Bullpen saves Minnesota after starer leaves early\nNEW YORK - Instead of getting tight when Johan Santana cramped up, the Minnesota Twins stayed loose.\nPlaying a postseason game in Yankee Stadium for the first time, the Twins were guarding a one-run lead in the fifth inning when their pitcher suddenly couldn't go to the mound for the bottom half.\n"One thing you don't do is show panic in the dugout," Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire said. "So I just said, 'Well, let's have some fun. We are going to piece it together.' And that's what we did."\nThose pesky Twins put the big, bad Yankees in another postseason funk.\nTorii Hunter circled the bases when his line drive resulted in a pair of misplays that led to two sixth-inning runs, and the Twins finally beat New York, tripping up the stumbling Yankees 3-1 in Tuesday's AL playoff opener.\nNew York had rolled over the Twins during the past two seasons, going 13-0 and outscoring them 90-36. But it's the little guys who take a 1-0 lead into Game 2 Thursday night, when Brad Radke pitches against Andy Pettitte.\n"It's been a running joke the last couple of days-- we might just as well scrimmage these guys and get them warmed up for the next round, because that's where everybody's putting them," Minnesota's Jacque Jones said.\nNew York was favored in last year's division series, too, before Anaheim won in four games to end a run of four consecutive AL pennants. The Yankees have dropped four straight postseason games for the first time since the 1981 World Series against the Dodgers, not exactly what owner George Steinbrenner was expecting when he set payroll records last winter in an effort to get his team its first Series title since 2000.\nFrom Associated Press reports
Schmidt throws three-hitter in 2-0 victory over Florida\nSAN FRANCISCO - Jason Schmidt aced another test.\nSchmidt pitched the San Francisco Giants to their first playoff shutout in 16 years, throwing a three-hitter for a 2-0 victory over the Florida Marlins in Game 1 Tuesday.\nSchmidt outdueled Josh Beckett while Barry Bonds and the Giants took advantage of a costly error by Florida fill-in third baseman Miguel Cabrera to score the go-ahead run.\nAt 68, Felipe Alou wound up a winner while managing his first postseason game and 72-year-old Jack McKeon lost in his playoff debut.\nGame 2 in the best-of-five NL series is Wednesday.\nBonds barely had two feet in the batter's box when catcher Ivan Rodriguez's glove shot out to signal an intentional walk, showing just how serious the Marlins were about not getting beat by baseball's best slugger.\nInstead, the Marlins beat themselves with one bad throw.\nBonds wound up 0-for-1 with three walks. Chad Fox intentionally walked Bonds with nobody on base in the eighth, and he came around to score on Edgardo Alfonzo's double.\nBonds proved last postseason that he could carry his team -- the five-time MVP hit .356 with eight homers, 16 RBIs and 27 walks as the Giants reached the World Series for the first time since 1989.\nWhen he was intentionally walked in the first, the crowd of 43,704 began booing lustily.\nOn a day the teams combined for only six hits, the Giants scored their only run on a misplay.\nCabrera, starting in place of injured All-Star Mike Lowell, charged in on Alfonzo's fourth-inning bunt and made a wild throw to first. By the time the ball had stopped it was in the bullpen dirt and Rich Aurilia was headed for home.\nAlou had said the key for Schmidt was to keep his pitch count down -- and that happened. The lanky right-hander with the league's lowest ERA worked ahead in the count and was at 79 pitches through six.\nAfter Alex Gonzalez reached on an error in the fifth, Schmidt retired the final 13 batters. Schmidt walked none and struck out five.\nSchmidt pitched the first postseason shutout for the Giants since Dave Dravecky beat St. Louis in Game 2 of the 1987 NL championship series.\nBeckett was almost as impressive in his playoff debut. He gave up two hits in seven innings, striking out nine and walking five.\nNotes: ... Amputee football player Neil Parry of San Jose State threw out the first pitch. ... Beckett's nine strikeouts set a franchise division record.
