Wrapping up Opening Day
Posted by: Peter Abraham - Posted in Misc on Apr 01, 2008 
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Joe Girardi left the ballpark with the game ball (given to him by Mariano Rivera) and the lineup cards.
“Special,†he said. “It reminded me when I used to catch Mo and what a great feeling it was when the door opened and he came in. I had that same feeling tonight.
“You look forward to this day from the time I signed as manager on November. You do all the preparation up to spring training and during spring training. I saw it pay off tonight. It’s an unbelievable feeling when you actually get to play for real because that’s what you work for.â€
The Yankees have a new scoreboard in right field with a countdown of regular-season games. After the fifth inning, when the game was official, they showed George Steinbrenner on the scoreboard pulling a lever to move the number from 81 to 80.
I guess we’ll find out, but I assume they’ll have some sort of celebrity or former player perform that duty at every home game.
A few other impressions: It was a one-run game and the Big G stayed out there on defense. He moved pretty well tonight and made several nice plays in the field. If he stays healthy (and that’s in doubt), he could have a big season. … Bobby Abreu scored from first and Johnny Damon tripled. All that running they did this spring seems to have paid off. … Beating Roy Hallday was huge considering he last lost to the Yanks in 2004. … CMW really dealt against a team that tormented him last season (0-2, 6.35 in three starts last season). He gave up six hits but two were in the infield. I think he broke at least four bats. Two runs over seven innings against Roy Halladay? That’s an ace.
Thanks for all the comments tonight and please check out the paper tomorrow. We’ll have wall-to-wall coverage from the four writers who were here tonight.
Its nice to be Toronto. Put them in their place. That being fourth place, of course.
Dice-K is dealing. 9 ks through 6 ip. Thats what they paid for. Too bad its against an Oakland A’s team featuring lil pop outside of Cust
I’m still beaming. What a great game for the Yankees and, of course, my guy Melky.
One note about his home run: when he was hitting all those fly balls in spring training, I made a comment to the effect that it was a good sign for his G/F ratio and should lead to some home runs very soon. That’s Melky’s third home run in 10 days.
Good point about the running. Everyone looks really healthy.
Beating Halladay is impressive. Great start to the season.
Last year there were two teams in particular that gave Wang a lot trouble – Boston and Toronto.
Both teams at teams looked like they were figuring out how to approach Wang by making him come up in the zone. They’d seen him a lot and they were giving him trouble.
Last year Wang’s ERA against Toronto was 6.35. He gave up 22 hits over 17 innings.
I was very impressed by the way he threw, particularly in light of the problems Toronto gave him last year.
He got into some trouble, but overall mixed his pitches well and had a terrific outing against a team that has seen him a lot over the last two years and had his number last year.
Couple that with facing Roy Halladay – a guy who has been dominant against the Yankee’s over the years. That’s a very strong performance by Wang.
With Hughes/ Kennedy in the rotation as well as Mussina the bull pen is going to have a pick up a lot of innings.
This is the kind of start they need from Wang – very efficient and one that doesn’t force the bull pen into heavy work.
“Dice-K is dealing. 9 ks through 6 ip. Thats what they paid for. Too bad its against an Oakland A’s team featuring lil pop outside of Cust”
he’s leaaving alot of pitches down broadway
CB-
Perhaps Eiland is working his magic with CMW.
Beautiful game (except for not getting Damon across after his triple.)
And even better, my tickets for the April 30th game arrived today. My first (and only) time to see Yankee Stadium.
7th row beside third base.
I can’t wait.
First since 04? dang.
hahaha at Larry Bowa tonight. Awesome. I’ll miss him.
CB, I thought Wang owned the Red Socks last year… he got lit up in one game (near the end of September), but almost threw a complete game shut out against them and won two other decisions against them.
Buddy–I’m VERY high on Eiland and I’ve mentioned his ability to turn pitchers around mid-game. That’s something we didn’t see from Guidry.
cecil–and he took a no-hitter into the 7th or 8th against them in late August (30th, maybe?) before Lowell broke it up.
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Sound the alarms, the Giants scored a run. Bocock walks with the bases juiced.
ahhhhh so Joba was experimenting both his changeup and curve, that’s why he threw so many pitches in that 8th inning, very interesting, I said that would happen this year, he’s getting use to throwing his 2nd and 3rd pitches in every spot.
