Opening Day Victory

A new season means a new start and today was a pretty damn good one aside from a few sloppy plays in the field leading to three Yankee errors and one bad inning pitched by Carl Pavano.

I have to be honest, he pitched better than I expected. And I really wasn't expecting much. After all how much faith can you have in a guy that hasn't played a game since 2005?

For a few innings Pavano looked very good, keeping his pitches down and working out of mini jams. The sixth inning he seemed to fall apart although he wasn't helped by sloppy defensive play in the field. But it's baby steps with this guy and today was step one.

Derek Jeter, A-Rod and Josh Phelps made today's miscues but luckily it didn't cost the Yankees in the end.

A-Rod must love negative attention because it didn't take long before some came his way. In the top of the first he misjudged a pop up in foul territory allowing the ball to sail over his head and later that same inning struck out with two runners on.

However he did deliver a crushing HR in the 8th to put the Yankees up 9-5 and the game out of reach. I know--the HR came when the Yanks were already winning 7-5 so it was typical stat padding by him. At 7-5 I can't say I thought the game was in the bag so in my opinion it was a big HR at the time.

Jason Giambi also had a big day driving in runs in the 1st and 7th innings. Jeter also helped the Yankees cause with a single up the middle to drive in two and tie the game at 5.

Another positive note was the bullpen. Joe Torre wheeled out his new look pen and they did the job and did it good at least on this day. Yes, it's only Tampa Bay but getting off on the right foot is key and the bullpen did just that.

Brian Bruney, Sean Henn, Luis Vizcaino, Kyle Farnsworth and of course Mariano Rivera kept the Rays off the scoreboard and the Yankees a chance to comeback and win the game. Rivera as usual was the most impressive as he struck out the side in the 9th and looked like he's already in midseason form.

Yankees 9 Devil Rays 5