New York Yankees

New York Yankees (2010 record: 95-67)

The Yankees entered the offseason expecting to sign LHP Cliff Lee to a lucrative deal, but a funny thing happened on the way to the ballpark—the Philadelphia Phillies signed Lee out from under their nose at the 11th hour. Hey, turn about is fair play, right? The Yankees did the same thing to the Boston Red Sox a few years ago when they stepped in and signed Mark Teixeira at the last minute. Karma can be a real bitch!

It was a cold, rainy day in the New York area. Some even wondered if there would be baseball in the Bronx on Thursday with the gray skies looming above.

But that wouldn't stop 50,000 faithful Yankee fans from coming out Thursday afternoon to turn out for the 2011 Opening Day game between the Yankees and the Tigers.

After missing out on signing free-agent Cliff Lee and the retirement of veteran left-hander Andy Pettitte, the Yankees focused on improving their pitching in the later innings.

So far, so good.

After aces CC Sabathia and Justin Verlander battled to a 3-3 tie through six innings, the bullpens entered for both sides.

Oakland Athletics- It isn’t that this team is hated as much as they aren’t liked. For the last five year, the Athletics have shown up in the top five lowest attendance rates, which is the longest streak amongst any team. It’s very rare to come across a diehard Athletics hater, but apparently it isn’t easy to spot a lot of Athletics fans either.

Mark Teixeira is a notorious slow starter. His lifetime batting average in March and April is .235. He’s a .294 hitter in the other months. He hits a home run every 27 at-bats in March and April. He homers every 15.8 at-bats in the other months. His early batting averages the past two years have been dreadful.

2010:  .136, two HRs

Heading into the season, while many felt the Yankees' best arrangement would be with Brett Gardner sitting atop the lineup, the constant chatter was that Derek Jeter would remain the Yankees leadoff hitter. 

For or better or worse, the Yankees legend was getting the limelight, despite a .348 OBP in the leadoff spot in ’10, while Gardner would be hitting ninth.

However, all of that changed yesterday.  Jack Curry of the YES Network posted on Twitter:

If you're a fan of the New York Yankees, the 2010-11 off-season must have felt like one, long nightmare.

First, the dreaded Boston Red Sox landed stud first baseman Adrian Gonzalez in a trade with the San Diego Padres. Then, just a couple days later, the Red Sox swooped in, seemingly out of nowhere, and signed outfielder Carl Crawford, a player the Yanks were reportedly courting.

Gwen awakened from a fitful sleep. She was bothered and knew that she would be bothered for a long time. Her idol, her favorite player, the man they referred to as A-Rod, was no longer the best third baseman in New York.

Her mind was immediately filled with A-Rod's 2010 statistics. He was coming off the worst year of his career.

Last year, the New York Yankees fell short in the playoffs, losing to the Texas Rangers in the American League Championship. With a new season approaching and a couple new players to the team, who needs to have a good season for the Yankees to see success?

New York Yankees recently-named fifth starter Freddy Garcia finished spring training strong, allowing just one run on four hits with two walks and three strikeouts over 4.2 innings in an Opening Day preview against the Tigers.

Garcia, who ended the exhibition season with a 4.91 ERA, threw 51 of his 79 pitches for strikes and worked out of trouble in the second and third innings of New York's 2-1 win over Detroit.