New York came into the fifth inning with a 2-1 deficit but scored four times and went on to take the rubber match of a three-game set with the Blue Jays.

Jorge Posada doubled to lead off the frame and Brett Gardner and Francisco Cervelli followed with singles to tie the game. One out later, Granderson lined a 3-2 pitch into the right field stands, putting the Yanks in front to stay.

Ivan Nova (2-2) earned the win, allowing two runs on six hits over six frames. Three Yankees relievers combined for 1 2/3 scoreless innings and Mariano Rivera collected his 10th save with a 1-2-3 ninth.

Jesse Litsch (2-2) received  the loss, giving up five runs on six hits over six innings.

Adam Lind bashed a solo homer for one of his two hits for the Blue Jays.

Alex Rodriguez showed up big and took CameronDiaz off his mind while he went 3-3 and had a big double in the 10th to help put Mark Teixeira on 3rd.

One of the biggest hits for the Yankees came from Jorge Posada who belted a solo homerun in the ninth to tie up the game.

Mariano River came in for the 10th inning to shut down the O’s.

Overall a solid victory for the Yankees that helped them get a little momentum for the weekend. Let’s hope they continue to win these close games.

The Yankees are in need of a great season to help them get a good path to the World Series. And since they are the Yankees, this is always the goal.

The Yankees were a little concerned about the depth of their starting rotation, but today answered many questions and will hopefully put many Yankees fans at ease.

Nova allowed three runs in six innings and Alex Rodriguez and Jorge Posada homered again to lift the Yanks to a 4-3 victory over Minnesota. The Twins are now 6-31 in the Bronx since 2002, including the postseason.

So, what…..

1. The Yankees will have a good rotation that will get them some big wins during the season.
2. A-Rod is going to have a great season and hit a good amount of bombs.
3. The Yankees really need to not worry about the Twins. Regulars season or post season, the Twins are not a threat to the Yankees.

Free Lawyer Reviews

The Yankees held off the Detroit Tigers for a 6-3 victory at Yankee Stadium earlier today. That makes the 11th straight opening da victory for New York.

The crowd got their money’s worth in the 7th inning when Curtis Granderson hit a go-ahead homerun. It was later followed up by a 3-run shot by Mark Teixeira that sealed the win.

“It was great — except for the weather,” said Granderson, who arrived in New York around 11 p.m. Wednesday after playing in a rehabilitation game with minor leaguers in Tampa, Fla., earlier in the day.

CC Sabathia was a workhorse on the mound and had a great day recording 7 strikeouts and 2 walks. The bullpen finished up the game in solid fashion. Joba and Mariano Rivera came in and made sure that this one didn’t get away from the Yankees.

“Their bullpen and the long ball is what did us in today,” Detroit manager Jim Leyland said. “I thought it was actually a decent game for the conditions. It was pretty rough.”

This means…

1. The Yankees are going to start off the year hot. If they can get a win off a solid pitcher like Verlander, they are going to keep swinging it with confidence.
2. The Yankees pitching staff will do just fine this year. Yes, they aren’t as stacked as Boston or Philly, but who cares. They will find a way to win.

What is wrong with this picture?

I understand that it is “only spring training” however, it is a loss to the Red Sox. Regardless of when the loss took place, I still hate losing to the Red Sox, and so should the Yankees.

The Yankees played a pretty good game but they couldn’t close it out. They tied the game in the seventh inning,but in the botton half, the Red Sox had a rally and the Yankees didn’t answer.

The three youngsters previously mentioned went a combined 6 for 7 with 4 RBIs.

Could this possibly be the story for the Yankees in 2011? Are they too old? Do they need to go out and get some young talent like the Red Sox and other AL teams?

Only time will tell.

No crazy celebration, at least not yet.

Postseason step No. 1 accomplished. Two more to go before the New York Yankees’ big party can start.

And yet another quick October exit for the Minnesota Twins.

Phil Hughes pitched seven shutout innings, Marcus Thames and Nick Swisher homered and the Yankees beat the Twins 6-1 Saturday night to complete yet another three-game sweep of Minnesota and return to the AL championship series.

“We have a a long way to go,” Derek Jeter said. “We gained a lot of confidence, the way we did last year in the playoffs.”

Even newcomers sense only part of the mission is complete.

“That’s three down,” said Thames, whose fourth-inning homer blew open the game, “but we’ve got eight more games to go.”

For starters, though, the Yankees sped past the Twins with ease. It’s not just a pair of playoff victories for New York against Minnesota, but four in the last decade—all in the first round.

“This is not much fun at all, to come up here, being knocked out, knowing your season is over with again after three games in the playoffs,” Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire said. “We’ve had that a few times.”

New York begins the ALCS on Friday at Texas or Tampa Bay. With the short first-round series, the defending World Series champions put ace CC Sabathia in position to start the opener.

A banged-up veteran team appears to have benefited from October off-days. The wild-card Yankees rebounded from a late-season fade in which they lost 17 of their final 26.

