A-Rod's Grand Slam Powers Yanks Over Twins

MIN 4 9 0

NYY 8 14 1

WP: Marte (1-0) (even though he had the worst performance of the day)

LP: Baker (4-3)

Player/Play/Turning Point of the Game: I think it's safe to say A-Rod earned all these honors today with his seventh inning grand slam to give the Yankees a 7-4 lead and the eventual victory. Gardenhire decided to intentionally walk Mark Teixeira thinking a slumping A-Rod could hit into a double play. Not happening. A-Rod took Matt Guerrier (who he has great numbers against) deep into the left field seats for a grand slam. He also went 2-for-3 with a walk.

Notes

• I know he got some big outs in the 2009 postseason, but it's 2010 and I hate Damaso Marte. His job is to get lefties out, instead he almost blew the game (thank you, A-Rod). You can also target Girardi for taking Burnett out. I know Burnett gave up a home run to Mauer, but Mauer hit a good pitch by Burnett, and honestly I trust Burnett over Marte to get that out. Heck, I trust Boone Logan over Marte to get that out.


• Twins fans must be really skeptical of Ron Gardenhire after this game. Walking Tex to face A-Rod who he is 4-for-6 with three home runs lifetime against him? I don't understand that, but I'm happy he did it because it paid off for the Yankees.


• The Yankees have the Twins number. It's gotten to the point where it feels like the Yankees are thinking, "okay we can comeback" and the Twins are thinking "don't blow this." Nonetheless, these two teams play exciting, close games against each other every time out and it's great baseball.


• Francisco Cervelli continues to impress. Two-for-4 with an RBI triple. He's 10-for-13 with RISP.

Tomorrow

Yankees vs Twins 1:05 p.m. Yankee Stadium

Liriano vs Pettitte

See Ya!