Game 7: Champion

While the Yankees are already six games deep in the 2010 season, today is the first time they get to don the famous pinstriped uniforms. While the road grays are handsome unis in their own right, the pure white background and the dark blue stripes of the home duds are particularly aesthetically pleasing, especially under the bright sunlight of a day game.

Of everyone, Curtis Granderson is probably the most anxious to try on the uniform and get out on the field. For the first time, he'll be patrolling centerfield in Yankee Stadium in the top halves of the innings and staring down the short porch in right during the bottoms. He'll be acknowledging his first roll call from the Bleacher Creatures. He will be one of the few players not getting a World Series ring, but after his solid start during the preceding road trip, the fans will certainly make him feel welcome in his new home stadium.

Putting on the Pinstripes is nothing new to Andy Pettitte, but this start might be a little more special than usual for the 38 year old. Pettitte has won all three home openers he's started for the Yanks - the first one coming in the snow against the Royals in 1996 - and his fourth one is likely to be his last.

Dating back to the end of last season, Pettitte also has a three game home winning streak going. He won against the Red Sox on September 27th and started the clinching Game 6's of the ALCS and World Series, both of which, of course, were played in the Bronx. Despite a rain-soaked Spring Training consisting of more simulated games and bullpen sessions than he would have preferred, Pettitte pitched well in his first start of the season, allowing one run in six innings in Fenway Park on Wednesday. He walked three and gave up 6 hits but notched 5 K's and erased two of those baserunners with a pair of double plays.

Ervin Santana will be taking the mound for the Angels. Santana wasn't especially successful as a starter last year (5.03 ERA) and he got bumped back to the bullpen for one appearance at the end of the season and remained there for the playoffs. He made two strong appearances against the Yankees in the ALCS, lasting 5 2/3 innings in total and giving up only one run.

In his first start back in the rotation this season against the Twins, the 28 year old righty allowed four runs in six innings, including two home runs to Justin Morneau and J.J. Hardy. Over the years, Santana has had longball issues against the Yankees, allowing 11 of them to the Bombers in 46 2/3 IP. Four of those were to guys who are no longer on the team (two to his new teammate Hideki Matsui) but Granderson has taken Ervin deep twice himself.

As Matt noted earlier, the Yankees are pulling out all the stops for the ceremony this afternoon. Banners hung, legends present, color guard playing, giant flag unfurled, National Anthem sung and fly over executed. It might be a little awkward for Granderson, Nick Johnson and especially Chan Ho Park and Hideki Matsui, but the organization is taking the opportunity to treat the fans who are lucky enough to be in attendance to a special experience.

It will be even more special for guys like Alex Rodriguez, CC Sabathia, Mark Teixeira, A.J. Burnett and Nick Swisher, who will finally be given a symbol of the World Series titled they contributed to last year after long and otherwise successful careers without that satisfaction. No longer will any of them be looked upon as guys who "never won the Big One" or "couldn't get it done in New York". The on-field celebration that took place five months ago is a distant memory and although the crowds in Tampa were mostly friendly, the players have yet to be officially embraced by their own fans this season. Today they will in a way that they've never been before.

Did you realize, that you were a champion in the eyes?

Yes I did, so I packed it up and brought it back to the crib.

-Lineups-

Yankees:

Jeter SS
Johnson DH
Teixeira 1B
Rodriguez 3B
Cano 2B
Posada C
Granderson CF
Swisher RF
Gardner LF

Angels:

Aybar SS
Abreu RF
Hunter CF
Matsui DH
Morales 1B
Rivera RF
Kendrick 2B
Mathis C
Wood 3B

Happy (Home) Opening Day

Good morning Fackers. And once again, Happy Opening Day. I suppose that's the nice thing about opening on the road; we get to celebrate baseball's biggest holiday a second time. And today we get to have a proper Opening Day. Something was slightly lacking during the opener in Boston, namely, the game was played at night. I understand ESPN's desire to make an event out of the season's first game, but there's something special about Opening Day.

Last year, Opening Day was quite the event, as it marked the first official game at Yankee Stadium. This year will offer its own intrigue, as the Yankees' 27th World Series banner will be raised, with the previous 26 also being represented. I'm not sure yet if that means the large banners will adorn the frieze or if there will be flags flying atop the Stadium rather than the usual League standings. George Steinbrenner will reportedly be in attendance.

