack of control and lack of strikeouts. There was not much velocity with his pitches, and... Read more

What makes a playoff contender in baseball year after year?When a team has many All-Stars that are always in the midsummer classic, and that's what the Twins have in Justin Morneau, Joe Mauer and Joe Nathan.For the second straight year, those three players will be playing in the All-Star Game at St. Louis after the rosters were announced prior to yesterday afternoon's contest between the Twins and the Tigers.Joe Mauer was voted by the fans at his position as catcher while Justin Morneau and Joe Nathan were selected by their peers and AL Manager Joe Maddon. It's a selection that was well-earned, and quite frankly, those three should always be in the All-Star Game every year for what they do for the Twins because without those three, the Twins might as well be the  Royals.Justin Morneau had a breakout season in 2006, and since then, he has been consistent in... Read more

Kevin Slowey put the Twins in a bad situation on Friday night when the Tigers were hitting all of his pitches, and as a result, the Tigers scored three each in the second and third innings. The Twins managed to come back and tie the game at seven, and they tied the game again in the 14th inning after the Tigers took an 8-7 lead, but then the Tigers took the lead in the 16th inning by scoring three runs off a tired R.A. Dickey, and it resulted to a tough loss for the Twins.The Twins needed a boost after what happened Friday night, and they got it from Justin Morneau yesterday afternoon. Morneau went 4-for-4 with a home run and two RBIs in the Twins' 4-3 victory over the Tigers at the Metrodome, and he was a triple short of a cycle.Morneau is doing well at a time the... Read more

The All-Star selection will be made on Sunday, and there has been a debate on Kevin Slowey being an All-Star when baseball wonks talk about him for All-Star consideration. After last night's performance, Slowey does not have to worry about his chances of being an All-Star because he is not going to be selected after his two recent poor performances. Last night, the Tigers hit him hard, and he was out of the game by the third inning.The Twins eventually bailed him out by tying the game at 7, and the game lasted for 16 innings. It was a good comeback, but in the end, the Twins lost this game 11-9.It was a disappointing performance by Slowey to say the least. For one thing, he was pitching in a game the Twins needed to win, and they were hoping he would set the tone. Second of all, he had a... Read more

Tonight, the Twins start a nine-game homestand to complete the pre-All-Star break. This homestand should bring out the best out of the home team and its fans with the Tigers, Yankees and the White Sox being the opposition. There is no question this is going to be a challenge with all three teams playing well right now, and this should be a good barometer to where the Twins stand in the first half and for the rest of the season. The Tigers will be the first opponent in this homestand, and there is a lot at stake in this weekend's AL Central showdown. The Twins have an opportunity to be two games or tied for first place if they can win or sweep the Tigers, and if they can accomplish that, this can set the tone for next week. The Tigers have overachieved so far thanks to their starting pitching.... Read more

The Twins were playing the rubber game of a three-game set against the woebegone Royals yesterday afternoon. It was a game the Twins needed to win, and they accomplished their objective with a 5-1 victory to finish off a nine-game road trip in nine days.During the course of the season, there are wins that stand out the most, and yesterday was one of those days. This victory was significant in many ways: Winning SeriesThis outcome gave the Twins their third straight series victory. At this time of the year, teams need to start playing better by winning many series as they can with the All-Star break approaching soon.The best way to be in first place is to win series after series, and it looks like the Twins are starting to get a grasp on that with what they have done against the Brewers, Cardinals and the Royals. This is good... Read more

Last night, the Royals were fouling off most of Scott Baker's pitches the entire night, and as a result, his pitch count was at 111 by the fifth inning so his night was done. The Twins were going to go with a reliever who was going to either keep the game tied at 1 or protect a slim lead.The Twins were batting in the sixth inning, and they got it going by getting couple of runners on base thanks to a wild throw by Billy Butler, who had an opportunity to create a double play. Michael Cuddyer hit a sacrifice fly that scored Joe Mauer, and the Twins took a 2-1 lead.Ron Gardenhire inserted Bobby Keppel to pitch in the sixth inning, and it was the right move to make. R.A. Dickey was unavailable after pitching Monday night, and Sean Henn is only pitching in mopup roles.At some point, Keppel... Read more

Mark DeRosa was available in the offseason yet the Twins never made an attempt to get him via trade for whatever reason. DeRosa would have done more offensively than what Joe Crede has given to the Twins.DeRosa could have even helped them at second base, but the Twins thought Alexi Casilla proved himself as an everyday player at that position so there was no need to get a replacement there.The Twins did not know Casilla would end up being a bust, and his poor performance sent him back to Rochester earlier this season. The Twins called him back during the West Coast trip, but Casilla did not show the desire to stay with his lackluster performance so he went back to Rochester as soon as Punto was activated from the disabled list.Forget about Casilla coming back to the Twins anytime soon, and it will be a surprise if he even... Read more

Matt Guerrier suffered through a difficult stretch starting from the summer all the way to September. Opposing teams were hitting all of his pitches, and then the Twins would blow leads away under Guerrier's watch.To be fair to Guerrier, he wasn't the only reliever who was having a hard time on the mound. It was guys like Jesse Crain, Dennys Reyes, Eddie Guardado and Joe Nathan that took victories away from the Twins during the pennant race.Someone has to be the face of failure when things go bad in professional sports because that's just the way it is so Guerrier took the brunt of abuse from frustrated fans, and there was criticism of him several times in this site last year.What we didn't realize is Guerrier was pitching hurt in that stretch. He was pitching with a tired arm, but he had no choice since he was the only guy... Read more

On Friday night, Albert Pujols was facing Joe Nathan with a runner on base. There was no room for error because if Nathan gives up an one-out home run, then the game would have been tied, and maybe the Cardinals would have had a walk-off victory after that. Nathan always relished in throwing the high heat to great hitters so it was on between Pujols and him. Nathan won the battle by striking Pujols out for the second out, and then finishing off Mike Ludwick to earn his 18th save of the season. Pujols got even in a big way on Saturday afternoon by homering twice off Kevin Slowey to lead the Cardinals to a 5-3 victory at Busch Stadium. The Twins probably had a bad feeling that Pujols was going to get back at them after what happened to him on Friday night. He is too good to be... Read more