New York Yankees

For those who did not have the pleasure of watching Game Two of the ALDS between the Yankees and Twins, one of the biggest story lines was a controversial call in the seventh inning. With one out, two strikes, and Jorge Posada on first base, Carl Pavano threw a tailing fastball on the inside of the plate for what "should have" been strike three.

The play Yankees manager Joe Girardi is discussing is Greg Golson‘s catch in the ninth inning of Game One of the ALDS that should have ended the game, but instead was ruled a trap.

Via ESPN:

The Yankees beat the Twins 5-2 last night and the play that everyone seems to be talking about is the Lance Berkman at-bat in the the seventh that ended up being an RBI double.

It’s become an infamous play because it looked like Carl Pavano had him struck out just the pitch before. Twins manager Ron Gardenhire was ejected following the double.

Let’s take a look at the Pitch Fx graph via Brooks Baseball:

The Yankees entered Game 2 on Thursday looking to continue their momentum from defeating the Twins in Game 1 the night before.

On the mound for New York was Andy Pettitte, looking to brush aside the rust and any side effects of a groin injury that kept him on the disabled list for two months. For the Twins, it was Carl Pavano, pitching against his former team and looking to try and split the series going back to New York.

Two games into both American League Division Series match-ups and it seems that the Yankees made the right decision by winning the Wild Card.

We’ve seen this movie before haven’t we? The Minnesota Twins jump out to a lead, the New York Yankees come back, the Twins get tight, and then Mariano Rivera comes in to close the door.

I've been pretty hard on Mark Teixeira this year.

This can happen when a star slugger of your favorite team also happens to be the No. 1 pick in your big-money fantasy baseball league. It's kind of like doubling down in black jack—payoff is double the pleasure, but losing hurts twice as bad as winning feels good.

Many of us remember the game-winning, walk-off home run that Mark Teixeira launched in Game 2 of the 2009 ALDS against the Twins.

Many more of us are having trouble forgetting the rest of the 2009 playoffs, where Teixeira was practically a no-show. He had just a .180 batting average with a .593 OPS last postseason. He capped it off with a pathetic .136 hitting performance in the World Series that left many Yankee fans thankful for Alex Rodriguez and the clutch performances of Hideki Matsui.

Last night’s win over the Twins was exciting, but attention must immediately turn toward tonight’s matchup of Andy Pettitte against former Yankees disabled list mainstay Carl Pavano.

Here are some notes:

It wouldn’t be a Yankees—Twins playoff game if the Yankees didn’t fall behind early only to victimize the Twinkies late in the game to come out ahead for their seventh consecutive playoff victory, 6-4, against Minnesota.

Here are some highlights: