Game 10 Recap

[WPA data via FanGraphs, picture via Yahoo!]

1. The only trouble CC Sabathia had came in the first inning, and even then, the Rangers were lucky to get a run across. Michael Young bounced one up the middle that Derek Jeter, ranging to his left, knocked down but couldn't quite get a hold of. Up next, Josh Hamilton looped a wind-aided double into the left field corner that Marcus Thames pulled up short of, putting runners on the corners for Vlad Guerrero. Vlad lifted an 0-2 pitch off the end of the bat to center field and Curtis Granderson made a strong throw to the plate, but Michael Young was safe by a couple of seconds. 1-0 Rangers.

2. The Yankees got to C.J. Wilson in the first inning as well. True to their respective natures, Derek Jeter led off the game with an opposite field single and Nick Johnson worked a walk. Johnson was erased on a double play by Mark Teixeira but Jeter moved to third and scored on a pased ball off of Talyor Teagarden's glove with A-Rod at the plate, tying the game at 1.

3. As the rain began to pick up in the 4th inning, the Yanks loaded the bases on a HBP, single and a walk with no one out for Marcus Thames, but he struck out looking on a slider over the inside corner. Next up, Curtis Granderson slapped one sharply to first that was fielded by Chris Davis, who attempted to get Nick Swisher at second base, but his throw hit Swish in the back, ricocheted into the outfield and allowed an additional run to score. Francisco Cervelli then hit a bloop single to shallow left to put the Yanks ahead 4-1.

4. The mound started to get sloppy in the 6th inning. CC Sabathia lost his footing while delivering a pitch and then plunked Julio Borbon but then retired the side in order.

In the bottom half of the inning, Marcus Thames singled and was replaced by Brett Gardner, who stole second. With two outs, Cervelli beat out a ground ball to shortstop, passing the baton to Jeter. The Captain bounced an RBI infield single just out of the reach of Wilson to put the Yanks up 5-1.

The grounds crew attempted to tame the soaked field before the 7th inning but were forced to declare a rain delay before calling the game all together about an hour later.

IFs, ANDs & BUTs

• The ball that Marcus Thames couldn't get to in the first fell within 5 or 10 feet of him and he looked lead-footed in pursuit of it. Mike from RAB thought it wouldn't have mattered if Brett Garnder was in there but watching the replay makes me think that Brett would have at least had a chance.
  
  
• Thames continues to hit, though, going 2-3 last night and bringing him up to 5-10 on the season.

• Brett Gardner's pinch running appearance was highly amusing. Curtis Granderson and C.J. Wilson engaged in an 11 pitch at bat and Gardner running on four of those pitches, only to have Granderson foul them back. The Rangers pitched out twice in a row to begin Cervelli's AB, and guessed right on the second one as Gardner was going, but still couldn't catch him.
  
  
• Sabathia was on another level last night. He struck out nine, walked none and allowed only three hits. As detailed above, the Rangers were lucky to patch together a run in the first and CC responded by striking out the next 6 batters he faced. Only 15 of the 73 pitches (20%) he threw were balls, he tossed 20 first pitch strikes, got to 0-2 twelve times and never had a 3 ball count. If anything, he got sort of gypped out of a chance at a more dominant start considering his pitch count and the way he was throwing through the 6 inning, but I'm sure he'll take the guaranteed rain-shortened win.
  
  
• We should probably reevaluate the notion that Sabathia can't pitch in cold weather after his performance last night. It was in the 40's and rainy and he looked a good as he ever has - probably even better than his last time out.
  
  
• Nick Johnson got caught stealing to end the third (probably on a missed hit and run) but replays showed he was safe. The throw beat him but he did some sort of a twisting scissor slide and touched the bag with his left leg before the tag was applied to his right.
  
  
• Mark Teixiera's futility was not diminished by the abbreviated game as he managed to make 4 outs in 3 at bats thanks to the double play in the first inning. Seriously, he should like, starting hitting pretty soon.
  

Game 2 of the series starts at 1:05 today, weather permitting and all that. We'll be back with the preview sometime before then.

Game 10: Time To Move On

[Even if you don't feel like reading this whole post, feel free to use it as a game thread, as many of the usual suspects will be around providing the obligatory John Sterling and Suzyn Waldman jokes.]

Thanks to the heroics of the one and only Derek Sanderson Jeter last night, the Yankees come into their home opener with a winning record. The pitching match-up today squares up the 2007 & 2008 AL Cy Young winners, both of whom picked up the award with Cleveland. CC Sabathia had Cliff Lee both had poor first starts this year, but in their second appearances Sabathia shut down the Royals, while Lee continued to stumble against the Blue Jays.

In other news, Xavier Nady is scheduled for an exam on his injured elbow today, which all signs indicate lead to season ending surgery. We along with many others have been clamoring for Nick Swisher to be given the starting RF job, but it's unfortunate that is what officially precipitated it. The injury to Nady weakens the bench pretty dramatically this year and Jason from IIATMS looks into the long term implications. The Yanks still have four guys in Swisher, Gardner, Melky and Damon who could all play any OF postion if necessary, but the removal of Nady means more Melky Cabrera, which pretty much no one beside his mother is looking forward to.

-----

Most importantly, however, is that today marks the opening of the New Stadium. We gave you our impressions from the first exhibition game against the Cubs, and since then a number of other posts have been far more critical of the place. I understand these view points and of course there are some things I don't like about the place either.

Reading some of those posts, however, I felt like there was a certain sense of pride in not liking the New Stadium. Like that's what makes you a real Yankees fan. We're pretty cynical and irreverant around these parts, but forgive me if I'm the only one who is a little excited about having a beautiful brand new building to watch one of my favorite teams at. I went to a decent number of games at the Old Stadium (50+), which is probably a drop in the bucket compared to some other people, so maybe I just don't have the same connection or nostalgia associated with it.

The New Stadium isn't perfect, and it's never going to be the Old Stadium, but I think it's pretty fucking nice. Let's not forget that a lot of things that are better:

• There are more and better options for food
• The concourses in the Upper Deck are open-air
• You can see the game when you are walking around and take in a ton of different vantage points
• The big screen in CF is incredible
• It's clean, bright and well lit
• The entrance way looks like part of a museum
• The bathrooms aren't nearly as disgusting
• The bleachers have been transformed from a holding cell in CF to, in my opinon, the best part of the park all things considered
• The facade is prominently featured, and pretty beautiful
• The Bleachers Cafe is a pretty awesome place to grab a bite to eat

As New York sports fans, we've been walking the corridors and sitting in the seats of shitty, outdated Stadiums for a long time.

It's time to move on, time to get going,
What lies ahead, I have no way of knowing,
But under my feet, baby, grass is growing,
It's time to move on, its time to get going.

(It's a cover version. Sorry)

[Note: We've embedded a drunken correspondent, Big Willie Style, to capture some images and the atomosphere of the game today. The best part: He's bringing an actual camera this time, so if he somehow infiltrates a luxury box again, it won't look like there was a fog machine running!]