2. There's virtually no chance the Jays will be better than the Twins next season. It's safe to say the Twins will most likely win at least 90 games next season. The twins are like a well oiled machine. I thought they would take a dip this season after losing Everyday Eddie, Hawkins, and Milton but they keep on ticking. The scary part is that Mourneau hasn't played from day 1 and Joe Mauer has been injured for most of the season.

On the other hand I have a better chance of marrying Jennifer Love Hewitt than the Jays winning 90 plus games next season. I don't expect Delgado to come back and JP has said he won't be spending his FA money all on one big player but rather spread it around which basically means it's unlikely Sexson or Glaus is coming up North.

And then there's that small problem of having the Yanks and Red Sox in your own division. And even the O's will be spending again this off-season.

1) Twins will win the first round and scare the bejeebus out of somebody in the second round but won't make it to the series. They've got the best pitcher in baseball, and Morneau gives them the left-handed power they've been missing since Kent Hrbek was in his prime.

2) I like the chances of a Jays rebound in 2005, but the Twins will still be better. They've got Santana/Morneau/Mauer, and can presumably scrape together enough money to buy a new middle infielder(s).

3) Twins are Good when they don't do stupid things like keeping Morneau in the minors or Santana in the bullpen.

Yankees are annoying, but no team with Loaiza AND Sturtze AND Heredia in their bullpen can be considered evil.

(No Twin has hit 30 homers in a season since 1987; Morneau has 17 in 65 games this year).

3)I think the best way for us to analyze this question, which involves the usage of analogies, is to turn to the Ridley Scott masterpiece "Alien" for comparison aid.

In the movie Alien, face-hugger's latch onto the heads of unsuspecting victims and plant the eggs of parasitic demon aliens into the recipient's chest. At this point, the victim will continue upon his/her everyday life for a some random period of time until the parasitic demon has become a full-grown evolved beast and outgrows the confines of the victim's body resulting in a violent exit from the chest of its host and ultimately will unleash its newfound wrath onto whatever law-abiding and god-fearing citizens might be around.

In Major League Baseball, everytime a player gets the call to the bigs the chest hugger of free agency implants a parasitic demon that appears in the form of a 'Y' with a 'N' superimposed over it. The parasite gestates in the victims body for a period of 6 yrs and at the end of this term the parasite has completely taken over the host body resulting in the formation of pinstripes and 'ass-hole-esque' features. The behaviour of the possessed is characterized as unholy, perverse, evil, unfair and in callous disregard for all that is just.

Then there is Agent Ripley. Through her cunning, determination and heroism she defies the odds and escapes the wrath of the beast, who had previously wiped out her entire crew. Her tale is truly captivating. A human pitted against a parasitic demon comes out on top of the fray.

With 3 of the 13 clusters of human colonies remaining, and only 1 whose tales shant be cut short come the dawn of ALCS reckoning, it becomes one mans duty to become baseball's agent ripley.

While his demonic spores may be in the early stage of gestation and it might only be a matter of time before the parasite violently assimilates him, the role of the hero falls upon Johan Santana's shoulders. His weapons, A fierce fastball/changeup combination that is described as indistinguishable and a downright fearsome assortment of breaking pitches. The evil shall be tricked, dooped, and made to look silly all whilst the dominating southpaw lays the demonic beast to rest.

And then there shall be only one....

I'd trade another sub 90 win Jays season to marry Jennifer Love Hewitt any day! ;-)

1. I have no idea how well the Twins will do in the postseason. The postseason is a crapshoot anyway, as the sample sizes are so small. The Twins do have Santana (currently the best pitcher in the universe); if Radke gets hot too, they'll be difficult to beat. The 1987 Twins won the World Series because of Blyleven and Viola, and this team looks similar.

(The Twins have come a long way since the days when they were considered a candidate for contraction, haven't they?)

2. As for next year: I doubt that the Jays will win more games than the Twins, especially since they'll likely have to replace Delgado. But I have no idea how the Jays will do - they could win 90 next year, or they could lose 100.

3. Apologies to the Yankee fans on Da Box, but for me Yankees:Evil is a given. I would whole-heartedly root for the Yankees' opponents in any postseason series except for possibly Orioles-Yankees (in which case I'd wish a plague on both their houses). Oh yes, and Braves-Yankees, which I wouldn't even bother watching.

It's funny. I thought about the 1987 Twins too. Young team that came out of nowhere to win it all. Here is that team. But, there are some differences:

1. this year's team is much, much better. The '87 Twins allowed more runs than they scored and won 85 games during the season. They had 1 great (Viola) and 2 good (Blyleven and Berenguer)pitchers. Jeff Reardon was mediocre. This year's model should win about 95 games, and has 1 great (Santana) and 5 good (Nathan, Radke, Rincon, Romero and Crain) pitchers. The offence is almost as good, and maybe better if Mauer is healthy.

2. this year's team is younger in key spots. The Twins came up with the cornerstones of their success (Puckett, Hrbek, Gaetti, Brunansky) a couple of years earlier. Morneau and Mauer will have to shoulder a lot of the load if this team is to win.

The 87 team benefitted from what I perceived to be a fair bit of luck. The Tigers were a worn out team after the division race against our hometown heroes, and were easy prey for the Twins.

All that said, I've been very impressed with the Twins this season. If Mauer is healthy, I think that they've got as good a shot as anybody. Fair odds of them winning are about 1 in 8 in my view. They'll probably come off at 15-1 or 25-1.

