Turns out, it was a little worse than expected. Matsui has been placed on the 15 day DL. Kevin Thompson will be recalled to help fill in.

In my post walk off happiness, I forgot to mention that Godzilla went down. It could make him miss 3-5 days and Cairo is probably going to sub in for him, with Melky already subbing for the injured Damon. Stay healthy, Bobby.

Kei Igawa's debut was pretty ugly: 5 IP, 8 H, 7 ER, 3 BB, 2 K and a fielding error. Igawa was the first Yankees starter to get 2 outs in the 5th inning this season, but there was still no rest for the bullpen as they had to go the final 4. No matter, as the pen was awesome, pitching 4 shut out innings. Bruney, Myers, Vizcaino and Mo each pitched a full inning.

When Igawa came out, the score was 7-3, Orioles. Going into the final 2 innings the score was still 7-3, Orioles. After a Derek Jeter fly out to start the inning, Abreu and A-Rod walked back to back, setting the stage for a Jason Giambi 3 run HR. Cairo struck out and Posada grounded out to end it. 7-6, Orioles.

Mo was brought in and did the job, keeping that one run deficit in tact. Chris Ray entered to pitch for the O's in the 9th. Mientkiewicz lined out and Melky struck out. 2 outs, no one on, down by 1. Here is where it gets good. Cano singles with 2 outs to keep it alive.

Now, this is where I remembered "hey, I'm writing the recap today, the game is probably over - let me head over to Yahoo! Sports and see what happened." I see 9th inning, 2 outs, Cano on and Jeter up. "We could do this." Jeter worked a walk to make it 1st and 2nd for Abreu. Abreu was hit by a pitch.

Bases loaded. 2 out. 9th inning. A-Rod's up. I laugh, thinking about the semi-long comment I left on Ben's entry earlier today. You can't make it up.

A-Rod had had a great game up to that point. He was the only Yankee to have more than 1 hit and he was 2 for 3 with a homer, 3 runs and 2 RBI. But, here we are... bottom 9. 2 outs. Down by 1. Think of the papers tomorrow. ... Come on, A-Rod.

BOOM. A-Rod slams it to center - a walk off blast. Yankees win by 3. I sent Seamus an IM the moment I saw A-Rod coming up... he wasn't there, so I ended up talking to myself. The transcript:


Riveting. Jubilation. A terrific display of patience by the Yankees hitters in the 9th and, of course, A-Rod, the Finisher. A-Rod's final line: 3 for 4, 4 runs, a double, 2 HR and 6 RBI. All 6 RBI came with 2 outs. Huge day. Giambi had that homer, making him 1 for 3 with 3 RBI. Bobby Abreu also had 3 runs.

It took 10 runs and 4 innings of scoreless pen work, but we're back to .500. Tomorrow, we'll get Darrell Rasner against Erik Bedard.

Andy Pettitte, in his first start since returning to the Yankees, lasted only 4 innings, allowing 6 hits, 3 walks, 4 runs and 2 earned runs while striking out 2. As you can probably tell from the 2 unearned errors, we had some... defensive issues, commiting 3 errors (2 by Jeter, 1 by Minky).

The bullpen combined to allow 3 ER in the final 5 innings. Proctor pitched 1 and 1/3, allowing 2 of those 5, Myers pitched 2/3, Bruney pitched 1 (striking out 2), Vizcaino pitched 1 (allowing the other ER) and Farnsworth finished it off with an inning of his own.

Devil Rays starter Jae Seo lasted 6 and 1/3, allowing 5 earned runs. After a Derek Jeter single to start the 7th, Seo was relieved by Ruddy Lugo. A Hideki Matsui single brought in Jeter and Abreu to tie the game at 6. But, that would be all for the Yankees offense.

When Vizcaino relieved Bruney in the 8th, he allowed 2 hits and then threw a wild pitch, allowing the Rays to score the go ahead run.

The Yankees had 14 hits and 3 walks. Cano, as the lead off man, went 3 for 5 with 1 run and 1 RBI. Jeter was 2 for 5 with 1 run and 1 RBI. Matsui went 2 for 5 with a run and 2 RBI. Posada was 3 for 5 with a run. Mientkiewicz was 2 for 3 with a run and a walk. Giambi (0 for 3, 1 BB) and Cabrera (0 for 4) went hitless.

