A.J. Burnett Topic Page

The Twins were beat handily in the opening series of the ALDS by a few of the biggest names on the team. C.C. Sabathia pitched almost 7 strong innings. The Twins got to him for 8 hits, but Sabathia got the big outs when he needed them and didn't walk any Twins.

The Twins scored first with 2 runs in the 3rd inning, but the Yankees struck back immediately in the bottom of that inning with a 2-run home run from Derek Jeter. Jeter reached base in all 4 of his plate appearances, getting 2 hits and drawing 2 walks. Alex Rodriguez and Hideki Matsui also had 2 RBI a piece.

Everyone in the Twins' organization constantly preaches about doing the little things right. Dick and Bert seemed to emphasize the importance of playing defense, stealing, bunting, etc. even more than usual on Wednesday night's telecast.

The Twins will return home on Friday night after a 9 game road trip that started out rough, but finished on a more positive note with two straight victories over Texas. The Twins will hope to keep the momentum going against a Toronto team that's recovered a bit after losing their first 9 games of May.

Last week I asked if Matt Garza was the answer. By no means am I going to draw any conclusions based on one start, but clearly the jump from the minors to the majors involves some adjustments. Garza's first start, where he gave up eight hits and seven runs in just 2 2/3 innings surely raised a few thoughts. The Twins will surely give Garza another start or two before making any decisions on him. September will be rolling around soon, so Garza will likely remain on the roster for the remainder of the season, regardless of whether he's in the rotation or not.

In Baseball, you'd rather be playing well in the month of September than in April, so you have some momentum going into the playoffs. However, when it comes to making the playoffs, April games count just as much as those in September. The first few weeks of the Twins' season could prove to be pretty important when it comes to how the season is going to turn out. Let's take a look at the tough matchups they'll be facing right away.