The Yankee Clipper: Back-and-Forth Game 1 Goes to the Yanks

Deep breath. After two dominant pitching performances to start out the playoff day by Roy Halladay and Cliff Lee, the Yankees and Twins played a see-saw, back-and-forth affair last night under the stars at Target Field. But while Francisco Liriano looked early like he'd join Halladay and Lee as number 1 starters who dominated, the Yankees late rally toppled the Twinkies once again. A few notes:

Maybe not "ever" but last night's Tex Message was exciting

1. The Grandy Man Can. Sometimes, you need to throw out the book and Joe Girardi (the man who keeps the book with him at all times) did just that last night starting Curtis Granderson against Liriano. Granderson--who couldn't hit lefties in general for most of the season--came into the game 4 for 22 against the lefty Liriano with 12 strikeouts. And in the second inning, with two on and two out, those struggles reared their ugly heads again when Granderson left the runners stranded. That was the first of 10 consecutive batters that Liriano retired including a Granderson strikeout in the fifth. So with two on and two out and the same Liriano on the mound, some wondered whether Joe Girardi may go to the bench and pinch hit Austin Kearns who has had success in limited time against Liriano. But Girardi stuck with Granderson who hit the ball about as far as you can without hitting it out and his triple was the biggest hit of the game. Granderson deserves a lot of credit for going to Kevin Long and making sure he worked on his swing and the dividends have paid off immensely. Ben Shpigel of the New York Times calls Long the Yankees "Most Valuable Repairman", Brien@IIATMS breaks down the 6th inning, and the New York Post's Joel Sherman said that Granderson went from being a "bad idea" in mid-August to an October hero.
2. Tex Message Received. As LoHud's Chad Jennings wrote, the other place that Girardi went against most people's instinct was when he stuck with Mark Teixeira struggled through the first two months. Every day he wrote his name into the lineup in the number three hole. And last night's majestic shot into the October sky again showed us that despite his slow starts, Teixeira will eventually come around and contribute. An earlier double, though, was just as big as it snapped Liriano's streak of 10-in-a-row retired and set the table for that big 6th inning. Last season, Tex hit a line drive in Game 2 of the ALDS that everyone at Yankee Stadium was yelling "get up, get up" so it would be a home run--and it was. Last night, Tex hit a high fly ball that everyone yelling "stay fair, stay fair" (including Joe Girardi who the cameras caught saying it with the rest of the fans)--and it did. Tex's second game-winning home run against the Twins in two years and off the Jesse Crain which TBS replays right before the home run showed Teixeira hitting a blast earlier this year against at Yankee Stadium. According to ESPN New York's Wallace Matthews, Tex did this all with a cortisone shot in his ailing wrist. Teixeira has played through pain much of the second half of the season and his Tex MSG got the Yankees Game 1 of the series.
3. The Great Mariano. 40 career postseason saves. 31 that have lasted more than one inning. This one should have been only 4 outs but he had to get a 5th out after the umpires blew Greg Golson's catch call. But even with second-chance and even against a Rivera who had struggled down the stretch for the Yankees, the Twins still couldn't break through (Rivera has now thrown 14.2 scoreless postseason innings against Minnesota though he did blow a save in Game 2 of the 2004 ALDS). This was the same Rivera who gave up a grand slam to blow a save against the Twins earlier this season, but got his revenge last night. His last pitch was a nasty cutter to Jim Thome that broke his bat and ended the game.
4. No Bull 'Pen. None of the Yankee relievers had a perfect outing but each kept the Twins off the scoreboard. Kerry Wood had a few soft hits (and a few squeeze-jobs from the home-plate umpire). Boone Logan pitched well but in the end gave up a hit to Joe Mauer. But David Robertson, like he did last year in the playoffs, came through with the biggest out, getting Thome on a nasty curveball with two on and two out. The future Hall-of-Famer, Thome, must have been frustrated last night after facing Robertson's nasty curve and Rivera's nasty cutter in his last two ABs. In the middle of the season, many were worried about the Yankees' relievers but the addition of Wood, the emergence of Logan and the better pitching of Robertson (like his first name suggests, David is truly a "Giant Slayer") has helped assure that the Yankees have some trusted arms in front of Mariano.
5. CC was OK. Ok was about all I can give CC. Like 2009's ALDS Game 1, a passed ball accounted for one unearned run, but last night he still gave up 4 runs total. The last run was the most frustrating--a bases loaded walk to rookie Danny Valencia to tie the game. According to Baseball-Reference, Sabathia has given out 15 free passes with the bases loaded in the regular season in his career--one third of those to Twins players. Deep-friend Reeses Cups wrapped in bacon are disgusting but bases loaded walks are not so far behind there on the disgust scale. But CC bounced back from the walk and CC struck out JJ (Hardy) to end the threat. Overall the hefty lefty pitched good enough to keep the Yankees in it and the aforementioned bullpen shut down the Twins the rest of the way.

As Rebecca Glass of TYU, Rob Neyer of ESPN, and Brian Costa of The Wall Street Journal all wrote: this was just your garden variety Yankee playoff win. Larry Koestler of Yankeeist and Mike Axisa of River Ave Blues have great recaps of the night's activities. An exciting game 1 win but back at it again tonight for Game 2. The Yankees are the last team to win Game 1 of the ALDS and lose the series so the battle is certainly not over. But with 1 win down and 10 to go, the quest for 28 continues tonight in Minnesota.

More later...