Realtime Sports

The Minnesota Twins visit the New York Yankees looking to erase the memories of their playoff sweep at the hands of the boys in pinstripes at 7 PM ET.

The Minnesota Twins (22-12, 10-6 road) lead the AL Central and are having their best start in almost a decade. They would like nothing better than to serve notice that they will not be knocked out of the playoffs so easily if they meet again this year.

To get a win, they are going to have to break an eight game winless streak in New York and they are going to have to do it against a Yankees team that is very strong at home. The Yankees have the best home record in the majors, but the Twins have been strong on the road too winning four of their first five road series.

The New York Yankees (22-12, 10-2 home) trail the Tampa Bay Rays for top spot in the AL East by two games. They have some ground to make up for top spot and they know that Minnesota is gunning for them, so expect this one to be a fantastic battle.

The Yankees are returning from a series in Detroit hoping that some home cooking will help their bats get back on track. They dropped three of four against the Tigers and were shut out twice as Derek Jeter went 0-for-16 on the road trip before finally hitting a single last night. Jeter is batting .396 at home and has four homers.

Taking the mound for Minnesota will be Francisco Liriano (4-1, 2.28 ERA). Liriano has had a bounce-back season this year after going 5-13 in 2009. He has just two career starts versus New York going 0-1 with a 3.18 ERA.

AJ Burnett (4-1, 3.40) gets the start for the Yankees. Burnett hasn’t given up an earned run at home this season in two starts, but he was torched the last time out on the road for nine runs on nine hits against Boston.