Yankees at Twins ALDS Game 3

The game is on at 7:07 on TBS, its a good thing they are playing indoors as temperatures outside will be in the 30's with snow showers. It is so good they will be playing outdoors starting next year isn't it? Here are the pregame notes and lineups via the Yankees media notes and Sam Borden/Chad Jennings of the Journal News. The Yankees are up 2-0 in the best-of-five series and are one win away from the ALCS. The Twins came into the postseason as the hottest team, but the Yankees have cooled them off in two different ways: With a gem from CC Sabathia in Game 1 and an 11-inning thriller in Game 2. Andy Pettitte is making his 36th postseason start tonight, which means the veteran lefty has basically pitched one full season in October during his career. His numbers? 14-9, 3.96 ERA. His regular-season averages? 17-10, 3.91 ERA. In other words, he’s one of the best at making the biggest games seem just like every other. Pettitte also owns the Twins – the last time he lost a game to Minnesota was April 30, 2001. Alex Rodriguez seems to have forgotten whatever it was that plagued him in previous Octobers, busting out for five RBI in the first two games of the series including his “Yankee Moment” in Game 2 when he crushed a two-run homer in the ninth inning to tie the game. A-Rod is 4-for-8 in the series. Playing in the Dome is supposed to be a big advantage for the Twins but the Yankees seem more at home there than Minny does. The Twins have lost seven straight home playoff games, four of which were to the Yankees during the 2003 and 2004 first rounds. Despite being up 2-0, the Yankees haven’t gotten much production from the vaunted lineup. Other than A-Rod and Derek Jeter, no Yankee regular is hitting over .300 in the series. Mark Teixiera and Jorge Posada have two hits in the ALDS; Nick Swisher, Melky Cabrera, Hideki Matsui, Robinson Cano and Johnny Damon all have just one. In case you hadn’t heard, former Yankee Carl Pavano is standing between the Yankees and the second round. Pavano occasionally played – I use the term loosely – for the Yankees from 2005-08, then signed with Cleveland this year and was traded to the Twins at the deadline. Assuming he doesn’t suffer a debilitating hangnail early, he could do some damage against the Yankees: In two starts against them this season, he allowed just four runs in 13 1/3 combined innings. Yankees Lineup: Jeter(SS) Damon(LF) Tex(1B) A-rod(3B) Matsui(DH) Posada(C) Cano(2B) Swisher(RF) Cabrera(CF) Twins Lineup: Span(CF) Cabrera(SS) Mauer(C) Cuddyer(1B) Kubel(RF) Young(LF) Harris(3B) Morales(DH) Punto(2B)

Yanks in Minnesota

The New York Yankees had a workout today in Minnesota and were a happy group as you can expect after last nights thrilling victory. The Yankees will take on their former teammate if you can call him that tomorrow. I am sure they will really want to stick it to Carl Pavano and will be looking to hit him all over the ballpark. Andy Pettite will look to close out the series and send the Yankees back to NY to await the start of the ALCS. The big topic today was still the umpire missing that call down the line on Joe Mauers double that he called foul. A lot of talk has been about maybe instituting replay for other things. I am against replay, it is ok with the homeruns but this is baseball and the human element has always been a part of the game. I don't want to ruin the flow of the game by having too many replays. There really wasn't any news today from the workout, a lot of reporters were talking to A-rod and he continued to praise his teammates. A scary thing to think about though is a relaxed A-rod as he could carry the Yankees all through the postseason, he is that good. I don't know how if A-rod is hitting in the clutch and A.J. Burnett is pitching well the Yankees could lose but this is baseball and we will see what happens. If the Yankees do win they will have homefield advantage once again and open up the ALCS at the stadium next friday. The Yankees and Angels can both move on tomorrow and that would be strange having the whole week off before resuming play.