Tonight at 7 Eastern, we'll get Adam Loewen of the Orioles against Moose.

From the official site:

The official site reports:


The article also notes that Ron Villone has signed a minor league deal and will report to AAA.

Today's scheduled contest between the Yankees and Devil Rays was postponed due to rain. No make-up date has been announced. There are no mutual off-days at either end of a series at the Stadium between the two, so it will most likely be made up as part of a doubleheader. Andy Pettite's return to pinstripes has been pushed back one day and he will face Jae Seo tomorrow night.

I'll take it. I was at work today and would have missed most of the game. :)

From the New York Daily News:


Via Steve.

Peter Abraham has audio from Bobby Murcer on opening day.

Hmm, where exactly do I start here? There were quite a few memorable moments on this Opening Day in the Bronx. Cory Lidle's family was honored at the Stadium as Cory's son Christopher threw out the first pitch after a ceremony held in memory of the late Yankee pitcher. Bobby Murcer made a surprising appearance in the broadcast booth and earned a standing ovation and chants of "Bobby Murcer!" from the crowd. And of course, there was the actual game.

Things started off quite nicely for the Yankees. The Yankees jumped ahead 2-0 in the 1st with a base hit by Jason Giambi that scored Damon and Abreu. A home run by Posada in the 4th put the Bombers up 3-1 before things started to get a bit ugly. Elijah Dukes led off the top of the 5th with a solo home run. Carl Crawford brought in B.J. Upton with a game-tying single. A throwing error by Jason Phelps allowed Crawford to advance to second, who would eventually score the go-ahead run on a base hit. Delmon Young singled to left with two outs, scoring Rocco Baldelli and giving Tampa Bay a 5-3 lead.

Pavano lasted 4 and 1/3 in his first game back since June of 2005, turning in a miserable/candid/kind of okay/who knows how to describe it kind of performance. He got out of a few jams in the early innings but showed signs of fatigue in the 5th, where he allowed 3 of his 6 hits and all 4 of his earned runs. For the most part I guess he was not bad considering he hasn't pitched in 22 months at the Major League level, but he'll have to go deeper than 73 pitches next time.

The Yankees climbed back into it, however, in the bottom of the 6th. Posada and Cano started the inning with back to back singles. Doug Mientkiewicz (quadruple checked for spelling) entered the game and bunted both runners over. Melky Cabrera (replaced Johnny Damon; some sort of calf injury) was then hit by a pitch, loading the bases for 2006 MVP runner up Derek Jeter. Jeter singled up the middle, scoring both Posada and Cano and tying the game at 5. The Yankees would take the lead for good in the 7th with a base hit by Giambi that scored Alex Rodriguez.

Of course we all can't forget the "Alex Rodriguez" portion of the game. A-Rod heard the boo birds early after failing to snatch a pop up on the foul side of third base. All of that was erased later in the game, starting in the 7th inning. Rodriguez led the inning off with a base hit to left and then came up with a key stolen base that would eventually turn into the winning run. In the 8th inning, he capped off the lineup's 9-run effort with a two-run shot to straight away center. Not that it counts. After all it did come in the 8th inning when the game's already over and the opposing team stops trying.

Enter the Great RIVERA...The Yanks had Mo warming up in the bottom of the 8th when it was still a save situation and I guess decided not to waste him as they brought him in with a 9-5 lead. Rivera turned in just another typical Mariano Rivera performance, striking out all three batters he faced (2 swinging, 1 looking).

And of course, I can't move on without mentioning some projected numbers based on the opening game of the season. A-Rod and Posada are both on pace for 324 hits and 162 home runs. Jason Giambi is on pace for 486 RBI. Mo is projected to fan a whopping 486 batters, and as a team the Yankees stand to score 1,458 runs and finish the season 162-0.

The Yankees and Devil Rays will take a break Tuesday and will resume the series, weather permitting, Wednesday afternoon at 1 ET. Andy Pettite will be making his first start in pinstripes since rejoining the team and will be facing righthander Jae Seo.