A Real Time Glance in the Mind of The Ace during Game 2 of the ALDS

5:07pm- Love the fact that the Twins are wearing the throwback uni's. Now lets see if they can play good, as well as look good.

5:14pm- Pavstache gets Texiera looking. Good start. Lets get the bats rocking. 0-0 Mid 1st.

5:16pm- After watching the 30 for 30, 'Four Days in October' about the Red Sox/Yankees 2004 ALCS, I have hope that the Twins can win this game, and take one in New York. Make Pettitte work for this one.

5:19pm- That's crazy that Pettitte has 4 T's in his last name, its half T's. Denard is really battling.

5:20pm- BEAUTIFUL 10 Pitch at bat by Span. Great plan for the Twins: Make Pettitte pitch 10 times to each batter...we'll have him out after the 2nd out! IALTO!

5:22pm- Nice work, O-Hud...takes you two pitches to ruin what Denard set up. Sidebar: Derek Jeter is phenomenal, as much as I hate the Yankees and everyone that wears that uniform, he's big time. C'mon Joe, get on and let Thome go nuts!

5:24pm- $184 Million gets you a 1-6 start to the playoffs. 0-0, End 1st.

5:25pm- Why is it whenever I see a John Hancock commercial, I can hear Beavis and Butthead laughing in my head?

5:27pm- Mustache back on the hill, and as I'm typing, 1 pitch, 1 out. Nice work.

5:30pm- Great running catch by Span, by far the Player of the Game so far.

5:31pm- Scratch that Span comment, bring back Torii Hunter, he'd of had that Swisher hit. I hated Swisher when he was with the A's, hated him when he was with the ChiSox, hate him as a Yankee.....LOVED him on How I Met Your Mother!

5:32pm- How sweet is the TBS Pitch TRAX? Good inning, Carl. 0-0, Mid 2nd. Onto my 3rd beer. (Since 4:30, easy people)

5:35pm- Since Dish Network doesn't have FSNorth anymore, I might jump to Comcast...they have it, they have the RedZone and MLB Network....why don't I have Comcast? Nice job Delmon, back to back lead off batters start innings 1 and 2, can we capitalize? Go Thome!

5:37pm- I'll take a Thome blooper, 1st and 2nd, no out. Lets go Cuddy!!

5:38pm- Ron Darling said that the 'October air is making the ball carry better at Target Field.' Yep, we found out it did for Toronto and Mark Teixera last nite. The concrete must of settled.

5:39pm- Cuddy advanced the runners....now we need more KUBEL!

5:41pm- 4 pitch walk to load the bases for Danny Valencia. This kid can make a name for himself right here. Already 30 pitches for Pettite and he's got 4 outs....Delmon Young tags. Sac RBI for Valencia.

1-0, Twins.

5:44pm- Lineout by Hardy ends the inning. 1-0 Twins, end 2nd.

5:46pm- I just saw a T-Mobile commerical. Apparantly I have the Samsung Vibrant...I've been telling people its called the Galaxy. Life is confusing.

5:47pm- Oh hey, Lance Berkman is still doing things.

5:49pm- Pettitte is having trouble releasing, I know the feeling. IALTO! Random thought: They should replace Ron Darling with Charles Barkley. How much fun would that be?

5:53pm- Pavano strikes out his 3rd victim, 1-0, Twins, Mid 3rd.

5:56pm- Denard is his middle name? Keiunta Denard Span. Hmm...thank you wikipedia. Two quick outs for Span and Hudson. Here comes the second coming of Jesus. Let's watch him earn his paycheck.

5:58pm- Butera....I mean Mauer, drops to 1-7 in the ALDS. 1-0, Twins, end of 3rd.

6:02pm- There are a few guys that I hate watching, because they always seem to have the Twins number. Magglio Ordonez, Miguel Cabrera, Mark Teixera and Curtis Granderson...the last two, are now 1st and 3rd with no outs.

6:04pm- I hate A-Rod...it could of been worse. Seeing all this CONAN stuff is really softening the blow.

Twins, Yankees Tied at 1, Top 4th, 1 out.

6:05pm- We need like, a guy who's about 13 feet tall to play Right Field. How tall was Paul Bunyan or the Jolly Green Giant?

6:07pm- 1-6-3. Could of been A LOT worse. The mustache gets out of the inning. Nice work.

6:11pm- Carl Pavano is trending on Twitter. In a span of 5 days, Pavano and Mike Tice were trending.

6:12pm- Man, Jim Thome breaks a lot of bats. Quickly, two outs here in the 4th.

6:17pm- I would love to see Ron Gardenhire and Brad Childress have a discussion. Probably the most boring conversation ever.

6:18pm- Lance Berkman just hit as many home runs in the playoffs as he did in the regular season, 1. Fantastic.

Yankees lead 2-1, Top 5th. 1 Out.

