Rivera was not perfect Sunday afternoon in the Bronx at Yankee Stadium as the Yankees tried to sweep a three-game series from the Minnesota Twins. Rivera surrendered a game deciding grand slam home run to the Twins’ Jason Kubel in the eighth inning after being called on by Manager Joe Girardi to get a four-out save.

But it was not the eighth career grand slam hit by Kubel that bothered Rivera. It was the walk to Jim Thome that loaded the bases when he came out of the pen.  It was a 1-0 pitch off a Rivera cutter that went to right field. That was the difference and snapped a nine-game winning streak against the Twins, 12 overall including the post season of last year.

“You can’t go in there and do that,” was the brief explanation Rivera gave about the walk to Thome that walked in a run. It was the first runs of the season allowed by Rivera which also snapped an 11.01 scoreless streak to start the season. He also failed to convert his first save opportunity since last September 19^th at Seattle.

“It’s a pretty good feeling,” said Kubel about his third home run of the season and sixth career grand slam. “It’s an even better feeling that we finally beat them.”

It also snapped a streak of 51 successfully converted saves opportunities at home. The rare blown save by Rivera always leads to speculation. Is something wrong with “Mo” who had been bothered last week with a sore left side?

“For me to walk in a run is unacceptable,” commented Rivera. With Sergio Mitre getting the start, and Javier Vasquez pushed back to start Friday evening, against the Mets at Citi Field Girardi was working with a short pen and needed to call upon Rivera for the save.

He fell behind the count to Kubel. “Yeah, Mo came in to a tough situation,” said Twins manager Ron Gardenhire who has been the victim of more than one Rivera, save during the Yankees streak against his team. “Thome was able to work out a walk and Kubel got hold of a cutter that hadn’t cut yet.”

Gardenhire added, “You probably have recorded that because it’s probably not something that you will often see. As far as I’m concerned, he is the best in the game.”

And to Girardi, the Yankees and their fans a blown save by Rivera is acceptable. “He’s human, he showed he’s human,” said Girardi about his reliable closer.

e-mail Rich Mancuso: Ring786@aol.com

Lefthander pitcher Michael Dunn, the promising prospect who was in the Yankees bullpen plans was also shipped to Atlanta along with right hand pitching prospect Arodys Vizcain, along with that always other part in a deal, $500,000 of Yankees money that never seems to be an issue

So Yankee fans may be critical of the deal. They lose Cabrera who seemed to come along during their championship season of 2009.  And they regain Vasquez who finished fourth in the NL CY Young Award balloting with a 15-10 record and 2.87 ERA in 2009. The 33-year old came to the Yankees the first time in 2003 and finished with a 10-5 record in 2004 pitching with an ailing sore shoulder.

Not a very good first stint in New York for Vasquez, and General Manager Brian Cashman believes Vasquez is a different pitcher that will help the backend of a Yankees rotation. “The second half of 2004,” commented Cashman in a conference call, “which was poor cannot erase the long success that he’s had in both the American and National League.”

Most of the problems for Vasquez when he previously wore pinstripes came in the second half of that 2004 season.  He does rank second to Livan Hernandez in starts with 327 and innings with 2,163 among active big league pitchers since 2000.  And his 2,001 strikeouts are second to Randy Johnson since the 2000 season.

Cabrera will get the start for the Braves. The Yankees lose a good arm in the outfield and for the moment will find a way to deal without his career highs in doubles, 28 and the 13 home runs he hit in 2009.  The Braves wanted Cabrera and more so, the youngster Vizcaino in the deal.

“We had to have him in the deal,” said Braves GM Frank Wren about Vizcaino, the 19-year old who was 2-4 with a 2.13 ERA in Single-A. “He is a special young pitcher,” added Wren who acquired veteran relief pitchers Billy Wagner and Takashi Saito earlier this month.

Cashman continues to pull the strings, though the Yankees appear to have less punch int heir lineup with the departures of Hideki Matsui to the Angels. The future of Johnny Damon is uncertain and it appears the Yankees have no interest in bringing the outfielder back

Be certain that Vasquez is not the last move.  Dunn is gone, so is pitcher Phil Coke who went to Arizona in the three team trade that brought outfielder Curtis Granderson to the Bronx.  Where will Phil Hughes and Joba Chamberlain be before the winter is over?

That is something that Cashman may still need to address. And something Yankees fans await before the start of the 2010 campaign,

“It felt like the old place,” said Jeter who reached base safely four times as the New York Yankees took game one of the American League Division Series with a 7-2 win over the Minnesota Twins. “We couldn’t have drawn it up any better for us,” he said. The Yankees win marked two years to the day of their previous postseason win, an 8-4 victory on October 7, 2007 in game three of the ALDS against Cleveland.

