ALDS Game 2: It Don't Mean A Thing

When things get underway in the Bronx tonight, whether that's right at 6:07 or not, both teams will send starting pitchers to the hill to make their postseason debuts.

Nick Blackburn was still in the minor leagues in 2006 when the Twins won the AL Central by one game before getting swept in the ALDS by the A's. He made a brief and unheralded debut as a relief pitcher in 2007 but was added to the starting rotation to begin '08 after the departure of Johan Santana. Since then, he has put up two remarkable similar, slightly above average seasons for the Twins. He went 11-11 and had an ERA just over 4, pitching right around 200 innings, striking out just under 100 and walking about 40 in each.

Blackburn hadn't been great leading up to Game 163. He had accrued an ERA of 5.60 over his previous 10 starts, with peripherals even uglier than usual (53 IP: 71H, 16BB, 23K, 9HR, Opponents OPS .885). However, he came up huge in the play-in game, holding the Tigers to one run over 6 1/3 innings pitched, which is probably why Ron Gardenhire has elected to pitch him on short rest tonight. He's not an overpowering guy but can obviously get the job done by changing speeds and locations.

Our boy A.J. Burnett has been in the league for 9 more seasons than Blackburn and was on a team that made the postseason - the 2003 Marlins - but started only 4 games before losing the rest of that season to Tommy John surgery. He was around the team and even played catch on the field at Yankee Stadium during that World Series, but didn't pitch in it. The only other time he's been on a second place team was in 2006 with the Blue Jays but he only made 21 starts for them and they didn't come especially close to making the playoffs. He's made the 4th most starts of any active pitcher not to appear in the postseason.

Does any of this matter? History shows that in the Wild Card era, 134 pitchers have made their postseason debut, and only 14 have had a game score higher than 70. Granted, Burnett would probably rank towards the top of the pack of those pitchers in terms of talent and previous success and 70 is a damn good game score, but the odds are against him making a big splash tonight.

As has been discussed ad naseum, his chances are theoretically bolstered by having Jose Molina as his personal catcher. I probably like Jose Molina more than I should. He makes performing the duties of a catcher look easy with his excellent framing of his pitches and effortless snap throws to first. If nothing else, he should be better at corralling Burnett's errant balls, which should come in handy considering he leads the AL in walks, wild pitches and hit batsmen. But let's remember that how A.J. Burnett fares tonight will have a lot more to do with him than him than the guy he's throwing to. I'm with Jorge, I just hope they win.

Every game in a 5 game series is an important one, but Game 2 is the biggest swing game. it always determines whether the series is even or one team is facing elimination. Depending on what happens under potentially ugly conditions in the Bronx, the Yankees could head to the Twin Cities with the luxury of having three games to get one win or needing to take one of two on the road to avoid elimination. If they lose tonight, their homefield advantage and any edge they gained by taking the longer ALDS won't mean a thing.

There's something else that makes the tune complete,
It don't mean a thing, if it ain't got that swing,
It don't mean a thing all you got to do is sing.

It makes no difference,
If it's sweet or hot,
Just give that rhythm,
Everything you've got,
It don't mean a thing if it ain't got that swing.

A Mystery Fit For A Sultan

Over at the New York Times, they have a story about a short bit of footage of Babe Ruth that recently was discovered by an elderly man some among home videos in New Hampshire and donated the Major League Baseball Film and Video Archive (where our buddy Schiff is currently working):

The latest Babe Ruth film, unseen publicly until now, is part of a 90-second clip shot from the first-base stands at Yankee Stadium. There is no sound. But there are sweeping views of the park. And there is Ruth, obvious by his shape and waddle.

He is shown in right field, hands on his knees, glove on his right hand. To a casual fan, it appears unremarkable. But it represents the archive’s only game action of Ruth playing in the outfield — where he spent more than 2,200 games — other than a between-innings game of catch.

According to the article, there is no known film of Ruth pitching for Boston or doing anything more than warming up to pitch for the Yankees, either. Only a very small amount of footage of Ruth is know to exist (about an hour's worth), and given his immense popularity and the scarcity of it, when a new piece turns up, it's a pretty big deal.

Even though the film comes with no date and no sound, they've been able to deduce a decent amount of clues from it, based on the flag pole in centerfield, dimensions of and advertisements the outfield walls, lack of numbers on the jerseys, time of day, size of the crowd, positioning of the Yankees' dugout, batter on deck and the fact that Ruth struck out looking.

