Yankees' Methodical Win No Reason to Discount Twins

NEW YORK -- It was bound to happen, probably sooner before later. The Minnesota Twins couldn't keep flying high on adrenaline and spunk, could they? This was a mismatch of gargantuan proportions, the mighty uber-rich Yankees against a sweet little team from the Midwest that barely squeaked into the playoffs at the very last second. The Twins couldn't possibly continue to rock and shock the baseball world, could they?

Not on this night, no. Not with CC Sabathia, the Yankees ace, rested and frothing at the chance to prove he can indeed carry the sport's wealthiest, most stacked club all the way to the finish line. Not with Derek Jeter, Captain America, eager to prove last season's postseason absence was an embarrassing, once-in-his-lifetime fluke.

---

---

The Yankees' 7-2 win over the Twins in Game 1 of the ALDS Wednesday night was meticulously ruthless. It was also as expected as an October chill. Sabathia's nasty changeup bit the corners, his terrific outing topped off by a nearly flawless Yankee bullpen. Alex Rodriguez treated October as if it were any other month, his pair of RBI singles a fitting way to christen the Yankees' first postseason game in the team's ritzy new digs. Jeter ripped a laser deep into the left field seats, alien territory even for him. While the Yankees didn't exactly abuse Brian Duensing, Minnesota's rookie starter, they did everything they were supposed to do as prohibitive favorites.

So why does it feel as if this series hasn't begun to show its teeth?

Because the Twins have sneaky resilience, that's why. Baseball lifers call it "scrappiness," which is really just another way of saying don't ever turn your back on this club until the final pitch is tucked safely away.

Minnesota was understandably weary against the Yankees, its fielding not always sharp, the bats lacking some of the sting that carried the Twins through an extraordinary last week of the regular season. But Duensing, the lefty rookie who spent most of the year in Rochester and was called up initially to pitch out of the bullpen, didn't take his first ever look at Yankee Stadium and melt with fear into the mound. The Twins, still searching for a single win this season against the Yankees in eight tries, might not have crazy momentum riding shotgun with them anymore, but they're pretty sure the magic hasn't completely vanished.

"We're still full of energy, why not?" Orlando Cabrera, the irrepressible Twins shortstop, said. "We still have a lot of magic in us, sure. That's a really good team over there but this is the playoffs now, and we still know anything can happen."

The game didn't crack open until the fifth inning, after the Yankees had gone a few rounds with Duensing. He fooled them now and then with his heavy sinker, staying ahead of a murderous lineup with first-pitch strikes at the knees. There had been a brutal mistake with Jeter, the captain smashing a two-run homer in the third that knotted the score 2-2 and changed the game's complexion. Nick Swisher pulled a go-ahead double down the left-field line in the fourth, scoring Robinson Cano from first. One inning later here was Jeter drawing a walk, and then scoring on A-Rod's two-out single to left-center. With the Yankees up by two runs, with Duensing tiring, Twins manager Ron Gardenhire decided it was a fine time to bring in reliever Francisco Liriano.

A lefty reliever, to face lefty designated hitter Hideki Matsui. Who, by the way, kills lefty relievers?

But Gardenhire figured Duensing's pitch count was rising and, as the manager said later, he didn't "want to leave the kid out there and let him get all beat up." The Twins bullpen was mostly drained; Liriano was fresh and available.

Matsui turned on Liriano's fourth pitch, driving it into Monument Park for a 6-2 Yankee lead. All that frustration bottled up from missing the playoffs last year, all the pressure brought on by heavy expectations, seemed to dissipate as Matsui's dinger cut through the autumn night. Suddenly it felt like Octobers are meant to feel in the Bronx, delirium clashing with entitlement.


"It think this is the fun time of the year," said Jeter, who never grows tired of these moments, these games. "What you try to do is when you're in those situations you think of the times you had success. I don't think you can be afraid to fail. But you just try to have fun. That's all I try to do is have fun, because we're playing a game."

