The LoHud Yankees Blog

Feel free to use the following paragraph for an impossible-to-answer trivia question.

Since the 1998 American League Division Series, Mariano Rivera has recorded the final out in 16 of 18 series clinching wins for the Yankees. His others: Ramiro Mendoza in the 1999 ALCS against Boston, and Gave White in the 2003 ALDS against Minnesota.

Rivera has allowed one earned run in his past 20 postseason appearances. His scoreless ninth inning last night lowered his all-time best postseason ERA to 0.72.

“I’m always extremely nervous when I’m not pitching and watching the games until he comes in,” CC Sabathia said. “He’s done it so much. You just get a real calm feeling.”

Associated Press photo

Dave Eiland coached Phil Hughes in Double-A. He coached him in Triple-A. Now Eiland is coaching Hughes in the big leagues, and last night he saw perhaps the finest – and certainly the biggest – start of Hughes’ career.

“It’s very gratifying,” Eiland said. “I’m very proud of him, and that was the first thing I told him. It’s a team game and he stepped up. He’s well on his way to being what we all thought he was going to be.”

Eiland seems to have a good relationship with all of his pitchers. He turned A.J. Burnett around for a while, he helped Boone Logan become a reliable lefty specialist and just last month he found a slight mechanical flaw in the greatest closer of all time.

But Eiland has seen Hughes for the better part of his career. Hughes was a premier prospect from the day he was drafted, and much has been expected of him for more than six years. The Yankees have gone out of their way to protect Hughes’ arm in the minor leagues, and this year in the big leagues.

In so many ways, it was all leading up to last night.

“We saw how strong he was, and in his last couple of starts in the regular season,” Eiland said. “I’ve been saying it for years, he’s mature beyond his years, and I think a lot of it goes back to his upbringing, his parents and the way they brought him up. He’s a just a consummate professional. He’s only 24 but I have a lot of respect for him and look up to him by the way he handles himself and goes about his business.”

“…He challenged hitters. Here it is, hit it. That’s what he has to do. That’s who he is. That’s what I saw.”

Hard to believe any contending team could have been worse than the Yankees in September. They were beat up, their previously reliable rotation stumbled, and they played their worst baseball down the stretch. In October, though, no team advanced to the second round faster.

“It starts with the pitching,” Alex Rodriguez said. “(Games) 1, 2, 3, I think it got progressively better with Sabathia, Pettitte and Phil with the exclamation point. Down the stretch we always talk about that it’s pitching, defense and timely hitting. We had that in three games.”

The end result: A division series sweep and a Yankee Stadium celebration.

Associated Press photos of Granderson, Jeter, Cano, Sabathia and Rodriguez

Phil Hughes had a plan. Of course he had a plan. This is a guy touted for his maturity, known for his willingness to work and prepare. He wasn’t going to make the biggest start of his career on a hunch and a prayer.

Hughes came into Game 3 knowing he was facing a lineup full of lefties, and believing he would need an effective changeup to neutralize them. Instead, pitching coach Dave Eiland said, Hughes threw his changeup a total of three times.

“The last couple of times out I threw a ton of changeups,” Hughes said. “I thought that was going to be the same plan going forward tonight, but they were swinging the bats early and I really didn’t get into too many deep counts so I just attacked with my fastball. Got ahead and from there I just did what I had to do. I thought it was going to be a different game as far as my pitch selection, but it went differently and I’m happy it did.”

Instead of his changeup, Eiland said it was Hughes fastball command that made the difference. Arguably his biggest pitch of the night — the one that generated a rare fist pump from Hughes — was the fastball that struck out Jason Kubel to end the sixth.

“I just really put everything I had behind that fastball hoping he either popped it up or missed it,” Hughes said. “Once I saw that he swung through it, it was just some emotion coming out.”

It was one of only two times Hughes was tested. He came back out for the seventh and sent the side down in order on nine pitches, not one of them the changeup he expected to need.

“He’s very smart,” Eiland said. “He’s a very wise pitcher. (The changeup) is there if he needs it, but he follows a scouting report. Jorge called an outstanding game behind the plate. Just because he has it and we want him to throw it doesn’t mean he’s going to throw it 10, 15 percent of the time every game.”

