Oh you knew this one was coming.

Stacey, Margaret and I had unanimous votes on just one of our Top 10. And this was the one.

The Yankees won the America League Divisional Series 3-0 against Minnesota, winning Oct. 6, 6-4; Oct. 7, 5-2; and Oct. 9, 6-1.

In Game 1, with the Yankees down 3-0 in the sixth, Robi Cano and Jorge Posada each hit RBI singles, and Curtis Granderson tripled to deep centerfield to put the Yankees up, 4-3. The Twins tied in the sixth, but Teixeira hit a two-run homer to score Swisher to seal the victory.

With the game tied at 2 going into the seventh, Lance Berkman (wow, him, huh?) doubled and Jeter singled to make it 4-2, and Grandy singled to score Gardner for the win.

Game 3? No contest. It’s what all the writers were raving about:

Just wait until the playoffs, the Yankees said. Wait until the bunting is draped, the division series logos appear and the games start to matter — to really matter — once more. That would be when their lineup would jell and their pitching would thrive — when they would morph back into the Yankees. They waited. And they were right. The Yankees are back where they started their championship run of 2009, with a three-game sweep of the Minnesota Twins and loads of confidence heading into the American League Championship Series.

With the win, New York posted nine straight postseason victories against Minnesota, dating back to 2004.

Hughes got the win in Game 3, the youngest pitcher to start and win a post-season game since — wait for it — Dave Righetti, 22, pitched Game 3 of the 1981 ALCS.

Quick: Who caught Righetti’s no-hitter in July two years later? An easy one for SWB fans.

In case you missed it:

Finally Opening Day is here! Let there be baseball.

Yankees

Gardner, LF
Jeter, SS
Teixeira, 1B
Rodriguez, 3B
Cano, 2B
Swisher, RF
Posada, DH
Granderson, CF*
Martin, C

Sabathia, LHP

Detroit

Jackson, CF
Rhymes, 2B
Ordonez, RF
Cabrera, 1B
Martinez, DH
Raburn, LF
Peralta, SS
Inge, 3B
Avila, C

Verlander, RHP

*Just noting that Granderson is in fact in the Opening Day lineup, after some uncertainty due to his oblique injury.

Weather: Right now it’s cloudy and 43 degrees, with a chance of showers later on.

Schedule of events says first pitch is ready for 1:09 p.m.

“Everybody else is doing it, so why can’t we?”

Time for STN to make our predictions for the season, but from what I’ve seen so far, everybody seems to be putting stock in the Red Sox. I think that’s for a second post. For now, our thoughts on the season:

In the month leading up to Opening Day, Spreadin’ the News looks back at last season’s greatest moments, as voted by us. Today and tomorrow we recount our Top 3. The moments so far:

No. 10: Opening Day

No. 9: Colin Curtis homers pinch-hitting for Brett Gardner

No. 8: Yankees Turn Triple Play

No. 7: Golson’s throw beats Tampa

No. 6: A-Rod’s Homers Thrice Off the Royals

No. 5: Swisher’s walk-off honors Sheppard, Steinbrenner

No. 4: Jeter passes Babe Ruth on hits list

No. 3: Yankees come back against Texas

—-

On August 4th 2007, Alex Rodriguez hit his 500th career home run in a game against the Kansas City at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx so it was a little spooky that exactly three years later, on August 4th 2010, Alex belted his 600th career home run against the Toronto Blue Jays.

The first inning home run to dead center, off Toronto Blue Jays starter Shawn Marcum, landed in an empty Monument Park and gave the Yankees a 2-0 lead. The first person to greet Rodriguez at home plate was teammate Derek Jeter who was on base after a single. Fittingly, the Captain had given his teammate some much needed advice the night before:

“Last night after the game I stayed back and had a nice conversation with the captain (Jeter) and he reminded me of his time last year in trying to get the Lou Gehrig (franchise) hit record. He said just try to get a base hit, maybe even bunt, and so when I got to home plate he had a big smile.

Rodriguez was homer-less in his previous 46 at bats which made him the guy with the longest drought between no. 599 and no. 600 but at 35 years and 8 days old it also made him the youngest player to ever reach the 600 home run plateau. On that steamy day in the Bronx, Alex Rodriguez joined Babe Ruth, Barry Bonds, Henry Aaron, Willie Mays, Ken Griffey Jr. and Sammy Sosa in that exclusive home run club.

The home run also helped lead the Yankees to a 5-1 victory over the Blue Jays and stop a three game skid.

From Fox Sports.com

Rodriguez hit No. 100 in August 1998 with Seattle, No. 200 in May 2001 and No. 300 in April 2003 with Texas. His 400th home run came on June 8, 2005, against Milwaukee during his second season with the Yankees.

I wonder when and where Alex will hit No. 700?

Courtesy of MLB.com: A Rod’s 600th Career Home Run

No, not to play just to throw the ceremonial first pitch on Thursday at the home opener against the Detroit Tigers.