Elizabeth, I think that might have been the game I was thinking of; via Wiki:
“On August 30, 2007, Wang took a no-hitter into the seventh inning against the Boston Red Sox before giving up a single to Mike Lowell in the seventh. Rookies Joba Chamberlain (1H) and Edwar Ramirez finished the two-hitter, and the Yankees beat the Red Sox 5-0.”
He beat Wakefield 6-2 on May 21, Wakefield again 9-5 on June 1, and that near no-hitter against Schilling. His only bad game against them was on Sept 15 (loss 10-1) against Beckett.
What the hey is going on, I keep trying to post & it gets lost in cyberspace.
O’Neill and Cone kept saying he was using his curveball, but I’m pretty sure he threw that maybe once or twice. Instead of the slider, he kept tossing the change up. His curve has a big sweep and seems to top out about 78. The change has a splitter-effect and he kept throwing it about 83. Didn’t really see his slider… got his Ks with the fastball.
Yep 199 hits in 199 inings yeah thats a ace.Roy Holliday faced the Yankees lineup Wang faced just Alex Rios sure Wang is Ace material.
“I thought Wang owned the Red Socks last year… ”
No, he definitely has never owned them. Last year he was very inconsistent against them and not very good overall.
His line against Boston last year was very un-Wang like.
He started 5 games and only threw 30 innings giving up 30 hits.
The really concerning thing about his performances against Boston was his control. That’s what really got me concerned about the way he was throwing against them. He walked 15 hitters over the 30 innings he threw against Boston last year. That is terrible – almost Farnsworthesque control. Given what an extreme control pitcher wang is overall that was very concerning to see.
They started doing a very effective job of forcing him up in the zone by laying off his sinker. They seemed to be recognizing it very well. They’re a disciplined hitting team and were patient with him.
I don’t know if its Eiland or what. I think after his poor playoffs Wang knew he was going to have to try to expand his arsenal. We’ll see how he does with that. That’s going to be the key to what kind of pitcher he becomes over the long hall.
On the upside he still has room for growth – he’s mostly been getting by on one dominant pitch. The pitch I’d love to see him develop is the change. A heavy two seamer and a good change is a difficult combination to deal with.
I wouldn’t worry too much about Dice-K and Oakland. Their offense is a joke. They’re projected to score the third fewest runs in the AL.
At least Wang isn’t an overbearing stubborn sourpuss like Halladay (it’s Halladay, not Holliday…). I don’t know how many times I saw his mouth go off at tonight’s game. And he was sitting all alone in the dugout… wonder why? He probably freaked out at Wells for going 0-4.
just had to say: 1000+ comments in the game thread. wow!
Just thinking about Giambi. Like everyone else I had been assuming that we wouldn’t see him after this year. But if he can be healthy all year and hit to all fields instead of pulling everything we could see him hitting .280 with 35 HR and a .440 OBP. With the buyout it basically becomes a 1 yr $17M decision (unless he does something similar to Muss and takes a 2 or 3 yr deal instead). As a 1 yr proposition it is kinda low risk and starting to look like it is at least worth considering (we’ll need to see if he can stay healthy of course).
If we are trying to keep 1st base open for Shelley/ Montero/ E Duncan or Miranda (or even a Jeter position switch – Gonzalez is hitting well – http://mvn.com/milb-yankees/20.....-gonzalez/) then signing Texiera and losing those suddenly coveted draft picks might not be the way to go.
CMW did show control tonight in that he kept everything down. I found it frustrating that he kept getting behind on batters. If he can get them to an x-2 count, they’re going to have to swing at that sinker if it’s in the zone.
For those who may be curious about what Girardi said near the end of the 7th inning, he asked Wang if Wang could have one more out to end the inning, and Wang said “Yes.” I just learned this from the media in Taiwan.
Wang made 3 starts last year against the Jays. 2 of them were pretty good. when a AL Sp throws 14+ IP and game up 4 runs in those two starts. and he’s 0-1 , the rest of the team have soemthing to answer.
For thoese who may be curious about what Girardi said near the end of the 7th inning, he asked Wang if Wang could have one more out to end the inning, and Wang said yes. I just learned this from the media in Taiwan.
