American LeagueJohan Santana and the Twins escaped trouble with the help of a record-setting five double plays, Jacque Jones homered in his first start since the death of his father, and the Twins beat the Yankees 2-0 Tuesday to win their eighth straight opener in a postseason series.
"I was able to throw the right pitch at the right time because I know my teammates can make some plays," Santana said. "Tonight we proved what the team, the Minnesota Twins, are all about."
Minnesota's Soul Patrol outfield twice denied the Yankees with jumping catches -- left fielder Shannon Stewart saved one run and possibly two on Ruben Sierra's shot in the second, and center fielder Torii Hunter pulled in an eighth-inning drive by Alex Rodriguez at the top of the wall.
Hunter also threw out John Olerud at the plate in the second, completing one of the double plays by the Twins, who set a record for twin killings in a nine-inning postseason game.
Brad Radke now starts for the AL Central champions today, trying to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series, which shifts to the noisy Metrodome in Minneapolis starting Friday.
New York, which lost the first game of all three postseason series it played last year, is in familiar position: The Yankees have dropped the first-round opener in three of the last four seasons -- winning the series each time, but losing to Anaheim two years ago after leading 1-0.
"We had many opportunities," Yankees manager Joe Torre said. "Santana probably didn't have his best stuff tonight, but when he needed to get a groundball, he got it."
Santana, unbeaten in 16 starts since the All-Star break, allowed eight hits in seven innings, the most off him since May 23. Four of the Yankees' first six batters reached safely and 10 of the first 24, but Santana kept escaping.
Juan Rincon pitched the eighth and Joe Nathan finished for the save with the Twins' only 1-2-3 inning of the game. New York, shut out for the second straight time in postseason play, went 0-for-6 with runners in scoring position.
Red Sox 9, Angels 3
In Anaheim, Curt Schilling pitched 6 2-3 effective innings, Manny Ramirez and Kevin Millar homered during a seven-run burst, and Boston beat Anaheim in Game 1 of the AL playoffs.
Pedro Martinez will pitch against Anaheim's Bartolo Colon in Game 2 on Wednesday before the best-of-five series moves to Boston.
Two years ago, the Angels lost the openers to the Yankees, Twins and Giants before bouncing back to win all three series en route to the championship.
Just like the 2002 postseason, most of the fans at Angel Stadium wore red and made it noisy by banging ThunderStix. The volume level decreased significantly after the Red Sox's big fourth inning gave them an 8-0 lead, and not even stuffed Rally Monkeys could spur the Angels.
The seven runs were the most ever scored by the Red Sox in an inning in the postseason and the most ever allowed by the Angels. Five of the runs were unearned because of a throwing error by third baseman Chone Figgins.
An eight-run lead was more than enough for Schilling, who entered with a 5-1 record and a 1.66 ERA in 11 previous postseason appearances.
He wasn't at his best, allowing nine hits and three runs, two earned, while walking two and striking out four. But that was good enough.
Schilling, who allowed at least one baserunner in every inning, was relieved by Alan Embree with a runner at second, two outs in the seventh and the Red Sox leading 8-3. Embree retired pinch hitter Adam Riggs on foul popup to end the inning.
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