ALDS Game 2: Minnesota Twins at New York Yankees
They might not admit it, but the Minnesota Twins looked tired for Wednesday night’s Game 1 of the ALDS. Minnesota didn’t arrive at its hotel in New York until nearly 4 a.m. after beating Detroit in the AL Central tiebreaker and appeared to lack the energy that propelled the Twins during a 17-4 finish. The Twins struck out 12 times on Wednesday.
“Guys are tired,” AL batting champ Joe Mauer said before adding, “This isn’t the time of year for that, to be worrying about that.”
The Yankees’ new Mr. October, Derek Jeter, hit his 18th career postseason home run, tying him with Reggie Jackson and Mickey Mantle for third on baseball’s all-time list behind Manny Ramirez (28) and Bernie Williams (22).
But perhaps the best news was Alex Rodriguez’s fifth-inning RBI single. Dating back to Game 4 of the 2004 AL Championship Series, Rodriguez had come to bat with 38 runners on base over a span of 61 postseason at-bats. He stranded every one of them, going 0-for-29 with runners on base.
“He seemed relaxed,” catcher Jorge Posada said. “He seemed focused out there.”
Minnesota is now 0-8 against New York this year and 2-24 at Yankee Stadium (old and new) since Ron Gardenhire took over for Tom Kelly as manager prior to the 2002 season. The winner of Game 1 of the ALDS, however, is just 14-14 overall in terms of winning the series. Compare that to the NLDS, where the Game 1 winner won the series 25 of 28 times.
Clearly the Twins need to win Game 2 on Friday night to have any shot in this series, but they are big +250 underdogs on WagerWeb.com. They turn to Nick Blackburn, who was 11-11 with a 4.03 ERA this season. Blackburn allowed four runs in 7 2/3 innings against New York on May 16 in his lone start against the Yanks.
New York turns to A.J. Burnett (13-9, 4.04) in his first career playoff start. He started twice against Minnesota this year, going 1-0 with a 2.77 ERA.
Because Burnett is on the mound, the Yanks will bench Posada. In 16 starts throwing to Posada, Burnett held opposing batters to a .270 average, going 5-5 with a 4.96 ERA. In 11 starts with Molina, Burnett was 5-2 with a 3.28 ERA, with opposing batters hitting just .221.
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