Not a week into Kyle Gibson's career, and already he pitches like a veteran, like he's been a Minnesota Twin for years.
In other words: He can't beat the Yankees, either.
The rookie's second major league game was as chaotic and glum as his debut was orderly and encouraging, but the righthander insisted after the Twins' 9-5 loss that his pitches felt just as good as they had against Kansas City last weekend. This time, those 95-mph fastballs and dive-to-the-dirt sinkers were getting rocketed all over Target Field, rather than popped up or pounded into the ground as the Royals had done.
"I had the stuff I had the last time out there, maybe even better, honestly," Gibson said. "My changeup and slider felt really good. ... I felt like I had the stuff to go deep into the game."
Rookies, huh? He'll learn. As Minnesotans discovered long ago, when the Yankees are involved, resistance is futile.
"Even though it's not the team you're used to seeing over there, they've still got some guys from other organizations that know how to play the game," Twins manager Ron Gardenhire said after his career record against the Yankees, regular season and post, fell to 23-71. "They go out and get it done."
Heck, with the four-game sweep this week, they've already clinched the season series for a seventh straight year before they play a single game in Yankee Stadium — where the Twins haven't won a series since 2001.
New York seemed in a hurry to get the holiday festivities over with Thursday, jumping on a series of pitches that Gibson left too high for three quick first-inning runs. Two more in the third made it 5-0, and considering the Twins had scored only nine runs in the first three games of the series, the only intrigue left was whether Mariano Rivera would make an encore appearance in his final Target Field game.