The last time when we left the Yankee Stadium, there was riot police on standby, A-Rod had did a little impersonation of the Karate Kid, and the visiting clubhouse had champagne splashed all over the carpet and probably a small quantity of Jack Daniels was left. The Boston Red Sox returned to the 161st Street after clinching the unthinkable to the open their 2005 campaign as the World Series champion. But this time around, they left Gotham as the vanquished.
The last time when we left the Stadium, those interlocking NY caps masked the agony of scores of fans and there were several dropped shoulders and drooped heads. The winter of agony was officially kicked off. And the Murderers' Row turned out to be the Murdered Row. George Steinbrenner unusually played the graceful loser rather than a sourpuss, which we were accustomed to.
Soon, spring was heralded with the signings of Randy Johnson, Carl Pavano, and Jaret Wright. And finally, spring gave way to a summer of hope for the Yankees faithful. A new season of baseball has dawned on us giving the Yankees plenty of talent and a reason to go after the Sox.
Finally, the Big Unit, a prized possession that Steinbrenner has been angling for years, made his debut in pinstripes. And former Yankee and turncoat David Wells showed up for the Red Sox with his number reminding the 1919 season (or is it 1918?). As Yankees fans facetiously remarked, it was a matchup between the flame-thrower and the shame-thrower.
Johnson crafted a 9-2 win over the Sox and the Yankees drew first blood (bad choice of words with Curt Schilling not on the mound for the Sawx) in this interminable saga. Attributing the win essentially to Johnson is the key here. Though the Yankees bats came out in full swing and Hideki Matsui made a Godzilla-like leap over the leftfield wall, it was Johnson who gave every indication that this season might not turn out to be another 2004 in Yankee lore.
Johnson's wasn't as such an electrifying performance, but his overwhelming demeanor on the mound was what the Yankees have been craving for all these years. Johnson didn't look like the no-hitter he threw against the Braves last May and he didn't appear like pitching in one of those 14 games he was (dis)credited for losing last season. Instead, it was more methodical and he even got the occasional help from his teammates to pin down the Sox to just a single run. Johnson allowed one run in six innings, fanning six, and allowing just five hits. He issued only two free passes.
In the early stages of the game, his fastball looked more like a booming bazooka. He promptly retired 1-2-3 in the first inning, but later had trouble with that Yankee-slaying behemoth David Ortiz. Ortiz hit a double to the left field. Suddenly, it appeared as if Ortiz had knocked the wind out of Johnson's sails and he would've been in a logjam if Kevin Millar had hit a two-run homerun or more appropriately if Matsui hadn't come up with that SportsCenter Play of the Day-esque play. The Red Sox managed to sneak in a run with Jay Payton. Damage limitation, maybe.
Johnson was soon back in the groove, as he had the Sox retired in the third inning with just six pitches. Call it opening game blues or Johnson feeling a little jittery, his pitch count began to increase in the subsequent innings. He needed 18 to get through the fourth, 17 in the fifth, and 18 in the sixth. Finally, Johnson threw 95 pitches before Joe Torre summoned New Englander Tanyon Sturtze to replace the Big Unit.
Overall, Johnson had shown lots of promise on a day of blustery winds and occasional drizzle. Torre and Mel Stottlemyre can certainly call this present pitching lineup an upgrade from the cataclysmic one that the Yankees came up with in 2004.
Beating the world champions on the Opening Day is just a head-start and the long winding road ahead is sure to present lots of challenges. With the current cast assembled and the astronomic payroll, anything other than a handful of titles in October will be considered a lascivious luxury.
On a different note, at last MLB came back to the Yankee Stadium and pitted the traditional blood-sucking, venom-spewing rivals rather than having a face-off between the Yankees and the Tampa Bay Devil Rays in Tokyo (or is that Timbuktu?).
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