Yes, In Didi! Gregorius Powers Win In Home Opener

After a snowout, the Yankees had to be concerned that their home opener might get rained out. And it did rain through much of the game at Yankee Stadium yesterday afternoon, but they got all 9 innings in.

The pregame ceremonies were cut out, except for the ceremonial first ball, thrown out by 1978 World Champion Yankee heroes John Milton "Mickey" Rivers and Russell Earl "Bucky" Dent, in honor of the 40th Anniversary of their title. Then, it was play ball.

Jordan Montgomery started, and gave the Yankees 5 solid innings, allowing 1 run on 2 hits and 4 walks, with 4 strikeouts. Alas, manager Aaron Boone, under a lot of criticism for his pitching changes in the last 2 games, took him out after 5 innings, only 80 pitches.

This would prove to be a mistake. Boone brought Jonathan Holder in. Although he threw 11 of his 13 pitches for strikes, they got hit: Strikeout, but then double, single, RBI single, single. Boone pulled Holder for Tommy Kahnle, who'd helped to blow the Sunday game, and he inserted a game-tying 2-RBI double between a strikeout and a groundout.

It doesn't seem fair that a guy who blew a save should be credited as the winning pitcher, does it? Yet that's how things worked out, mainly because Didi Gregorius became the 1st Yankee ever to have 8 RBIs in a home opener.

The Yankees took a 1-0 lead in the 2nd inning, let the Rays tie it 1-1 in the top of the 3rd, and then Brett Gardner and Aaron Judge singled to lead off the bottom of the 3rd. A situation tailor-made for new, super-hyped slugger Giancarlo Stanton. But he struck out looking. His 2nd strikeout of the game. Then Gregorius came up and hit a short-porch homer to the right field corner. 4-1 Yankees.

And so it remained until Holder's game-tying meltdown in the 6th. Tyler Austin doubled to lead off the bottom of the 7th. Now, Boone came up with the right strategy: He had Brett Gardner bunt. The bunt was mishandled and thrown away, and Austin scored the go-ahead run. 5-4.

Judge singled. 1st & 3rd, nobody out, Stanton up. Stanton struck out. For the 4th time in the game.

Going 0-for-4 is known as "taking the collar," or "wearing the collar," because a collar resembles a zero, and also has the implication of "choking." Striking out 3 times in 1 game is, like scoring 3 goals in a hockey or soccer game, is a "hat trick," which came from the early hockey instance of fans throwing their hats onto the ice when a player scored 3. Striking out 4 times in 1 game is known as "the golden sombrero," because it requires a bigger hat.

But this was the dawning of the Age of Gregorius. He came up against Austin Pruitt, and cranked one down the right-field line, into the 2nd deck. While his 1st homer was a short-porcher, his 2nd was a no-doubt-abouter. As the great W.C. Fields might have said, "Yes, in Didi!" 8-4 Yanks.

Although he spent much of his youth in his parents' native Curaçao, an island off the coast of South America that is part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, Mariekson Julius Gregorius was born in the Netherlands' capital. This home run led me to say, "Amster... damn, son!"

With 1 out in the bottom of the 8th, Pruitt, with nothing left to lose, lost his control. He walked the Two Tylers, Wade and Austin. Rays manager Kevin Cash mercifully pulled him, and brought in Sergio Romo, who gave up an infield single to Gardner. Judge drew a walk to force home a run.

Bases loaded, only 1 out, and, with a 4-run lead, absolutely no pressure. A few years ago, this would have been the time for an Alex Rodriguez home run.

The batter was Giancarlo Stanton. At least this time, he took the damn bat off his shoulder. Nevertheless, he persisted -- in striking out. His 5th strikeout of the game. What's more expensive than gold? Platinum. Striking out 5 times in one game is "the platinum sombrero."

(Six times is "the titanium sombrero," or a "horn," after Sam Horn did it once, for the 1991 Baltimore Orioles. That's happened 8 times in baseball history, most recently by Geoff Jenkins of the 2004 Milwaukee Brewers, although it's never happened in less than 13 innings. But 5 in 9 innings has happened many times.)

For the 1st time, Giancarlo Stanton was playing a home game at Yankee Stadium. His Pinstriped debut was considerably less satisfying than that of Hideki Matsui (a grand slam helping to beat the Minnesota Twins in 2003). Stanton heard boos. If he were a soccer player putting on a corresponding display in England, certain chants would have gone up, among the more printable being, "What a waste of money!"

But the Mighty Curaçaoan was not done yet. Didi singled home Austin and Gardner, to make the score 11-4. Kahnle (1-0) got through the 7th, David Robertson pitched a perfect 8th, and Chasen Shreve pitched a perfect 9th. There was no save opportunity. Pruitt was the losing pitcher (0-1).

The series with the Rays continues this afternoon. Luis Severino starts for us, Blake Snell for them.

I would be just fine if Didi continues the hellacious hitting he's already done in this season's 1st 5 games. As for Stanton, well, "Welcome to New York." Now, produce.