The Minnesota Twins really might want to think about letting the Yankees score first one of these postseason games. The Yankees beat the Twins 5-2 in Minnesota to take a commanding 2-0 lead in the 2010 American League Division Series, marking not only their eighth straight win against the Twins in postseason play, but their eighth straight come-from-behind win against the Twins in postseason play.
Andy Pettitte was everything the Yankees could’ve asked for and then some, throwing seven innings of five-hit, two-run ball, and only using 88 pitches to do it. Talk about efficiency. On the other side of the ledger, the Yankees proved me wrong and finally touched Carl Pavano up, hitting the moustache up for four runs over six-plus innings, including a mammoth Lance Berkman go-ahead solo home run and huge RBI double that scored Jorge Posada from first base. If there was anyone left in Yankeeland inexplicably dissatisfied with Big Puma — who has done nothing but get on base, take great at-bats and now knock in two tremendous postseason runs — those fools no longer exist.
Pettitte was touched for one run on a Danny Valencia sacrifice fly in the second, and a game-tying Orlando Hudson solo home run in the sixth, but the Yankees answered right back after the O-Hud home run with the aforementioned Berkman double and an RBI single from Derek Jeter. Curtis Granderson added a huge insurance run in the ninth on a seven-pitch at-bat against Matt Capps.
Kerry Wood and Mariano Rivera took care of business after Pettitte departed, combining for two innings of one-hit, shutout ball. Wood in particular was quite nasty, striking both J.J. Hardy and Orlando Hudson out on a 78-mph curveball and 95-mph fastball, respectively.
The Yankees now head home to the Bronx having won two straight road games and only needing one more victory to advance to the American League Championship Series. While anything can happen, it’s tough not to feel confident about the team’s chances after the stellar baseball they’ve played during the first two games as well as the fact that they get to play two straight at Yankee Stadium, where they’ve had the best record in baseball during the last two seasons.
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TIQ IQ
If there was anyone left in Yankeeland inexplicably dissatisfied with Big Puma — who has done nothing but get on base, take great at-bats and now knock in two tremendous postseason runs — those fools no longer exist.
Here sits a fool. Great game for Berkman. Glad for him because he seems like a nice guy. But his performance in one-fifth of a season, in my opinion, still leaves much to be desired. During the regular season, he was a rally killer with no pop, barely an improvement on a Melky-level hitter.
Berkman has a career .409 OBP and he has been getting on base at a .358 clip as a Yank. Considering he has been platooning at DH, seeing limited ABs, and hitting late in the lineup…he is meeting expectations of the team. Just because he doesn't hit a homer every time he's at bat doesn't mean he isn't doing what he was brought here to do.
He is FAR better than Melky, but its pretty irrelevant considering Melky was an everyday outfielder for us. If you compare him to other players in similiar capacities, such as Hinske from last year, I think you will feel much better about having Berkman in our 8 hole.
His job is to extend the lineup and make pitchers work for every single out, aka, the Yankee M.O. I think Larry nailed it on the head.
Tom,
While Berkman's power never really surfaced in the regular season, comparing him to Melky is way off-base.
Yes, he was a bit stiff in August, posting a Melky-esque .200 wOBA in his first 35 at-bats as a Yankee in August, but he was their third-best hitter in September, rebounding to put up a .348 wOBA.
Considering Thames went from August hero to nonexistent in September (.250 wOBA), who exactly would you have preferred to serve as DH?
I'm certainly not going to tell you your opinion is wrong, and that you have to love the guy, but this is one of many reasons why people hate Yankee fans. The team had a hole at DH, was able to acquire Lance Berkman for almost nothing and he goes ahead and gets on base at .405 clip for a month but people are still complaining because he took a power dip over a 102 at-bat sample.
He then drives in two huge runs in a big postseason game, but because he slugged under .400 in one-fifth of the regular season he's a bust. I just don't understand where all the anger from certain Yankee fans toward Berkman is coming from.
berkman was hurt during the season and is NOW hitting his stride like petite, the best is yet to come! forget the season its history