Yankees American League East Champions
Sunday, October 11, 2009. The New York Yankees nipped the Minnesota Twins tonight 4-1 and will move on to face the LA Angels in the American League Championship Series. Unloved ex Yankee Carl Pavano started for the Twins and was outstanding. He outpitched Andy Pettitte until the seventh inning when he gave up solo homeruns to Alex Rodriquez and Jorge Posoda. That gave the Yankees a 2-1 lead which was all the Yankee bullpen needed. Andy Pettitte was perfect for the first four innings and went 6 1/3 innings, gave up only one run, three hits and struck out seven. Pettitte has not lost to Minnesota since 2001. Andy earned his 15th post season win. Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes held the Twins until the eighth went Mariano came in with two outs. Mariano silenced the Twins threat in the eighth. To lead off the ninth, Rivera gave up a lead off single but shut the Twins down in order from there. This was Mariano’s 35th post season save, 10 of which have been 4 out saves. A-Rod was the Yankee’s hitting star for this series, hitting .455 with 2 homeruns, 6 rbi’s and 4 runs scored. This will be the Yankees 13th trip to the ALCS and their first since 2004. Final box score: Yankees – 4 runs, 7 hits, 0 errors; Twins – 1 run, 7 hits, 0 errors. The ALCS starts Friday, October 16th at Yankee Stadium.