“Once you get to the postseason, it’s like another season,” said Curtis Granderson, who hit .455 in his first playoff series for New York. “You’ve just got to get across the finish line.”

Robinson Cano got New York started when he tripled off Brian Duensing in the second inning and scored on Posada’s single. Mark Teixeira added an RBI single in the third, and Thames made it 4-0 with his first career postseason homer, a two-run drive over the right-field scoreboard.

“I didn’t get the job done when it counted,” said Duensing, who allowed five runs and seven hits in 3 1-3 innings.

Brett Gardner hit a sacrifice fly off Matthew Guerrier later in the fourth, and Swisher added a solo homer in the seventh against Scott Baker.

The AL Central champion Twins lost their 12th straight postseason game dating to 2004, one shy of the record set by the Boston Red Sox from 1986-95. Minnesota’s last nine losses have been against the Yankees.

“We keep saying, `Well, next year we’ll get these guys,”’ Jason Kubel said. “That’s happened a couple of times, and it hasn’t worked out.”

In addition to this year, the Yankees knocked out the Twins in the first round in 2003, 2004 and last season. New York outscored Minnesota 17-7 in this series and scorched the Twins 69-36 in the four playoff triumphs.

“We expect everyone to produce. We don’t just rely on one or two guys,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “We rely on a circular lineup.”

With Minnesota badly missing Justin Morneau, sidelined since midseason because of a concussion, the heart of the Twins’ order Saturday, AL MVP Joe Mauer and Kubel, combined to go 3 for 20 (.150) with no RBIs in the series.

“Right now we’re in a little rut here. We can’t seem to put it together,” Gardenhire said. “No excuses. We just didn’t get it done. We haven’t got it done. And we have to do some more searching here in trying to figure out how to get it done, because we definitely, definitely can do it. We know we can. We know we’re a good baseball team. You just have to put it together at the right time.”

After leading the major leagues during the regular season with a .285 average with runners in scoring position, the Twins couldn’t get a single clutch hit in the playoffs. With runners in scoring position, they went an almost impossibly bad 0 for 14 before Denard Span’s too-little, too-late single in the eighth off Kerry Wood.

Orlando Hudson followed with an RBI single, and a Mauer walk loaded the bases. Boone Logan threw one pitch, retiring Kubel on an infield pop, and David Robertson got Delmon Young on an inning-ending flyout. Minnesota finished the series 2 for 18 (.222) RISP with one RBI.

In the first postseason game at new Yankee Stadium following the death of George Steinbrenner in July, the late owner’s four children all looked on, hoping to see a repeat of the run that brought the pinstripes their record 27th World Series title last year, which christened the $1.5 billion ballpark.

Hughes gave up four hits, struck out six and walked one, leaving to chants of “Hughes!” from the new Yankee Stadium record crowd of 50,840 following his first scoreless start since May 12. He was perfect his first time through the order, then allowed Span’s single to right leading off the fourth. Hughes didn’t allow a runner past second.

Four relievers followed, with Rivera closing it out 1-2-3 in a non-save situation. Fans didn’t stick around long, knowing they’ll be back.

Come October, the killer instinct in the Yankees comes out.

“You have to have the mindset to put them away,” Jeter said. “Everyone in here came in ready to win today. We’re fortunate to do it, but we have to have that mindset every game.”

NOTES: Yogi Berra threw out the ceremonial first pitch—from about 15 feet. … With 41 RBIs, Posada passed Mickey Mantle for ninth on the career postseason list.

Info from AP

As the Minnesota Twins can attest, the New York are hardly an underdog in October.

Pushing the home-field advantage back in Minnesota’s face, Pettitte turned in a vintage postseason performance with seven smooth innings and Lance Berkman had two big hits for New York in a 5-2 victory over the Twins on Thursday evening for a 2-0 lead in their best-of-five division series.

“Andy, when he gets in big situations, he knows how to handle it,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “He’s not going to try to make the perfect pitch. He’s going to stay aggressive and just try to do what he does. And I think a lot of that is just from experience.”

Berkman hit a go-ahead home run in the fifth and a tiebreaking double in the seventh against Carl Pavano, sending the Twins to their 11th straight postseason loss. Eight of those have come against the Yankees, who trailed in each of those games.

Mariano Rivera got three outs for his second save of the series, extending his postseason record to 41. The road team has won all four games in the two AL playoff series.

The Twins haven’t won a postseason game since 2004, matching the Philadelphia Phillies (1915-1976) for the second-longest streak in history behind the Boston Red Sox (1986-1995) and their 13 in a row.

Berkman, yet another big-name veteran finding a place on a Yankees postseason roster, even on the downside of his career, made it 2-1 with his drive into the left-center bullpen in the fifth. His double in the seventh — one pitch after it appeared Pavano sneaked strike three past him — drove in Jorge Posada and gave New York a 3-2 lead.

“That’s why I wanted to come over here, just to get a chance to play in these games,” Berkman said.

The disputed call by plate umpire Hunter Wendelstedt led to the ejection of Twins manager Ron Gardenhire following Berkman’s double.