There's some interesting discussion starting over here on the Bats blog (and as always over here) as to what the footage can tell us, but the archivists think that it might be from one of the first two games of the 1928 World Series against the Cardinals. You can watch just the original film at the Bats Blog or a report about the MLB Archive with the main article. Check it out.

Damning With Faint Praise

On the heels of yet another anti-Chip Caray piece, again by Richard Sadomir, the well-respected David Pinto tires admirably to find something good about the TBS broadcast:

TBS does deserve praise for one aspect of its coverage, however, keeping the broadcast about the game. There are no guests in the booth, no taking an inning to talk about the news of the game rather than the play on the field.

I can't recall any circumstances where there was a guest in the booth if a playoff game, but I could be wrong because if I was watching, I would have temporarily blacked out from rage. Guests in the booth inevitably subtract from the broadcast, with the only exception being Jimmy Kimmel, and he was banned forever as a result.

Praising TBS for not having guests in the booth is like congratulating Ryan Franklin for not giving up a home run against the Dodgers or patting the Red Sox on the back because they managed three singles against John Lackey yesterday. "Hey well at least they didn't fuck up in every way imaginable!" I never thought I'd say this, but the sooner the broadcasts are turned over to FOX, the better.

Youk's Teammates Hate Him Too!

Well, some of them do, anyway:

So why, then, is this Everyman not unequivocally embraced and revered by his teammates? Why, when a reporter approaches another key Red Sox player to speak about Youkilis does he respond, “I’d rather refrain’’?

It should be Youk’s team, his clubhouse, and it might be some day, but some of his peers believe Youkilis still has some growing to do. They’d like to see him filter some of his strongly held opinions. They’d like him to respect the veteran protocol that has long been a part of baseball’s fabric. And they want him to control his temper.

>8

“At one point some of the veterans came up to me and said, ‘Can you talk to this guy?’ ’’ manager Terry Francona said. “What I tried to tell them was Youk just needs to get it out of his system. Watch him sometime. Thirty seconds after his outburst, he’s screaming for his teammates.

Isn't that fackin' chaaahming? The dood's like a fackin' fwah yeah old!

This quote from Jackie MacMullan was also pretty amusing:

He does not look like an MVP candidate; more a refrigerator repairman, a butcher, the man selling hammers behind the counter at the True Value hardware store.

To that I would add:

• Fishmonger
• Car stereo salesman
• Longshoreman
• Mason
• Ice road trucker
• HVAC technician
• Short order cook
• Plumber
• Dickhead bouncer at a college bar
• Elementary school janitor
• Harley Davidson mechanic
• Mover
• UPS guy
• Short bus driver
• Hot tar roofer
• Landscaper
• Electrician
• Garbage man
• Road paver
• Street sweeper
• Finish carpenter
• Carpet installer
• Park ranger
• Chicken farmer
• Sausage stuffer
• Coal miner
• Steel worker
• Forklift operator
• Mr. Clean stand-in
• The guy with the awful beard from the Sam Adams commercials.

I might even admit that the article is actually a good read if I wanted to jeopardize the stranglehold we've developed on Kevin Youkilis hatred over here, but you know I can't do that.

Holliday, Bucknor, Buckner & Instant Replay

Mornin' Fackers. You can change that to "good morning" if you're not a Cardinals or a Red Sox fan.

On one hand, you could be a genteel Midwesterner who just saw his or her team send two Cy Young Candidates to the mound on consecutive nights and are now facing an elimination game. You would also have had to witness Matt Holliday, a player that everyone had grown quite fond of and had been mentioned in conjunction with a long term deal, drop a routine ball that would have ended the game. In all fairness, he did hit a home run in the second inning, but will inevitably be identified as the goat of the Cardinals' 2009 postseason if they don't somehow come back to win the next three.

The play was compared to Bill Bucker's, but this game wasn't tied. If Holliday gloves that routine shallow fly instead of letting it deflect off his wrist and hit him in the balls, the game is over. Literally over. There were two outs and that would have been the third. But contrary to what Will Leitch wants you to think, Ryan Franklin still shares a bunch of the blame for giving up four straight baserunners after that and completing the gag. It's a short series so the difference between 1-1 and 2-0 is cavernous and to lose the game like that is a gut punch of epic proportions.

