Twins 1, Yankees 2

Top of the 9th, Mijares in to clean up a mess.  1st and 2nd, one out.

Twins 1, Yankees 2, heading to the bottom of the 7th.

A-Rod and Posada blast solo shots off of a very on-his-game Pavano, who deserves more than he's had returned from his offense.

Due Up:  Kubel, Young, Harris

Twins 0, Yankees 0, Entering the bottom of the 3rd

Due up:  Span, Cabrera, Baby Jesus

First Pitch:  6:07pm CDT
TV:  TBS
Radio:  Twins Radio Network
Know Thine Enemy:  Pinstripe Alley

• In his two starts against the Yankees this year, the Bombers are batting .224/.327/.255.  If he can somehow duplicate those numbers tonight, the Twins will have their chance without having to out-slug New York.
• It was a long time ago, but Pavano has a 1.40 post-season ERA.
• Right-handers hit Pavano better than lefties, so keeping runners off the bases for big hitters like Mark Teixeira and Nick Swisher is a must.
• It doesn't matter where you pitch the Yankees--they can hit a home run no matter how "down in the zone" you get.  Pavano will need to have movement on his slider and his hard, sinking fastball.  All of his pitches will need to be thrown for strikes, or at the very least thrown from time to time so the Yankees know he's using them.  If New York can get Pavano to work from behind and rely on his fastball, this game could get ugly very, very quickly.
• If you were Carl Pavano, would you have added incentive for pitching against the Bombers in the post-season?  I know I would.

• Over Pettitte's last five regular season starts, he allowed 17 walks.  His control definitely hasn't been as good this year.
• In spite of the added walks, base runners as a whole are down.  Pettitte actually has more innings pitched than hits allowed for the first time since 2005.
• More balls in play are turning into fly balls than ever before for Pettitte, but he's still not giving up as many homers as you might think based on percentage.  20 for a full-time starter is acceptable anyway, but only 8.9% of fly balls are going over the fence, which is about two percent better than average.
• A majority of Pettitte's pitches are delivered as fastballs and cut-fastballs.  He will mix in a few breaking balls, and even fewer changeups, but it's the cutter and that curveball that have been his most effective pitches this season.
• Looking at some quick splits Pettitte is much better on turf than grass, and he also controls right-handed batters much better than left-handed batters.  If Kubel is going to do some damage against a southpaw, Pettitte is probably his guy.
• As a playoff pitcher, Pettitte has over 200 innings under his belt and is known for being a "big game pitcher".  In that time he's amassed a very respectable 3.96 ERA, while allowing just 1.35 base runners per inning.  His strikeout rates are a bit lower than his career averages, but so are his walk rates.  It looks like he tries to be a bit more careful and methodical, but it works.  No doubt the Twins will have their work cut out for them today.

Twins 1, Yankees 1, bottom 7.

If Chip Carey says "fisted" one more time, I will go on a multi-state killing spree.

From  LaVelleNeal's Twitter : Matt Tolbert day to day with strained left oblique

The Twins need to win 3 out of 4 against the Yankees to turn the collective baseball world on its ear.  Realistically, they HAVE to steal this one here.  So, on with it, then.

Starting pitchers:

If you would've told me in August that the starting pitcher I wanted on the mound to take out the Yankees on the road in the playoffs would be Nick Blackburn, I'd have told you pull my other leg, as it plays showtunes.  But here we are.  Blackburn's been superlative of late.  He needs to be better than that tonight.

It's Burnett's first playoff start.  The conventional wisdom is that the Twins need to get to him early and be patient.  In other news, Carlos Gomez and Delmon Young are in the lineup.  /starts drinking

Lineups:

Gardy plugs Go-Go into center and moves Kubel to DH.  Good call, says Howard.  Why not, says I.

Enjoy the biggest game of the season, everybody.

First Pitch:  5:07pm CDT
TV:  TBS
Radio:  Twins Radio Network
Know Thine Enemy:  Pinstripe Alley

Last night was awesome.  Without a doubt one of the greatest games I've experienced as a Twins fan, and that includes the close of 2006.  But that's all over, and it's time to focus on the next challenge, and that comes in the form of the New York Yankees.  The dreaded Bombers.

This year the Yanks owned the Twins, with Minnesota going winless in seven meetings.  But as I said on my Q&A over at Pinstripe Alley, that was when the Twins were playing some pretty bad baseball and it still took the Yankees needing a last-second hit to earn their victory.  Now, the the Twins clicking, this series just might not be the pushover that everyone is expecting.

If the Twins can steal game one, momentum will shift dramatically.  Let's go take down Goliath.

Speaking of Goliath, here's our old nemesis Sabathia.  He's having a good season, and in his only start against Minnesota went seven strong innings, holding the Twins to one run off three hits and a walk.  His walk-to-strikeout ratio is the worst it's been in years, but that doesn't mean he's been bad.  Because he hasn't.  Sabathia is still a very good pitcher, and his numbers reflect that.  His flyball ratio is up slightly as well, with the ground-ball rate down, meaning the potential of damaging extra-base hits goes up.  What is interesting about Sabathia this year is that his slider hasn't really been his money pitch.  The changeup is still dominant, but this year it's counterpart has been Sabathia's fastball.  It will be interesting to see which pitch he goes to when he's looking to put someone away.

Well Brian, this is why you become a major league pitcher.  It's been a fantastic debut for you and here's hoping you can pick up your first playoff victory today.  We all know what needs to happen here, so godspeed and best of luck.  We're all behind you.  Partially because we support you, but partially because we're afraid C.C. Sabathia might sit on us.  You first.

Lineups

Twins
Denard Span, CF
Orlando Cabrera, SS
Joe Mauer, C
Michael Cuddyer, 1B
Jason Kubel, RF
Delmon Young, LF
Brendan Harris, DH
Matt Tolbert, 3B
Nick Punto, 2B

Yankees
Derek Jeter, SS
Johnny Damon, LF
Mark Teixeira, 1B
Alex Rodriguez, 3B
Hideki Matsui, DH
Jorge Posada, C
Robinson Cano, 2B
Nick Swisher, RF
Melky Cabrera, CF

Top 10:  Twins 4, Tigers 4

So, we're running out of pitchers...let's lock this up and try to win this in the bottom of the inning, shall we?