MINNEAPOLIS — Don’t forget, the Yankees’ last postseason series victory came here in the Metrodome, five years ago, with Alex Rodriguez displaying every sign that he could carry on the postseason excellence he displayed with Seattle.

Then the Yankees collapsed against the Red Sox, setting off another misguided spending spree in which the biggest check went to . . . wait for it . . .
Yes, of course. Carl Pavano.
So the Yankees get to do more than close the Metrodome as a major-league ballpark Sunday night as they try to wrap up this American League Division Series. They also get to bury their relatively dark recent past that arguably can be characterized as the Carl Pavano Era. Against Pavano himself, who gets the ball for the Twins.
“The true storyline was, he just wasn’t healthy, for various reasons,” an ever-defiant Brian Cashman said Saturday as his team — up 2-0 in games — held a light workout. “ . . . He just wasn’t able to physically perform. He wanted to, and he tried to. His body didn’t allow him to.”
For an alternative viewpoint, there’s Joe Torre in his own book, “The Yankee Years,” who said, “The players all hated him. It was no secret.”
The truth lies not in choosing sides among friends-turned-enemies Cashman and Torre but in understanding what Pavano and his $39.95-million heist represented: a haphazard period during Cashman’s reign in which personnel decisions were driven by haste, emotions and a lack of appreciation for old-school background checks and new-wave statistical analysis.
If the Yankees had conducted better research on Pavano, perhaps they would’ve learned of a) his surliness; b) his stupidity; c) his bouts with apathy; and, most important, d) how the batting average on balls in play (BABiP) from his platform 2004 season — matched against his line-drive percentage that year — indicated that his numbers were boosted by luck.
In that same 2005 spring training, the Yankees also welcomed Randy Johnson, still very good in ’05 but fading, and not at all comfortable in New York; Jaret Wright, a nice man but a physical wreck; Tony Womack, a terrible second baseman, and Mike Stanton, a True Yankee returnee who had nothing left.
Those ’05 Yankees got off to such an awful start (11-19) that Cashman convinced George Steinbrenner that the Yankees’ baseball operations needed to change. They needed to rely more on developing their own talent. Their expenditures had to be more intelligent.
What we’ve seen with these ’09 Yankees is the realization of Cashman’s vision. Homegrown products such as Friday night’s winner, David Robertson, and Brett Gardner give the roster depth and tools. Huge purchases such as walk-off man Mark Teixeira and Game 1 winner CC Sabathia, properly vetted by Cashman and his staff, honor their talent and their contracts.
To get to now, though? They paid a very large price, their payroll and roster handicapped, for those terrible decisions — none greater than the fact that Pavano made nearly $10 million annually to not pitch.
It’s a sensitive subject, still, for Cashman. When I asked him why he thought Pavano was so loathed in his own clubhouse, he said, “I suspect it’s no different than fans. It’s no different than there’s a resentment of ’he’s making all of this money, and we need him.’ I’ve seen players lose perspective, too.
“ . . . I remained objective. I went down with him. He took a lot of crap, and so did I. I never lost my perspective on what really happened. It was a move that didn’t work out because he didn’t stay healthy. Do I blame him for it? No, I don’t. I don’t think he laid down on us.”
Sunday night, the Yankees can officially move on, pick up where they left off here five years ago.
Pretend, just like Pavano, that the previous four years never happened.