In what should have been a promising opening day weekend for the Yankees, turned out to be the worst way to spend all three games, and that's with losses.
The Yankees were pushed around by their fellow AL East competitors as they were swept in the three games against the Rays in Tampa. Every button Rays manager Joe Maddon pushed worked out to perfection while Yankees manager Joe Girardi started the season with a number of head-scratching decisions. Maddon had the right players in the right batting order to get big hits, and all of his usual funky defensive alignments prevented Yankee hitters from getting on base.
Friday's opening game actually had the intensity and excitement of Game 7 of a World Series. Both starting pitchers Sabathia and Shields didn't have their best stuff that day, but a big decision early on came when Tampa had two men on with first base open and two outs. Instead of having Sabathia face the light-hitting Sean Rodriguez with the two outs, Girardi opted to have the right-handed hitter walked intentionally in favor of the left-handed hitter Carlos Pena. The risk there is even though its a tough match-up for Pena, one swing of his bat could result in a grand slam, and of course that's exactly what happened which put the Yanks in an early 4-0 hole.
The Yankees actually fought their way back and took a 6-4 lead thanks to a mega welcome-to-the-team 3-run homer from Raul Ibanez. The game rolled along like a chess match with one bullpen move after another, and potential rallies halted. It all game down to Mariano Rivera with a 6-5 lead in the 9th inning, which usually spells game over, but it wasn't to be this time around. The uncomfortable fast track of Tropicana Field had Jennings lead off with a single up the middle on a 1-2 pitch, followed by a triple from Ben Zobrist which tied the game at 6-6. After intentionally walking the bases loaded again to face Carlos Pena, again, Pena was able to hit a shot deep enough in center for the Rays to score a walk-off win in dramatic fashion.
Saturday's game was less competitive at the start as new comer Hiroki Kuroda was roughed up in his first start as a Yankee. In only the second game of the season, Girardi optioned to have Jeter DH and shaky defender Eduardo Nunez play shortstop. This turned out to burn the Yankees as an early Nunez error led to some Tampa runs. Nunez also had problems fielding last season as well and if he's going to give Jeter and A-Rod some breathers in the field, he's going to have to cut down on those errors. Although Girardi mentioned Jeter was going to see ample DH time this season, this is only the second game of the season. The Yankees made a late rally of their own in the 9th inning to cut the Rays lead from 8-2 down to 8-6. With the tying run on base and A-Rod at bat to perhaps get some revenge on Tampa for the tough loss a day before, A-Rod with into yet another Joe Maddon perfectly positioned defense and the game was over.
The final game yesterday became somewhat crucial as nobody wants to get swept to start a season, and Phil Hughes at least restored some type of normalcy to the starting rotation with his 4 2/3 innings of work, but unfortunately for the Yankees their bats left Tampa before they did. Sunday ended with a 3-0 loss and a 0-3 start to the season.
In another Girardi decision that wasn't too stellar, he DHed Swisher and had the forty-year old Raul Ibanez play right field. Although Ibanez was brought to the team to play defense once in a while, this was only the third game of the season, and his legs were on a tougher indoor track. An early defensive error by Ibanez on a ball Swisher would've likely handled put the Yankees in a 1-0 hole. The Yanks couldn't get anything going on offense as their best opportunity to possibly tie the game at 2-2 was with two runners on and only one out, but Swisher popped up to the infield and Ibanez gave a promising drive to center, which was flagged down by Jennings. Other than that the Yankees went quietly on Easter Sunday.
I'm sure they'll be other points in the season when the Yankees will lose three or more games in a row, so it shouldn't be dissected that they lost these first three games. What probably makes it sting more is that one of the losses was a blown save from the always reliable Rivera and the fact that across town the Mets are off to a surprising 3-0 start.
I believe Joe Girardi knows his players very well and usually makes the right decisions, but this weekend he was surely over-matched. The funniest comment I read was, "Joe Maddon always calls a limo for Girardi to make sure he gets to the ballpark."