To put it even more simply: “He was outstanding,” Joe Girardi said.

Here’s the champagne-soaked Hughes from the middle of the Yankees clubhouse.

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• Just to get it out of the way: Girardi said the Yankees have not discussedan ALCS roster and Eiland said they haven’t discussed an ALCS rotation.

• The Yankees are the first team to advance this postseason. “You don’t want to give anybody hope,” Derek Jeter said. “If you have a chance to close it out, you want to do it. We’ve taken the approach that every game was Game 5 and we had that feel today. It’s good to get it over with. It feels good but we still have a long way to go.”

• The Yankees have now won nine straight playoff games against the Twins. This is the first of the bunch in which they never trailed. “We had a great game plan,” Swisher said. “Watched a ton of film on Duensing the last couple of days. Obviously huge hits, that’s obviously the big thing.”

• Of the Yankees 33 hits this series, 10 were for extra bases. Marcus Thames hit the first career postseason home run, Swisher hit his second.

• The Yankees pitchers held the Twins to 2-for-18 with runners in scoring position this series, including an 0-for-14 stretch prior to Denard Span’s RBI single in the eighth.

• Hughes is the third Yankee to throw seven scoreless innings in his first postseason start joining Orlando Hernandez and Waite Hoyt. He’s the first Yankees starter of any kind to go seven scoreless in the playoffs since Mike Mussina in Game 3 of the 2001 ALDS.

• Jeter has reached base in his past 19 postseason games dating back to Game 4 of the 2007 ALDS. He had a hit in 18 of those 19 games.

• Joba Chamberlain was not used this entire seires. “It was just matchups,” Eiland said. “Matchups where, for example, guys hit sliders better than they hit curveballs. Things like that. Joba’s going to play a big part in this thing before we’re finished this year, and he understands that. He’s all in and so is everyone else.”

• The Yankees will take Sunday and Monday off. Their next workout will be Tuesday at Yankee Stadium. “We’re not young any more,” Jorge Posada said. “So we need a couple of guys to get a couple of days off and go get them on Friday again.”

• CC Sabathia usually thrives on short rest, but he’ll get extra rest once again, this time eight days. “I’ll take the rest,” he said. “I’m going to have to get used to it. It’s always good when you can close a game out here, first chance.”

• Swisher was asked when he knew Hughes would be alright tonight: “I got here this afternoon at 3:30,” Swisher said. “At 3:33 I saw Phil, and he was just chill, man. Cool as a cucumber. Obviously everybody knows in the postseason your emotions and everything can kind of get the best of you, but the way he went out there and pitched today for us, hats off man. He’s been doing it all season long, and very, very deserving for him.”

• Hughes was asked if this is a start he’ll always remember: “I hope not,” he said. “Hopefully it’s a World Series win that I’m remembering.”

Associated Press photos of Rodriguez, Hughes pitching, and Jeter celebrating on the field with Cano.

Nick Swisher is well-prepared for the sting of the Champagne. I prefer his type of goggles, as opposed to the more full-on scuba masks that some guys were wearing.

If there were any lingering questions about Phil Hughes’ spot in the Yankees rotation, he surely answered them tonight. In the biggest start of his young career, Hughes pitched seven scoreless innings in a 6-1 win that finished off a sweep of the Twins and sent the Yankees back into the American League Championship Series. Hughes struck out six and never allowed more than a single. Behind him, the Yankees took an early lead and built on it with home runs by Marcus Thames and Nick Swisher.

Associated Press photo of Curtis Granderson

YANKEES (2-0)
Derek Jeter SS
Nick Swisher RF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Marcus Thames DH
Jorge Posada C
Curtis Granderson CF
Brett Gardner LF

RHP Phil Hughes (18-8, 4.19)
Hughes vs. Twins

TWINS (0-2)
Denard Span CF
Orlando Hudson 2B
Joe Mauer C
Jason Kubel RF
Delmon Young LF
Jim Thome DH
Michael Cuddyer 1B
Danny Valencia 3B
J.J. Hardy SS

LHP Brian Duensing (10-3, 2.62)
Duensing vs. Yankees

TIME/TV: 8:37 p.m. / TBS

UMPIRES: HP Greg Gibson, 1B Brian O’Nora, 2B Gary Darling, 3B Chris Guccione, LF Jerry Crawford, RF Hunter Wendelstedt

WEATHER: Temperatures in the low 60s dipping well into the 50s. It’s been a sunny day, though. Pretty much no chance of rain, and it actually feels pretty nice at the ballpark.

