The Yankees continue their American League Divisional Series against the Twins in about three hours, and they’re missing the advantage they had in Wednesday’s Game 1: It’s incredibly unlikely that the Twins are hung-over this time. If they had played the Tigers and Miguel Cabrera, this would be less of a certainty.
Much of the drama about tonight’s game revolves around Jose Molina starting over Jorge Posada as catcher, though it seems like it’ll make less difference now than, say, a potential Game 6 of the World Series in which A.J. Burnett might pitch. (Not to get ahead of ourselves.) What really matters is how Burnett pitches: If he has one of his occasional six-runs-in-three-innings starts, it doesn’t matter much who the Yankees have at catcher.
We know Game 1 was easy, and no one’s really all that scared of the Twins anyway, but this game’s still vital. A loss tonight eradicates all the trouble the Yankees went through to earn home-field advantage, and it’ll send both teams back to a rabid, rollicking Metrodome on Sunday night, full of wild Minnesotans not quite ready to say good-bye to their baggy-walled surreal edifice. Strange things happen in that dome. If the Yankees don’t win tonight, they’ll head there with no assurance that they will return. That’s a frightening concept.
But yeah, they’re probably gonna win tonight.