Yankees Trip Twins 7-2 in Postseason Opener
Sabathia got the New York Yankees off to a winning postseason start in
their new ballpark. Even Alex Rodriguez broke out of his playoff rut
against these tired Minnesota Twins.
Jeter tied it with a two-run homer,
Sabathia was the ace the Yankees signed him to be, and New York romped
over the Twins 7-2 Wednesday night in the opener of their AL playoff
series.
After Jeter's third-inning homer off
loser Brian Duensing pulled New York even at 2-2, Nick Swisher pulled a
go-ahead double down the left-field line in the fourth that scored
Robinson Cano from first as the Twins made a pair of poor throws.
Rodriguez had gone 0-for-29 in the
postseason with runners on base dating back to Game 4 of the 2004 AL
championship series before chasing Duensing with an RBI single that
made it 4-2 in the fifth.
On a night with sustained winds
blowing to right-center at 20 mph, with gusts up to 43 mph, Hideki
Matsui followed with a two-run homer into Monument Park on left-hander
Francisco Lirano's fourth pitch. The Yankees celebrated like kids, just
as the Twins did when they beat Detroit in an AL Central tiebreaker at
the Metrodome on Tuesday night. New York went on to win its first
playoff game since Joe Girardi replaced Joe Torre as manager after the
2007 season.
Rodriguez added another run-scoring
single in the seventh against Jon Rauch following an error by first
baseman Michael Cuddyer, with A-Rod's drive hitting halfway up the
right-field wall.
Minnesota didn't arrive to its hotel
until nearly 4 a.m. and appeared to lack the energy that propelled the
Twins during a 17-4 finish, which overcame a seven-game division
deficit. The teams get a day off before resuming Friday night, when
A.J. Burnett pitches for the Yankees against Nick Blackburn. New York
will be trying to get off to its first 2-0 postseason start since 1999
against Texas.
Casey Stengel hit the first
postseason home run across the street at the original Yankee Stadium, an
inside-the-parker that gave the New York Giants a 5-4 win in the 1923
World Series opener.
It was Jeter, naturally, who hit the
first home run in the Yankees' $1.5 billion palace, where New York was
a major league-best 57-24 at home during the regular season. The
captain also got New York's first hit, was on base four times with two
hits and two walks, and scored three runs.
New York won all seven games against
the Twins during the season, and was 23-3 at home against Minnesota
during the regular season from 2002 on, but the Yankees had split four
home games against Minnesota in the playoffs in 2003 and 2004.
After getting past the Twins in 2004
and taking a 3-0 lead against Boston in the ALCS, the Yankees lost 13
of their next 17 postseason games. To rebuild their rotation, the
Yankees signed Sabathia and Burnett for a combined $243.5 million.
Sabathia, who had lost his last
three playoff decisions for Cleveland and Milwaukee, didn't disappoint.
Wearing long sleeves on the blustery night, he got past a 22-pitch
first inning and found a sharp slider. Sabathia allowed one earned run
and eight hits in 6 2/3 innings, striking out eight and walking none.
He left with two on after 113
pitches, tipping his hat to a ballpark record crowd of 49,464 that
included actress Kate Hudson and rapper Jay-Z. Phil Hughes came in and
struck out Orlando Cabrera, one of the Twins' tiebreaker stars, in a
10-pitch at-bat.
Duensing, who was pitching for the
U.S. in the Olympics last year, made just nine starts during his rookie
season but was on the mound following the Twins' busy pennant race run.
He gave up five runs and seven hits in 4 2/3 innings.
Sabathia escaped trouble in the
first after Denard Span's leadoff double and the first of Jorge
Posada's two passed balls by striking out AL batting champion Joe Mauer
and retiring Cuddyer on a flyout.
Minnesota took a 2-0 lead in the
third when Cabrera singled with two outs, Mauer doubled, Cuddyer hit an
RBI single and Posada crossed up with Sabathia and allowed a
run-scoring passed ball.
Jeter tied the score with a drive
about 10 feet fair down the left-field line. With his 18th postseason
home run, he tied Yankees stars Mickey Mantle and Reggie Jackson for
third on the career list behind Manny Ramirez (28) and Bernie Williams
(22), another former New York star.
Swisher doubled in the go-ahead run.
Left fielder Delmon Young picked up the ball at the wall and made a
one-hop throw to Cabrera, whose one-hop throw up was up the first-base
line.
Rodriguez flied out ending the
first, extending his playoff hitless streak with runners in scoring
position to 19 at-bats, and struck out with a runner on in the third
before coming through.
Notes
Matsui has seven career postseason
homers. He hit 13 off left-handers during the regular season, tied for
the big league lead among left-handed batters. … Mariano Rivera pitched
the ninth, even though it wasn't a save situation. He struck out two.