Gates open at 11 AM, so if you're lucky enough to be going today, make sure you're there on time. For the rest of us, coverage on YES begins at 11:30 AM. The ring ceremony, featuring living legends Yogi Berra and Whitey Ford, is scheduled to start at 12:15 or 12:30, depending upon which press release you read. It will be followed by full player introductions. The West Point Cadet Color Guard will present the colors. The National Anthem, sung by Kristen Chenoweth, is slated for 12:56, followed by the ever-popular fly over. Finally, Bernie Williams has the first pitch at just after 1:00.

[UPDATE 9:30 AM: I forgot to this mention initially, but I'd be remiss to let it slide. Rumor has it that longtime Yankee trainer Gene Monahan, who's been in the organization for more than 45 years and with the big club since 1973, will be at the ceremonies today. Monahan has been away from the team all year, dealing with an undisclosed illness, though Mariano Rivera may have let the cat out of the bag yesterday. Glove slap: iYankees]

Back with the preview in a bit.

Game 1: Revival

Baseball starts tonight. We celebrate the milestones that line the path to this point like pitchers and catchers reporting and follow along with the "competitions" and roster cuts during Spring Training, but that stuff is only enjoyable because of what it all leads up to. This.

It's been five cold, dark and lonely months since Robinson Cano fielded a routine grounder from Shane Victorino, flipped it to Mark Teixeira at first base and converted the final out of the 2009 World Series. While 151 days is a pretty long time, we Yankee fans have relatively little to complain about; this was a very short offseason in the grand scheme of things, particularly when compared to the break between 2008 and 2009.

The Yanks were pretty much dead to rights with a month left in the '08 season, floated lifelessly through September and cleared out their lockers by the time the postseason had begun. The organization moved swiftly and compensated by snatching up three major free agents in CC Sabathia, A.J. Burnett and Mark Teixeria. However, the ensuing winter was tainted by excerpts from Joe Torre's book, backlash surrounding the opening of the New Yankee Stadium and most of all, A-Rod's steroid use and hip surgery.

By now, most fans have forgotten what was contained in The Yankee Years and accepted the New Stadium for what it is. A-Rod recovered in time to contribute significantly during the regular season and damn near carry the team through the playoffs. The three newest Yankees have already captured their first World Series ring.

Coming off a 103 win season and a World Championship, this winter was significantly less maddening for supporters of the Bronx Bombers. The franchise said goodbye to two solid veterans who played crucial roles in the Fall Classic (Johnny Damon and Hideki Matsui), along with their best homegrown pitcher in the past decade (Chien-Ming Wang). But they made some significant additions as well. The Yanks welcomed back Nick Johnson, Javier Vazquez and Marcus Thames while bringing in newcomers Curtis Granderson and Chan Ho Park.

As we discussed with Patrick Sullivan on Thursday, the Red Sox were equally active this offseason. They signed John Lackey to a five year contract while picking up Adrian Beltre, Mike Cameron and Marco Scutaro on shorter deals, all with the primary benefit of run prevention. To that end, both teams shifted their young center fielders to left in favor of a newly acquired veteran, ensuring that it's going to be much more difficult to find the gap in left-center against either of these teams this season.

The first test of the new defenses will come tonight in the cozy quarters of Fenway Park. Amidst the rumors of an impending contract extension, Josh Beckett will take the mound for the Red Sox. The Sox' ace-in-name-only had a solid 2009, tallying up an 3.86 ERA over 212 IP with an even lower FIP of 3.63. He will look to build upon that campaign along with his strong effort in his final Spring Training start in which he struck out 8 Rays in six innings.

Unlike Beckett, whose numbers in April are align closely with his career averages, CC Sabathia is a notoriously slow starter; his ERA in April is almost a full run higher than it is in total (4.54 to 3.62). However, did you know that his ERA in July is ever higher (4.61)? Does that make him a slow "middler" or somesuch? No, in all likelihood, it means that Sabathia has stacked up some poor starts in those months that skew his overall numbers. And as they say in those commercials for ambulance-chasing law firms, "prior results don't guarantee similar future outcomes".

As Matt noted earlier, there's a beautiful symmetry in that the baseball season is beginning anew on Easter. Both events celebrate a joyous return. Each carries its own connotations of a new beginning.

