ALDS Wrapup: New Stadium, Same Ol' Shakin'

Sometimes you witness an event as a fan that leaves emotionally drained and totally speechless, which is OK, because you've lost your voice. You've shouted yourself hoarse, lived and died with every play, and run the gamut of emotions in four nerve-racking, tense, euphoric, nervous, jubilant, exhausting and ultimately satisfying hours.

Then, as Bill Simmons once wrote of his beloved Red Sox, "Wait a minute... I'm supposed to write about this???"

Putting your emotions together in your head is borderline impossible, so putting good words on a page seems like a lost cause. You need time to digest. You need time to fully process how amazing what you witnessed was.

Anyway, that's my excuse for not writing about my firsthand experience at the Yankees' epic 11-inning, 4-3 win over the Twins in Game 2 until now. The Yanks wrapped up the sweep with a 4-1 win at the Metrodome tonight, so there's lot of stuff to get through. But I'll start with my thoughts on the experience that was Game 2 and then throw out my thoughts on the series as they pop into my head.

LOUD AS IT EVER WAS: For months, I heard about the lack of crowd noise at the new Yankee Stadium, that was formerly a madhouse was now just a quiet summer evening. Well, I'm hear to tell you that the playoff ambiance was every bit as raucous as in year's past.

Twins fans were heckled, verbally abused, and generally ridiculed throughout the night. Two-strike situations for A.J. Burnett and the Yankee relievers brought the crowd to its feet, screaming for a punch out. And when Alex Rodriguez blasted a game-tying two run homer in the ninth, the upper deck literally shook.

It reminded me of Game 4 of the 2001 World Series, the "Mr. November" game. It had almost the same feel.

In fact, Friday's win followed almost the same path as that Halloween classic eight years ago. The Yankees trailed by two going into the bottom of the ninth and had done nothing on offense. They faced their opponent's elite closer -- the Diamondbacks' Byung-Hyun Kim in 2001 and the Twins' Joe Nathan on Friday. The Yanks' top slugger (Tino Martinez then, A-Rod now) hit a game-tying two run blast in the ninth. And a solo walkoff home run gave the Bombers the win each time.

The difference in Friday's win was that the real hero was A-Rod, the one with the horrific postseason track record and the constant derision from media and fans desperate for one series-changing hit.

If you listened really closely as A-Rod rounded the bases, you could almost hear the monkey finally jumping off his back.

By the time the Yanks had survived a bases-loaded, no out jam in the top of the eleventh and finally won the game minutes later on Mark Teixeira's longball, the 50,006 fans were going back and forth between exultation and delirium. There are few better feelings in the life of a fan.

AS IF THAT WEREN'T ENOUGH: A-Rod was the offensive catalyst again Sunday night, blasting a solo shot of Twins' starter Carl Pavano to tie the game at 1-1. The slugger finished the series 5-for-11 with two home runs and six RBIs. Quick sidenote: Both home runs came on fastballs. At this point, why would you ever throw A-Rod a fastball in the strike zone in a key moment?

REASON NO. 311 WHY DEREK JETER IS THE COOLEST PLAYER IN BASEBALL: His at-bat music is "Empire State of Mind" from Jay-Z's new album. Great hook, great song, great message. Also, since when does Jay-Z sponsor the Yanks' at-bat songs? Jeter, A-Rod and Robinson Cano all use songs from H.O.V.A's new album "Blueprint 3".

MEN IN BLUE BLUES: Yes, the blown fair/foul call by left field umpire Phil Cuzzi was by far the worst of the plethora of botched calls by the umps in the series, and it may have cost the Twins Game 2. But some of the ball/strike calls by the last two home plate umpires (Chuck Meriwether in Game 2, Mark Wegner in Game 3) made me yearn for an infrared strike zone.

Case in point: Bottom sixth, runner on second, two outs, 2-1 count on Orlando Cabrera. Andy Pettitte threw a perfect backdoor breaking ball over the outside corner -- so good Jorge Posada didn't even bother trying to catch Denard Span stealing because he wanted to frame the pitch. Only Wegner called it a ball. This pitch had the strike zone by at least three inches on every side. It wasn't even close. Pettitte ended up walking Cabrera, and Joe Mauer lined a single to left to give the Twins their only run of the game. Umpires shouldn't be deciding games with bad calls, and that includes Game 2. End of story.

