Yankees Improvise to 2-0 Start

Somebody said that this is what it must have been like for Yankee Fans in 1998.

It wasn't. We didn't start that season out 2-0. We started it 0-3, and 1-4.

Then came the good stuff.

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Last night, the Yankees tried to follow their fantastic season opener in Toronto against those pesky Blue Jays with another win. Masahiro Tanaka started, and pitched like an ace. Well, for 2/3rds of the game, anyway: 6 innings, 1 run, 3 hits, no walks, 8 strikeouts.

He has a habit of giving up gopher balls, and Randal Grichuk hit a home run off him in the 2nd inning. How the Grinch Stole a Shutout.

But it didn't matter. Nor did the fact that, between them, Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Gary Sanchez went 0-for-12. Nor did the fact that 1st baseman Greg Bird began the season on the Disabled List, forcing new manager Aaron Boone to move newly-acquired 2nd baseman Neil Walker to 1st base, and put "prospect" Tyler Wade at 2nd.

Nor did the fact that, just 1 game in, Aaron Hicks went on the Disabled List, and Billy McKinney, a 23-year-old outfielder from the Dallas suburbs, was called up to make his major league debut. (That's McKinney in the picture above. The Yankees now have a player who was born during the Strike of '94. God, I'm old.)

What mattered was the bottom of the order coming through. In the top of the 2nd, in his 1st major league at-bat, McKinney singled to right. New 3rd baseman Brandon Drury doubled him home, and it was one-nil to the Bronx Bombers.

Grichuk's homer tied the game, but Didi Gregorius led off the top of the 4th with a double. After a Sanchez pop-up, Walker lived up to his name and drew a base on balls. McKinney moved the runners over with a fielder's choice. And Drury singled Sir Didi home.

Didi also led off the top of the 6th by getting on base, this time with a walk. After Sanchez flew out, Walker singled. After McKinney popped up, Drury walked to load the bases. And Wade doubled home Gregorius and Walker. 4-1 Yankees.

That would remain the score into the bottom of the 9th, as Tommy Kahnle pitched the 7th and into the 8th, allowing just 1 baserunner, a walk. David Robertson had to finish the 8th.

Aroldis Chapman came on for the 9th, and, well, Aroldis gotta Aroldis: He looked great, but almost blew it. He struck Josh Donaldson and Justin Smoak out, and was 1 strike away from striking out the side. But he allowed back-to-back doubles to Steve Pearce and former Yankee Yangervis Solarte. (You remember: The guy who got off to a great start as Yankee 3rd baseman, before Cashman sent him to the San Diego Padres for Chase Headley.) But Chapman fanned Grichuk to end it.

Yankees 4, Blue Jays 2. WP: Tanaka (1-0). SV: Chapman (1 -- remember, the previous night was not a save situation). LP: Anibal Sanchez (0-1).

Yankee pitchers got a total of 12 strikeouts. Somebody online said that this was the 1st time in the Yankees' 116-season history that their pitchers got 12 or more strikeouts in the season's 1st 2 games. Personally, I don't care how the outs come, as long as they come.

Starting the season 2-0 is good. As for the other American League Eastern Division teams, the Baltimore Orioles are 1-0, the Boston Red Sox and Tampa Bay Rays are 1-1, and, of course, the Jays are 0-2.

The series continues this afternoon at 4:00 (well, 4:07). CC Sabathia makes his season debut for the Yankees, and Marco Estrada takes the hill for the Jays. Come on you Bombers!