It’s nice to be your own boss every now and then, and today was one of those days. I allowed myself time off from writing so I could watch the game, given that it was Opening Day.
It’s also nice to watch a game and not expect too much. I didn’t curse at the TV nearly as often as I would have in previous years. I mean honestly. CC hasn’t been great in the first half of any season, nor has he pitched well against the Red Sox, and his Opening Day record at YS is pretty dismal. So I wasn’t surprised by his outing today.
I wasn’t surprised that the Yankees didn’t score 10 runs either. Not with the lineup they fielded and will be fielding for the foreseeable future.
Were there promising moments during the game? Sure. Nunez showed good defense. Youkilis and Cervelli had key hits. Wells had a “nice walk.” Nix played a more than serviceable third base.
But the team looked flat, uninspired. They had a real shot at pouncing on Lester when he was tiring and didn’t. Cano bobbling the ball in the ninth was ugly and Joba’s pitching that inning was truly ugly. (I miss Soriano.)
On the Red Sox side, Kay and Cone kept touting our bullpen over theirs but I think Boston has a better-than-decent bullpen. What’s more, Gomes has always been a pesty hitter and he’s still a pesty hitter and I’m not wild about seeing him on a regular basis. Plus, their rookie, Bradley, looks like the real deal.
Maybe Cashman will make a few trades tonight and we’ll see more new faces on Wednesday. We really need some pop in that lineup. Are we sure we don’t have a kid in the minors like him?
………………well that sucked!! I was hoping for some timely hits, and all we got was The Cisco Kid with his 2 RBI’s. I was sitting just a few rows in from right field, just above the manual scoreboard, so I think I had a good look at the plate. So was it me, or was CC not getting some calls he should have? Like you said Jane, he never really starts out all that great anyway, but I think he should’ve gotten out of that second inning earlier than he did.
And it started out as such a beautiful day, but by the end it was so cold and breezy and drizzly… Most of the crowd had good reason to leave early or find shelter. I myself had to go find a better spot. My cousins and friends left before the ninth inning, but I stuck it out, hoping against improbability. But we all saw how that turned out.
But as we all know, it’s a looooooong season. Lest I remind everyone how sad the Yankees looked mid-way through May in 2009. One game down, 161 to go.
Good for you for sticking it out, YankeeCase. You’re a trooper. I didn’t think CC was consistently getting bad calls, I really didn’t. Coney said he was dropping his arm, especially later. Yes, long season, and the Yanks have definitely looked worse. I’d just like a few little tweaks (OK, big tweaks).
I like the pitching matchups in the next two. If we can start by taking 2 out of 3 from Boston, that’ll be a good start to the season. And if if we can’t, well, there’s still 159 games left after this series, and this team will only get better as people get healthier. We should have everyone of significance back by June and after giving them a couple of months to get “back in the groove” we should be ready to go on a tear through August and September and hopefully carry that momentum into October.
That being said, I did watch “My Stepmother Is An Alien” this evening to calm my nerves.
Didn’t really feel like Sox/Yankees with all of the injuries on the Yankees side of things!
Happy the Sox started out with a win given my particular fandom (we needed it for many mental reasons), but I always prefer to win “beating the best” as it were, and the Yankees were not fielding their A-team yesterday. That must have been pretty sucky to watch! The face of everything has changed a lot over the past ten years.
Excited about Jackie Bradley, Jr. (the rookie) and his patience at the plate, especially being his first big-league game at Yankee Stadium (can you imagine? He’s living the dream!), although I’m not quite expecting him to be the next Mike Trout (or the next Fred Lynn).
I thought the home plate umpire was calling a tight plate on both sides, but at least he did so fairly. I agree that CC looked like he was dropping his arm, and Lester was a two-pitch wonder yesterday; all I saw was fastball and cutter. Long season ahead, hopefully both of them will return to form :)
Looking forward to Wednesday and seeing how everyone adjusts!
I agree about it not really feeling like Yankees-Red Sox yesterday, Terri. Not much intensity the way the old rivalry used to have. The cast of characters has changed so much that there’s no “history” between the opposing players. At least your guys got off to a better start!