On the other hand you could be a surly Bahhstonian, either bitching about the umpiring or having to listen to a bunch of other people do it. At one point on Twitter last night, CB Bucknor was a trending topic. (If you're not familiar with Twitter, that means it was one of the 10 most common words or phrases being tweeted). Not typically a good sign for an umpire. Bucknor's Wikipedia page was vandalized and he was compared to Bill Buckner, pretty much the worst insult that can be levied by Red Sox Nation. I don't think he's going to get much of a welcome when he shows up at Fenway.

So what really went down? There were three calls that went against the Red Sox. Torii Hunter got a generous call from Joe West in the 3rd that should have been strike three and the end of the inning but instead loaded the bases for the Angels. They got a fourth out in the 4th inning as well, when the now-infamous Bucknor missed a tag that Youk applied to Howie Kendrick. Again in the 6th, Kendrick was erroneously called safe at first when Youk had to jump for the ball but obviously came back down on the bag in time. All clearly blown calls, especially the last two.

But none of them led to runs. Jon Lester, to his credit, got out of each of those innings unscathed, the only runs he gave up all night coming on a three run homer by Torii Hunter in the fifth inning. Certainly those calls didn't help. Lester had to throw more pitches than he should have as a result of each of them and as Matthew Pouliot from Circling the Bases notes, things might not have set up the same way for Hunter's home run in the fifth. In fact, they most certainly wouldn't have. With the way John Lackey was pitching last night though, it probably wouldn't have mattered.

It's one thing for your own player to make an inexcusable mistake, but it's another for the gaffes to be made by the umpires. One of the differences is that many of the mistakes made by umpires (including the two of those by Bucknor) could have been easily overturned by replay. Maybe the umps don't want to be upstaged by being corrected by replays, but would they rather get the calls wrong and draw the ire of entire fan base?

It would slow the game down, but if they went with the system the NHL has where all reviews take place in a central location, it wouldn't be that much of an issue. I'm guessing Sox fans would have waited the minute or two it took to review the play.

And this isn't about speed of play anyway. You know what really slows down the game? Commercials, and you don't see baseball cutting down on the number of 30 second spots between innings even though they are now selling in game spots and sponsoring everything imaginable within the telecasts. It sure as shit isn't about preserving the "human element" either, because no one likes the human element when it's their team getting boned.

This is about Bud Selig not wanting to move baseball forward despite the fact that technology is changing the world and release even a little bit of the icy stranglehold he keeps on the game. You can't unring the bell, Bud. Instant replay is here to stay. Every network has it and will use it to point out your umpire's mistakes at any given opportunity.

If I'm an ump, I'm begging for instant replay. I can't see the game in slow-mo-supershot-HD. So why would I want every fan to be able to see every one of my mistakes without being able to correct them? Replay is a free pass when you fuck up. It'd be like if I wrote this blog without using spellcheck and every error I made got that squiggly red underline when the posts went live on the site.

I can't believe I'm standing up for Red Sox fans, but it's ridiculous that the people in charge of baseball won't take the steps necessary to get calls right, even though the technology is readily available. People might not like it at first, but they'll get used to it. Instant replay has been rejected by a certain segment of fans in every sport at first, but that resistance tends to quiet down when it saves their team from losing a game due to an incorrect call by the ref.

It's obviously not going to happen during this postseason but it needs to be addressed at some point. If not for regular season games, then at least for October. There's no good reason not to get the calls right.

[Photo Credits: Holliday Pic, Umps Pic]

Closing Out The Day With Some Odds & Ends

The longer ALDS might be good for the team but it kind of sucks for the fans. At least we've got a victory to sit on. Off days are still tough, but enjoy that there are some other games to watch now, because they will the thinning out as the postseason wears on.

- A quick Yankee item first. Joel Sherman reports that the Yanks are leaning towards start Chad Gaudin for Game 4 of the ALDS, should that situation arise, knock on wood and all that. The Yanks are beginning to view Joba as an asset out of the bullpen and were 6-0 in Gaudin's starts while he put together a 3.19 ERA. Not much of a surprise - we've been advocating this move for a while now. The not-so-Ragin' Cajun will obviously be on a short leash and backed by Alfredo Aceves should things go awry. Joba seems to like being back in the bullpen anyway.

