Baidu_MLB/MLB_YANKEES HOME OPENER - April 07 2014.mp4

Nor

do

they

take

into

account

how

hard

the

balls

are

hit.

So,

in

terms

of

range

factor

and

range

finder,

trying

to

determine

the

range

of

a

defensive

player

and

how

many

balls

he

gets

to.

There

are

going

to

have

to

be

some

adjustments

to

some

of

these

sabermetrics.

With

regard

to

defensive

metrics.

There's

going

to

be

a

new

normal.

There's

Nelson

Cruz.

strike.

And shortly thereafter, he became the captain of the Yankees. Five championships later, hoping to go out with number six, Derek Jeter is in his final season of professional baseball. So that's the Jeter aspect of this. Now, Hiroki Kuroda is going to get the start. He's done this before. David Cone will detail that when we get back right here on YES. The start today, David, in the home opener as well. He's not a stranger to that. He's not. This was 2012 opening up for the Yankees, and he was dynamite that day. Six strikeouts. He was throwing the ball everywhere he wanted to. He ended up with eight innings of shutout baseball that particular day. He's had some big moments here at Yankee Stadium as well. He's not a road warrior, that's for sure. He loves home cooking. Check these numbers out in the Bronx. 18-9, 2.57 ERA in a hitter's ballpark. 170 strikeouts, walked just 47 in 200 and one-third innings. So pretty good for Hiroki Kuroda here at Yankee Stadium. It's almost time for first pitch. Lineups. First pitch baseball. The Yankees opened the season on the road with six games. They lost two out of three to the Astros in the first series of the year. And then they took two out of three. From the Toronto Blue Jays this weekend. No off days. 13 straight days in a row coming out of the gate from spring training. This is the beginning of a three-series homestand. You've got three against the Orioles. Four against the Red Sox. And then two against the Chicago Cubs. An opening day at home is always special. There's something extra special this year because this is Jeter's final opening day. It is Jeter's final opening day. It's more about missing last year's opening day, and that's what he's talked about more. He's always going to deflect. As you know, with Derek. He's not going to like all the attention on himself. His comment was: I missed last opening day. That's what this one's about. This is the last time you're going to see that guy on an opening day at Yankee Stadium. Now it's going to be a very special first pitch ceremony because the Yankees have reunited the core four. You know who those four people are: Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada, Andy Pettitte, and Derek Jeter. Before the game, Derek said: I can't remember the last time we were all together on a field at the same time. I've seen all of them recently, but we haven't been together. Let's go now to the public address announcer at Yankee Stadium. Paul. The Yankees are excited to have two very special ceremonial first pitches. Throwing out one pitch is the man who is the Yankees' all-time strikeout leader and ranks third on the Yankees' all-time wins list. Throwing out the other pitch is the man who pitched in more games in Yankees history than anyone else and is Major League Baseball's all-time saves leader. No two pitchers combined for a win and a save in the same game more than the 72 times these two Yankees did. And later tonight, They will be honored together at the New York Yankees homecoming dinner with the 2014 Pride of the Yankees Award. Ladies and gentlemen, Please welcome back number 46, Andy Pettitte. And number 42, Mariano Rivera. Championships they won together in pinstripes. Two of the core four have a little snow on the roof, And one of the core four doesn't have any snow on the roof, And then there's Derek Jeter, But it's good to see the four of them together. It was special, And that was a little dangerous because Pettitte cut it from the left side and Mariano cut it from the right, it could have gotten dangerous there for the catchers. That's the way to start breaking it down, David. It's so weird seeing them throw out the first pitch; both could clearly still pitch in the big leagues. Andy Pettitte's final game was last year in Houston. It was a complete game victory, And Mariano Rivera had one of his better seasons last year as well, But they decided that it was time to go. That's what Derek Jeter decided as well on February 12th, And one of the most asked questions is, Kenny, at least I've been asked this a lot, David Lough, the left fielder, will lead off, batting second and playing right