The Yankees are who we thought they were

Two games down, one to go. The New York Yankees have a 2-0 lead on the Minnesota Twins and they’ve done so in dominating fashion. Their Game One 10-4 victory was a blend of what they’ve done all season; Clutch hitting and an outstanding bullpen.

James Paxton was decent in his postseason debut, going 4 2/3 innings of five hit ball and three runs. He wasn’t spectacular but he didn’t need to be. After giving it up to the bullpen, the Yankees completely shut down the Twins, with Tommy Kahnle giving up the only run and J.A. Happ giving up the only other hit of the night.

A double by Edwin Encarnacion put the Yankees within one run and Gleyber Torres lucked out when a potential double play turned into two runs on a fielding error by C.J. Cron. A Gleyber Torres double broke the game open and solo home runs by D.J. Lemahieu and Brett Gardner put the game away.

Game Two was more of the same, only most of the damage came on one swing. Didi Gregorius, who has been in a big slump of late, crushed a 3-1 fastball into the second level of the right field seats. Didi’s homer made it 7-0 and completely out of reach for the Twins.

Masahiro Tanaka was nails for the Yankees once again in the postseason, going five innings strong while only allowing one run. Tanaka struck out seven and had great command of his splitter. The Yankees’ bullpen was great from Tommy Kahnle through Tyler Lyons. The only run given up was a late one by Jonathan Loaisiga, but the game was well out of reach by then.

The Yankees head to Minnesota with all the confidence in the world. They’re doing all the things that made them successful in the regular season. They didn’t get 103 wins by accident. As long as they keep hitting and get decent pitching from their three starters, they’ll beat the Twins with ease.

Other Notes –

• The Yankees have done a great job of getting deep into counts. They’ve been towards the top of the league in that category regardless, but it’s good to see that it carried over to the playoffs
• Didi Gregorius’ home run is exactly the kind of thing that makes Didi such a good player. He could be in a rut for a long time but one swing changes everything. Such a clutch player
• The bullpen has been lights out in the playoffs so far. Zack Britton and Aroldis Chapman were rested on Saturday night and are ready to roll on Monday night