The team waited as long as it could for Baldelli to improve.

"I think we wanted to take every chance we could," Francona, who would not speculate on adding Baldelli for the next round, told the Boston Globe. "There wasn't a lot of improvement."

Baldelli would have given the Red Sox an option against the Angels' lefty starters in Game 3 and Game 4, former Ray Scott Kazmir and Joe Saunders.

The other reserve outfielder is ex- Ray Joey Gathright, who could be used as a pinch-runner.

Wednesday, the Red Sox chose RHP Paul Byrd over RHP Manny Delcarmen for the final bullpen spot and have 11 pitchers and 14 position players.

Yanks fine with Molina: Yankees manager Joe Girardi had the conversation with C Jorge Posada on Sunday, a talk similar to one he had years ago with ex-manager Joe Torre when Posada was about to cut into Girardi's time.

Girardi didn't like it, and he didn't expect Posada to be excited about light-hitting Jose Molina catching RHP A.J. Burnett in the postseason.

"When I played here, we split guys during the playoffs," Girardi said. "Of course, you want to play every day. I wouldn't want a catcher who didn't want to play every day. "

Molina will catch tonight when Burnett throws his first postseason pitch against the Twins. And with Hideki Matsui as the designated hitter, there's no room for Posada.

One tough opponent: Twins manager Ron Gardenhire has a simple reason for his team's troubles against the Yankees this year: They're good.

"That's just a pretty good team," he said. "I mean, I wish I had all the answers to say, 'Wow, this is why we lose here; this is why we don't win.' It's not that simple. We have had our opportunities; we just haven't come up with big hits."

With their 7-2 victory over the Twins in Game 1, the Yankees improved to 8-0 against the Central champs this year. They are 31-10 in 41 home games against the Twins since 2000.