field. Nick Markakis. Adam Jones in center field will bat third. Cleaning up, the first baseman, Chris Davis. Matt Wieters will catch. He'll bat fifth. Nelson Cruz, the DH, will hit sixth. Batting seventh, the second baseman, Steve Lombardozzi. The shortstop is Ryan Flaherty, hitting eighth. Jonathan Schoop is the third baseman, and he is going to bat ninth. And for the home opener, it's going to be Hiroki Kuroda getting the start for the New York Yankees. He's two and three in his career against the Baltimore Orioles. And he's made one start that came in Houston. He actually pitched very well against the Astros. Not much in the way of run support. And he came away with the loss. Opponents hitting just .143 against him. Let's check out our pitcher's scouting report. I mentioned run support. Hiroki Kuroda got tagged with a loss. He only allowed two runs in six innings at Houston. It was the 29th loss of his career in which he allowed three or fewer runs. It's the most since 2008 of any pitcher in the big leagues. The good old days. Last year he pitched very well in day games. He's done that. The Yankees. Here at Yankee Stadium 18 days starts. He is 10 and 3. And last year he had nine starts during the course of the season in which he did not give up a run. And that was the most in the American League. Let's check out the defense behind Kuroda. The Yankees have Brett Gardner in left. Jacoby Ellsbury is in center and Carlos Beltran in right. In the infield, It's Yangervis Solarte at third. Derek Jeter at short. Brian Roberts at second. Kelly Johnson, the first baseman. Brian McCann is behind the plate. Hiroki Kuroda is on the mound. In the middle of a tough stretch to start the season for the Yankees, As we mentioned. 13 straight games out of the gate. Usually you have an off day after every opener that you play in, but both of the first two series were played in dome stadiums. You didn't have to back up for a rainout. And the schedule makers didn't do that here at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees play again tomorrow afternoon against the Orioles. So their first day off will be Monday, a week from today. There's Carlos Beltran, his first game in pinstripes. Same thing with Jacoby Ellsbury and Brian Roberts as well. Kelly Johnson, Solarte, and behind the plate, Brian McCann. So a lot of new Yankees. Lowe is ready. Kuroda is ready. Let's do it here in the Bronx. The first pitch is low and we are underway. Jim Jimmins is the home plate umpire who called balls and strikes. This is one of the Orioles' new players, David Lowe. Prior to the trade with Kansas City. The Orioles said that Danny Valencia. The right-handed hitter to the Royals. But Buck Showalter said that they really like. They would like him to kind of establish himself as a permanent leadoff guy at the top of this Oriole lineup. The 1-1 pitch. Well, There were years when the Orioles didn't have to worry about that leadoff spot. But that premier leadoff man is now playing second base for the Yankees. Brian Roberts. Lowe, as you might expect, has pretty good speed. He's a good defender out in the outfield. He had a pretty good year for Kansas City. In 96 games, he had a .286 average. Derek Jeter gets The preacher chant. Signals to the crowd. And they cheer again. 1-2. Swung on and missed. Low, down on strikes. Obviously overcast. The lights are on. 51 degrees. 41% humidity. Not much wind. But there's a chance of late showers. Maybe about 4 o'clock. So hopefully the game will be over by then. We'll see if it holds up. The rest of the week is supposed to be beautiful. Here's Nick Markakis. Orioles coming at two and four. And yesterday. They won a game to snap a four game losing streak. It was their number one starter Chris Tillman who beat Justin Verlander in Detroit. Good matchup. Tillman's really establishing himself as the leader of that Oriole staff. Coming off a good year last year as well. Right in on the hands, down the right-field line. It's a base hit. It goes to the wall. Beltran fields it. And moving to second with a double is Nick Markakis. You might notice when I gave you the Oriole lineup. The absence of J.J. Hardy. Hardy is not on the DL. But he has been experiencing back spasms. in his lower back. The cold weather is not helping matters. So he is not playing today. And the Orioles move Ryan Flaherty over to the shortstop position, which has been well manned by Hardy over the last few years. And a strike. Adam Jones: last year, 33 home runs, 108 runs batted in. The premier center fielder, one of the key players in the Oriole lineup. Both of those totals that Michael mentioned are career