Jeter would tie the score 2-2 and starting pitcher CC Sabathia earned the win snapping a three-game post season losing streak. The Yankees bullpen took over for Sabathia after

6 2/3^rd innings and it reminded everyone of how the Yankees did it in the postseason when they won four world championships under then manager Joe Torre.

More importantly, Rodriquez snapped a 0-for18 career postseason mark with runners in scoring position and two outs. He was 2-for-3, all two out hits that included an RBI single in the seventh inning that drove in Jeter who scored three runs.

“It definitely felt good,” commented Rodriguez who was the center of attention when he came to the plate for the first time. The Yankees failures to advance past the first round of the postseason against Cleveland, and in their previous appearance in 2005 and 2006 partly was attributed to Rodriguez and his failure to get runners home from scoring position.

So Rodriguez getting the pos t season monkey off his back, Jeter doing his usual postseason heroics and Sabathia doing what he came here to do was definitely what the Yankees needed as they look to take game two Friday evening in the Bronx. In that game A.J., Burnett gets the start for New York, and they could go for a sweep Sunday with Andy Pettitte on the mound at Minnesota for game three facing former Yankee pitcher Carl Pavano. .

“This is what you come here for,” said Sabathia. “It was electric tonight,” he said about the ovation he received with every pitch and when manager Joe Girardi removed him from the game after throwing 113 pitches. “The place got loud,” added Sabathia. “Him (Jeter) starting out the game with a single and then tying the score right back. It just made me want to go back out there and get three quick outs.”

The Twins, who clinched the American League Central division the evening before at home in an extra inning tie breaking win over Detroit, were not blaming their late arrival in New York as the reason as to why they lost game one.  The loss was attributed more to Sabathia on a night when the wind was blowing to all sides of the field.

“I kind of think CC Sabathia stress,” commented Twins manager Ron Gardenhire when asked if the late night arrival of his team had an effect on the game. “That was what we envisioned when we signed him, that CC would be pitching in October and November,” said Yankees manager Joe Girardi who got his first postseason win as a manager.

Added Gardenhire, “I think the big thing is you get a two-run lead quick and as soon as you get back out, it’s a 2-2 ball game with a homer. That’s a little deflating. When you get a lead, you want to go back out there and shut them down. And Jeter does what he does best. He got his team right back in it.”

Designated hitter Hideki Matsui hit his seventh career postseason home run, his third in the postseason against the Twins. That came in the fifth inning with one on and opened a 6-2 lead for New York. And of course, Mariano Rivera would close the game and lowered his all-time postseason ERA 0.76.“

Everything worked to perfection for the Yankees, just like it has the entire season. With the exception of a couple of passed balls that got by catcher Jorge Posada, it was the first of hopefully ten more wins that will get the Yankees their 27^th world championship.

“We wanted to come out here and set the tone,” said Jeter. They certainly did that Wednesday evening and as Jeter said, “we have to come out with the same intensity and win game two,”

e-mail Rich Mancuso: Ring786@aol.com

And it is only April, so plenty of baseball remains.  Five months to September and one look, listening to talk radio, reading the headlines, certainly there will be no October baseball in New York.  The Yankees with the worst earned run average as a staff in baseball partly attributed to the injured Chien-Ming Wang and a 34.00 ERA.

The Mets with a starting rotation full of questions mostly attributed to Oliver Perez. The three-year $36 million arm that GM Omar Minaya saw as a better option.. A few million more would have delivered Derek Lowe to Citi Field instead of Turner Field in Atlanta.

So the cost conscious Mets, who claim to be spenders, are looking at other options on the mound. And it is only April. The Yankees look for Wang to get healthy again, Joba Chamberlain hasn’t been that overpowering starter and, with a Yankees bullpen also with the highest ERA in baseball, why hasn’t manager Joe Girardi put Joba back in the pen?

These are some of the pitching issues in April that have to be solved before September. More so, these pitching woes in April can mean managerial changes soon, and costly losses that come back to haunt you in September.

Last week Girardi said his Yankees were, “Playing more consistent.”  Not giving up so early after winning a rain shortened series over Oakland. Then it was up to Boston and lethargic pitching from Chamberlain and Burnett, though Pettitte could have used some help from the offense Sunday night to prevent the three- game sweep and a nightmare for Girardi and Yankees fans.

And then there is the issue of Perez. He pitches well against the Phillies, the Yankees and the Atlanta Braves seen prior to signing the new contract. Then the control issues and good stuff against the lowly Washington Nationals, and the Mets don’t get an important three-game sweep in April.

Yes there is plenty of time to get the pitching problems corrected.  Sabathia is not known to have a good April. As for Perez, one never knows what to expect.  However New York baseball fans have no patience in April for pitching woes, not when their teams are one-two when it comes to the highest payroll teams in the game.