Yankees Whip Twins In Game One

Alex Rodriguez looks on during batting practice before he had himself a great game for the New York Yankees in ALDS Game One.

Alex came into the game with the hopes of taking a step toward achieving his dream of a World Series ring.

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CC Sabathia pitched 6 2\3 innings allowing 2 runs while one of them being earned.

CC also struck out 8 in the game, who ever said this man couldn't pitch in the post season?

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CC had a difficult task with a runner on third one out caused by Yankees catcher Jorge Posada in the top half of the opening inning.

Jorge waived wild at a sweeping curve, and you have to wonder why on earth he would complain about someone else catching A.J. Burnett.

Jorge would have another passed ball in the 3rd inning to give Minnesota a 2-0 lead going into the bottom half of the 3rd inning.

Captain clutch SS Derek Jeter tied the game with a two run HR to add onto his post season resume with 18 career home runs in the playoffs.

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RF Nick Swisher gave New York the lead in the following inning as he drilled an RBI double.

The burst of offense would give the team enough confidence to score 5 runs in the bottom of the 5th inning.

Alex Rodriguez came through in the clutch as well as D. Jeter, and N. Swisher with a two out RBI single.

Alex broke through in his post season career for the Yankees following what he did in the 2004 ALDS.

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Alex would be 1 for 3 in the game at this point with one run batted in, and one runs scored when he touched the plate on a two run HR off the bat of DH Hideki Matsui.

Hidek earned his nickname "Godzilla" down the stretch of this season, and continued it in tonight's game stretching the lead to four.

The top of the 7th would display more terrible defense from the catcher of the New York Yankees when Jorge Posada caused more runners to move up into scoring position.

A ball in the dirt from CC Sabathia kicked off Jorge, and left runners at 2nd and 3rd with one out.

CC would buckle down to get the fly out on Denard Span, while the runners were unable to advance.

Manager Joe Girardi would come out to give CC Sabathia the hook after an excellent outing.

New reliever Phil Hughes came in a big spot to get a big strikeout to Orlando Cabrera to hold the lead with 6 outs to go for the win.

The Yankee offense would provide another threat into the later stage of the game in the 7th inning with a runner on third two out for Alex Rodriguez.

Alex went the other way for another base hit to make him 2 for 4 on the night with 2 RBI putting an end to his post season woes for the time being.

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The Yankees would now have a commanding lead of 7-2, as A. Rodriguez came very close to hitting a two run homer, but would settle for a base hit off the wall.

Arod also got it done with the glove at third with two nice plays, the first came on a lunging stop in the top of the 2nd to get the force out at 2nd base to end the inning.

The other play he made that stood out was when he started a big double play in the top of the 3rd.

That play would prevent Minnesota from scoring more runs for the inning as they had 2 runs come to cross with two out to follow the double play.

The Yankee fans got on their feet as Joba Chamberlain came in to pitch the top of the 8th inning with two out.

Joba was pumped up as he got the final out of the inning to make his stand as the setup guy for New York in this Series.

With the day off tomorrow Yankees closer Mariano Rivera came out to pitch the 9th with a 5 run lead.

Mariano struck out the first two Twins hitters in the inning, but got into a bit of trouble after a walk, and a two single.

M. Rivera would get the third out to leave a runner stranded in scoring position to end the game for 7-2 Yankees win.

After taking a 1 game to 0 lead over the Twins the Yankees will move on for game two at Yankee Stadium Friday Night at 6:07 pm.

The Twins will go with Nick Blackburn on the mound had an 11-11 record for the regular season with a 4.11 ERA, and will try to get his team back into this 5 game Series.

The Yankees will send the talented A.J. Burnett to the hill coming in off a 13-9 season with a 4.04 ERA.

A.J. will pitch to Jose Molina behind the plate as skipper Joe Girardi made the bold maneuver to grab an early two game lead over Minnesota.

This decision has been long overdue as Jorge Posada has been too much to deal behind the dish for many pitchers for a long time.