highs for Davis. I should say Jones. Got one batter ahead of us. Michael mentioned that Adam Jones is one of the better outfielders in the league. In fact he had more home runs and more runs batted in. McCann and Kuroda are having trouble coming to an agreement. Remember, there's a man on second base and they changed the signs. You know, we saw this a little bit with Sabathia in his most recent start, and this is good. Kuroda, as a veteran, has a very clear idea of how he wants to go about it, and McCann is obviously a veteran catcher as well. McCann is really noted for his signal-calling in Atlanta, one of the best around. He really knows how to set up hitters and frames exceptionally well. Defensively, he's one of the better catchers around, but people more and more note him for his offense. One-one. Foul back. Well, since 2008, according to Baseball Prospectus, Brian McCann is the best pitch framer in baseball. Followed by Jose Molina, Jonathan Lucroy, Russell Martin and Ryan Hanigan. You should explain what a pitch framer is. It's a catcher who really receives the ball quietly. Not too much body movement. And it gives the umpire a really good look. And you can steal some strikes on close pitches. One-two. Fly ball to center field. Ellsbury will make the play. For the second half. That'll bring up Chris Davis. He had a club record 53 home runs. He broke Brady Anderson's record from 1996 — Brady had 50; Davis hit 53. He's got power to all fields. This is one of the strongest hitters in the league. And he finished third in the MVP balloting last year. Behind Miguel Cabrera and Mike Trout. Now the power numbers went down in the second half of the year. Many theorized he was tired. The league started to pitch him tougher. We'll see if he picks it up. But Buck Showalter said you can't expect him to hit fifty-three again. So if he hits thirty-seven home runs this year, you're going to... Some say he had a bad year. He said that's not fair; thirty-seven is an outstanding year. Well, he led the league in runs batted in with one hundred thirty-eight. If he can lead the league in runs batted in, you can drive in runs with singles and doubles as well. That last pitch was a good splitter. Davis is a good low-fastball hitter; Corona went lower-than-low and got him to chase it. He'll want him more. Really, what it comes down to, Kenny, and you know he's a great hitter. From a pitcher's standpoint, you're trying to promote. Bad contact off the end of the bat, and from a hitter's standpoint... Especially with Davis, it's just getting good balls to hit and laying off those splitters down and out. You mentioned bad contact — that's what happened to Adam Jones on the previous out: a fly ball to center, but it was off the end of the bat; he couldn't drive it. You know, I mentioned run support. In my scouting report on Corona and Davis, I will tell you — I think you will agree — as a pitcher, sometimes it's not how you pitch. It's when you pitch. And Kuroda's pitched very well over the years for the Yankees. But there are days where the team just has to score that many runs. He's one of the pitchers in the league who gets the lowest amount of run support. 2-1. Rounded to first. Kelly Johnson is there. He beats Davis to the bag, and that'll do it here in the first. No runs, no hits, no errors. And one man left. Orioles, nothing. And the Yankees are coming to bat. Score on the top of the first. Now it's the Yankees' turn against Ubaldo Jimenez. Brett Gardner in left field will lead off, the captain, The shortstop, Derek Jeter, bats second. Batting third, Playing center is Jacoby Ellsbury. Carlos Beltran is in right field. He'll clean up, batting fifth. Catcher Brian McCann. Alfonso Soriano, the DH, will bat sixth. Batting seventh, playing second base, Brian Roberts. Kelly Johnson, the first baseman, hits eighth. Batting ninth, playing third base, Jan Hervis. On the mound for Baltimore. Former Cleveland Indian right-hander. He's 30 years old and took a loss against the Boston Red Sox in his opening start of the year. That was down at the Camden Yards in Baltimore. He's got pretty good stuff. You look at his numbers. A late addition. The Orioles signed him just before the beginning of spring training along with the DH and left fielder Nelson Cruz. He is a man of steel. S-T-E-A-L. The last four years, he's given up the third-most steals in baseball. A.J. Burnett is one of the two pitchers ahead of him, at 213, the strong second half, 13 straight starts to end the season of three runs or fewer, and that made him a very attractive free agent, and the Orioles signed him. Let's check out the