I witnessed one of the stranger sights on Thursday night after Game 2 of the ALDS between the Yankees and Twins.

There some of the Twins were immediately after the game, hanging out at the top step of the dugout watching the Yankees congratulate themselves after their Game 2 win. It was the same scene you see when a team is officially eliminated from a playoff series, yet Minnesota hadn’t been eliminated yet. It was almost like they knew the series was already over and there was no point heading to New York for Game 3.

Well, now the series is officially over, as the Yankees beat the Twins 6-1 on Saturday night. Phil Hughes pitched seven scoreless frames while allowing just four hits and striking out six batters. Kerry Wood crapped on the party by giving up a run in the eighth, but at that point the game was pretty much in the bag for New York.

Getting back to the Twins, maybe I’m overacting a little but it seemed to me that they believed the series was over on Thursday. That’s probably not right to say that about all of their players, but after the club’s effort last night, it’s hard to argue that they weren’t out of it mentally.

Of course, it’s not like Yankee Stadium is an easy place to play and I don’t want to take anything away from Hughes’ gem. If the Twins’ heads weren’t in it, give the Yankees credit for taking advantage of the situation and not wasting any time putting Minnesota out of its misery. Now they can rest up (which is huge for an older team) and wait to see who emerges from the other ALDS series.