Riding off their 12 inning AL Central tie-breaking spectacular, the Minnesota Twins carried their adrenalin over to the Bronx but couldn’t keep it up for all nine innings.  Yankees veteran shortstop Derek Jeter crushed a two run shot down the left field line in the bottom of the third inning last night to bring New York back in the game.  From there the Bronx Bombers completely dominated, finishing the ALDS opener with a 7-2 victory.

CC Sabathia showed he can perform on the hill just as well in October, letting up just two runs in eight innings of work.  Jeter and third basemen Alex Rodriguez led the Yanks high power offense with two hits apiece.  Outfielder Hideki Matsui contributed with 2 RBI’s from his 5th inning blast to center field.

Minnesota is not yet discouraged but is excited to have an extra day to be ready for Game 2.  “We all need to go home, get a good night’s rest,” said Twins pitcher Carl Pavano, who will start Game 3. “We’re going to be a little fresher, I’m sure, on Friday.” Saturdays game will again take place at Yankee Stadium and is scheduled to start up at 6:07 PM.

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Boston Red Sox vs. Los Angeles Angels

The Red Sox (Wild Card) and Angels (AL West Champs) since 2004 have met three different times in the American League Division Series in 2004, 2007, and 2008.  Boston has the clear advantage thus far based on what history tells us, knowing they’ve won all three previous ALDS battles with ease.  In their first two meetings the Sox swept LA en route to winning the World Series.  In 2008 it took Boston four games to beat the Angels, where they advanced and eventually lost to the Tampa Bay Rays in the American League Championship Series.

Even though the Angels haven’t been too successful in the playoffs against Boston, they seem to be more confident than ever looking ahead to their October stretch. “I really like this team, where we are,” said Angels veteran right fielder Bobby Abreu. “I feel like it’s our time, I really do.” LA is one game up on the Red Sox for 2009, winning five out of their nine games played.

Series Schedule and Probable Starting Pitchers:

Game 1 - Thursday, October 8th, 9:37 PM - Angel Stadium of Anaheim
                   Jon Lester (Red Sox 15-8) vs. John Lackey (Angels 11-8)

Game 2 - Friday, October 9th, 9:37 PM - Angel Stadium of Anaheim
                   Josh Beckett (Red Sox 17-6) vs. Jered Weaver (Angels 16-8)

Game 3 - Sunday, October 11th, Time TBD - Fenway Park 
                   Clay Buchholz (Red Sox 7-4) vs. Scott Kazmir (Angels 10-9)
 
Game 4 - Monday, October 12th, Time TBD - Fenway Park
                    If Necessary Starting Pitchers TBD

Game 5 - Wednesday, October 14th, Time TBD - Angel Stadium of Anaheim
                    If Necessary Starting Pitchers TBD

New York Yankees vs. Minnesota Twins

Right after the Minnesota Twins barely edged the Detroit Tigers in the AL Central tie-breaker game, the club had less than a day to pack up and travel to the Bronx for their ALDS meeting against the New York Yankees.  This matchup will surely favor the Yankees, knowing their 7-0 2009 regular season record against Minnesota. Manager Joe Girardi believes this year’s Yankee team won’t take any opponent lightly no matter how well they have previously performed. 

“It’s a lot different team,” said Girardi. “I sense that there was a determination after what we went through last year when we didn’t make the playoffs. You don’t play this game and put all that hard work in to just make the playoffs. There’s a goal set. And the goal was set when we went to work last winter.” Despite the Bronx Bombers success all season long, don’t be surprised if Minnesota can ride off their high energy and come in looking to spoil a game or two. 

