Yankees Sweep Away Twins Behind Phil Hughes

As I wrote in my New York Yankees – Minnesota Twins preview, there was no way on earth Brian Duensing was walking into Yankee Stadium and coming out with a victory. It just wasn’t going to happen. And it certainly wasn’t going to happen with the Yankees smelling blood in the water.

The Yankees made quick work of Duensing and the Twins last night as they beat the Twins 6-1 to sweep their best-of-five ALDS. Amazingly, this was the Twins’ 12th straight postseason loss.

Hughes got the Yankees to the ALCS last night

Pitchers like Duensing don’t enjoy much postseason success and they certainly don’t enjoy success at Yankee stadium. He is a nice pitcher to have during the regular season. He is a guy that will give a team six bend-but-don’t-break innings against a team like the Kansas City Royals or Oakland A’s.

Guys who don’t miss bats usually don’t last past the fifth inning in a playoff game against the Yankees. Just ask Joe Saunders last year. Duensing only last 3.1 innings last night as he was rocked for seven hits and five runs.

Jorge Posada got the party started with a bloop single to score Robinson Cano in the second and Marcus Thames essentially ended the Twins’ season with a two-run HR to right that gave the Yankees a 4-0 lead.

Phil Hughes did the rest as he held the Twins scoreless over seven innings of work. What was disturbing if you were a Twins fan last night was that Hughes really didn’t have his good curveball (only 38 percent were thrown for strikes) and knowing that a fastball was coming, the Twins still couldn’t hit him.

The Yankees really have some sort of Jedi mind trick on the Twins right now. I have never seen a team so mentally whipped by another team in all my years of watching baseball.

Even when the Boston Red Sox were getting toasted by the Yankees for all those years, you got the sense that they felt they could beat them. As soon as Posada drove in the first run to give the Yankees a 1-0 lead, the game was over.

Here is what the Twins need to beat the Yankees or any other team in the postseason for that matter.

First, they need Justin Morneau. The loss of Morneau the last two seasons really went forgotten mainly because the Twins have played so well during the regular season without him. But this is Justin freakin Morneau. He is one of the top-10 hitters in the American League.

If the Yankees lost Mark Teixeira for the playoffs, every Yankee fan would be crying how unfair it is. The Twins absolutely need him to advance in the playoffs.

Second, they need some pitchers who can miss some bats. Outside of Francisco Liriano, they have pitch to contact pitchers. That works in the regular season, but not in the playoffs. They need to find a guy who can strike some guys out.

As for the Yankees, this is what they used to do when they had their great run in the mid to late-90′s. They used to beat their first round opponent in record time and while they were resting up, the other two teams in other divisional round would beat the snot out of each other.

With the Tampa Bay Rays and Texas Rangers set to play a Game 5, things are shaping up nicely for the Yankees.

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