Yankees 25, Twins 7

Gardy was steamed at Casilla. I heard him on the radio post game show. I bet Casilla does not play Friday

That is not the first time in this series that Casilla made a defensive blunder. But it was the most blatant case. He should know how many outs are on the board and he should cover the bag if that’s the call from the short stop, which it was. But Casilla was not alone in making crucial mistakes in this series. Punto made several, as did Mauer, Buscher, Harris, and others.

I think the atmosphere of Yankee Stadium got to the boys. Because, aside from Span, I didn’t see any of the players comfortable at the plate or in the field.

They were tentative at times and overanxious at other times. It seemed as though the Yankees hitters were constantly hitting because the Twins hitters had a lot of short at bats ans the Yankees hitters had none. And the Yankees fielders made a lot of plays the Twins players tyoically make int he Metrodome but not necessarily on the road.

It just goes to show you: It’s not who you play but when you play them. The Twins have played several teams this year when they were hot: The TIgers, Indians, White Sox, Red Sox and Yankees come to mind. The Twins had a series against each of those teams coming off of winning streaks.

The Twins lost those series as much because the other team was hot than the Twins were not. It seemed like the Yankees got every call and every liner down the line went fair. Whereas the Twins got no calls and every liner down the line went foul. It happens.

One thing I know, I will not miss that ball park. The Twins have very few good memories there and a lot of really bad memories. I remember Frankie V winning a game in ‘87 there that opened some eyes. I also remember a couple of playoff wins there.

But I will always remember the 2003 playoff game in which Koskie hit what should have been the game winning hit against Rivera. The ball cleared the wall by two inches on a hop, and the runner at first had to be held at third by rule and never scored. Nathan came in and was superman for the ninth and tenth innings and human for the 11th. The Yankees won int he bottom of the 11th. That’s up there with the Rincon disaster in 2004.

I kept saying how much I hate those guys, so much so that I could not watch the games. Damon rarely gets a strike called on him. Jeter seems to always know what pitch is coming in what location. Abreau is just a really tough out. Rodriguez has so much power that any little flick of his wrist could be a homer. Then there’s Giambi, Cano, Cabrera, and a who cares? That top six is just devastating. Every time we face them, I scratch my head why thy don’t have a better record.

I also recall few excellent memories from the stadium. The Twin always seem to play like robots with their wires crossed whenever they take the field in Fenway or Yankee Stadium. Somehow, I love the configuration of each of those stadiums, but if I measure the play of the Twins in those stadiums, I have few fond memories. Probably my favorite memory is Harmon Killebrew getting a triple in Yankee Stadium when the ball rolled behind the monuments in center field; I think most players would have had an inside the parker but old Harmon chugged into 3rd. I don’t know why that memory sticks out but it does.

He was not covering second properly on the play Jesse mentioned, but an inning earlier he wasn’t covering first on what should have been a Lamb-Punto-Casilla double play. Instead Punto had no one to throw it to.

Do all these sweeps mean the Twins lack a “stopper”? Is there such a thing? Is it possible that the stopper is in Rochester?

Of course, its tough to avoid a sweep when the other team has Ponson and Rasner going.

It doesn’t happen often. But you can have a losing record on the road if you dominate at home. Still, I hope they can learn to win in hostile environments. I think the young kids were kind of in awe of the place and put too much pressure on themselves.

AS to an ace pitcher, I agree. Few teams go very far with a collection of #2 starters. Baker might be a number 2. But there is no ace right now. He’s down in AAA.

For those of you who weren’t watching FSN, they shwoed a graphic that the Twins have only won 3 games (and lost now, like, 23) in Yankee Stadium under Ron Gardenhire. I won’t be TOO sad to never see the Twins playing there again.