EITHER OR: In the past two years, the Yankees have seen Brian Duensing four times in the regular season, always as a reliever. Tonight will be the second time they’ve faced him in the postseason, both as a starter. They beat him in Game 1 of last year’s ALDS.

MAKING A CHANGE: With a right-handed pitcher on the mound, the Twins actually dropped lefty power hitter Jim Thome to sixth in the order. To be fair, Jason Kubel — who moved up to fill the clean-up spot — also crushes right-handed pitching.

BOTTOM’S UP: The Yankees Nos. 8 and 9 hitters in this series: 5-for-15 with 3 runs, a double, a triple, a home run and 4 RBI.

FAMILIAR RESULT: The Yankees led the Majors with 48 comeback wins this season. They’ve now come from behind in eight straight postseason wins against the Twins. According to Elias, that’s the longest such winning streak in postseason history.

BREAKING FROM HISTORY: With a win tonight, the Yankees would advance to the ALCS as the wild card for the first time in franchise history. They’ve been the wild card three other times and lost in the ALDS each time.

UPDATE, 8:40 p.m.: A few observations from pregame: Mariano Rivera might get bigger cheers than Derek Jeter at this point… Congrats to anyone who had Ramiro Pena in the who’s-going-to-catch-the-first-pitch pool… Outstanding job on the anthem… I understand booing Carl Pavano, but was booing Javier Vazquez really necessary?

UPDATE, 8:45 p.m.: Good first inning for Hughes, and good job by the scoreboard department with another strong pregame video. I like those things. I’ve seen this team play a million games this season — or something like that — but I still watch the highlight videos.

UPDATE, 9:08 p.m.: Robinson Cano gets the big hit to get it started, then Jorge Posada gets the RBI single for the early lead. Posada passed Mickey Mantle for ninth on baseball’s all-time postseason RBI list with 41.

UPDATE, 9:34 p.m: A double play erases the first Twins hit of the game, meanwhile the Yankees have pushed their lead to 2-0 on an RBI single by Teixeira.

UPDATE, 9:37 p.m.: That’s the first career postseason home run for Marcus Thames, and that’s a 4-0 Yankees lead in the fourth. Meanwhile, not the most graceful moment for Mick Kelleher. Funny though.

UPDATE, 9:49 p.m.: Sac fly by Gardner scores Granderson for a 5-0 lead in the fourth. Less than halfway through the game, every Yankee except A-Rod has either a hit, run or RBI.

UPDATE, 10:19 p.m.: Hughes sat for a long time through that bottom of the fourth, then had his longest inning of the night. The top of the fifth was a grind, but Hughes got through it and it’s still a 5-0 Yankees lead. What can you say? The kid’s good.

UPDATE, 11:08 p.m.: Seven scoreless innings from Hughes. The biggest start of his career and Hughes was outstanding. Now it’s Kerry Wood in the eighth and — I assume — Mariano Rivera in the ninth to wrap this thing up. It’s a 6-0 Yankees lead after a Nick Swisher solo shot in the bottom of the seventh.

UPDATE, 11:25 p.m.: Unusually rocky inning from Kerry Wood, but Boone Logan got Jason Kubel to pop up and now Dave Robertson is on to face Delmon Young with the bases loaded.

UPDATE, 11:27 p.m.: Robertson strands the runners. First person to high-five him in the dugout was Kerry Wood.

Here’s the interesting thing about pregame interviews on the day of a potential series-clinching game: Every question has the potential to be absolutely meaningless by the end of the day.

You can ask a little bit about Phil Hughes, but in the here and now, it’s only his performance tonight that matters. You can ask about plans for tomorrow, but those might be irrelevant. Ask about a specific reliever or a hitter, and their status could change with one at-bat or one pitch.

