NEW YORK -- Johan Santana and the Minnesota Twins' dazzling defense had the New York Yankees seeing double.\nSantana 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 night to win their eighth straight opener in a postseason series.\nMinnesota'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.\nHunter 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.\nBrad Radke now starts for the AL Central champions on Wednesday night, trying to take a 2-0 lead in the best-of-five series, which shifts to the noisy Metrodome in Minneapolis starting Friday.\nNew 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.\nSantana, 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.\nJuan 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.
boston 9, Anaheim 3\nANAHEIM, Calif. -- Curt Schilling has pitched a lot better in big games than he did Tuesday.\nFortunately, he had a large margin for error early on, so everything worked out for the Boston Red Sox.\nSchilling worked effectively into the seventh inning, Manny Ramirez and Kevin Millar homered during a seven-run burst in the fourth and the Red Sox beat the Anaheim Angels 9-3 to open the AL playoffs.\nSchilling said he felt "incredibly strong" in the bullpen before the game and had good velocity, but struggled otherwise.\n"I knew I wasn't as sharp as I have been," he said. "Looking back, I made some mistakes today. I left some pitches over the plate. (But) solo home runs don't beat you."\nEach team hit two homers, but Boston's produced five runs and Anaheim's only two.\nAnd the Red Sox had an 8-0 lead after 3 1/2 innings.\n"All you can ask from him is to go out there and give us a chance to win," said Millar, whose two-run homer triggered Boston's big inning. "We swung the bats enough to give him a lead, and he held it."\nSchilling gave up nine hits and three runs, two earned, and allowed at least one baserunner in every inning. He walked two and struck out four in 6 2-3 innings.
Cardinals 8, Dodgers 3\nST. LOUIS -- Larry Walker is back in the playoffs for the first time in nearly a decade, and he's making the most of his second shot.\nIn the Cardinals' playoff opener, the three-time batting champion led the hit parade. Walker homered twice and St. Louis tied a postseason record by hitting five home runs, overwhelming Odalis Perez and the Los Angeles Dodgers in an 8-3 blowout Tuesday.\n"It was a lot of fun out there today to see the packed house and everybody in red," Walker said. "It was a good feeling."\nWalker, acquired in August from the Rockies, made his only other postseason appearance in 1995, batting .214 for Colorado in a first-round loss to Atlanta.\nAlbert Pujols, Jim Edmonds and Mike Matheny, who've been part of three postseason teams in four years with St. Louis, also connected.\nAdd in a strong six-inning performance from Woody Williams and the Cardinals looked every bit as dominating as they did in leading the majors with 105 wins and leading the NL in runs and batting average.\nThe game was a slugfest, exactly what Dodgers manager Jim Tracy had hoped to avoid.\nThe Dodgers, who set a franchise record with 53 come-from-behind victories, fell so far behind they couldn't recover. A five-run third, all of the runs scoring with two outs, was the key.
