Yanks sweep twins, advance to ALCS

Two solo shots in the seventh inning off Carl Pavano was all the Yankees needed to broom the Twins in the ALDS. The Yankees haven’t made it to the ALCS since 2004, and they surely were missing it.

Quick ‘Cap:
Pavano was working on a shutout before Alex Rodriguez hit an opposite field dinger to tie the game at 1 in the seventh. One batter later, Jorge Posada launched an oppo-shot of his own to give the Yankees the lead. The Yanks added two insurance runs in the ninth, but they weren’t necessary with Mariano Rivera on in relief for a four-out save.

Nick Punto made a disastrous baserunning mistake in the bottom of the eighth. He led off the inning with a double and was looking to score on a groundball up the middle. Derek Jeter ranged for the ball and fired home, catching Punto in a pickle. Posada gunned him out at third bas, to end the threat, and essentially the Twins’ season. Full box score here.

Thoughts:
I was expecting a win, but I was hoping for a rout. Apparently, the Yankees don’t know how to do that against a team they didn’t lose to in 10 meetings this year. Seven of those losses for the Twins were with deficits of two runs or less, including four walk-offs. Now that’s heartbreaking.

It’s about time the Yankees made it past the divisional series. Now they will get a chance to redeem themselves against the Angels, who finished off a sweep of the Red Sox yesterday.

Line of the Night:
Andy Pettitte: 6-1/3 IP, 3 H, R, BB, 7 K. That’s a quality line for the most experienced postseason pitcher in the history of the game.

Up Next:
The ALCS is set to start up on Friday. No more information is known yet.