- The Phillies lost today, as Cole Hamels gave up 4 runs in 5 innings and then left the Stadium because he wife went into labor. Trailing 4-0 at that point, the Phils fought back to 5-4 and had the tying run on second base in the form of pinch runner Cliff Lee in the 9th inning. They came up short, however and will be heading back to Colorado with the series tied at one.

- Clayton Kershaw and Adam Wainwright are currently tangled up in a pitchers duel out at Chavez Ravine. Matt Holliday clubbed a solo homer in the second and Andre Ethier answered with one of his own in the fourth. Albert Puljos also picked up his third intentional walk of the series already and just reached base for the first time otherwise on a single. [Update 9:20: The Dodgers just pulled off the win 3-2 after trailing 2-1 in the bottom of the 9th with 2 outs and no one on. Matt Holliday dropped a fly ball that would have been the last out and cost himself about $10M on the free agent market in the process. Kidding. Sort of. Now the Cardinals head back to St. Louis down 2-0. Can't wait to hear what Leitch has to say about this.]

- Also out in L.A. starting around 9:30, the Red Sox and Angels will be the last teams to begin their postseason series. FanGraphs has a quick scouting report on Jon Lester, and wonders why Jeff Mathis is getting any playing time. Jonah Keri thinks it's because Mike Scioscia (like Joe Girardi with Jose Molina) is overvaluing a back up catcher since he used to be one. MGL over at The Book doesn't think switching Molina for Posada is likely to make much of a difference anyhow.

Back to the Yanks...

- Rick Chandler wonders if the Twins partied a little too hard after their win on Tuesday night. Rob Neyer doesn't see how it could have gone down any other way.

- Neyer also looks back at the trade for Johan Santana that never was.

- Some commentary about the broadcast on TBS, including the obligatory shots at Chip Caray.

See ya tomorrow.

Our Skewed View

Here is a great breakdown by Slate of how and why our perceptions of pitching are skewed by the positioning of the cameras which capture most of the action (h/t Tommy Bennett).

TBS only operates with the off-center views that are responsible for the deceiving angles, but Fox says they will have some dead center cameras for later rounds. The one question I have after is watching this is whether the dead center angle is deceptive in regards to pitch height. And my first inclination would be "yes", but it's probably still far better than not being able to define the sides of the plate from your couch.

Enough With The Mauer Speculation, Already

That's what Mike Vaccarro is saying, except, since he works for the Post, he's speculating anyway.

Hell, the Yankees have never been shy about raiding their foes. They took Tommy John away from the Dodgers, took Luis Tiant and Johnny Damon and Wade Boggs away from the Red Sox, took Jason Giambi away from the A's after he nearly wrecked them by himself a couple of times in the playoffs. Until they announce they're out with Mauer, they always will be in, and that's an awfully enticing thought.

Are people really "yearning" for Joe Mauer as Vaccarro also says in the article? Giving out another $200M contract or whatever it's going to take to sign Joe Mauer isn't enticing to me at all. The guy is an incredibly great player - a catcher with 3 batting titles, who's just starting to hit for power - but can we keep it in our pants for once?

The Yanks are in the middle of a postseason run and people are speculating about who they are going to sign two fucking years from now? There will be plenty of cold winter months to dream about Joe Mauer or Felix Hernandez or a bunch of other ridiculously expensive marquee players that the Yanks have been developing their farm system specifically to avoid signing.

That's why the Yanks have spent top 10 picks on catchers like John Murphy, Kyle Higashioka, Austin Romine and Chase Weems (although they traded Weems for Jerry Hairston, Jr.) and signed Jesus Montero and Gary Sanchez and high upside arms Andrew Brackman, Gerrit Cole, Phil Hughes, Joba, Dellin Betances and Brett Marshall. The Yanks can spend big money on free agents, but would much rather not have to.

Sorry Mike, smart Yanks fans know we got our presents this year. They were the contracts given to Sabathia, Teixeira, Burnett and less recently, A-Rod. Derek Jeter's gonna need a new one after next year. Cano is due to make $14 and $15M in 2012 and 2013, respectively and the organization is going to want to cut payroll if at all possible. We can think about the future during the offseason, right now, we're just enjoying the moment.

I Guess That Scout Was Right...