Okay guys, I’m out for the night.
Couldn’t ask for a better start to the season.
Sorry for the double post.
I was impressed overall tonight, especially with Melky. For the first time that I can remember, he looked like he had an idea at the plate and wasn’t late on every pitch thrown to him. That AB against Halladay that ended in the HR was really impressive.
Sorry Pete, I disagree with you about Wang proving he’s an ace. A really good #2 or a great 3? No doubt, but not an ace. I need some sort of proof that he can find that extra something to get a K when he really needs it. An ace doesn’t always need a double play ball or help from his defense to get out of a jam, he can at least do some of it by himself.
I was in the “why waste Joba in the bullpen when he could be a dominant ace?” and I still am. He looked good tonight (his velocity was a little down to start but it picked up towards the end against Thomas) but I just don’t get the idea of having somebody with his talent setup for 3 years before becoming a closer. Besides, a pitcher who has 4 plus or plus-plus pitches should not be relegated to the pen. I want him out there 6 or 7 innings, not 3 outs.
Good start to the season, defense was sharp (Giambi) and not bad offensively against a really good pitcher. A-Rod is already locked in and looks like he’ll have another big season.
cool shirt- http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISA.....L.m315.lVI
Jimbob,
How many Ks did “ace” Halladay have tonight?
Had a great night tonight couple of things I learned and some interesting thoughts:
Had just as good of a time sitting in the bleachers (section 53) as I do sitting in my regular seats. For 7 games via the Holiday pack I am sitting there row U which is high enough so have a good look at everything.
There really are a lot of people who dont have any clue about the Yankees. During player introductions when Billy Traber was announced there had to be 2 rows worth of people who I heard say to the person with them “who is that”. and realy what is the point of booing your players at the start of the season. Farnsworth for sure got the boo birds out not quite sure what the point of booing him is.
Best thing about the seats was that it is about 15 rows behind the Yankees bullpen so got to see everyone warming up. How about this who was warming up for the 8th before we took the lead? Brian Bruney he actrually started warming up in the 7th so if we hadnt taken the lead it would have been Bruney coming in (thought that was interesting).
After Melky made the great catches and especially after he hit the HR after screaming my second thought was how happy Elizabeth would be.
Although the countdown clock Pete mentioned is cool and I agree that they will probably have a celebrity of some sort push the button each night. However I thought they way they did it with George was a little odd. Not sure that people actually knew that he was there as the reaction was much more subdued then I thought it would be for him.
Was VERY happy that Yogi wasd with Reggie to throw out the first pitch, the way it should be.
Felt bad for the guy who sang the national anthem he had some issues to say the least. Not a easy song but still.
I know Joe Torre had hip issues so not the quickest of fott but when Girardi came out to the mound to chat he was out and back before Torre would have ever made it to the mound.
Took the subway in from work and boy was it easy D train express from 53rd and7th and made it back home by 11:15.
Cant wait for Saturday when I get to go again this time my regular seats and see Andy make his debut.
“Two runs over seven innings against Roy Halladay? That’s an ace.”
Why does it matter who the opposing pitcher is? Putting up that line against AJ Burnett or Dustin McGowan would be less evidence of his ace-ness?
Toronto’s lineup is weak. I love CMW and all, but let’s see what he can do against the elite AL offenses of the Tigers, Red Sox, or Indians before you call him an ace.
I could also argue that Tampa, Anaheim, and Texas all have better offenses than Toronto. And maybe Chicago too. So Toronto’s offense falls somewhere in the 8th or 9th or 10th “best” position when it comes to AL teams.
I’m very impressed with what Wang has done in his Yankee career, but don’t get carried away with one performance against a relatively poor offensive team. Let’s see how he does against the bigger bats.
what would we do without wang??
texas has a better offense than toronto? haha please tell me youre still caught on april fools. wang finally led the yankees to a win over halladay. sure he doesnt strike 15 guys out, but ill take 19-win seasons over 200k’s anytime
Today’s MVP should be Cabrera!! He saved Wang and this team tonight…
I love Wang, but frankly speaking, Halladay is still much better than he is. We need Wang keep growing and may have a big three with him someday. Suppose Wang is only our No.3 or No.4 pitcher next year, WS would be just piece of cake.
