Playoff baseball kicked off yesterday with the Twins visiting the Yankees on ESPN. ESPN will carry all games FOX chooses not to broadcast this post-season. Minnesota's bats began moving early as OF-R Shannon Stewart led off with an automatic double down the left-field line. 2B-R Luis Rivas then laid down a sacrifice bunt, moving Stewart to third, but the Twins were not able to move him home.

The next inning and a half moved along with LHP Johan Santana and RHP Mike Mussina keeping the bases clear of runners in scoring position. With one out in the 3rd, SS-S Cristian Guzman reached base when 2B-R Alfonso Soriano tried to bare hand a grounder and missed. If Mussina had come off the mound a bit faster, he likely could have reached the ball and made the out, avoiding Soriano's miscue.

New York should have been able to erase Guzman from the bases when Stewart singled into shallow left-field and Guzman chose to go to third rather than holding up at second. However, no one on the defense did a good job of handling the play. OF-L Hideki Matsui was a little slow fielding the ball and his throw did not facilitate an easy tag for 3B-R Aaron Boone, who was doing a feeble job of blocking the bag. Initial camera shots made it look as though the umpire made a mistake in calling Guzman safe, but later angles clearly displayed that Guzman slid under Boone's poorly placed tag. Consequently, Guzman was in position to score when Rivas hit a fly ball into center. A stronger more accurate arm in center field might have been able to prevent the run at the plate, but given Guzman's speed the fact that OF-S Bernie Williams' throw was a couple of feet off the plate likely didn't matter. Guzman continued to factor prominently in the game in the bottom half of the inning, making a diving stop of a grounder hit by OF-R Juan Rivera and throwing to first for the out.

The Yankees' appeared to catch a break when Santana was forced to leave the game after only four innings due to a cramp in his right leg. However, New York remained scoreless in the sixth when additional defensive blunders increased the Twins' run total to three. DH-R Matt LeCroy led off the inning with a single into down the left field line, which ricocheted off the protruding stands and into the grass where Matsui bobbled its retrieval. If LeCroy wasn't a slightly more athletic version of Al from Home Improvement, he would have been able to take second. Mussina was able to strike out OF-L Jacque Jones, but OF-R Torii Hunter came to the plate and drove the first pitch he saw into center field where the bumbling began. The ball went past Williams and to the wall, allowing LeCroy to lumber home. Williams then chose to throw to cutoff man Soriano, who threw the ball way over Boone's head in an attempt to get Hunter out at third; Hunter scored.

If the Twins had continued to put balls in play, they might have been able to really run up the score. Up next, 3B-L Corey Koskie sent a ball into left, which Matsui was playing too deep to reach, putting Koskie on second. However, C-S Jorge Posada easily threw out Koskie when he attempted to steal third, C-L A.J. Pierzynski walked, and Guzman struck out ending the inning.

RHP LaTroy Hawkins quashed a New York rally in the seventh, maintaining the shut out. Then in the 9th, Stewart sucked the air out of Yankee Stadium with a leaping catch of a Matsui flyball that was close to going out of the park and definitely would have been a double if not caught.

While the Yankees' were able to put a run on the board before the game ended, the momentum remained solidly with the Twins at the end of Game 1. After this performance, New York needs to play textbook baseball over the rest of the series to avoid falling into a downward spiral and another early elimination.

The Marlins and Giants were in the top of the second at PacBell before the game in New York ended. By that point the tone of the game had been set, this match was going to be a pitcher's dual and Florida was going to try to neutralize OF-L Barry Bonds with intentional walks. RHP Josh Beckett had four one-two-three innings and was only pulled before the end of the game because the Marlins were behind and needed to try to generate some offense with a pinch-hitter. The Giants scored their first run when after fielding a bunt 3B-R Miguel Cabrera made a bad throw to first. SS-R Rich Aurilia was on second and Bonds was at first when 3B-R Edgardo Alfonzo laid down the bunt. 1B-R Derrek Lee wasn't able to catch Cabrera's throw, so after advancing to third on the bunt Aurilia scored easily. Beckett gave up the only earned run of the game in the eighth, when he allowed a double to Alfonzo, which scored Bonds. Bonds had put himself in scoring position by stealing second base after the Marlins intentionally walked him.

RHP Jason Schmidt pitched a complete game setting down the opposition one-two-three in six innings, including the last four. Although he only struck out five, he walked no one and allowed only three hits while throwing 82 of his 111 pitches for strikes.

Atlanta may not have experienced such an invasion from the north since Sherman came through during the Civil War. Turner Field was filled with Cubs fans who'd taken advantage of Braves' fans' established indifference regarding the division series. While camera's found a group with the big red tomahawks as the game opened, by the eighth inning we were seeing shots of Chicago fans mimicking the chop with their Cubs' hats.

The game belonged to RHP Kerry Wood. With two outs in the second, 3B-R Vinny Castilla hit a bouncing ball towards the mound where Wood was facing the outfield after finishing his delivery. Wood reached over and gloved it backhanded to end the inning. He had a no-hitter going when 2B-R Marcus Giles homered in the third. As is the habit with Cubs' fans when the opposing team homers, Giles home run ball reportedly was tossed back onto the field. Unphased by the dinger, Wood resumed his suppression of the acclaimed Atlanta lineup. Later Wood gave the Cubs the lead with a double to left that scored 3B-R Aramis Ramirez and 1B-R Eric Karros. Kerry managed to strike out the first two batters in the eighth, though lead off hitter 1B-L Matt Franco was safe at first due to a dropped third strike. Then fatigue set in and he walked 2B-R Mark DeRosa and OF-R Gary Sheffield, loading the bases. The bullpen allowed one run to score before taking control, but the Cubs finished with confidence while Atlanta will be pushing for a split tomorrow.