The only victory for the Yankees is that the Boston Red Sox also lost their first three games....
The Yankees were pushed around by their fellow AL East competitors as they were swept in the three games against the Rays in Tampa. Every button Rays manager Joe Maddon pushed worked out to perfection while Yankees manager Joe Girardi started the season with a number of head-scratching decisions. Maddon had the right players in the right batting order to get big hits, and all of his usual funky defensive alignments prevented Yankee hitters from getting on base.
Friday's opening game actually had the intensity and excitement of Game 7 of a World Series. Both starting pitchers Sabathia and Shields didn't have their best stuff that day, but a big decision early on came when Tampa had two men on with first base open and two outs. Instead of having Sabathia face the light-hitting Sean Rodriguez with the two outs, Girardi opted to have the right-handed hitter walked intentionally in favor of the left-handed hitter Carlos Pena. The risk there is even though its a tough match-up for Pena, one swing of his bat could result in a grand slam, and of course that's exactly what happened which put the Yanks in an early 4-0 hole.
The Yankees actually fought their way back and took a 6-4 lead thanks to a mega welcome-to-the-team 3-run homer from Raul Ibanez. The game rolled along like a chess match with one bullpen move after another, and potential rallies halted. It all game down to Mariano Rivera with a 6-5 lead in the 9th inning, which usually spells game over, but it wasn't to be this time around. The uncomfortable fast track of Tropicana Field had Jennings lead off with a single up the middle on a 1-2 pitch, followed by a triple from Ben Zobrist which tied the game at 6-6. After intentionally walking the bases loaded again to face Carlos Pena, again, Pena was able to hit a shot deep enough in center for the Rays to score a walk-off win in dramatic fashion.
Saturday's game was less competitive at the start as new comer Hiroki Kuroda was roughed up in his first start as a Yankee. In only the second game of the season, Girardi optioned to have Jeter DH and shaky defender Eduardo Nunez play shortstop. This turned out to burn the Yankees as an early Nunez error led to some Tampa runs. Nunez also had problems fielding last season as well and if he's going to give Jeter and A-Rod some breathers in the field, he's going to have to cut down on those errors. Although Girardi mentioned Jeter was going to see ample DH time this season, this is only the second game of the season. The Yankees made a late rally of their own in the 9th inning to cut the Rays lead from 8-2 down to 8-6. With the tying run on base and A-Rod at bat to perhaps get some revenge on Tampa for the tough loss a day before, A-Rod with into yet another Joe Maddon perfectly positioned defense and the game was over.
The final game yesterday became somewhat crucial as nobody wants to get swept to start a season, and Phil Hughes at least restored some type of normalcy to the starting rotation with his 4 2/3 innings of work, but unfortunately for the Yankees their bats left Tampa before they did. Sunday ended with a 3-0 loss and a 0-3 start to the season.
In another Girardi decision that wasn't too stellar, he DHed Swisher and had the forty-year old Raul Ibanez play right field. Although Ibanez was brought to the team to play defense once in a while, this was only the third game of the season, and his legs were on a tougher indoor track. An early defensive error by Ibanez on a ball Swisher would've likely handled put the Yankees in a 1-0 hole. The Yanks couldn't get anything going on offense as their best opportunity to possibly tie the game at 2-2 was with two runners on and only one out, but Swisher popped up to the infield and Ibanez gave a promising drive to center, which was flagged down by Jennings. Other than that the Yankees went quietly on Easter Sunday.
I'm sure they'll be other points in the season when the Yankees will lose three or more games in a row, so it shouldn't be dissected that they lost these first three games. What probably makes it sting more is that one of the losses was a blown save from the always reliable Rivera and the fact that across town the Mets are off to a surprising 3-0 start.
I believe Joe Girardi knows his players very well and usually makes the right decisions, but this weekend he was surely over-matched. The funniest comment I read was, "Joe Maddon always calls a limo for Girardi to make sure he gets to the ballpark."
The only victory for the Yankees is that the Boston Red Sox also lost their first three games....
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