Game 53 Wrap-Up: MIN 6 NYY 1

(That pretty much sums it up.  Courtesy of Getty Images)

Safe to say that game wasn't one of the games that the team will look back on as part of their best at the end of the year.  The Yankees looked flat in their first game back at The Stadium after a week on the road.  They didn't pitch, they didn't hit, they didn't run the bases, and they got it handed to them by the Twins.  That's never a good thing.

Game Notes:

- Minnesota got started early against Vidal Nuno with a solo HR by Oswaldo Garcia in the top of the 2nd.  0-2 fastball right over the heart of the plate, gone.

- They got 3 more in the top of the 4th, once again off of Nuno's weak fastball.  He threw a bad 0-2 one to Josh Willingham to start the inning and another bad one in a 2-1 count to Trevor Plouff with a runner on.  Both guys hit them a long way and the Twins had a 4-1 lead.

- The 1 Yankee run came in the 3rd on an RBI double down the right field line by Jacoby Ellsbury.  Brett Gardner was on 2nd after a force out earlier in the inning.  That was all the offense they'd get.

- They had themselves to blame for ruining a couple other good scoring chances against Twins starter Ricky Nolasco.  Derek Jeter rounded first base too far on a single in the 5th and started a rundown that eventually got Brett Gardner tagged out trying to score from 3rd.  Brian Roberts got picked off first base in the 2nd and thrown out at the plate to end the 6th.

- The best thing Nuno did, the only good thing, was pitch into the 7th.  Preston Claiborne took over there and gave up 2 more runs in the 8th on a back-breaking walk-single-single trifecta with 2 outs.


F*ck Yeahs:

- Gardner: 1-4, 1 R, 1 B, 2 SB, 2 LOB.  Still doing his thing from the top of the order.

- Mark Teixeira: 0-1, 3 BB, 1 K.  First game back for Teix.  Gotta keep that wrist feeling good by drawing walks.

Oh Nos:

- Nuno: 6.2 IP, 7 H, 4 ER, 0 BB, 6 K.  The no walks is good, so are the strikeouts.  But you can't be serving up that many gopher balls to the Twins and you can't be doing it by hanging 2-strike fastballs.  Not when your fastball tops out in the upper 80s.

- Brian McCann: 1-4, 5 LOB.  John and Suze kept talking about how great his numbers were against Ricky Nolasco but he left a lot of men on base early.

Next Up:

That one sucked, but the Yanks can shake it off this afternoon with a win.  They're sending their best to the mound (Masahiro Tanaka) against one of the worst pitchers in the AL (Kevin Correia).