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Santana leads red-hot Twins against Zito, A's in playoff opener

Oct 3, 2006 - 2:03 PM Oakland vs. Minnesota 1:09 pm EDT AL Division Series Game One

MINNEAPOLIS (Ticker) -- Johan Santana is one of the best pitchers in baseball wherever he takes the mound. But when he starts at home, he is nearly unhittable.

Santana will take the ball for the Twins at the Metrodome in the opening game of a American League Division Series matchup against the Oakland Athletics on Tuesday.

Santana (19-6, 2.77 ERA) has won 16 consecutive decisions at home and has not lost here since August 2005. In fact, the Twins have won 23 straight games when Santana starts at home. He is 12-0 with a 2.19 ERA in 17 starts at the Metrodome this season.

The 2004 AL Cy Young Award winner, Santana allowed a run and two hits over eight innings in a 2-1 road win in his lone start against the Athletics this season on June 2.

"It's a great lineup. They are in the playoffs for a reason," Santana said of Oakland. "They know how to play the game. They play pretty good, they're good at-bats.

"But at the same time, we feel the same way, we feel that we can challenge them, we can compete against those guys and it's going to come down to who is going to be consistent and play the little ball and do the things that make you winners, but we will be fine."

Santana is the leading candidate for another Cy Young Award after an impressive 2006 season. He led the major leagues is strikeouts and ERA and finished up as the co-leader in victories with the New York Yankees' Chien-Ming Wang.

"Well, it's good. I will be ready for it," said Santana about the expectations on him. "As long as we're able to do what we have to do, we are going to be fine. But I think, for myself, I am going to be ready.

"Game One, Two and Three, you know, if I'm able to pitch every single game, I will do it. Reality is that we can't, but if that's the case, I will be ready for whatever the situation will be and whatever game I have to pitch."

He will be opposed by another ace, Barry Zito, who is 3-0 with an 0.84 ERA in three starts vs. the Twins over the last two years. The 2002 Cy Young Award winner, Zito pitched seven scoreless frames, yielding four hits in a 4-0 win in his one start against Minnesota on June 1.

"Let's see, offensively, they got a great lineup. Obviously, they got some tough players in there," Zito said. "Punto has really had a great year, Torii Hunter, Cuddyer, all the way down.

"They got some scrappy guys that can run, bunt. It's a great team."

The lefthander is 3-2 with a 2.76 ERA in five career postseason starts.

The Twins captured the AL Central Division title on the final day of the season. However, they were unlikely candidates to make the playoffs at all, based on their early-season performance.

After starting the season 25-33 and falling as many as 12 1/2 games off the AL Central pace, Minnesota played a major league-best 71-33 the rest of the way. The Twins were a major league-best 54-27 at home.

"It's playoff baseball. You say, how are you going to get them up for this after everything you have been through? This is why we worked," Minnesota manager Ron Gardenhire said. "We worked hard to get here, and I don't think you are going to have to use a cattle prod to get them going."

Neither team has advanced to the World Series in more than a decade but Oakland has especially struggled in the postseason in recent years. The A's have not won a playoff series since 1990 and are 0-9 from 2000-03 in games in which they could have advanced to the ALCS with a win.

Minnesota took six of 10 meetings with Oakland this season, including five of six at the Metrodome.

Game Two will be played here Wednesday.