6:21pm- Inning over. The Twins need to break out their bats. Seriously.

6:26pm- Kubel and Valencia down...here comes Hardy...should I just move on to the 6th inning? I'll move to a 4th beer.

6:31pm- If Pavano can get past Granderson, Teixera and A-Rod, we should be in good shape with the top of our lineup in the bottom half of the 6th inning...but Granderson gets on. Time to turn 2.

6:33pm- By the way, if you're over the age of 10, or can grow actual facial hair, there is no need to wear fake Joe Mauer Sideburns or a fake Pavano Mustache.

6:39pm- Nice pop up to Cano, 2 outs now...lets make it 3 and get out of this and score some effing runs.

6:42pm- Pavano gets out of the jam. Now we go through our lineup starting from the top...lets pull ahead now and never look back!

6:49pm- GET OUT, ORLANDO HUDSON!! TIE GAME! Pettitte really left that one hanging!!

Twins, Yankees tied at 2, 1 out, bottom 6

6:50pm- ....and Joe Mauer is the buzzkill grounding out.

6:51pm- DELMON YOUNG'S GOT WHEELS!!! Granderson can't make the play, CLOSE play at 3rd! Here comes Thome!

7:01pm- Two straight nights where the pitcher stayed in 1 batter too long. At least Gardy gets tossed. That was horrible call, it was totally a strike.

Yankees lead 3-2, Top 7, no outs

7:05pm- Man, Brett Gardner is fast. They need some strikeouts right now!

7:09pm- Another run scores courtesy of Derek Jeter, and I'm going to smoke now. The only way the Twins ever advance in the playoffs, ever, is if they don't draw the Yankees in the ALDS, and they get knocked off by someone else, or the Yankees and Mets switch Leagues.

Yankees lead 4-2, Top 7, 2 out

7:16pm- I come in, bases are loaded for Rauch.

7:22pm- Those tattoos really are intimidating. Rauch gets two HUGE (pun intended) outs! Lets use this momentum for the bottom half.

7:28pm- Two quick outs, here's Valencia.

7:30pm- Valencia strikes out looking. It was off the plate. Yankees lead by 2 after 7 innings. Twins are 6 outs from this series heading back to New York and being all but over.

7:35pm- If the Twins don't pull this off, I don't think I'll ever forgive myself for canceling my DVR recordings of Community and 30 Rock.

7:42pm- Hardy caught looking at a sick Kerry Wood breaking ball. Here comes the top of the order.

7:43pm- 2 up, 2 down. Here comes O-Hud...hopefully the same result as his last plate appearance.

7:45pm- We go to the 9th...can't allow any runs, then the Sandman comes in with our 3 best. This series is ALL but over.

7:52pm- I'm going to predict the Twins 3, 4, 5 batters right now....Mauer, ground out to short, Young fly out to right, Thome strikeout.

7:53pm- It should be 5-2 going into the bottom of the 9th with Gardner stealing 3rd.

Yankees lead 5-2 in the 8th

7:58pm- Delmon Young saves his best defense for 3 outs away from being down 0-2 in a 5 game series. Glad to see we're putting it all together.

8:01pm- Make sure the last person out turns the lights off at Target Field...we won't need them to be on until April.

8:05pm- Let's see how my picks do.

8:06pm- Lead off single by Joe Mauer.

8:08pm- 6-4-3, 1 out remains.

8:09pm- Shallow fly by Kubel ends it.

Final thoughts-

I'm not sure what to put here in the final thoughts part. The Twins started off like they have the last 7 games in the postseason against the Yankees; with a lead. They couldn't hold it, again. I don't know what it is with this ball club and facing the Yankees. The Mariners went to New York and won 2 of 3...then split a 4 game series at home, the Royals went 1-3 at Yankee Stadium then 2-1 at home vs. them. Well, the White Sox went 2-4 vs. New York...which means even though we dismantled the White Sox all season long, we're still no match for the Yankees.

I said Twins in 5, I was being a homer. The Yankees will shoot the dying horse in the head on Saturday night. Thanks for having the best record since the all star break, Twins. This whole bullshit idea of resting players is bogus. Maybe you needed to clinch on the final day of the season, just so we know everyone is out there putting up 110%.

Future Thoughts-

There are a couple future thoughts that I have going into next season

1) Resign Michael Cuddyer and Jim Thome, at whatever costs. Morneau will get hurt around the all star break next season and if you don't have Cuddy, you don't have a reason to play.

2) Most importantly, if you pick up the option on Nick Punto (which is expected to be upwards of $6 Million) and you don't do either or of the previous request, you won't get a single DIME from me next season. If Nick Punto is on this team next year, there are probably two other guys that are off the team. Is his .230 batting average and 'should be a gold glover and all star hustle' really worth that? Fuck no.

Well, at least we can look forward to the Timberwolves season, they are 2-0 in the preseason and can take care of business against a New York team.

