NEW YORK - You know you've had quite a week when you play in the first playoff game ever at new, $1.5 billion Yankee Stadium, and the night feels anti- climactic.
Long after the Twins got thumped 7-2 by the Yankees on Wednesday in the first game of the playoffs, Joe Mauer blearily considered his upcoming day of rest. "I'll probably sleep in pretty late," he said. "Then we'll come back ... what day? Friday?
"I don't even know what day it is."
Today (it'll be Thursday, Joe) provides a respite for the weary. Last week, the Twins played a four-game showdown in Detroit. Over the weekend, they swept the Royals to qualify for another showdown with Detroit. Tuesday, they beat Detroit 6-5 in a 12-inning playoff at the Metrodome that veteran members of the organization called perhaps the most remarkable game they had ever seen.
Tuesday night, the Twins showered off the champagne and flew to New York. They missed curfew at their targeted airport, and wound up busing into Manhattan from Newark. Outfielder Michael Cuddyer said that by the time he grabbed his bags and hit the pillow, it was 4:45 a.m.
Wednesday afternoon, the team took a 1 p.m. bus to pristine new Yankee Stadium to prepare to play a team featuring three times the Twins' payroll, the two stars of last winter's free-agent market, and a lineup featuring Robinson Cano (.320 and 25 homers, 85 RBI) in the No. 7 hole, opposite the Twins' Brendan Harris (.261, 6, 37).
The oddity of the Twins' schedule turned what baseball would like to be called Game One Of The American League Division Series into something that felt much more lower case -- like, "pickup-game-at-the-rich-kid's-house."
The Yankees started well-rested veteran CC Sabathia, who signed a seven-year deal worth $161 million this winter. The Twins started rookie lefty Brian Duensing, who pitched an inning in relief on Sunday and was forced into the rotation during the middle of the season, and who would have to pitch for centuries at his current salary to become as rich as CC.
