Game 1 Recap: Yankees 7, Twins 2

It didn't start the way the Yankees were hoping. While CC Sabathia had good stuff, he and Jorge Posada failed to get into a groove early on. In the first inning with Denard Span on second and Joe Mauer at the plate Sabathia uncorked a slider when Posada was looking fastball. Sabathia was able to bear down and strike out the AL Batting champ to negate the miscue.

What Sabathia could not prevent was a run from scoring when he and Posada were crossed up a second time in the third. He also couldn't prevent Posada from lallygagging to the passed ball, allowing Mauer to correct his hesitation and score the Twins second run. Posada may not like Jose Molina starting over him on Friday night, but his performance wasn't going to give Girardi too many second thoughts.

This, of course, set the stage for the Captain. After Melky Cabrera squeaked out an infield single, Derek Jeter drove a 1-0 pitch from Brian Duensing into the left-field seats to tie the game at two. From then on it was all Yankees. Sabathia found his groove and with the bats finding their stroke the Twins couldn't touch him the rest of the way. He struck out eight Twins over his 6.2 innings, dispelling myths that he could not perform on the big stage of postseason play. Sabathia made it a good night in Yankeeland.

Hell even A-Rod was hitting, that's how good things got for the Yankees. But speaking of A-Rod, can this finally stop? The constant analysis of his performance and the state of his psyche is bordering on the absurd. The reality is that players will have ten, sometimes 20 at bat stretches where they can't get themselves together. You can't take such small sample sizes, spread out over several years and say that he cannot perform in the postseason.

With those stigmas wiped clean, the onus now falls on whether A.J. Burnett and his battery mate Jose Molina measure up on Friday night.

In other news the Rockies were knocked around by the Phillies 5-1. Cliff Lee was spectacular and it is hard to envision the Rockies putting up much of a fight against the defending NL Champs. Cliff Lee was on point the entire game. So that is one way for Charlie Manual to avoid using his suspect bullpen. I would have preferred to see Tim Lincecum and Matt Cain dismantle people in the playoffs, but alas Brian Sabean has never been able to put together a decent lineup behind his ridiculous pitching staff.

The Dodgers and the Cardinals squared off in the nightcap. The Cardinals, with Chris Carpenter on the mound, dropped the opener 5-3. The scary thing about playing the Cardinals, aside from Albert Pujols, was facing Carpenter and Adam Wainwright at the top of the rotation. With Carpenter flopping in Game 1 the Cardinals are in bad shape. It seemed that every pitcher that came in for the Cards was scared of the Dodger lineup, consistantly pitching around hitters. The problem is that eventually you have to pitch to somebody.

Manny Joins A-Rod

This just in from the LA Times.

You can check it on SportsCenter too.

Update: Manny is claiming the positive result is from a prescription he received from his doctor. I'm inclined to not believe any excuse by any player nowadays and I'm sure this wasn't the first time Manny used. I know some players were clean during that era of baseball but this just solidifies the fact that even the best of the best were probably juicing.

At least this takes some heat off of A-Rod as he returns tomorrow. Many of those national media guys will have their hands tied with Manny stories. I'm sure they will still come after him but the more names that come out the more the heat on A-Rod will come down.

Update: Seems like Manny may not have used steroids or HGH but a sexual performance enhancer. I don't know what he would prefer we thought about him: cheater or ...you know. Embarrassing.

Typical Matsuzaka

Daisuke Matsuzaka was his normal self last night. He started the game by walking the bases loaded before wiggling out of a jam. The whole night he was practically unhittable and aside from his walk total he was brilliant.

I still think that at some point all his walks will catch up with him, but I doubt it will be this year. Tonight Josh Beckett is on the mound against Sox killer Scott Kazmir. Hopefully Kazmir digs deep, back to his former days when the Red Sox couldn't touch his filthy slider. This year he has been far from dominant against them, posting an ERA of 9.00 in four starts against the Sox. Beckett could still have a fragile oblique and the Rays will be ready to redeem themselves after last night when they left six men on base and struck out 11 times.

In the senior circuit the Phillies knocked off Joe Torre and the Dodgers for the second straight game. You know its not your night when you let the pitcher go 3-3 against you with three RBI and two runs scored.

Torre has been in this spot before and I don't think you can count out him or the Dodgers just yet. Manny is still jacking home runs and Hiroki Kuroda can dominate any game. Plus Jaime Moyer is a good guy to have in your regular season rotation but he leaves a lot to be desired in a playoff rotation.

Game 2 was crucial for the Dodgers. They probably weren't going to win any game that Cole Hamels pitched in but they could have easily won any game that wasn't pitched by him. Chad Billingsley laying an egg in Game 2 was a big letdown for Torre. Still they are very much in the series as they head back to LA.

Maybe it was him

Congratulations to Joe Torre and the Dodgers who clinched a playoff birth with Arizona losing today. 

If Torre had stayed with the team the Yankees might have made the playoffs this year, but I still think it was the best move for the Yankees to let Torre walk and honestly it was probably best for Torre's legacy that he leave too.

The Yanks needed to move in a different direction and Torre was part of the old dynasty years. Now he moved on to the Dodgers and has made the playoffs with a rag tag team of young players and veterans. It is his 13th consecutive season in the playoffs and the first time in 14 years the Yanks haven't. That is what how he will be remembered.

Time will tell if Cashman was right. But it was inevitable that the Yankees would need to make a change at manager and it would probably have been better if they did it sooner.

Good luck to the Dodgers, though, I would prefer to see Manny fail.