*A 6-5 victory over the Yankees where there were so many places that things could have gone kablooey: Yankees rallies were snuffed out with Twins picking each other up in the field, on the mound and at the plate. Livan’s pitching in the sixth — getting Jeter and Abreu with two on — minimized the impact of an inning of defensive difficulties for Delmon, and the Guerrier/Nathan tandem allowed us to forget that Dennys Reyes struggled his way through the three lefties he faced in the seventh. Guerrier may have thrown the best strike-three change-up in baseball history to Chad Moeller with runners on first and third and one out in the seventh.

*The voting closed at 8:29 p.m. in the “who’ll homer first” poll when Joe Mauer scorched a ball over the right-field wall to tie the game at 5. Among the 2,534 people who voted, Mauer came in third at 20.1 percent, with Delmon “winning” with 46.4 percent and Livan at 33.4 percent. Maybe the next poll should be when Delmon will finally go deep — 2008, 2009 or 2010.

*Delmon had three doubles, including the one that drove in the game-winning run in the eighth. The third double was flat out smoked to right center. We were in Section 118, closer to the game than you probably were, and that contact sounded sweet.

*Speaking of smoking the ball, Michael Cuddyer went 9-for-18 against the Yankees and, in his last eight games, is 13-for-37 with nine RBI. Last night, his hitting started and continued rallies and compensated for the fact that Justin Morneau was struggling. On defense, he made a wicked throw to nail Jeter at second based when Jeter smacked a ball off the right-field wall. It’s a niche skill, but nobody does the ball-off-the-wall throw better than Cuddyer.

*Pinch-hitter Nick Punto didn’t dive into first base when he put down a sacrifice bunt during the game-winning rally in the eighth. He spiked Robinson Cano running through the base but Cano walked it off — and now we can all wonder whether Punto’s was really on the disabled list getting his brain reprogrammed.

*My computer didn’t crash when I keyboarded “pinch-hitter Nick Punto.”

*Senor Smoke Free put up an incredible pitching line while scuffling through six innings: 13 hits and one walk in six-plus-a-batter. Put those 14 runners together in different combinations and you could have been looking at 10 Yankees runs instead of the five that he gave up. Face it, Livan’s style is not suited to facing a smart-hitting team like the Yankees, but he huffed and bluffed and got enough key outs to make for a memorable game.

*Gogomez’ and Casilla’s numbers look paltry in the box score. But the youngsters improvised a key early run when Gogomez went from first to third when Andy Pettitte’s pick-off throw skidded into the bullpen for an error and Casilla followed with a squeeze bunt to bring him home.

*The Twins are a half-game out of first place and, unlike the division-leading White Sox, our manager and general manager aren’t threatening to throttle one another. If Ozzie really wants to get rid of Jim Thome, send him over.

*The Twins are 9-2 in games I’ve attended. (Shouldn’t you be sending me your tickets?)

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