Knuckle Bumps For All

Yankees win! Thaaaaaaaaaa Yankees Win!!
Now that's what I'm talking about! What a way to open up the season!
I've mentioned it several times throughout my blog. The Yankee lineup is going to put up some serious runs. They have 5 of the top 12 leaders in runs scored in the American League for 2005. They batted A's pitchers around for 15 runs on 17 hits. Expect to see a lot more of that during the season. 1000 runs is within the realm of possibilities. But it's game 1 of 162. I'm getting ahead of myself.
Now we all know Barry Zito isn't the greatest April pitcher. And he hasn't been too successful against the Yankees recently and tonight's opener was nothing different. The Yankee bats chased Zito after an inning and a third, the shortest outing of his career. But he is Barry Zito, and April or not, that is nothing to scoff at. Zito was having some serious control problems and it was good to see the Yankees show some plate discipline, even after Zito left the game. 9 walks in total. If only we didn't;t have 8 K's to go with them.
I was impressed with third base Coach Larry Bowa showing some smarts in the second inning by not trying to send guys home on singles into the OF. With no outs and the lineup about to turn over, he didn't give the A's any outs by trying to create runs by sending the runner home. Larry is going to be an asset to the Yankees. He's already 10x the third base coach Sojo was.
The Unit looked sharp and it was encouraging to see he and Posada work well. 7 strong innings with his only mistake being the HR to Frank Thomas. He showed good control. No walks. That's always good. After Thomas' HR, I was worried that we'd see more HRs yielded by Johnson. I saw him pitch once when he was with the D-Backs. The game was in Pittsburgh. He gave up 2 hits, both of which were solo homers and the D-Backs lost 2-0. The game lasted 1.5 hours. It was amazing. Johnson has always given up the long ball, last year being no different. Thankfully, he has the Yankee lineup supporting him and not the D-Backs. Too bad Jorge didn't get a hit, the only Yankee starter not to.
Cano impressed me with the sac bunt he laid down in the 2nd. Near perfect. Torre looks like he's not afraid to interject some small ball into the Yankee offense. After watching the WBC, I can't blame him.
The middle of the line-up had a huge night, knocking in 10 runs. A-Rod looked like the MVP. 3-5 w/ 5 RBI and he didn't strike out (Da Hamburglers thank you). Matsui reached based every time he stepped to the plate. Giambi struck out 2x but that's to be expected. He of course got hit by a pitch. There's a shocker! Now if only he could dig out throws in the dirt.
Johnny Damon had a good start to the year, something he's not used to according to a pre-game stat they flashed on the YES network. A career opening day average of .100 (or something close to that). 3-7 w/ 2 doubles. One down the right field line, the other down the left. Way to use the whole field Johnny -- but stop making unnecessary throws into the crowd! Save your arm! You know Red Sox fans are crying in their pints of Sam Adams. I'm sorry for you loss. Yeah right.
I'm glad the Yankees were up by 14 runs when Sturtze came in. If they can just keep him out of close games, we'll be alright. I'm not a Sturtze fan. I think he's garbage. But I'm glad he didn't give up any runs. The bullpen is going to be solid, even with Villone giving up a run.
I think what we saw tonight is a good sign of what's to come. It's a great start to the year. Yankee fans should definitely be encouraged. I know I am. I'm sure fellow Yankee blogger G-Deuce had a good time, even without his scoreboard message. Take that Oakland!
J