The press release from the New York Yankees:

The New York Yankees will open the 109th season in franchise history on Thursday, March 31 vs. the Detroit Tigers at 1:05 p.m. at Yankee Stadium.

Gates will open to fans with valid tickets beginning at 11:00 a.m., with festivities slated to begin at approximately 12:40 p.m. with the introduction of both teams on the baselines. The Yankees ask their fans to please budget ample time when planning their trip to the Stadium and urge their fans to use public transportation.

The ceremonial first pitch will be thrown out by five-time All-Star Mike Mussina. It will mark the first time that Mussina, who will be honored with the “Pride of the Yankees” award at the 2011 Homecoming Dinner on Wednesday night, will throw out an Opening Day ceremonial first pitch. He will become the 10th former Yankees player to be bestowed the Opening Day honor. Mussina was a member of the Yankees pitching staff from 2001-08, compiling a record of 123-72 with a 3.88 ERA. Over his 18-year Major League career, he made 536 combined starts (537 appearances) with the Yankees and Baltimore Orioles and went 270-153 with a 3.68 ERA and 2,813 strikeouts.

Actress and singer Haley Swindal will sing the national anthem, and a giant flag will be unfurled by 75 West Point cadets, while the West Point Color Guard will present the colors.

During the seventh-inning stretch, Michael Minarik of the Broadway hit Rock of Ages will perform “God Bless America.”

For information on taking public transportation to Yankee Stadium, please visit www.yankees.com and click on Mass Transit under the Yankee Stadium tab at the top of the page. For parking information, please visit www.baseball-parking.com or call (866) 330-7275.

In the month leading up to Opening Day, Spreadin’ the News looks back at last season’s greatest moments, as voted by us. Today and tomorrow we recount our Top 3. The moments so far:

No. 10: Opening Day

No. 9: Colin Curtis homers pinch-hitting for Brett Gardner

No. 8: Yankees Turn Triple Play

No. 7: Golson’s throw beats Tampa

No. 6: A-Rod’s Homers Thrice Off the Royals

No. 5: Swisher’s walk-off honors Sheppard, Steinbrenner

No. 4: Jeter passes Babe Ruth on hits list

—-

The New York Times’ Pat Borzi said the Yankees primed all season for this one game.

In the first game of the American League Championship Series, the Yankees overcame a 5-1 deficit with a five-run eighth inning for the victory.

Five in the eighth.

The play-by-play: In that inning Oct. 15, Brett Gardner led off with an infield single, sliding into first headfirst. Derek Jeter doubled to score Gardner, and Nick Swisher and Mark Texeira drew back-to-back walks. Consecutive singles from A-Rod and Cano tied the score at 5, and Marcus Thames capped the scoring with a single to score A-Rod.

Said Borzi in his column:

Seven times in the regular season the Yankees overcame deficits of at least three runs to win, and they did it again against the Rangers. Late-inning rallies are their specialty. The Yankees scored 251 runs in the seventh, eighth and ninth innings this year, more than any team in baseball except Cincinnati (252), according to Elias Sports Bureau.

Tack onto that that CC Sabathia was having a pretty rough game before his offense came through. He only threw four innings during which the Rangers pegged him for all five runs on six hits, including a three-run homer from Josh Hamilton in the first inning.

Nice way to set the tone, huh.

Joba followed, then Dustin Moseley, who recorded the eventual win with a two-inning, four-strikeout performance. Mo picked up the save in the ninth, allowing one hit and notching one strikeout.

The Yankees’ knack to put up the runs when they count most — aside from the other times when they don’t count as much? You know what I mean. — helped them out in our No. 3 moment from 2010.

We skip the rest of that ALCS. Don’t worry about what happened the rest of the time. Just replay those highlights for a little bit before this season starts up, cool?

Spring Training is over! The Yankees wrapped up the exhibition season with a 2-1 victory over the Detroit Tigers in Tampa. In a “this is only Spring Training” moment for the Yankees, the save was recorded by none other than Bartolo Colon and Austin Romine hit what ended up being the game winning home run in the bottom of the eighth inning.

In less than 48 hours, the Yankees and Tigers will be playing for real at Yankee Stadium in the Bronx.

To quote the Pointer Sisters and Jessie Spano of Saved by the Bell:

“I’m so excited!”

Aren’t you?

Brett Gardner CF
Derek Jeter SS
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Nick Swisher RF
Jorge Posada DH
Andruw Jones LF
Russell Martin C

Freddy Garcia P

Thanks to the Lohud Yankees blog for the lineup.

Scheduled relievers: Relievers: Soriano, Ayala, Prior, Colon

We will post the Tiger lineup as soon as we get it.

Countdown to Opening Day: TWO DAYS

Tonight’s game has been cancelled and there will be no make up game scheduled.

The Yankees have one more Spring Training game left, tomorrow against the Tigers at 1:05pm. Then guess what? Opening Day is on Thursday! (Weather permitting of course)