defense behind Ubaldo Jimenez. We've got Moe in left, Jones in center. Marqueque is over right infield. It's Schoop. Flaherty, Lombardozzi and Davis, third to first. Leaders behind the plate and the men as is on the mound. All right. So here's Brett Gardner. Brett. The only home run for the Yankees on their six-game road trip. Shows but takes a strike. I mentioned the man of steel because the Yankees have been stealing bases. Maybe one home run but eight stolen bases without being caught in those six games. Ground ball to the first. Davis to the bag, one away, and that'll bring up Derek Jeter. Starting for the Yankees. Number two, Derek. Jeter. Home crowd. Rising to their feet for Jeter's initial bat of the season. Definitely could have had that go longer if he stepped out, but he could see he just wanted to start playing baseball. He got in the box with the crowd. He was standing and cheering. They wanted Jimenez to throw the pitch. The last time I heard a chant like that during a game was Paul O'Neill's big serenade back in the playoffs in his last game here. That was 2001. I was at Game 5 of the World Series against the Diamondbacks. Derek was asked about a comment Joe Torre once made — that Derek doesn't make the moment too big, that he doesn't get too excited. Derek said, Well, I'm like everybody else. He said, I get excited. He said, I just don't let you see. But inside I have butterflies in big moments. He gets Jeter down on strikes. One thing you'll notice about Jimenez is... From the windup, he's got a very funky delivery. His motion is all arms and legs. He's tall enough to begin with and has a good fastball to the outside corner there. Strikeout of Derek Jeter. Watch the motion. Arms, legs, everything moving. You've got to find a ball there somewhere. He kind of wraps that arm around the back of his backside there, you know, and really that's when he turned it around last year, Kenny. They were trying to change his mechanics, change his arm swing, and they said... They said, "What the heck, go back to your old way?" And that's when he started letting it go again and got some velocity back. This is what I got. This is my style and I'm going to go with it. He did help Cleveland get to the playoffs. He went 4-0 in September. With a 1.09 ERA, that made him American League Pitcher of the Month. That's strange. Ellsbury was one of the big free-agent signings by the Yankees. But he's been able to fly under the radar because it's all been about Derek Jeter's final season and the arrival of Tanaka. So he's getting... Almost an easy slide into the Yankee situation. Ellsbury kind of came alive in the series in Toronto; he had seven hits. Those were against the Blue Jays. Primarily a leadoff hitter, he led all leadoff hitters in hits last year. So, Brian McCann. Will be batting fifth today. It will be interesting to see how Ellsbury's power translates into Yankee Stadium as opposed to Fenway. Certainly, a few years ago he had 30-plus home runs in an MVP-caliber year, and then I think just 11 last year; somewhere in the middle you can expect a power boost from Ellsbury, especially at home. That one is a fly ball to left field, and that'll do it as the Yankees go down in order. One, two, three. We're going to the second here at the stadium. Yankees nothing, Orioles nothing. It will be difficult to keep four players on one team. Four great players on one team. Andy Pettitte did have three years when he went to the Astros. That was because he wanted to go home. But he did end up coming back. But the ability to keep stars on one team. four guys. I don't know if you can afford that anymore. David. It is rare. Even seeing one player like Jeter, a la George Brett, Cal Ripken, play his entire career. especially a career that spans 20 years in one spot. That's not going to be a rarity, much less four guys. Four guys. Now the leadoff hitter will lead off and the Yankees will go into their shift as Solarte. Solarte moves over to the right side. Derek Jeter. He moves about 25 feet. from third base. The Yankees did a lot of shifting in the first six games. Wieters has hit well here at Yankee Stadium over the years; he comes in pretty hard. He's got a six-game hitting streak and his batting average is .368. At least for the first week he's gotten off to a decent start. Well, one thing all of these dramatic shifts are going to do is give you a good look at fielders here. All the defensive metrics out there, Kenny, Sabermetrics are really going to be thrown off because many of these metrics do not take into account defensive placement. High fly ball to left field. Gardner. Makes the play.

