It was worth the wait.
After rain washed away the festivities on Monday, the Yankees put together solid starting pitching, sparkling defense, timely hitting and strong relief work as they
nipped the Blue Jays 3-2 on Opening Night in the Bronx. This game had a little bit of everything and had the feeling of a playoff series in October with all the pomp and circumstance associated with the final Opener at The Stadium. It's only one game, but if this is the way the Yanks are going to play in 2008 then it should be a season to remember. I'm a bit rusty with my Good, Bad and Ugly routine, but I'm going to plow away anyway. Let's do this.
The Good:Chien-Ming Wang. The Wanger was the working man on Tuesday night. Wang worked in and out of trouble through most of his six innings and superb defense (especially from Melky Cabrera in center) aided his cause, but he made the tough pitches when it counted. Example: With the score knotted a 2-2, Aaron Hill led off the seventh with a double. But Wang dug in and got Marco Scutaro to line out to first and Greg Zaun to ground to short. After a quick pep talk from manager Joe Girardi, The Wanger induced the pesky David Eckstein to bounce out with the go-ahead run at third. It's not always pretty with Wang, but when you look at the box score after most of his starts you can't argue with the results. Wang picked up his first win of the season with this: 7 IP, 6 H, 2 R, 2 BB, 2 K, 92 pitches. Nice going, Wanger.
Melky Cabrera. For the second straight winter Melky heard his name mentioned in trade talks. It obviously had no effect on him. Cabrera made two nifty plays in center in the fourth inning to help Wang retire the side in order and then blasted the game-tying homer in the sixth inning after a long battle with Roy Halladay. It was the first dinger for the Yanks in 2008 and the first curtain call of the season for a Bomber. Oh, sure, Melky came up a bit short on a line drive to center that turned into a double in the seventh inning, but just like Meatloaf crooned, two out of three ain't bad. The Melk-Man finished 1 for 3 with a run scored and an RBI.
Alex Rodriguez. A-Rod drove in the first run of the season for the Yanks with a run scoring double in the first inning. It's just the first day of April, but Rodriguez already looks locked in. A-Rod also started the Yankee rally in the seventh when he led off the inning with a base hit and later scored on Hideki Matsui's RBI ground out. It might be unfair to expect Rodriguez to put together another season like the one he had last year, but he's off to a good start. A-Rod finished 2 for 3 with a walk, a run scored and a run batted in.
The Bad:Jorge Posada. Speaking of lofty expectations, I would be shocked (
shocked) if Posada posted the numbers he had in 2007. Posada had a rough night as he went hitless at the plate, grounded into a double play and allowed three Jays to swipe second. Jorgie finished 0 for 2 with a walk.
The Ugly:Getting a guy in. The only upsetting aspect of this game came in the bottom of the eighth. Johnny Damon led off the inning with a triple and with the heart of the order coming up, it looked like a lock for the Yanks to increase their slim one-run lead. It didn't happen. Jeter grounded back to the box, Abreu bounced to first, and after an intentional walk to Rodriguez, Giambi grounded out to second. Unacceptable.
The Yanks will try and make it two in a row on Wednesday with Mike Mussina on the hill. Toronto will counter with the hard throwing, but inconsistent A.J. Burnett. Mussina had a roller coaster year last season, but he finished 2-0 with a 2.13 ERA against the Jays in 2007. Burnett was even better against the Yanks last year. He finished 1-0 with a 0.60 ERA in his two starts against New York. If history repeats itself, it should be another good one in the Bronx.
One down, 161 to go.
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You don't always have to blame the catcher. Two of the three SB's were bad pitches to throw, the other was an unbelievable jump off of the Wanger.