'Some tidbits from the Yankees press conferences on workout day before tomorrow's AL wild card throwdown.
Yanks manager Joe Girardi said he will carry 10 pitchers and 15 position players for the game, which isn't that big of a surprise. They know who they will have active for the game, but have not informed the players of their decisions yet.
Girardi was asked about Ervin Santana's 0-5 record at Yankee Stadium, and how that comes into play on Tuesday:
"I can look at the game he pitched, he pitched pretty well here," Girardi said of Santana's Sept. 18 game in which he gave up two runs over 52/3 innings. "He is a pitcher that has a lot of experience and a a lot of at bats. You can go back at some of the at bats (against Yankee hitters) are back to 2009. That doesn't tell you a lot about 2017, but the fact we recently saw him, the guys have an idea of what he is going to do. But they can say the same about Sev."
Sev, is righthander Luis Severino, who will be on the hill for the Yankees. He lasted just three innings on Sept. 20 against the Twins, but his talent is undeniable. Severino grew up not far from Santana in the Dominican Republic but didn't really talk to him until the All-Star Game.
"I don't know him a lot," Severino said. "I just spoke to him in the All Star Game, but I would say that he's a good guy. He's a great pitcher and looking forward to facing him. Wishing him good luck."
Offense is the best thing going for the Twins as they enter the Wild Card game, and that is what concerns Severino as he prepares to face them. After a few batters on Sept. 20, the Twins appeared to make adjustments against him.
"I think they're good hitters," Severino said. "They hit the ball a lot. They've got good runners. They like to bunt. So looking forward to go over there and try to make good pitches. Try to be more economical with my pitches."
While Twins manager Paul Molitor is in his first postseason game as a skipper, Girardi, ahem, has a few under his belt. That includes some Game Seve's and the 2015 wild card game. So he was asked what's unique about running one game to move on in the postseason.
"It's a gut feeling," he said. "It's a gut feeling, and you try to look at your experiences from the past and what your eyes have told you in the past, what certain numbers tell you in the past, and you do the best you can. The one thing is a manager or pitching coach who's making suggestions, a bench coach who's making suggestions, a third base coach who's sending a runner, they don't have the luxury of waiting to see what happens before making the decision or having a crystal ball.
"So, again, you do the best you can with the information that you have at that time, and you live with it."
The Twins arrived at Yankee Stadium at about 12:10 p.m. Molitor is about to meet with the media. Not sure if MLB Network is showing the press conferences, but Molitor, Santana, Brian Dozier and Joe Mauer are about to speak with the media.
