Game 1: Yankees @ Orioles: Live Blog

Greetings and salutations everyone. Welcome to the first (and possibly only) live blog of the season. It's about 10 minutes to 4 and while I'd like to say we're 15 minutes away from first pitch, I can't. The start of the game has been delayed, albeit not long. Scheduled start time is now 4:20pm, 30 minutes from now. If you're excited, raise your hand. I've got my vat of pretzels and a cold drink. My wife and son are going to be out doing some shopping (I think?). I'm ready to go. Let's play ball!

3:54pm - Time for the player/staff introductions....can't wait to hear the boo birds
3:55 - I am so not feeling the new patches on the back of their hats
3:58- Man they hate Mark Teixeira. Looks like they had fun with that. Love hearing the "Imperial March" in the background.
3:59 - CC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
4:00 - commercial break, while there's some down time, can anyone tell me the logic behind scheduling the Sox/Rays game in Boston and not in Tampa? New England in early April equals cold and wet. Tampa = dome. I never understand why they schedule dome teams to open the season on the road
4:04 - A quick scan of in-action box scores tells me that Cliff Lee won't repeat as the Cy Young award winner - 5 IP, 10 H, 7 ER, ouch!
4:09- my wife and son just stopped in. My little guy ran into the room and said, "Yankees! Yankees! I am so proud.
4:11- Pompous O's fans and their stupid "OOOO" scream during the National Anthem. How is that even allowed?
4:17 - throw the first pitch already!!
4:18 - Michael Kay really does have a huge melon.
4:20 - I heard a sound clip of John Sterling calling a Mark Teixeira home run today, "You're on the mark Teixeira." Typical Sterling. That's bad, really bad, but I hope he says it a lot.
4:24- Now batting, the Captain, number 2, Derek Jeter. I really like Jeter hitting leadoff over Damon. I think it will prove to be a very smart move by Joe Girardi.
4:25 - And we're off, the first pitch is a strike. Ladies and gents, Yankee baseball is back!!

Top 1st- A single up the middle by the Captian and we're off to a good start! Did anyone catch the O's fan in the crowd giving Teixeira the double loser sign with his hands? Weirdo. Teix popped out so I guess that O's fan is right, for now. It took only 5 minutes for a "Yankees Suck" chant to break out. The Orioles finished dead last in the East last year, right? Matsui grounded out to end the top half of the first. It's CC time!

4:32- I'm really hoping CC comes out of the gate strong. I want to see at least 7 IPs and less than a 1.00 WHIP.

Bottom 1st - CC's first pitch is high and outside. His 2nd pitch is a single over the middle. It's over. Pack it up pack it in. I'm going home. A wild pitch and a walk and CC is in a jam. Markakis went around! Usually blown calls like that bite you in the ass but Nicky flew out weakly to CF. Come on double-play ball! The big guys is throwing a lot of pitches. One pitch can get him out of the inning. DP. DP. DP. Consornit, another wild pitch. So much for that DP. Nice play by Ransom to nail Roberts at home. A grounder to Jeter and CC's out of the inning. Zip-zip after one.

4:45 - CC had good command of his curve but his heater was all over the place. Two wild pitches? I didn't see that coming. Mora gave him a gift by swinging at ball four. Props to Cody Ransom for playing heads up baseball and going home with his throw to nail Roberts. It wasn't even close. 19 pitches for Sabathia. I'm chalking it up to first inning jitters.

Top 2nd- Posada with the HBP and for the 2nd inning the Yanks have the leadoff runner on. I'd love to see Robbie get off on the good foot. That didn't happen. Am I the only one who thinks Nady is overrated? I'll be surprised if he hits above 265. Ransom flies to right and we're still scoreless.

4:53 - The Yanks are getting off to good starts by getting those leadoff guys on base. They're hitting a lot of lazy fly balls. Jeter's single has been the only well hit ball so far. I know it's only the 2nd inning of the first game, but I want to see them start out hot, and so far, they're not.

Bottom 2nd - 1 pitch, 1 out. That's a good way to lower that pitch count. A fly out to Gardner. Brett took about 5 steps to catch it and Michael Kay called that a good jump. 1-2-3. Now that's what I'm talking about.

5:01 - That was a much better inning for CC. I think it was 10 pitches, 7 going for strikes. 3 up, 3 down. He's back on track for 7 IPs with a WHIP of 1.00. Now let's score him some runs.

Top 3rd - Nick Stokes, err, I mean, Brett Gardner is up. Show us that you really deserve the job over Melky. Yes! Leadoff single. This is what I'm envisioning: Gardner singles, steals second, Jeter gets him to 3rd, Damon scores him. Let's see.......a hit and run! Runners on 1st and 3rd. That works too. Sac fly. Gardner scores and we're up 1-0. Now that's what I'm talking about. Come on Teix! He really knocked the cover off that didn't he? Matsui flies out to deep CF and the inning is over. 1-0 Yanks.

5:12 - I think we're going to see an inning like that a lot this year. By that I mean small ball, especially when Gardner leads off the inning. Gardner's speed should help cut down on Jeter's DPs. If Jeter can work the count into his favor, we'll see Gardner run a lot. I like that style of play especially from the top of the order. Stolen bases. Hit and runs. It's all good. With our pitching staff, 1 run may often be all they need. CC has that 1 run. Let's not give it back.

Bottom 3rd - CC's in trouble again. Leadoff single and a stolen base. Posada's throw looked good and that's encouraging. Shut 'em down CC. Shut 'em down. A walk isn't shutting them down CC. CC is at 40 pitches right now, 21 for strikes. Not a good ratio. Well, he gave the lead back. Os up 2-1. Sac fly and it's 3-1. Ugh. I wasn't expecting CC to give the lead back. Inning over. Let's get the runs back.

5:24 - CC isn't having the best debut so far. His control is awful. He's throwing a lot of pitches. The last thing I expected him to do was to give the lead back. The bright spot from that inning was seeing Posada attempt to throw a runner out. I thought he made a strong throw which is a good sign. I was interested to see how his shoulder would hold up when tested in the regular season. Not even Molina would have caught Izturis.

Top 4th - Jorge whiffed and that snaps the 3 inning streak of getting the leadoff runners on. Cano grounds weakly to first. I know it's been 2 at-bats but it's typical April Robbie Cano. Hey hey Nady walked. I was expecting a whiff. Ransom lines out to Mora. Still 3-1 Os.

5:33 - Jeremy Guthrie is shutting down the Yanks. They really haven't mustered much of him. Brett Gardner will lead off the next inning and I'm hoping for a repeat of the 3rd inning. I really don't like Xavier Nady. I think he played out of his shoes last year and he's really not that good. The problem is that Nick Swisher isn't much better.

Bottom 4th -CC needs to start getting ahead of hitters. He's thrown 1st pitch strikes to 7 of 16 hitters. He's now got a runner on 1st and is behind 3-1 to Luke Scott and he walked him. Ugh. So much for that prediction of 7 IPs and a WHIP of 1.00. Get out of the jam CC. And my wife and son are home so that's going to cut the live blog short. I'm not sure how many of you have tried to live blog with a 1 1/2 year old pawing at them. It's too tough. especially when the little guy keeps turning off the speakers. So this will end the live blog. I'll definitely be back later with a post game post.

5:43 - Sabathia just got an inning-ending DP to end the threat. After 4, it's 3-1 Orioles. And with that, this live blog is over.

Let's go Yankees!!

J-Boogie