Tonight's Pitching Matchup: Yankees vs. Twins Game 3

The Yankees are up 2-0 and going for the sweep tonight in the Bronx, can Phil Hughes get them to the ALCS? Let's take a look at the matchups:

Phil Hughes vs. the Twins hitters (including playoffs)

	PA	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	SF	GDP
Nick Punto	4	3	2	1	0	0	2	0	0	.667	.500	1.000	1.500	1	0
Jason Kubel	4	3	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	.667	.750	.667	1.417	0	0
Denard Span	4	3	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	.667	.750	.667	1.417	0	0
Jim Thome	6	4	1	0	0	0	0	2	2	.250	.500	.250	.750	0	0
Michael Cuddyer	7	6	1	1	0	0	0	1	1	.167	.286	.333	.619	0	0
Delmon Young	7	6	2	0	0	0	1	0	1	.333	.286	.333	.619	1	1
Joe Mauer	4	4	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	.250	.250	.250	.500	0	1
Matt Tolbert	3	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	.000	.000	.000	.000	0	0
Total	39	32	11	2	0	0	3	5	5	.344	.410	.406	.817	2	2

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 10/9/2010.

There is not a lot of history here with seven of these PAs coming in last year's playoffs with Hughes as the set-up man. It wasn't a great performance, though Game 2 was where he really struggled. In last year's playoffs, Denard Span and Nick Punto led the way with two hits a piece vs. Hughes. In the regular season, Hughes has made 3 appearances vs. the Twins (1 start), pitching 7.1 innings, 7 hits, 3 runs (including two home runs), 4 walks and 4 strikeouts. All three appearances were last season, with his start coming May 15th where he pitched 5 innings and gave up runs including two home runs to Justin Morneau--who, of course, will not be playing tonight (neither will Punto). Hughes had two relief appearances in mid-July and shut down the Twins.

Brian Duensing vs. the Yankees hitters (including playoffs)

	PA	AB	H	2B	3B	HR	RBI	BB	SO	BA	OBP	SLG	OPS	SF	IBB
Derek Jeter	6	5	3	0	0	2	3	1	0	.600	.667	1.800	2.467	0	0
Nick Swisher	5	3	1	1	0	0	2	2	1	.333	.600	.667	1.267	0	0
Marcus Thames	7	6	3	1	0	0	0	1	1	.500	.571	.667	1.238	0	0
Jorge Posada	3	2	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	.500	.667	.500	1.167	0	0
Robinson Cano	6	6	2	1	0	0	2	0	1	.333	.333	.500	.833	0	0
Curtis Granderson	8	7	2	0	0	0	0	1	0	.286	.375	.286	.661	0	0
Alex Rodriguez	7	5	1	0	0	0	2	1	1	.200	.286	.200	.486	1	0
Mark Teixeira	7	6	1	0	0	0	0	1	0	.167	.286	.167	.452	0	1
Francisco Cervelli	2	2	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	0	0
Brett Gardner	3	3	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	.000	.000	.000	.000	0	0
Austin Kearns	1	0	0	0	0	0	0	1	0		1.000			0	0
Total	55	45	14	3	0	2	9	9	4	.311	.418	.511	.929	1	1

Provided by Baseball-Reference.com: View Play Index Tool Used
Generated 10/9/2010.

Again, not a large sample size, but certainly larger than Hughes' vs. the Twins. 15 of these plate appearances came in last year's ALDS. Duensing pitched Game 1 vs. CC Sabathia and quickly gave back a 2-0 lead in the 3rd with a Derek Jeter two-run home run--one of two Jeter has hit against Duensing in his career (making him the only hitter to go deep previously against a starter tonight). A Nick Swisher double in the 4th and an RBI single by Alex Rodriguez in the 5th added two more runs and chased Duensing for Francisco Liriano--who promptly gave up a two-run blast to Hideki Matsui. Overall, Duensing went 4.2 innings, giving up 7 hits, 5 earned runs, throwing a wild pitch, walking one and striking out three.

All 4 of Duensing's other appearances against the Yankees came in relief with the Twins lefty going 0-1 with 4 hits and 6 runs given up in 6.2 innings, waking 6 and striking out 3. 3 of those appearances came in May of this season, but since Duensing has been returned to the starting rotation and has pitched fairly well. With the Yankees leading off with Derek Jeter and Nick Swisher (who have reached base 7 times in 11 PAs vs. Duensing), the Twins lefty will have his work cut out for him from the start.