Major League Baseball

CC delivers as Yanks beat Twins in Game 1

Published Oct. 8, 2009 5:22 p.m. ET

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Derek Jeter got a big hit, just as he did in Octobers past at the famed ballpark across the street. CC Sabathia joined in the postseason fun. Even Alex Rodriguez broke out of his playoff rut.

It was like old times in the first postseason game at the new Yankee Stadium, with New York beating these tired Minnesota Twins 7-2 Wednesday in the opener of their AL playoff series.

"Just like the old place," Jeter said. "We couldn't have drawn it up any better for us."


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After Jeter's third-inning homer off loser Brian Duensing drew New York even at 2, Nick Swisher pulled a go-ahead double down the left-field line in the fourth that scored Robinson Cano from first as the Twins made a pair of poor throws.

Rodriguez had gone 0 for 29 in the postseason with runners on base dating to Game 4 of the 2004 AL championship series before chasing Duensing with an RBI single that made it 4-2 in the fifth.

On a night with sustained winds blowing to right-center at 20 mph, with gusts up to 43 mph, Hideki Matsui followed with a two-run homer into Monument Park on left-hander Francisco Lirano's fourth pitch. The Yankees celebrated like kids, just as the Twins did when they beat Detroit in an AL Central tiebreaker at the Metrodome on Tuesday night. New York went on to win its first playoff game since Joe Girardi replaced Joe Torre as manager after the 2007 season.

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