STAT OF THE GAME, FRIDAY EDITION: The Yankee pitching staff did not get a single 1-2-3 inning in the 11-inning Game 2. And the Yanks still won.

SUPER SUB: Talk about making the most of six innings. Twins' bench player Brendan Harris came in to pinch hit for Matt Tolbert and promptly hit an RBI triple to give Minnesota a 1-0 lead, then took Tolbert's spot at third base. In the eighth inning, he hit an opposite-field single to keep a two-out rally alive and eventually came around to score. In the tenth, he made a diving stop on a smash by Jeter to save a double and threw him out at first. Not bad for a guy who didn't even start in Game 1.

ONLY ONE FINGER NEEDED: Before Game 3, the TBS cameras caught an odd seen in the Yankee dugout. Posada was having the nails on his right hand meticulously painted, Seventeen style. It turned out Posada wanted his pitchers to be able to clearly see what fingers he was holding down. And when you think about it, nail polish was probably the best way.

When Mariano Rivera came on with two outs in the eighth and a man on first to protect a 2-1 lead, Posada needed only one of those fingers. Rivera faced AL batting champ and potential MVP Mauer, and the best closer in baseball history didn't mess around. Twice, Posada extended his pinky finger. Twice, Rivera threw his signature cutter. Mauer managed a weak foul ball the first time, but the second cutter shattered his bat and produced a dribbling groundout to first. Rally over. It was vintage Mariano, and it ended the Twins' best shot at a comeback.

TWO OUTS, TOO MANY WALKS: The Twins scored all their runs in Game 2 with two outs -- actually, they scored all their runs after there were two outs and no one on. Both Burnett and Phil Hughes gave up two-out walks to start the rallies, and both walks came after a 1-2 count. The way the Los Angeles Angels run, two-out walks will be equally costly in the ALCS.

BALLS TO THE WALL: The Twins' nearly tied the game in the seventh after a cup shot ended up icing Joba Chamberlain. Joba was rolling along and had a 1-2 count on Delmon Young. But when Young fouled a ball off the plate that bounced up and hit him squarely in the groin, he spent the next five minutes doubled over on the ground in agony. Most people in the crowd were either winced or were amused, but Joba was not happy with the extended delay, eventually soft tossing with Posada and shooting glares at the prostrate Young. As we all know, it doesn't take much to get into Joba's head, and the next pitch to Young was a flat fastball the Twins' outfielder lined into right center for a double. Luckily for the Yankees, Joba escaped the inning unscathed.

SHIFTING WORKS: Several times in Game 3, Yankee batters hit ground balls up the middle that in other situations would have been base hits. But Twins' manager Ron Gardenhire had clearly done his homework, and the Minnesota were always in the right place to make the out. Safe to say Angels' manager Mike Scioscia will take notice of Gardenhire's successful shifts.

AND FINALLY, AN ODE TO IDIOCY: The only way to describe the Minnesota contingent in the game's final innings is stupid. First, Twins' second baseman Nick Punto decided it would be a good idea to try and score the tying run from second base on an infield single with no one out. God, it even looks stupid in print. Jeter saw Punto round third with a full head of steam and threw to Posada. Now trapped, Punto scrambled back to third, but Posada's throw to A-Rod got their first, and Gardenhire appeared ready to strangle Punto in the dugout.

If that weren't enough, one Twins' fan decided the appropriate swan song for the Metrodome was a classless dash onto the field that held up the bottom of the ninth for several minutes and made all those Homer Hanky-waving fans look very bad. Shame it had to end like that. Hopefully, the guy spends the night in jail and is permanently uninvited from Target Field, the Twins' new ballpark.


That's all for tonight. Oh, almost forgot. In the other ALDS series, the Angels swept the Red Sox behind a 7-6 win in Game 3 that should permanently remove Jonathan Papelbon from the "best closers in the game" discussion. The Yanks will now have to go through their playoff nemesis if they want to get back to the World Series for the first time since 2003.

Game 1 is Friday. So stay tuned.