Series Schedule and Probable Starting Pitchers:

Game 1 - Wednesday, October 7th, 6:07 PM - Yankee Stadium
                   CC Sabathia (Yankees 19-8) vs. Brian Duensing (Twins 5-2)

Game 2 - Friday, October 9th, 6:07 PM - Yankee Stadium
                   A.J. Burnett (Yankees 13-9) vs. Nick Blackburn (Twins 11-11)

Game 3 - Sunday, October 11th, Time TBD - Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome
                   Andy Pettit (Yankees 14-8) vs. Carl Pavano (Twins 14-2)
 
Game 4 - Monday, October 12th, Time TBD - Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome
                   If Necessary Starting Pitchers TBD

Game 5 - Wednesday, October 14th, Time TBD - Yankee Stadium
                   If Necessary Starting Pitchers TBD

After last year’s heartbreaking 1-0 AL Central tie-breaking loss to the Chicago White Sox, the Minnesota Twins found themselves back in the same spot but this time would come out on top.  It took 162 games and 12 extra innings for Alexi Casilla to hit a grounder between the right side infielders, scoring Carlos Gonzalez for the Twins to win 6-5 over the Detroit Tigers and take the division last night at the Metrodome.

From the 7th inning on there were three lead changes.  Detroit’s offense dominated to start, initially producing a 3-0 lead by the 3rd.  The Twins rallied back after Orlando Cabrera’s two-run shot over the left field wall in the bottom of the 7th. Following the Tigers come back in the 10th, Minnesota answered back to keep the game going until the 12 when they finally put their regular season to rest with the AL Central Division in their hands.

“This is absolutely the most unbelievable game I have ever played (in) or seen,” said Cabrera. “I’m really proud of my teammates. “When we were down, we got together and we had to pull it out. Here we are - we’re going to the postseason.”

The Twins after the winning run came in had 21 hours to get ready and travel to New York for their opening ALDS game against the Yankees. This year New York has dominated the Twins, defeating them in all seven regular season contests.  Yankees ace pitcher CC Sabathia will be starting for New York against Minnesota’s Brian Duensing. Tickets for this series are now available!

New York Yankees third basemen Alex Rodriguez heading into their last regular season game needed two home runs and seven more RBI’s to top the list of most consecutive 30 HR 100 RBI seasons.  In the sixth inning alone he did just that.  A-Rod nailed a three-run shot and a grand slam all in the same inning to earn his record over Manny Ramirez, Babe Ruth, and Jimmie Foxx as the Yankees went on to dominate the Tampa Bay Rays 10-2 last night at Tropicana Field.

Rodriguez thought his year by year streak would end yesterday, saying “I just didn’t think it was realistic at all, so therefore it wasn’t even a goal.” Yankees first basemen Mark Teixeira was glad to see most everyone in the lineup contributing to their 10-run sixth inning.  “It was awesome. That was a great inning for him and for the team,” he said. “It’s good to have a nice offensive output like that the last game of the season and give us some momentum.”

New York will have to wait and see who they will play host to first for their upcoming ALDS series. The Twins and Tigers are set to play a tiebreaker tomorrow night in Minnesota for the AL Central division. 

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With much anticipation, the Home Run Derby ended with a familiar face winning. Previous contestant Prince Fielder outslugged Nelson Cruz 6-5 in the final roundto win the derby. Brandon Inge, Joe Mauer, Carlos Pena, and Adrian Gonzalez all failed to make it to the second round, leaving Ryan Howard, Fielder, Cruz, and hometown favorite Albert Pujols in the semifinals. Howard and Pujols, both fan favorites, failed to outlast Fielder and Cruz. Cruz batted first in the finals, hitting 5 homers. Fielder hit a bomb into the center field grass hill to end the contest.

2009 MLB Baseball  tickets are available now for all teams and all games!

In what might be a unique situation in major-league baseball, the managers and catchers from each team were ejected in the 7th inning of Thursday’s getaway game. In the top half of the inning, Jeff Bailey was called safe at home plate on a play that could have gone the other way. Twins catcher Mark Redmond (who had no previous ejections in his 14-year career) and manager Ron Gardenhire took issue with the call, were sent to the showers. In the home half of the inning, Josh Beckett was frustrated with a pitch he thought should have been called a pitch. Acting fast to keep Beckett in the game, Varitek got in umpire Todd Tichener’s face and was ejected as well. Sox manager Terry Francona left the dugout and was promptly shown the door as well.