[Photo]

From the Post a while back (h/t Sports Hernia):

Another talent evaluator believes Chamberlain’s persona changed for the worse when he was converted from reliever to starter and it still affects his mechanics.

“He is a grunt-and-fart guy, he’s Joba,” the scout said. “As soon as he tries to pitch, he moves around and loses his delivery.”

Seems like a pretty apt description of his demeanor in that picture right there, doesn't it?

In related news, can someone please try to locate the bird that shit on Joba's hat?

Seriously, all toilet humor aside, what was on that thing? That's not where sweat stains go. It looked okay against the Red Sox, a little bit worse and in his start against the Royals, and a little more noticeable in Tampa Bay.

Joba, that thing isn't bringing you any luck. If George Steinbrenner knew who you were, you'd be on his shitlist, big time. These are the playoffs, kid, trade it in for a freshie.

TBS PitchTRAX: Informative or Infuriating?

Those of you watching the game in HD last night were exposed to a new feature on the TBS broadcast. On the right hand side of the screen, for the view in from center field only, the displayed a sort of pitch tracker like you see on ESPN and FOX, except it was on the screen at all times.

As the pitches come in, they show up as little numbered balls corresponding to the location they are thrown. It's the type of thing I hate in principle - a flashy graphic imposed on us by a network that doesn't really know much about broadcasting baseball - but I don't totally despise it (yet, anyway). Anything that makes you pay less attention to Chip Caray, you know?

The one thing I wonder about is whether this is computerized like MLB Gameday and PitchFX or they have someone on the production team manually assigning locations. If it's the latter, then we might as well be judging balls and strikes from the couch, but if it's the former, I can see some utility in it. Regardless of the accuracy, it does show you the approach being taken by the pitcher and displays it a lot more clearly that your mental record could.

Aesthetically, it looks kind of terrible, even though the portion of the screen that it's blocking is never really going to show anything, save for a flash of a grounder to third. It's certainly no yellow first down line in terms of value add, but it does give you some interesting context. For instance, when Phil Hughes faced Orlando Cabrera, you could see that every pitch he threw was either high or outside, nothing close to down or in:

It tells you that A) Cabrera is a low/inside, pull type of hitter and B) Hughes was consistently hitting his spots. I watch the games pretty closely but I've gotta admit that some of the pitch sequencing gets lost to me.

I wouldn't want to see this on every YES game, but for the postseason, I guess I don't really mind it. Ideally you'd like to be able to turn it and off via remote, but we're obviously a little ways down the road from that kind of functionality. I'm trying to look at the bright side here, but I'm sure there are a bunch of you who are going to vehemently hate it. I'd be willing the bet the umps do.

Haters? Appreciators? Agnostics?

Getting A Couple Monkeys Off Of A Couple Backs

Good morning, Fackers. Last night's was obviously a pretty big win, but mostly because a loss would have been so devastating. Being that it's a short series and Games 3 & 4 are going to be played in the Metrodome, where the Twins were 49-33 this year, it's good to get the first one under our collective belt. The old dome in Minneapolis is going to be supercharged for the inevitable Game 3 and possible 4 given that they could be the last baseball contests ever staged there and they'll be packing them to the rafters and handing out hankies.

Last night was also huge for both CC and A-Rod. I was a little concerned after the egg he laid in Tampa Bay looking for win number 20, but Sabathia stepped up last night, getting some big outs, striking out 8 and allowing hardly any solid contact. He needed 113 pitches to get through 6 2/3, but he kept the Twins offense, which been so hot of late, at bay under very tough conditions.

A-Rod's not one but two hits with runners in scoring position broke a massive postseason drought spanning all the way back to Game 5 of the 2004 ALCS. He was hitting .143/.314/.214 with 1 RBI and two extra base hits in 70 plate appearances. In that span left 38 runners on base and was 0 for 27 with RISP. We don't give a whole lot of credence to the concept of clutch hitting around here, but it's undeniable that A-Rod wasn't just falling victim to bad luck.

If those 70 at bats had occurred in a row, there's no chance that his numbers would have been that bad. He would have kept swinging and worked out of it. But they spanned years and happened in small doses since the Yanks hadn't played in more than 5 postseason games in any season since then. The pressure began to build and he began to press, striking out in almost 1/3 of his at bats.