Wow what a win for Yanks

The New York Yankees won their most dramatic game of the season by the score of 4-3 in 11 innings. Mark Teixeira hit the walkoff homerun but A-rod had his heroics in the ninth off of closer Joe Nathan. A-rod hit a game tying 2 run homerun with 1 out in the ninth. Dave Robertson was another hero of this game as he got out of a bases loaded no out jam in the 11th. A.J. Burnett pitched well tonight although he did walk 5 and hit 2 batters. The bottom line is he gave them 6 innings only allowing a run. The bullpen wasn't so great as Phil Hughes gave up a couple of runs and even Mariano Rivera gave up a hit that scored a run which was charged to Phil Hughes. Damaso Marte gave up 2 singles to the only 2 guys he faced which were both lefties. The Yankees offensively couldn't do anything against Nick Blackburn who pitched one heck of a game. The Yankees now head off to Minnesota to face Carl Pavano the American Idle and try to sweep the series and head to the ALCS. I was at this game tonight and that is why I am not writing a lot as I am exhausted. I do have to say the stadium was amazing tonight, it was so loud and sounded like the old stadium, when A-rod hit the homerun it was amazing and then just the twists and turns and Tex hitting the walkoff set the place into a frenzy. The fans were great and it really was a great game to be at. I hope to have pictures tomorrow or maybe sunday depending on when I can download them. Dave Robertson by the way got the championship belt tonight.

Yanks/Twins

The New York Yankees will be taking on the Minnesota Twins in the best of 5 ALDS. The Twins won a thrilling tiebreaker game last night in 12 innings and then had the prize of flying 3 hours to NY in the middle of the night to meet the New York Yankees. Here are the tentative pitching matchups, if it changes I will let you guys know. Tonight- CC Sabathia vs Brian Duensing Friday- A.J. Burnett vs Nick Blackburn Sunday- Andy Pettitte vs Carl Pavano I am going to say the Yankees are going to win in 4, tonight is a big game. If you are the Yankees you want to jump on them, don't let a underdog wake up. The Yankees offense shouldn't be shut down by these pitchers and if you are the Yankees pitchers just shut down Joe Mauer don't let him beat you and you should be fine. It looks like Freddy Guzman and Francisco Cervelli will be the last 2 roster spots but I will have that for sure later on today. Have a good day everyone and continue to check back for news and notes and playoff matchups.

Yanks at Indians(Lets kick The American Idles Butt)

The Yankees will go for three in a row this afternoon against the Indians. Phil "Franchise" Hughes will be on the mound looking for his third straight win against old friend Carl "American Idle" Pavano. The Yankees will also be looking to tie the major league record with 17 games in a row without an error. Here are the game notes and lineup as always via Peter Abraham and his Lohud Yankees Blog. The Yankees are 14-3 in their last 17 and have outscored their opponents 106-60 in those games. Jeter has a 13 game hitting streak and Teixeira a 12 game hitting streak. Big Tex has never had one longer then 12 games. Phil Hughes has faced the Indians once in the regular season. He allowed one run over six innings on Aug 1, 2007 at Progressive Field. The Yankees are 4-2 in the 6 games Phil has started since being called up on April 28. He has allowed 3 earned runs in his last 13 innings pitched. Jose Veras has allowed the first batter he faced to reach safely half the time, Wow that is bad, they got to do something with this guy. Shelly Duncan is hitting 304 with 18 homeruns and 47 rbi's in 39 games. Those are some big numbers, I would think he is more valuable then Angel Berroa, Berroa never plays and they could use another outfielder with Melky out and Damon banged up. Matsui is only a DH and Swisher has been struggling. Ramiro Pena is the backup and I think we are past the point of worrying about A-rod. Yankees lineup: Jeter(SS) Damon(LF) Tex(1B) A-rod(3B) Cano(2B) Matsui(DH) Swisher(RF) Gardner(CF) Cervelli(C)

The American Idle Returns

The Yankees will open up their home schedule with a 4 game series against the Cleveland Indians. The Sunday game will be the biggest game, not the home opener, not friday or Saturday, the series finale, why you ask?? Carl "American Idle" Pavano will be facing the Yankees. A.J. Burnett will face his old buddy from their Marlin days. Burnett will have the weight of the world on him as everyone in NY will be counting on him to beat our buddy Carl Pavano. Carl "thief" Pavano pitched 4 years for the Yankees but we barely knew he was there, well he really wasn't there thats why. It was great to see him get hammered in his first start for Cleveland but he is still healthy and that is the amazing part, lets hope we can hit him around the park and show him what we really think of him. A.J. NY is counting on you, not just tonight but this weekend against the Great American Idle.