The Twins, probably more than any other team, understand that sentiment. They felt as if they took a magic carpet ride from the Midwest to New York, their plane arriving at 3 AM ET Tuesday, their heads landing on their hotel pillows shortly before the sun began to rise. They were at the Stadium a short while later, still riding high from their extraordinary 12-inning division title tiebreaker game against the Detroit Tigers one night earlier. They couldn't stop talking about all the twists and turns their 163rd game of the season took, eager to share the exhilaration and memories with anyone who asked.

"Most exciting game I've ever been a part of," said Joe Mauer, the Twins catcher who seemed far more pumped by his team's improbable journey to the playoffs than his own incredible feat of capturing his third batting title in four years. The Twins won 17 of their last 21 regular-season games, overcoming a seven-game deficit to the Tigers in early September. This time last week, the Twins trailed Detroit by three games with only four to play. They have character and survival instincts, honed in the toughest of circumstances.

So the Yankees sailed through the AL East, clinching the title in their 156th game? So the Pinstripes splurged on three stud free agents over the winter, spending $423.5 million on Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Mark Teixeira to put the payroll for the year at an even $206 million? So the Twins must make do with a modest $65.3 million, plucking their players through keen scouting and old-fashioned development? So?

"I think once you get on the field, no one plays with a bill fold in their pocket," Gardenhire said, a snappy retort that beats whining about the Yankees spending loads of money in a system that allows them to do what they wish with their riches.

You could have heard a wallet drop in the Stadium after the Twins took an early 2-0 lead in the third. Cabrera, a player who has a little of the October magic himself and who calls himself Gardenhire's lucky charm, singled with two outs, Mauer doubled to the gap, Michael Cuddyer ripped an RBI single that landed Mauer at third and Sabathia looked strangely out of sorts. His fastball was floating up and away, and then suddenly the ball was bouncing away from catcher Jorge Posada. Mauer stutter-stepped down the line, Sabathia momentarily froze and the Yankees couldn't cover the plate in time to prevent Mauer from scoring.

"Yeah, that kind of took the air out of the place," said Posada, admitting he and Sabathia got crossed up twice -- once the fault of the catcher, once the fault of the pitcher. "But being down 2-0, you still have a pretty good chance to win a game with CC out there. He showed you why he's such an ace."

Sabathia recovered nicely from his 22-pitch first inning and that confusing third, allowing just one earned run and striking out eight across 6 2/3 innings. It's why the Yankees signed him for $161 million, figuring he could carry them through October the way Randy Johnson and Kevin Brown never could.

"Got a little sketchy there I guess in the third, but I was able to come back and put up zeroes like I have all year," Sabathia said. "Definitely when I signed, this is what you come here for. To have a chance to win and pitching in the postseason, playing in October. It was electric tonight."

The Yankees babied Sabathia as they coasted toward the playoffs, slowing his innings down to conserve his arm. Forget about that obscene payroll, there is nothing the Twins can do but sigh and marvel at the Yankees' overall freshness. Gardenhire was asked if the stress and intensity of the one-game playoff to reach the postseason might have affected his club. "I kind of think [it's] CC Sabathia stress," he said. And what about the Yankee lineup, anybody he feels he can pitch to?

So why does it feel as if this series hasn't begun to show its teeth? Because the Twins have sneaky resilience, that's why. "No, not really. Everyone is a stinking All-Star. The more people that get on base, the more opportunities for crooked numbers," he said. "So you try to stay away from those things. But it's almost impossible to start picking and choosing who you want to walk to get to because they can all hit."

No use crying about it, as Gardenhire kept noting throughout the day. So exhausted they could barely feel their legs? A pitching staff so chewed up, the Twins aren't even sure who'll they'll start in Game 3 -- either Carl Pavano or Scott Baker? Pavano is lucky he's not arrested for grand larceny while visiting New York, considering all the money he stole from the Yankees. But he's a different pitcher now, a different person who has managed to revive his lagging career in Minnesota. He was booed viciously during team introductions Tuesday night, New Yorkers not willing to forgive those awful four seasons he spent languishing in the Yankees' hot tub.

So what did Pavano do as he stood on the new Stadium turf, bathing in the wrath of some 40,000 folks? He laughed. Gardenhire rushed over to the sidelines, to give Pavano a hug. The Twins have seen -- and overcome -- much worse.