While it makes for a convenient tabloid story to talk about how Alex has some sort of a new-found focus since he admitted to using steroids, or is more comfortable in the clubhouse, the reality is that he's just too good of a hitter to slug .214 for very long, under any circumstances.

Arguably, or at least potentially the Yankees two most important players for this postseason, Sabathia and Rodriguez got off on the right foot last night. They've already cut themselves some slack, even if it's just in their own minds, so when A-Rod digs in on Friday night, the urgency of having to drive in a run will be gone. When Sabathia takes the hill next, whenever that might be, he won't have to prove that he can have a good outing in the postseason, because he already got that out of the way.

We can downplay the impact of pressure, but I think we can agree that those who perform well regardless of the level of pressure are the ones that don't change their approach. The feeling of urgency is unfamiliar to players who are constantly looking out for the long haul - that 162 game mega-marathon. The postseason might be a sprint, but the key is to keep running the same speed. Derek Jeter's OPS is almost exactly the same in the regular season as it is in the postseason (.847 & .850), yet he's perceived as a clutch god. The reality is that he's the same great player that he always is.

That's all the Yankees need right now. Not everyone can be Mariano Rivera and actually elevate their performance on the biggest stage. If Sabathia and A-Rod can just be their usual excellent selves, we'll be well on our way to a satisfying October.

Yanks Too Tough For Twins

We all knew the storyline coming into Game 1 of the 2009 ALDS. The Twins were too tired and had to starting a rookie pitcher. The Yanks were well-rested, starting their ace and should have won easily. But the Twins didn't look like a tired team last night and Brian Deunsing pitched pretty well, they just looked over-matched. Tired is going to dissipate over the course of the series, the disparity in talent won't.

CC Sabathia was put to the test in the first inning after allowing a lead off double to Denard Span. He struck out Orlando Cabrera but the very next pitch to Joe Mauer crossed up Jorge Posada, putting Span on third with one out anyway. The Yanks played the infield back, prepared to give up the run, but CC beared down and struck Mauer swinging on a sweeping slider. It was a big moment for the big man, who got out of the inning with a pop up by Michael Cuddyer.

The Twins did get to Sabathia in the third, even though he erased a lead off single by Nick Punto with a double play ball from Denard Span. Cabrera singled and this time Joe Mauer won the battle, lacing a double to center. Cuddyer then blooped a single to first, driving in the run and moving Mauer to third. There was yet another miscommunication between the Yanks battery, and although it was Sabathia's fault, the ball hit Jorge's glove and he took an unusually long time to track it down, allowing Mauer to score although he hesitated badly before coming home.

As has been a trademark of the Yankees throughout the season, they wasted no time in answering the bell. After the first 8 hitters mustered only two hits and no runs, the Yanks broke through against Deunsing. Melky Cabrera hit a one out chopper up the middle and advanced on a wild pitch. Derek Jeter followed that with a rare homer to left field - only his second in the New Stadium - tying the game at 2 and awakening the crowd.

Sabathia settled down after the third, getting the Twins in order in the top of the fourth. Jorge Posada led off the bottom of the inning with a single then was forced out by Robinson Cano. This turned out well, because the next batter up was Nick Swisher, who ripped a double down the left field line, which rolled around long enough for Cano to score from first (with the help of weak throws by Delmon Young and Cabrera), giving the Yanks their first lead of the game.

The Yanks were back at it in the top of the fifth. Jeter led off with a walk, and was moved over on a grounder by Johnny Damon. Mark Teixeira - who had a rough night - popped out, bringing up A-Rod with a runner in scoring position and two outs. Alex responded by poking one into the gap and expanding the lead to 4-2. That ended Deunsing's night as Ron Gardenhire replaced the lefty with another lefty (Francisco Liriano) to face a lefty who mashes lefties. Hideki Matsui did not disappoint, lofting one that seemed to carry forever to straightaway center, which was the only ball noticeably affected by the wind all night.

Sabathia sat the Twins down in order in the sixth but ran into some trouble and was pulled with two outs in the seventh in favor of Phil Hughes, leaving runners on second and third. Hughes stepped up and struck out Orlando Cabrera leaving CC's solid outing intact.

The final tally was 6 2/3 IP, 2 R (1 ER), 8 hits, 8 strikeouts and perhaps most significantly, no walks. Sabathia threw 71 of his 113 pitches for strikes (62%) and seemed to be ahead of hitters all night. The doubles to Span and Mauer were the only extra base hits.

