There's not too much to complain about after Saturday and Sunday's victories over the Rays, which really turned the Yankees' season-opening road trip into a fantastic one. Four out of six games against likely the two other prominent teams in the American League, and your two ace pitchers pick up the victories. C.C. Sabathia almost pitched his way into the history books on Saturday, Mark Teixeira got his batting average over .000, and on Sunday, A.J. Burnett turned a rocky start into a great outing.
Saturday's game really stands out for me. Not just because of the fact that C.C. was four outs away from a no-hitter, but because of the defensive plays that were made. You got the feeling each time a defender robbed a hit that it was going to happen. Teixeira snagged a line drive in mid-air, A-Rod had two great plays down the third base line, and Robinson Cano opened up the eighth inning charging a slow ground ball that hit C.C. in his pitching hand.
It's interesting that Kelly Shoppach broke up the no-no in the eighth for a couple of different reasons. First, Shoppach caught Sabathia in Cleveland, so you never know, maybe he knew what was coming. Second, the instant that the ball left the bat, Joe Girardi was out of the dugout to grab Sabathia and bring in David Robertson. Early in the season, there was no way C.C. was staying in the game. Third, Joe Girardi stated after the game that Shoppach was his last batter "no matter what." It would have been fun to hear the fan and media reaction if Joe Girardi pulled a Yankee starter with a no-hitter after eight innings. Maybe it's better that the game ended up the way it did.
On a fun side note, the Yankees play their hope opener (finally) on Tuesday and will get their World Series rings during pre-game ceremonies. You've gotta feel happy for a guy like Alex Rodriguez, who can put one on his finger and never again hear the critiques that fans stuck to him since 2004. I'm also happy that they'll be opening up against the L.A. Angels, and most looking forward to the ovation that Hideki Matsui gets when he's presented with his hardware. Matsui spent 7 seasons in pinstripes, and was one of the greatest clutch hitters of his time. The man carried himself with pride, dignity, and never mouthed off or copmlained.
All in all, a fantastic weekend ends a solid road trip. Both series started on scary notes with Sabathia and Vazquez throwing out poor first starts, but the Yankees answered back with two wins in a row in Boston and St. Petersburg. Tough to argue with a 4-2 trip to start the season, especially based on the way things usually begin in April for the Bombers.
No comments:
Post a Comment