The Yankees played well in the three games they had against the Twins. The pitchers did a pretty good job, especially Andy Pettite. However, their pitching wasn’t great.

If they want to make it number 28, they are going to have to throw a lot better. The only reason they were able to sweep the twins is because they hit the ball like they are expected to.

The Yankees have one of the deepest lineups in all of baseball and they need to make sure that opposing pitchers are aware of it. If a pitcher leaves one out over the heart of the plate, it needs to get tagged.

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Mariano Rivera got the last out, sealing yet another October triumph. Jorge Posada trotted out to mound, and the Yankees came out of the dugout in a businesslike manner to shake each other’s hands.

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.

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Andy Pettitte and the defending World Series champions stumbled through September and landed in the wild-card spot.

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.

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Mark Teixeira called the early days of September perhaps the worst of his career.

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.

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