A-Rod added another knock with two outs and runners in scoring position in the seventh, rounding out his night at 2-4 with 2 RBIs and a run scored. He was second only to Derek Jeter who went 2-2 with two walks, 2 RBI and 3 runs scored.

Joe Girardi used three pitchers in the 8th, Phil Hughes for two batters and then Phil Coke and Joba Chamberlain for a combined three pitches. He then dropped the hammer by calling on Mariano Rivera to nail down the 5 run lead in the ninth. Mo did his thing, but was actually the only Yankee pitcher to issue a walk all night.

The Yanks got all they could have asked for: a strong start by CC, a perfect night from Jeter, a long-awaited solid effort by A-Rod, scoreless work from the bullpen and most importantly, the win. It was a bad night for those waiting for Alex and Carsten Charles to choke and the Yanks to boot this one.

It all went according to plan, so it's easy to shove aside the fact that the Twins jumped out early, but it was all Bombers from there on out. Oddly, in 4 out of 5 past ALDSes, including two against the Twins, the series winner has lost Game 1. I think the Yanks will take the "W", though. Feels pretty good, doesn't it?

[Photos]

ALDS Game 1: Guess I Planted

When the Twins beat the Tigers last night, it ensured that there would be at least one team in the AL side of the playoff bracket that the Yankees had beaten in the postseason more recently than they had lost to.

Coincidentally, that was also the last postseason series that A-Rod had played in before being labeled a hopeless choke artist. He hit .421/.476/.737 in those four games back in 2004 and drove in three runs including one on a game-tying ground rule double in the 12th inning of Game 2 off of Joe Nathan. That happened at the Old Stadium but Alex will be looking to start anew across the street this evening.

At about 6:07, CC Sabathia will stride towards the mound and deliver the first postseason pitch ever thrown at the New Yankee Stadium. He will be trying to conquer some playoff demons of his own. The last non-regular season quality start he had in October was back in 2001.

In his four postseason outings since then, he's given up 20 ER and 27 hits in 19 IP while walking 17 and striking out 19. The lack of command is the most alarming trend for a pitcher who walks about 3 men per 9 IP in the regular season. Right or wrong, his season will be judged in large part by what he does from here on out. But both he and A-Rod can get that monkey off their backs with a good performance; the sooner the better.

The Twins send Brian Duensing to the mound tonight. You don't often see a team have to send an emergency starter to the mound in Game 1 of a playoff series, but that's exactly what's going down tonight. Deunsing is from Omaha and was actually a teammate of Joba Chamberlain's at the University of Nebraska.

He was drafted in the 3rd round of the 2005 draft (84th overall) and unlike his former teammate gradually worked his way up through the minor leagues, finally making his debut with the Twins this year. In addition to 15 relief appearances, Deunsing made 9 starts for the Twins, going 5-1 with a 2.73 ERA in 52.2 IP. Eight of those 9 starts came after August 22nd, so the sample might be small, but it's pretty recent. He's not a big "three true outcomes" kind of a guy since he doesn't walk or strikeout many and doesn't yield many home runs.

Amazingly, Duensing has never even been to New York City before. Welcome to the Big Apple, kid. Now here's the ball. You've only gotta hurl it against the best home run hitting team the Yankees have ever assembled with major gusts of wind whipping out towards the outfield in an already tight ballpark against a former Cy Young winner with an exhausted defense behind you.

Even given Sabathia's previous postseason struggles, and Deunsing's success in the starting role, it seems like deck is stacked towards the Yankees in a big way. If must-win Game 1, can actually exist, I think we are looking at it.

Coming off the 12th inning win last night, the Twins aren't going to be well rested. They're starting a rookie pitcher in what will be his 10th major league start. They crushed the Twins in the season series 7-0, although that didn't work out do well against the Indians back in '07. By virtue of having the best record in the AL, they earned the right to take on the weakest team coming into the playoffs and start on their homefield. Now it's time to take advantage.

Let's go Yanks.

Hungry for the union,
And so we kept on,
Singing and working, fighting 'til we got it,
And this is the big union song I guess I hear.

Union song, union battled,
All added up, won us all what we got now,
Union song, union battled,
All added up, won us all what we got now.