Posted by Mark Levy on Sunday, October 11, 2009 at 2:09 pm

Mark Levy joins the BDD team to give us the fan perspective as his New York Yankees travel through the 2009 postseason!

Game 2 of the ALDS in the Bronx between the Twins and the Yankees was everything you could ask for in a baseball game. A great effort was put forth by both teams, and it was a battle until the end.

The starting pitching was stellar. I’m glad that the Yanks decided to have Jose Molina catch A.J Burnett because A.J seemed to settle in quickly. Besides, I knew Jorge Posada would eventually find his way in to the game later. I was nervous, however, when Burnett hit Delmon Young and Carlos Gomez in back to back plate appearance with 2 outs in the 4th inning. But Derek Jeter’s heads up play to direct Nick Swisher’s throw to second, enabling the Yankees to tag out Gomez before a run could score, was key in putting an end to the 4th inning for the Twins.

Minnesota’s Nick Blackburn was impressive in his own right, allowing just one run in the 6th ininng.

The game would ultimately fall into the hands of the bullpens. The Twins drew first blood. Phil Hughes and Mariano Rivera have been a great 8th and 9th inning pitching powerhouse. However, on this evening, they would each gave up a run, and Minnesota took a 3-1 lead in top of the 8th. I guess a sure thing really isn’t always a sure thing.

In the bottom of the 9th, with the Twins still leading 3-1, Joe Nathan came in to close the game. Mark Teixeira kept the Yanks alive with a single to right field before Alex Rodriguez launched a deep bomb to tie the game. Just when I thought the game was over, Arod proved his playoff worth by crushing one like he is paid to do. On to extra innings we would go.

In the top of the 11th, umpire Phil Cuzzi became the center of controversy. Yes, Joe Mauer’s liner to left field called foul by Cuzzi should have been a ground rule double. If it happened to the Yankees I would have been livid. But after a few minutes, I’d get over it and expect my team to man up and get the job done. Bad calls happen.

The Twins were winning 3-1 and could not close. They could have waved Mauer home on Michael Cuddyer’s base hit to force a defensive play, but they did not. Bad call or not, Minnesota had the bases loaded with no outs in the 11th inning and could not bring in a run. That’s the bottom line.

I remember screaming at Aaron Boone through my television to go deep and end the final game of the ALCS in 2003. Last night, I did the same with Mark Teixeira. 

“C’mon Teixeira, if you come through now, you will become a true Yankee,” I yelled. Mark did just that in the bottom of the 11th, ripping a line drive solo shot into the left field stands to give the Yankees a 2-0 series lead. Welcome to New York Tex!