Pavano allowed 10 hits and four runs in six innings. Many fans proudly wore their pregame giveaways — fuzzy black stick-on replica mustaches in honor of his appearance.

He started strong, but the Yankees were sure on the ball in the fourth — and they really got to him in the seventh.

Derek Jeter chased his old teammate off the mound with a half-swing RBI single to make it 4-2. Curtis Granderson scored New York’s first run and came up with three more hits. And the Yankees headed back home for Game 3 on Saturday night with a commanding lead over the team they own in October.

“We’ve got a big hill to climb. It’s not going to be easy, but it can be done,” Gardenhire said. “We’ve seen it done before, and this club is never going to quit.”

Pettitte retired 12 in a row until Orlando Hudson’s homer tied it at 2 in the sixth, but after Delmon Young’s two-out triple he escaped with a weak groundout by Jim Thome. Pettitte needed only 88 pitches to finish seven innings, with five hits and two runs allowed. He walked one and struck out four.

The closing month of the season had always been Teixeira’s time. But he suffered a bone bruise in his right thumb while diving after diving for a ball in late August and broke his toe a few days later. By the middle of the month, with his body clock seemingly set to April, Teixeira took a cortisone shot to ease the pain in his thumb that had robbed him of his power.

Banged up and bruised, Teixeira’s own struggles personified the Yankees’ sloppy September, making it easy to question what was to come in October.

With one big swing, Teixeira eased those tensions Wednesday night, pulling a two-run homer down the right field line in the seventh inning to lift the Yankees to a 6-4 victory over the Twins in Game 1 of the American League Division Series.

“I’m not sure Tex would ever tell me how much pain he was in, that’s the type of player he is,” Yankees manager Joe Girardi said. “He’s tough.”

A crowd of 42,032, the largest in the short history of Target Field, turned out for the first outdoor playoff game in Minnesota since 1970. And on a perfect 63-degree evening, the Twins had spent most of the evening pushing the throng to the brink of hysteria.

But as Teixeira crossed the plate following his home run trot, the fans that packed the gleaming new ballpark fell silent, stunned at what they had witnessed.

The Yankees, who stumbled to the finish line, had arrived ready to play.

“We know what it takes down the stretch here,” Yankees third baseman Alex Rodriguez said. “Everyone starts 0-0 and we knew that.”

Initially, it didn’t appear that way. The Twins led 3-0 and left-hander Francisco Liriano appeared untouchable for five innings.

But with one down in the sixth, Teixeira doubled to left field, triggered a four-run inning. Curtis Granderson, in the lineup despite his career struggles against Liriano, bounced a ball off the high wall in right-center field. His two-run triple — off a left-hander no less— gave the Yankees their first lead of the game, 4-3.

“That’s a huge at-bat,” Rodriguez said. “Off the bat, you don’t know if it’s going to be a wall ball or a warning track fly ball.”

With a one-run lead, and with his team in need of a shutdown inning, Yankees ace CC Sabathia retired the first two men he faced in the sixth before walking Jim Thome. Soon, the Twins had the bases loaded, with rookie Danny Valencia at the plate.

The Twins third baseman had struck out twice against Sabathia and Girardi elected to leave his ace in the game. Sabathia walked Valencia on four pitches allowing the Twins to tie it at four.

But Teixeira gave the Yankees an answer in the seventh. After Nick Swisher singled off Twins reliever Jesse Crain, Teixeira homered down the right field line, perhaps the most homer-friendly part of spacious Target Field.

Sabathia didn’t bring his A-game but he was good enough to depart with the Yankees in front.
Game 1 came down to a battle of the bullpens and it was a battle the Yankees would win

David Robertson and Boone Logan worked a scoreless seventh before Kerry Wood ran into trouble in the eighth. With two away and runners on second and third, Girardi turned to Mariano Rivera.

Like Teixeira, Rivera endured a September that raised questions about his readiness for the playoffs, including a string of three blow saves in six appearances.

But the closer ended the threat when he got Denard Span to hit a broken bat grounder. Rivera worked a scoreless ninth for his 40th postseason save, adding to his all-time record, surviving a blown call when umpires incorrectly ruled that right fielder Greg Golson had trapped Delmon Young’s sinking liner, for what would have been the third out.

Rivera shrugged off the bad break, retiring Thome to extend the Yankees extended their playoff winning streak against the Twins to seven games.

“It’s as good as he’s been in quite awhile command wise,” Yankees pitching coach Dave Eiland said. “When Mo starts breaking bats, you know he’s got his good stuff out there.”

Cano hit a tiebreaking double and a two-run homer in New York’s nine-run sixth inning, sending Phil Hughes and the Yankees to an 11-5 victory over the Detroit Tigers on Thursday.

Austin Kearns added a two-run double and Derek Jeter a two-run triple as New York’s offense, still missing Alex Rodriguez and Lance Berkman because of injuries, broke loose for the second consecutive day.

“Big hits by a lot of people,” manager Joe Girardi said. “Our guys are picking up the slack.”