Yankeees top Twins, get date with Angels in ALCS

October 11, 2009 By BY ERIK BOLAND erik.boland@newsday.com

Photo credit: AP Photo/Kathy Willens | New York Yankees' Phil Hughes sprays Alex Rodriguez, left, and CC Sabathia with champagne as they celebrate in the locker room after the Yankees defeated the Minnesota Twins 4-1 in Game 3 of the American League division baseball series Sunday, Oct. 11, 2009, in Minneapolis. The Yankees swept the series. (AP Photo/Kathy Willens)

MINNEAPOLIS - The Twins finally had scratched out the game's first run in the bottom of the sixth inning last night, and the way things were going, a form of this question must have been going through most Yankees fans heads:

"Carl Pavano???"

One of the most despised pitchers ever to wear pinstripes was shutting down and shutting out his former team.

But Alex Rodriguez and Jorge Posada - along with yet another baserunning blunder by the Twins - rescued the Yankees, allowing them to complete a three-game sweep of the Division Series with a 4-1 win and advance to the American League Championship Series for the first time since 2004.

It was the third straight comeback win in the series by the Yankees, who will face the Angels in the best-of-seven ALCS beginning Friday at Yankee Stadium.

Andy Pettitte pitched brilliantly in earning his record-tying 15th career postseason win, retiring the first 12 Twins and allowing one run and three hits in 61/3 innings. He walked one and struck out seven.

After Joba Chamberlain and Phil Hughes combined to pitch 11/3 innings, Mariano Rivera got four outs to record his 35th career postseason save, extending his all-time record.

With the Yankees trailing 1-0 in the seventh, Rodriguez homered to right-center after falling behind 0-and-2 and working the count full. Two batters later, Posada broke the tie with his own opposite-field shot, this one just over the leftfield fence.

A-Rod was 5-for-11 with two homers and six RBIs in the series.

After three one-out walks off three Twins relievers loaded the bases in the ninth, Posada added an RBI single off Joe Nathan, probably thrilled to be done with the Yankees this season. Robinson Cano's bloop single to right off Nathan made it 4-1.

The Rodriguez and Posada homers sucked much of the air from the Homer Hanky-waving crowd of 54,735, who witnessed the final baseball game at the Metrodome, the Twins' home since 1982. The rest of the air came out of the building in the eighth after a bizarre play cost the Twins a chance to, at the very least, tie the score.

No. 9 hitter Nick Punto, 3-for-6 in the first two games, doubled to start the eighth against Hughes. Denard Span bounced one through the middle that was fielded behind second by Derek Jeter. With little chance to get the speedy Span, Jeter held the ball and fired home as he saw Punto make a big turn around third. Punto slipped to the turf when he saw the ball coming in, and Posada's quick strike to Rodriguez, who applied the tag to the diving Punto, resulted in a stunning first out. Hughes got Orlando Cabrera to fly out and Rivera got Joe Mauer on a grounder to first, shattering his bat in the process.

Pavano, making his first postseason start since Game 4 of the 2003 World Series - when he held the Yankees to one run in eight innings - struck out three of the first five and allowed two runs and five hits in seven innings. He struck out nine to set a Twins postseason record.

The Yankees did not get a hit until Melky Cabrera's infield single with two outs in the third. They did not have a runner in scoring position until Jeter's two-out double in the sixth.

Pettitte retired 17 of the first 18 Twins before Minnesota took a 1-0 lead in the sixth. With two outs, Span singled and stole second one pitch before Orlando Cabrera walked. Mauer then lined Pettitte's first pitch through the left side for an RBI single.