Biting into the Big Apple

MINNEAPOLIS – The Minnesota Twins pounded the Kansas City Royals 8-1 to clinch at least the American League wild card on Monday, assuring a fourth playoff appearance in five seasons and, if they so choose, a chance to win the AL Central.

That's a choice they should decline.

The Twins should dry the champagne from their hair, trot Johan Santana out for a light throw Tuesday and concede the Central to the Detroit Tigers, whom they trail by one game.

No matter how much everyone says they want to win the division, the thing the Twins really want to win is the World Series. And to do that, in all likelihood, the task will require going through the New York Yankees, the most loaded team in baseball.

Upsets happen, but they happen most often in sports when the series are shortest. Talent wins out over the long haul, which is why any team with less natural ability wants to play the fewest amount of games possible.

The division series, where the wild-card Twins would meet the AL East champion Yankees, is best-of-five. The championship series is best-of-seven.

"Five games," Twins center fielder Torii Hunter said. "Five-game series. We don't want to play [the Yankees] in seven because they get hot and you don't want that to happen. Five games and we'll take our chances."

Hunter is a refreshing, tell-it-like-it-is guy in a world of politically correct sports quotes. He adds that, in the end, it really doesn't matter whom the Twins play, but he also isn't stupid.

The Yankees have the best team – which doesn't guarantee anything – but it's a reality. The lineup, with the midseason addition of Bobby Abreu, the reheating of Alex Rodriguez and the return to health of Hideki Matsui and Gary Sheffield, is breathtakingly powerful. The starting pitching is greatly improved. The closer is superior. Joe Torre is Joe Torre.

The Twins – like the Detroit Tigers and Oakland Athletics – are very good teams that have put together magical seasons. But for any of them to beat the now healthy Yankees, a lot of good things have to happen.

In Minnesota's case, that must include riding its one clear advantage – Santana, the best pitcher in baseball. With an 18-6 record and 2.79 earned-run average, the sure-bet AL Cy Young winner makes the Twins the favorite every time he takes the mound. Minnesota is 26-7 in games he has started this season.

In a five-game series, a rested Santana (who by conceding the division would skip a scheduled start Sunday) can go twice.

"When you know you have Johan Santana to run out there for Game 1, you feel like you've got an opportunity," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said. "There are no guarantees, but when you have a pitcher like that, you can run out there the first game of the playoffs [with] a pretty uplifting feeling.

"And knowing you'll probably get him for another shot too, yeah, it's pretty good."

If Santana delivers two masterpieces, the Twins just have to steal one of the other three games. If they reach the ALCS, they'll have to win at least two times with someone else.

"You throw him out twice," Hunter said. "Hopefully in between you can get some guys in there who can get it done. Boof Bonser [Monday's winner], I think, has a good chance to get it done, and that is what we are going to need.

"We are going to need somebody, one pitcher, one starter, one young guy to step in and throw strikes and hopefully get a win out of that," Hunter continued. "But we have our 80-percent chance with Johan."

Santana shrugs off the suggestion – "I don't really care. Baseball is baseball."

But strategy is strategy. In these playoffs, the rest of the AL is even. The entire National League – as its pathetic interleague performance proved – is questionable. The Yankees are the 800-pound gorilla, and deep down, everyone knows it.

It's not like tanking games to set up favorable playoff matchups is a new thing. Last year, the New England Patriots gave a questionable effort in a season finale to assure a playoff game against an inferior Jacksonville Jaguars squad. In the NBA, the Los Angeles Clippers smartly faded in the final week to avoid playing the Dallas Mavericks in the first round.

The only difference here is rather than trying to face a weaker team, the Twins would be forcing the issue with a tougher one. Winning the division would get them home field and a date with Oakland, which is no picnic and doesn't solve the inevitable Yankee problem. While you usually want to avoid the best team for as long as possible, in this case a preferable series length and a rested, ready Santana are worth heading into the belly of the beast.

"I want to play the Yankees," said Hunter, who wants to even the score of playoff losses to New York in 2003 and 2004. "I want to take those guys out. For two years in a row they've been eating our butts up, and now I want to do the biting."

Then the Twins ought to enjoy the celebration and go rest their teeth.