Yanks at Twins Game 1

The New York Yankees were resting yesterday while the Twins were playing a thrilling 12 inning game that they eventually won. They had to take a late night flight into NY and I am sure didn't get to bed until the wee hours of the morning which is good for the Yankees. Here are the pregame notes and lineups via Sam Borden of the Journal News. The forecast tonight calls for cool temperatures and very windy conditions. The gusts could be up to 40mph and it will be interesting to see if the ball is flying out to right even more so then usual. CC has been great this season but not so good in the playoffs in his career. He is 2-3 with a 7.92 era in 5 postseason starts. He does have good career numbers against the twins though, 9-4 with a 1.91 era in his last 13 starts. A-rod has done everything right this season in staying out of the way and not doing anything stupid and producing but all eyes are on him now. He has 1 homerun and 1 rbi and 35 LOB in his last 16 playoff games. His best postseason series as a Yankee was against Minnesota in 2004. He went 8 for 19 with 3 rbi's. The Yankees were 7-0 against the Twins this season but four of the seven games were decided by one run, six of the seven were decided by 2 runs and two of the seven were extra innings. The Yankees won three in a row in May on walkoff hits. The Twins have won 17 of 21 to close out the regular season. They were 7 games out and beat out the Tigers for their 5th division title in 8 years. They used 6 relievers over the final 7 innings last night to get to where they are now. Duensing was a college teammate of Joba Chamberlain. The Yankees only saw him once in July when he came out of the bullpen. He allowed 4 runs, 2 hits and 4 walks in 2 2/3 innings. He was 5-1 with a 2.73 era in 9 starts this season. 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(DH) Tolbert(3B) Punto(2B)

Pitching Matchups for playoff series

L.A. vs Boston Game 1 Lester vs Lackey Game 2 Beckett vs Weaver Game 3 Bucholz vs Kazmir Game 4 Lester vs Saunders L.A. vs St. Louis Game 1 Carpenter vs Wolf Game 2 Wainwright vs Kershaw Game 3 Piniero vs TBA Philly vs Colorado Game 1 Jiminez vs Lee Game 2 Hammels vs Cook My Predictions Yanks in 4 Angels in 5 Dodgers in 5 Phillies in 4 ALCS: Yanks over Angels in 6 NLCS: Dodgers over Phillies in 6 WS: Yanks over Dodgers in 6

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.

Yankees workout and have announcements

The New York Yankees worked out today at the Stadium and now I am sure are lounging around watching the Twins/Tigers to see who they will face. The first thing that happened today was reported by Sam Borden of the Journal News and that was that Jose Molina will catch A.J. Burnett. Jorge Posada if you listen to the audio isn't too pleased about it and said " I just hope we win that game, thats all, that is all I have to say." If you know Posada like most of us do, he is a fiery guy and if A.J. goes out and doesn't pitch well this will be a big problem as Posada will be very displeased and there will be tension. A.J. Burnett better come up big if he is getting his way, also Joe Girardi is taking a chance but you have to give him credit for doing what he thinks is best especially knowing it isn't a popular decision. It will be interesting to see how this all plays out. Chad Jennings who is making his debut on the blog and as Yankees beat reporter replacing Peter Abraham had some notes from the clubhouse. He saw that the Yankees had 30 lockers with nameplates which means that they will carry an extra 5 guys most likely just in case. Sam Borden is now reporting that Brian Bruney has been left off the roster along with Sergio Mitre and Ramiro Pena but they will keep in shape in Tampa just in case they are needed or if the Yankees advance and change their minds. It would seem the last roster spot is down to Damaso Marte or Freddy Guzman. It would depend on who they play, it looks like if they play the Twins they will take Marte since they have more lefties and if it is the Tigers then Guzman will make it. Brian Bruney as you would expect wasn't too happy, he didn't talk for too long. Joe Girardi also did announce just a little while ago that A.J. Burnett will be starting game 2. I think the numbers show that Burnett is better at home and better with Molina but he needs to step up and have a big game.

Miguel Cabrera, what is he thinking?

The reports came out today that Detroit Tigers first baseman Miguel Cabrera was out partying with the opponent on friday night and when he returned home early in the morning got into a fight with his wife. He had a cut on his face and apparently said it was from his cat but turns out it was a domestic dispute and the police were called. It is bad enough that he was in the middle of a pennant race and went out partying with the opponent but then comes home drunk and gets into a fight with his wife. If he did hit her he is really really low. Here is the question I would pose, he has disgraced the franchise and would you suspend him even though you have a 1 game playoff or just go about your business and do nothing??? I think if it was me I would suspend him and show that the organization won't put up with any nonsense like this.