NEW YORK -- The Minnesota Twins' pitchers have spent the past two days chumming the area around the strike zone with sliders, curveballs, sinkers, changeups, bait dropped to lure the New York Yankees hitters into chasing.
But the Yankees aren't biting. Rather, they have waited. And waited.
In Games 1 and 2 of this League Division Series in the MLB playoffs, New York hitters have seen 354 pitches in 83 turns at the plate, drawn 16 walks, collected 19 hits and scored 16 runs, seemingly scoffing at the Twins' attempts to trick them. In Game 1, Giancarlo Stanton drew one of the four walks he's taken so far in this series and slammed his bat to the ground, after ignoring a breaking ball in the dirt, as if to say: You can't be serious with that.