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Bill McKechnie

Posts Tagged Opening Day

The 3.7 Percent Solution

Apr 11

Posted by Jerry Milani in New York Mets, New York Yankees | No Comments

The Yankees and Mets have each played six games to date, which equates to roughly 3.7 percent of the season.  That’s the equivalent of:

  • the first half of the first game of an NFL season
  • the third quarter of the second game of an NBA season
  • the first two minutes of the third game of the NHL season

Which basically means, no one in their right mind would base an entire season outlook on that small a sample size.

But we’re not talking about people in their right mind, we’re talking about baseball fans.  Worse, New York baseball fans and media, who Brian Cashman colorfully described as “forensic scientists” in their dissection of every decision in every game.

I had to listen as Seth Everett complained on 1050 ESPN Radio that Marcus Thames played left field instead of Brett Gardner or Randy Winn against Jon Lester.

Just imagine the uproar if C.C. Sabathia had entered the ninth inning yesterday with a no-hitter intact and Joe Girardi had taken him out.  Some have already questioned Javier Vazquez’s ability to pitch in New York (never mind that the game was in Tampa) and don’t even visit any Mets forums or comment pages, it’s not a pretty sight.

Here are my takeaways from the first week of the New York baseball season.

* Winning four of six on the road against your biggest division rivals is a great start, but more important is that Curtis Granderson and Nick Johnson have made contributions right away.  Granderson is going to be a huge fan favorite, and even though Johnson doesn’t have the hitting stroke down yet, he’s been keeping the line moving with walks.

  • The Yankees relievers are a big improvement over this time last year.  David Robertson, Chan Ho Park and/or Damaso Marte, to Joba Chamberlain to Mo Rivera might be the best sixth-inning-on combo in the game (Jose Veras, Jonathan Albaladejo and Brett Tomko filled three of those roles to begin 2009).
  • Mets fans have been in a panic since pitchers and catcher reported, and losing four of six at home didn’t help.  But they showed they can hit home runs at CitiField, and when Jose Reyes and Carlos Beltran – and even Daniel Murphy — return full-time the lineup will suddenly look a lot better.
  • Joe West might not like it, but those Yankees – Red Sox games were a great way to start the season.  More on that here.

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For Starters, Yanks-Sox a Hit

Apr 4

Posted by Jerry Milani in Boston Red Sox, Cincinnati Reds, New York Yankees, Sports on TV | No Comments

Jack Chesbro

“You always get a special kick on opening day, no matter how many you go through. You look forward to it like a birthday party when you’re a kid. You think something wonderful is going to happen.” - Joe DiMaggio

For most of the 30+ years that I have been a baseball fan, I’ve looked forward to Yankees Opening Day almost from the last game of the previous season.  Because the Red Sox have been the Yankees’ Opening Day opponent only four times in the past 36 years, it seems like the matchup is a rare one.  The Yanks have opened on the West Coast, in Tokyo, and against Central and Western Division teams, but only in 1985, 1992 and 2005, and now tonight, have the Yanks and Sox gone at it in game one, since 1973.

But the teams have actually met 29 times in the opener, with New York holding an 18-10-1 advantage.  Just about every other year from 1917 through the 1930s, the rivals squared off for the first game, though not with the same anticipation as the 2005 game presented.  That, of course, was the first meeting between the teams after Boston’s first World Championship in 86 years (when they also opened the following season against the Yanks), and of course the Red Sox’ historic comeback from 0-3 in the ALCS.  That day, Randy Johnson beat David Wells as the Yanks won, 9-2.

The first time the two franchises met in the season opener was 1904, when the Highlanders’ Jack Chesbro won the first of his A.L.-record 41 games, beating none other than Cy Young, at the old Huntington Avenue Grounds, the team then known as the “Americans” coming off the first World Series title in 1903.  The Yankees won 14 of the 16 Opening Day matchups with Boston from 1923-1960, when expansion and increased air travel made it less likely that the teams would meet in the opener.  Indeed, they have played just seven times since then, the Sox winning five.

Some have argued that the Cincinnati Reds should host he first game of the year, as they did for more than 100 years because of their status as the first recognized major league team.  I think this former tradition, while nice, is easily usurped by a showcase of one of the two or three biggest rivalries in the game in prime time on ESPN on Sunday night.

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