“Both games could have gone either way,” Joe Girardi said. “You get them to just try to focus on today. Don’t worry about what’s happened the past couple of days. Worry about today and try to win today… I’m not so sure a message needs to be relayed. Just focus on playing a good game.”

The clubhouse doesn’t open to reporters before playoff games, so it’s hard to have a sense of how loose the Yankees are this afternoon. There enough experience on the roster that I can’t imagine them feeling tense for a game like this, and Hughes has such a laid-back demeanor that he seems like a natural fit in the postseason.

Not much to do now but sit and wait.

Here’s Girardi’s pregame press conference.

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• Girardi said the plan is to stick stick with the Games 1 and 2 lineups against lefties and righties. Derek Jeter will remain in the lead-off spot, Lance Berkman and Marcus Thames will alternate at DH. “That’s kind of what we’re looking at right now,” Girardi said.

• Sticking with these lineups means sticking with Brett Gardner in left. “We’re comfortable with him in there against lefties,” Girardi said. “Defense plays an important role too. There are a lot of things Gardy can do.”

• CC Sabathia has thrown a light side session, and he’ll do some flat ground work today. “Then he goes (tomorrow) if we need him,” Girardi said.

• A lot of the pregame beat writers session with Girardi focused on Joba Chamberlain, who has yet to pitch, but got loose in Game 2. There really haven’t been many spots for him. He and Dave Robertson are kind of interchangeable in Girardi’s mind. “I told all those guys, be ready at any time,” Girardi said.

• Girardi on the evolution of Chamberlain since 2007: “I think it would be hard to live up to the expectations he created in ’07. He was so dominant. It’s pretty hard for anybody to cover that for a long, long period of time. You don’t see pitches do that. He created an expectation by the way he pitched, and it’s hard to live up to on a daily basis. He’s still effective for us.”

• Girardi said, as always, he’ll check with Mariano Rivera, Dave Eiland and the training staff to determine whether Rivera is available for more than one out. “That thought is always in the back of your head. If I need Mo for four outs tonight, do I have him?” Girardi said.

• Girardi said Phil Hughes didn’t use his changeup earlier this season simply because he was having so much success without it, it didn’t seem like a good time to start leaning on a fourth-best pitch. “We talked about it,” Girardi said. “Dave talked to him about it. Jorge was working it in. Hughesy wanted to work it in. They just started going to it.”

• Is Hughes the No. 3 starter next round? “No idea. I’m worried about today.”

• I wasn’t there for it, but apparently yesterday Kerry Wood said Rivera most reminds him of Greg Maddux. “I think that’s a good comparison,” Girardi said. “Greg Maddux always knew what he wanted to do, was always prepared and was always calm and a great student of the game. I think you can say the same about Mo. Great fielder. Didn’t beat himself.”

Associated Press photos. First of Cano, Cashman and Long during yesterday’s workout. Next of Girardi with his son Dante.

YANKEES
Derek Jeter SS
Nick Swisher RF
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Marcus Thames DH
Jorge Posada C
Curtis Granderson CF
Brett Gardner LF

TWINS
Denard Span CF
Orlando Hudson 2B
Joe Mauer C
Jason Kubel RF
Delmon Young LF
Jim Thome DH
Michael Cuddyer 1B
Danny Valencia 3B
J.J. Hardy SS

Ceremonial first pitch: Yogi Berra

5:30 p.m. Gates Open to the Public
5:40 p.m.-6:50 p.m. Yankees Hit
6:50 p.m.-7:30 p.m. Twins Hit
8:12 p.m. Baseline introductions
8:22 p.m. Giant flag unfurled: West Point cadets
8:23 p.m. Presentation of Colors: West Point Color Guard
8:24 p.m. National Anthem: West Point Glee Club
8:28 p.m. Ceremonial First Pitch
8:32 p.m. Umpires and Managers to Home Plate
8:35 p.m. Yankees Take the Field
8:37 p.m. First Pitch

* Haley Swindal will perform God Bless America during the seventh-inning stretch.

Associated Press photo of Jorge Posada. Why that picture? Because it’s hilarious.