From here on out, slowly but surely, the season will work its way into the record books, pitch by pitch and swing by swing. Hundreds upon hundreds of hours of entertainment; of ups and downs; of great plays and miscues; of pinch hits and pitching changes; of triumph and defeat are on the horizon. But we don't need to concern ourselves with that just yet. Tonight is a night to appreciate what's in store without having to worry about how it's going to turn out.

Baseball is back, Fackers.

People can you feel it? Love is everywhere.
People can you hear it? Love is in the air.
We're in a revolution, don't you know we're right.
Everyone is singing, there'll be no one to fight.
People can you feel it? Love is everywhere.

Lineups:

Yankees

Derek Jeter SS
Nick Johnson DH
Mark Teixeira 1B
Alex Rodriguez 3B
Robinson Cano 2B
Jorge Posada C
Curtis Granderson CF
Nick Swisher RF
Brett Gardner LF

Red Sox

Jacoby Ellsbury LF
Dustin Pedroia 2B
Victor Martinez C

Kevin Youkilis 1B
David Ortiz DH
Adrian Beltre 3B
J.D. Drew RF
Mike Cameron CF
Marco Scutaro SS

*Feel free to leave some thoughts in the comments during the game and perhaps we can get a good conversation going.

Opening Day Photography

Here are some photos from opening day yesterday. I will spare you all of the pictures of stuff that we have already posted. Not all of them are captioned but you can probably figure it out, so take a look... or don't cause I don't like any of you anyway.

(Grown men with too much time on their hands trying to conceal their drinking problems)

(Metro North stop, not quite ready yet)

(Walkway from the parking lots and Metro North)

(Inside Metro North stop)

(SEND ME FREE PEPSI!)

(Come my children, come.)

(View from the drunkest seats in the house.)

(George is looking good)

(Blimp)

(There was about 50 old Yankees that came out during the pregame so I will just post a few)

(Greatness has a new home)

(At this point there was a F-16 fly over, but I took a video of that and am too retarded to post it.)

(Yogi throwing out the first pitch)

(YAAAYYY!!! CUP HOLDERS!!!!1!!)

(MMMMMMMMMM, Jim Beam)

(For some reason this camera guy was fucking pissed that I took this)

These are just a few of the pictures that I took from the Museum. Don Larsen was in there but I couldn't get a picture of him, he is surprisingly fast in his old age.

(Oh yea, not flash photograph, sorry.)

(Thurman's locker)

(CC)

(Ronan)

(Taking the elevator down to leave. Welcome to the internet everyone!!!)

The Yankees obviously got worked in this game, but to be honest I didn't even really watch it after the 5th inning. I had a bunch of friends there and we were just standing around drinking making fun of Red Sox fans.

I am going back again tomorrow to see Wang get shelled so look for a recap on Sunday.

Remember These...?

So opening day didn't go as well as we all hoped, but it was awesome to be there and I will have an extensive picture post tomorrow, but here is a little something from the museum in the new park to cheer everyone up.

(Ooooooohhhhh Yeeeeaaaaaa!)

(Do you remember why Derek Jeter is a first ballot HOFer? Cause I forgot.)
[Ed Note: There are also these]

(...and a close up for the Mets fans out there.)

Blackout

I probably should have looked into this before I told my sister I would split the freight on an MLB.tv package with her. I just figured it would be an easier way to do screen grabs and would allow me to watch the games if I was traveling this summer. I can still listen to John Sterling and Wailin' Suzyn on WCBS instead which, as always, is a treat.

Regardless, this is a pretty stupid policy. What if I am an Orioles fan who just wants to listen to my home announcers? The commercials on the TV station the feed comes from still show up through MLB.tv, yes? What if I desperately bored at work and want to watch my favorite team's first game of the season? Is there a way to disguise my location? Can I have my money back?

"Lack Back And Dream On A Rainy Day"

A little over four hours until the Derek Jeter digs into the batter's box down in Baltimore.

Not to fear though, Jimi Hendrix is here to hold you over until the action starts, and get you through this rainy Monday.

Hey man, take a look out the window and see what's happ'nin'
Hey man, it's rainin'
It's rainin' outside man
Aw, don't worry 'bout that
Everything's gonna be everything
We'll get into somethin' real nice you know
Sit back and groove on a rainy day
Yeah I see what you mean brother, lay back and groove.

Rainy day, rain all day
Ain't no use in gettin' uptight
Just let it groove its own way
Let it drain your worries away yeah
Lay back and groove on a rainy day hey
Lay back and dream on a rainy day.