Varitek’s two homers previous to the ejection helped to make up for Jason Bay’s scheduled day off. Jonathan Papelbon pitched a scoreless ninth to rack up his 13th save of the year.

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On Tuesday night, struggling Sox slugger David Ortiz batted lower than 4th in the order for the first time in over 5 year. Ortiz managed to snag a hit and a walk, but the DH still has a .197 average on the year.  While Boston was missing any display of power, Minnesota made up for it. Twins’ first baseman Justin Morneau hit a towering three-run shot in the fifth inning to grab the lead for good. Sox starter Jon Lester continued a rough ‘09 season, running his record to 3-5 with a 6.07 ERA.

“I felt like I threw the ball pretty well. Made one mistake. He hit it out. That’s what makes him a good hitter,” Lester said of Morneau’s homer. “I don’t think it’s a mental lapse or anything like that. It’s just not executing pitches.”

The Sox continue the series at the Metrodome on Wednesday night at 8:10pm, with the final gameat 1:05pm on Thursday afternoon.

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Despite a sinus problem that was affecting his stomach, Brad Penny had one of his best outings with the Red Sox. Aside from a Michael Cuddyer three-run homer, Penny was spotless. The right-hander gave up just the three runs on 6 hits while striking out 7 in 5 1/3 innings of work. “He handled it really well, and I actually thought he threw well even if he wasn’t sick,” Terry Francona told the AP. “But you add on that— that’s pretty good.” Penny has benefited from 58 runs of support in his starts (an average of 6.4 each), and run his record to 5-1 with the win on Monday.

Jonathan Papelbon’s recent struggles continued. He notched his 12th save, but gave up a two run homer before doing so.  Papelbon has been working some new mechanics and a slider into his outings, which may have caused some of the recent consistency issues as he is adjusting.

With Toronto losing again, the Red Sox are at the top of AL East, with the New York Yankees just one game behind.

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The Boston Red Sox dominated the Minnesota Twins at Fenway Park, winning 7-3 and 10-1 in yesterdays double-header. The games marked seven wins a row for the Sox, moving them just 1 1/2 games back of the Toronto Blue Jays in the early stages of the AL East race.

The pitching staff for Boston was stellar, allowing just 11 hits in 18 innings. Tim Wakefield pitched through seven innings in the first game, letting up 1 run with 4 strikeouts.  Mike Lowell led the charge for the Red Sox power offense with 3 hits including a home run off Baker in the third.

Jeff Bailey started out the second game of the day with a three-run  shot to left in the second inning to give the sox the early lead.   From there Brad Penny held his own on the mound, allowing two earned runs over six innings.  Manager Terry Francona turned 50 years old yesterday and was able to celebrate it with his team on a role.  It was a long, good day of baseball,” said Francona.

The Red Sox will be hosting the New York Yankees this Friday at 7:10 pm for a three game weekend series.  Boston Red Sox tickets are available now!

David Ortiz, Jason Bay, Jacoby Ellsbury, and Jason Varitek all homered to contribute to Boston’s win over the Minnesota Twins 9-5 last Tuesday.  Red Sox ace Josh Beckett pitched four innings, allowed three runs and six hits with three strike outs.  All three runs let up by Beckett were in the second inning.  Red Sox manager Terry Francona let him continue, saying “we were really pleased that he went back out and was able to have a third and fourth, ends up being a decent workload outing.”

Alexi Casilla hit 4-for-4 with two stolen bases, and Denard Spean drove a solo homerun in the fifth for the Twins.  Look for the Red Sox to take on the Cincinnati Reds for their next challenge on Thursday night.

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