Enough of these fantasies and analyses, where are the poets? Mike D, Senryu urgently required here. Here's my pathetic effort:

Mauer and Santana
Young battery full of juice
Series win power?

I have heard Mauer pronounced both with one and two syllables. If with two, the first line becomes "Mauer, Santana".

1) Sorry, Twins fans. They will have to face either Boston or New York in the first round, and while Santana makes one upset possible, they would probably have to repeat it against the other Beast of the East in the ALCS, where Johan might be limited to only two starts. Then they'll have to do it one more time against St. Louis or some NL team that has caught fire. I won't say there's zero chance of a WS crown, but it's highly unlikely.

2) The '05 Twins should win more games than the '05 Jays. Even if all other things were equal, half their schedule is against Detroit, K.C., Cleveland and the ChiSox, while the Jays play in a slightly tougher division. So if W-L record is the yardstick for "better" I pick Minnesota over Toronto. However, I think the teams, pending offseason moves, could be quite similar, talent-wise. If Joe Nathan signed a two-year deal with Mr. Applegate and Santana's wing is indestructible, they will be back in the playoffs, while the Jays, working in a dozen or so rookies and sophomores, almost certainly won't.

3) Terry Ryan is mid-pack in my GM rankings, because he sure can develop corner bats, but hasn't turned that surplus into a second baseman and a #3 starter. Gardenhire is a lot looser than Kelly was, and though I'd love to play for him, I've noticed a gradual decline in their baserunning and defence, which was awesome under TK. I'm a huge fan of Santana, Morneau and Koskie and I like underdogs, so while they are nowhere near the Jays or Cards in my affection, the Twins are "good" guys.

I don't hate the Yankees, I admire them. I've had many fascinating conversations with Steinbrenner and Cashman, and I love George's desire to win at all costs. Is it frustrating that he refuses to play on a level field? Absolutely. But you can't ask for more baseball drama than last year's ALCS, and I won't be complaining a bit if there's a rematch. The whole team takes on the owner's persona. Arrogant? Deservedly so. Bullies, sure. Villains, maybe. Evil? Not at all.

Dear Mike Green, please don't
Refer to ballplayers as
Being "full of juice".

Coach,

Do you really mean that you admire bullies, as is implied in the last paragraph? ;-)

Or maybe?

Dear Mike Green, please
don't refer to ballplayers
as being "full of juice"

Dear Mister Burley,
I will not do it again
unless it's "apple".

Do you really mean that you admire bullies, as is implied in the last paragraph? ;-)

You know me better than that, Robert. Context, my friend.

Within the confines of many (most?) sporting events, a certain swagger and attempt to intimidate the opponent is quite acceptable, though it's a tactic that can backfire. At an MLB owners meeting, anyone who throws his weight around instead of meekly following Selig and his cronies is my hero.

I think the Yankees have always been, and remain, great for baseball. There's no right or wrong on that issue; it's so emotional that it causes extreme and opposite reactions. I understand and even sympathize with those who loathe Steinbrenner and his team, so I hope people respect my extreme dislike for Chicago clubs, Jeff Loria and that pal of his who doesn't own or influence Milwaukee and the Expos in any way.

The most interesting thing for the Twins in the off-season will be whether they keep or adequately replace Brad Radke. After Santana and Radke their rotation falls off dramatically.

If the Jays decide to keep Batista in the pen and sign a cheaper one year solution at 1B/DH (Palmeiro?) then they could have enough money to make a run at a starter like Radke. Though I'm thinking he's going to get a ton of money, something in the $8 to $10 million range.

Imagine a rotation with Halladay, Radke, Bush, and Towers...

There would be like 30 walks issued all year...

I would expect the yankees to pursue Radke early, often and aggressively in the offseason. I can already picture his name on the uni...

no love for my Alien shpiel.... man that hurts guys :).....

Just a joke - as indicated.

Chill, Matt, you're way out ahead in the race to win one of the prizes, but let's give it some time. Gleeman hasn't chimed in yet.

oooohhh!!! I'm gettin a prize!!! I'm sooo excited!!!

I think people forget that the twins have a legit chance of catching the yankees for first overall in the AL... The twins have CWS and CLE for the next five while the yankes have the next two vs Toronto's best pitchers followed by a 3-gm set with the bosox... We could see a twins team 3 gms away from catching the yanks, by weeks end...

And the Winners Are ...

For the first question, our award goes to PSmith (the former Braves' fifth starter?) for the fact that he's exactly right and for properly using the word "bejeebus" in his response. His prize is this somewhat
disturbing image of past-his-prime but still-swingin' Greatest Twin Ever, Harmon Killebrew:




On question #2, the No-Prize goes to Dave Till, who writes of the 2005
Jays, "they could win 90 next year, or they could lose 100." This prize:



But the real first prize for Question #2 goes to Ryan Lind, whose
aggressive fantasizing about a freakishly control-oriented '05 Jays
rotation plays off the idea that the Jays will only be better than
the Twins if somehow lose the guy who has more wins for wearing
"Minnesota" across his chest than anyone not named "Kaat," AND that
same guy ends up in a Jays uni.

If I told you your prize was a free copy of "Twins" magazine, I hope
you wouldn't expect Johan Santana on the cover




For his unmistakeable "I want to win" pandering, his ability to
recognize and identify the SAT code for "anaologies" and most of all for
the darkly clouded hint that the Yankees are hot like SIguorney Weaver in her prime, Matt
take Question #3, Matt wins ... well, what did you expect? You saw
the prizes in the Write
Your Own Headline contest, right?

You guys crack me up. Thanks, as always, for the wit and insight on Da Box!