-Ace

Silver Fox to The Freak...and Baseball.

Obviously its been a few weeks since I've been on a blogging mission, but I figure that today is a good day to go about that.

So much to talk about in so little time...or maybe its so little to talk about in so much time, who knows? Let's do this.

The big news about 30 minutes before we started The Ace @ 8 last night was rumblings about Randy Moss being traded back to the Vikings from the Patriots. As we winded down the 2nd hour of the show, there was still no news on any confirmation of a trade. It seemed as if the trade was put to bed for the night, but it was still not dead in the water. ESPN's Adam Schefter reported this morning that it was a done deal, but give credit to Jay Glazer for being a machine and finding out all the cold hard facts. Even Bill Simmons deserves some credit for accidentially tweeting information regarding this potential trade. So, Randy Moss, the man who only pays 'Straight Cash, Homey' is (or well, should be) Number 84 again.

So what does this mean for the Vikings as well as the NFC North? Well, other than meter maids taking out new life insurance policies, it means a great deal to a very mediocre division in the NFL. Grant it, this isn't the NFC West (a combined 6-10) or the AFC West (1st place, 3-0 Kansas City Chiefs), but this is a division that in all reality is now down to the Packers and the Vikings. I think on Sunday Night vs. the Giants, the Bears showed us 'who we thought they were'. No one 'crowned' them anything. I think the Bears reached the peak of their season at 3-0...and are destined for 8 wins (+/- 1 or 2 games).

This will all come full circle for two straight weeks for the Vikings, October 24th at Lambeau Field where Favre, Moss and the Vikings will meet up with Aaron Rodgers and the Packers. Ironically enough, the one aspect to the Packers game that has been struggling (380+ yards to Shaun Hill, I think thats more than a struggle) has been their defense, more importantly, their defensive back position. Atari Bigby and Al Harris are both on the PUP List right now and should be active to face 'The Freak' on Sunday Night Football. Then on Halloween...Moss and the Vikings go back into Foxboro to play the Patriots. Where clearly Moss will be looking for his revenge.

This improves the Vikings considerably, no question. Its a matter of putting all the pieces together and meshing as well as they did last season. Will it happen? I'm not sure. Could it happen? Most definetly, yes.

Onto something a little more relavant, the 2010 MLB Playoffs...I'll make my series predictions for the Division Series' and see how they pan out.

National League

Phillies vs. Reds
Prediciton: Phillies in 4

I love the fact that the Reds are back in the playoffs. This will be a team that will contend with the Cardinals and Brewers for the years to come. A sure fire MVP in Joey Gotto and a heck of a starting rotation, but they drew the Phillies. If the Reds would of drawn the other two teams in the playoffs, I'd say they would have a pretty good shot to advance to the NLCS. Reality is though, you're facing a team that is the favorite to get back to their 3rd straight World Series and when you're tossing Halladay, Oswalt and Hamels, they're going to be tough to stop.

Giants vs. Braves
Prediction: Giants in 5

The Giants are a team I had in the playoffs from the very beginning. They had a strong April and May...slumped June and July...then turned it back on for the remainder of the season. Matt Cain and Tim Lincecum are two pitchers I love to watch, the latter is one of my favorites in baseball. Jason Heyward and the Braves had a fantastic season, but I think the Bobby Cox Swan Song won't move on to bigger and better things, but they'll stretch the series to its limits, but McCovey Cove and the Giants will march onto the NLCS to face the Phillies.

American League

Rays vs. Rangers
Prediction: Rays in 4

The Rangers have never won a playoff series and are one of three teams to never reach the World Series (Nationals, Mariners). I think the trend will continue when they face the AL East Champions. Top to bottom Tampa Bay is one of the best teams in baseball and I really think their pitching will get them over the hump. David Price is a beast and should win the AL Cy Young. The homer in me wants the Rangers to win to benefit the Twins, but realistically, I can't pick that.

Twins vs. Yankees
Prediction: Twins in 5

Ron Gardenhire is 2-9 vs. New York in the playoffs in his career. The Twins didn't win a game vs. New York in 10 tries last season including the playoffs. This season they managed one in Yankee Stadium and one at Target Field. The Twins had 53 wins at home this season, the best in baseball. The Twins are throwing their 3 best starters on the hill in Liriano, Pavano and Duensing. The Yankees might have a stellar lineup, but their pitching has been suspect. We can get to Sabathia, Hughes hasn't been the same pitcher since the break, and Pettite has 1 start since the all star break due to injury. Jim Thome needs to motivate these guys and tell them all to hop on his big, broad Hall of Fame shoulders a-la Puckett and move on. I'm sure the NY Post article saying this should be an EZ Win for the Yanks will help too. The pinstrips have a giant Bullseye (no pun intended) on themselves, and this year, they haven't pissed off the little ole Twinkies, they've pissed off the fucking Twins!

-Ace