Yankee Magic!

I know it's early, but might we be witnessing something special in the Bronx? The Yankees did it again Friday night. They broke the Twins heart yet again with another walk-off win. Mark Teixeira's 11th inning homerun made the Yankees a 4-3 winner and sent the Twins into a deep 2-0 hole in their best of 5 ALDS. It's the Yankees 16th walkoff win (4th against the Twins-- 1st in the playoffs.)

The Twins have to be shell shocked. Many would say that the Yankee season reached its turning point in May when they swept the Twinkies, winning each game in dramatic fashion in their last at-bat. But this one is different. Many have questioned whether or not Alex Rodriguez would finally come through in the playoffs. So far, he has, and then some. After a 2 for 4, 2 RBI performance Wednesday night, A-Rod followed that up with another 2 hits including a homerun and 3 RBI. The homerun could not have been more clutch; an adjective we have rarely used for Rodriguez in October. Bottom of the 9th, no outs, runner on first. A-Rod came up and launched a pitch into the right center field seats, looking to the dugout and pumping his fists before releasing the bat. When Rodriguez reached the dugout, the person with the widest smile was Derek Jeter. Jeter had a game tying homerun in Game 1 and seemed the happiest for his teammate who just turned the same trick.

The game had all kinds of twists and turns. In the 4th Matt Tolbert singled to right. Delmon Young was set to score easily, but Carlos Gomez slipped and fell as he rounded second and was tagged out by Derek Jeter. The out was recorded before the run scored so the run did not count and the game remained scoreless. Where have we seen this before?? Ahem... David Wright... Well at least Young didn't slow up as he reached the plate like Wright did. It was just Minnesota's misfortune that Gomez slipped and fell. The Twins later took the lead (as they have in every game at Yankee Stadium this season)... only to have A-Rod tie the game with an RBI single. The Twins took another lead at 3-1 only to see A-Rod tie it again with his long homerun. Then my vote for Yankees MVP, Mark Teixeira sends everyone home happy (except the Twins) with a homerun that got out by the hair of his chiny chin chin. In fact, the ball hit the top of the wall in left and bounced over. A-J Burnett pitched well, did not figure in the decision but of course was ready with the now customary walk-off pie in the face. The Yankees now have 3 chances to win one game to advance to the ALCS. You have to think, they'll be able to do so. I know 2004's postseason started so well and ended so badly. But this one feels a little different. Maybe it's me, maybe not. With all the walk-off wins this year, it's almost like the Yankees can do it on command. Maybe they can. They won't have a walk-off win in Game 3 in Minnesota but with Andy Pettitte pitching against former Yankee loser Carl Pavano, I give the Yanks a good shot at winning the game outright.