Yes, Texas has a much better offense than Toronto, especially the Rolen-less lineup that Wang faced.
From a purely offensive standpoint, I’ll use OPS+ as a way to judge the lineups since it accounts for both the ability to get on base as well as the ability to hit for power, which are the two most important things for any offense to be adept at. 100 is average, anything below that is less than average, anything higher is above average.
Texas vs Toronto, based on 2007 stats for each player
C – Laird vs Zaun
1B – Broussard vs Overbay
2B – Kinsler vs Hill
3B – Blalock vs Scutaro
DH – Catalanotto vs Thomas
LF – Bradley vs Stewart
CF – Hamilton vs Wells
RF – Murphy/Byrd vs Rios
SS – Young vs Eckstein
Blalock, Kinsler, Young, Bradley, and Hamilton are all above average offensive player, at the least. That’s a good core for a good offense. The downfall for Texas will be it’s pitching.
If Toronto had Rolen it would be more even, but the guy is rarely healthy so I am not assuming he will be healthy. And anyway, this is the lineup that Wang faced. It is a sub par lineup.
Texas scored 816 runs last year. They played half the season without Mark Teixeira. The runs were divided about evenly at home and on the road, so their ballpark did not skew their performance. And their offense performed well even after losing Teixeira. Without him, the team had a slightly higher batting average, same exact on-base percentage, and a slight decrease in slugging ability. They now added Hamilton and Bradley to the offense, both of whom are very very good hitters.
Toronto scored 753 runs last year. They lost Glaus, and Rolen is not healthy, so Scutaro is filling in. Scutaro is crap. They added Eckstein, but he has no power at all and is currently a below average offensive player, and his better days are behind him. Vernon Wells is not likely to ever perform like he did in 2006. He should be better than what he was last year, but he will more likely return to his career averages, which aren’t anything spectacular, check it out if you don’t believe me. Shannon Stewart is about average, and he is probably going to decline soon. The only impact hitters in this lineup are Rios and Thomas, and Rios is the only star on the rise for this team. Zaun is about average. Overbay is about average. Hill is a decent hitter.
Meanwhile, Texas has Kinsler/Young/Blalock/Hamilton/Bradley at its core, none of whom are in the latter half of their careers yet. You should expect them all to be above average offensive players this year, and most of them have breakout potential (Kinsler/Hamilton/Blalock/Bradley) Bradley is a very good bat. Catalanotto and Broussard are about average. Laird is terrible. Murphy/Byrd should provide slightly above average numbers in the other corner outfield spot.
You can go with Toronto’s lineup if you really want to. But this is no April Fool’s joke. Texas has a better lineup, and it is much younger and on the rise and has much more potenial than Toronto’s. Even if Toronto did have Rolen, I’d still go with the Texas lineup.
hmm my OPS+ numbers didn’t show up in the post, I wonder if it is a formatting thing
It doesn’t matter really, since it just confirmed the stuff I said at the latter half of the post. Texas has a better lineup.
Wang – 7 inn
Joba – 1 inn
Mo – 1 inn
“WJM” is the guarantee of winning
Just got in and made my way through the 1000+ comments (cool…) and there are a lot of happy people today.
I know it’s just one game, but it’s nice to see things go the way that Girardi drew it up in his mind. Everyone did their job and nobody dropped the ball.
Didn’t watch the whole game, but I like what I saw from Wang. It was nice to see him avoid the big innings. It was great to see him dial in and escape the couple of jams he got in.
Melky was great, what else can you say?
What a great day for Yankee fans. Hoping for many more.
p.s. Texas has always had a good offense.
I can see the headline now:
“Wang Opens, Shows Spunk to Jays”
Others may have commented but Wang stats against Toronto on the carpet are awful — balls in play get through especially when Jeter is hampered / defensively challenged to his glove side
Jeter bunts when it occurs to him – often at the wrong time – an insurance run from an NL manager – squeeze – safety squeeze would have been huge
Is it possible that someone tells me exactly how many bats CMW broke today? I think that it is more than 4….
I think the key thing to take away from game 1 is that this looks like the team that stormed back last year and had an amazing second half record. I know it was just game 1, but I take this as a sign that the slow start that they have had in recent years won’t be an issue this year. That could be the key to this team making the playoffs with so many good teams in the AL.
hoo-ray!
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