Today did not feel like Opening Day in baseball should feel. It was absolutely freezing at the stadium, windy, and at times we were hit with freezing rain/hail.
However, the Yankees looked pretty great for Opening Day. The bats came alive after a slow start, and the pitching looked top notch.
CC Sabathia tossed six innings, giving up six hits and three runs (two earned). He had seven Ks and two walks, tossing a total of 106 pitches.
Pretty solid outing if you ask me. Seven Ks isn't too shabby for your first start of the season, in the freezing cold. Joba Chamberlain looked pretty good in his inning of relief, earning the win and striking a batter out, throwing a total of 13 pitches. It's obviously too early in the season to tell, but he's making a good start to prove his case for the sixth or seventh inning guy.
David Robertson was actually warming up in the pen in the sixth inning. Either he felt something/the coaches saw something they didn't like/when the inning went a little longer they didn't want to start him up again after he had warmed up and then stopped.
Rafael Soriano made his Yankee debut, striking out one and earning the hold. As usual, Mariano came in and got the save on 12 pitches, looking as good as he did 10 years ago. His cutter is still flawless, his overall physique is unchanged, the only difference is that he now wears his pants pulled up showing the socks.
As far as the hitting, it was a slow start for the Yankees, having only three hits for the first few innings.
Mark Teixeira homered, driving in Derek Jeter and Russell Martin. Curtis Granderson added a bomb of his own. Alex Rodriguez hit a deep drive to center field off the wall that was good for a double.
The biggest surprise of the day was probably Robinson Cano making an error in the field. Cano, who is usually perfect, wasn't as hot as the others, going 0-3.
Overall, the Yankees and their fans have to be pretty happy with today's results. Definitely a great way to open up the 2011 season and the quest for No. 28.
Read more MLB news on BleacherReport.com
- Login to post comments