It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. Well I guess that doesn't really apply to the first two series for the Yankees but at least I'm using a cultural reference to my title of this blog (quick, who wrote that novel?)
It was quite the series in Tampa for the Yanks leading off the season. Joe Girardi had a poor managerial season debut, CC got knocked around, Kuroda didn't show why the Yanks spent so much money on him, Mo blew his first save of the season. On the bright side, the Yanks did score runs (12 in 3 games) off of a quality Rays pitching staff (in fact Hellickson shutout the Bombers).
Fortunately, the Yanks schedule allowed them to face the curer of all problems...the Orioles. Despite Baltimore's 3-0 start, their pitching couldn't hold up against the Yanks, dropping the 3 game set to New York. Two of the games went to extra innings with the Yanks winning on a Raul Ibanez RBI in game 2 and a Nick Swisher HR in the 10th. Luckily the game didn't go longer, or New York could have run out of pitchers after depleting the bullpen in the second game of the series (that went 12 innings).
The Baltimore series showcased the Yanks brilliant bullpen and saw Rivera pick up his first and second save of the season. However despite the 3 wins, New York struggled with runners in scoring position (RISP) going .184 (7-38) and an abysmal 2-18 in the second game of the set.
In the end, it was a decent start to the season for New York despite the sweep in Tampa Bay.
No comments:
Post a Comment