MLB_YANKEES HOME OPENER - April 07 2014


quickly

as

you

could

gain

his

trust,

he

could

also

pull

back

a

little.

And

I

think

we

saw

that

with

Betances,

who

was

electric

the

time

he

pitched

in

Houston.

And

when

he

came

in

Toronto

and

could

not

throw

strikes,

we

saw

that.

I

haven't

seen

him

since.

He

didn't

get

that

much

leash

either.

They

took

him

out

of

the

game

right

away

and

brought

in

David

Robertson

to

close

it

out.

Two-two.

Still

two

and

two.

And shortly thereafter, he became the captain of the Yankees. Five championships later, hoping to go out with number six, Derek Jeter is in his final season of professional baseball. So that's the Jeter aspect of this. Now, Hiroki Kuroda is going to get the start. He's done this before. David Cone will detail that when we get back right here on YES. The start today, David, in the home opener as well. He's not a stranger to that. He's not. This was 2012 opening up for the Yankees, and he was dynamite that day. Six strikeouts. He was throwing the ball everywhere he wanted to. He ended up with eight innings of shutout baseball that particular day. He's had some big moments here at Yankee Stadium as well. He's not a road warrior, that's for sure. He loves home cooking. Check these numbers out in the Bronx. 18-9, 2.57 ERA in a hitter's ballpark. 170 strikeouts, walked just 47 in 200 and one-third innings. So pretty good for Hiroki Kuroda here at Yankee Stadium. It's almost time for first pitch. Lineups. First pitch baseball. The Yankees opened the season on the road with six games. They lost two out of three to the Astros in the first series of the year. And then they took two out of three. From the Toronto Blue Jays this weekend. No off days. 13 straight days in a row coming out of the gate from spring training. This is the beginning of a three-series homestand. You've got three against the Orioles. Four against the Red Sox. And then two against the Chicago Cubs. An opening day at home is always special. There's something extra special this year because this is Jeter's final opening day. It is Jeter's final opening day. It's more about missing last year's opening day, and that's what he's talked about more. He's always going to deflect. As you know, with Derek. He's not going to like all the attention on himself. His comment was: I missed last opening day. That's what this one's about. This is the last time you're going to see that guy on an opening day at Yankee Stadium. Now it's going to be a very special first pitch ceremony because the Yankees have reunited the core four. You know who those four people are: Mariano Rivera, Jorge Posada, Andy Pettitte, and Derek Jeter. Before the game, Derek said: I can't remember the last time we were all together on a field at the same time. I've seen all of them recently, but we haven't been together. Let's go now to the public address announcer at Yankee Stadium. Paul. The Yankees are excited to have two very special ceremonial first pitches. Throwing out one pitch is the man who is the Yankees' all-time strikeout leader and ranks third on the Yankees' all-time wins list. Throwing out the other pitch is the man who pitched in more games in Yankees history than anyone else and is Major League Baseball's all-time saves leader. No two pitchers combined for a win and a save in the same game more than the 72 times these two Yankees did. And later tonight, They will be honored together at the New York Yankees homecoming dinner with the 2014 Pride of the Yankees Award. Ladies and gentlemen, Please welcome back number 46, Andy Pettitte. And number 42, Mariano Rivera. Championships they won together in pinstripes. Two of the core four have a little snow on the roof, And one of the core four doesn't have any snow on the roof, And then there's Derek Jeter, But it's good to see the four of them together. It was special, And that was a little dangerous because Pettitte cut it from the left side and Mariano cut it from the right, it could have gotten dangerous there for the catchers. That's the way to start breaking it down, David. It's so weird seeing them throw out the first pitch; both could clearly still pitch in the big leagues. Andy Pettitte's final game was last year in Houston. It was a complete game victory, And Mariano Rivera had one of his better seasons last year as well, But they decided that it was time to go. That's what Derek Jeter decided as well on February 12th, And one of the most asked questions is, Kenny, at least I've been asked this a lot, David Lough, the left fielder, will lead off, batting second and playing right field. Nick Markakis. Adam Jones in center field will bat third. Cleaning up, the first baseman, Chris Davis. Matt Wieters will catch. He'll bat fifth. Nelson Cruz, the DH, will hit sixth. Batting seventh, the second baseman, Steve Lombardozzi. The shortstop is Ryan Flaherty, hitting eighth. Jonathan Schoop is the third baseman, and he is going to bat ninth. And for the home opener, it's going to be Hiroki Kuroda getting the start for the New York Yankees. He's two and three in his career against the Baltimore Orioles. And he's made one start that came in Houston. He actually pitched very well against the Astros. Not much in the way of run support. And he came away with the loss. Opponents hitting just .143 against him. Let's check out our pitcher's scouting report. I mentioned run support. Hiroki Kuroda got tagged with a loss. He only allowed two runs in six innings at Houston. It was the 29th loss of his career in which he allowed three or fewer runs. It's the most since 2008 of any pitcher in the big leagues. The good old days. Last year he pitched very well in day games. He's done that. The Yankees. Here at Yankee Stadium 18 days starts. He is 10 and 3. And last year he had nine starts during the course of the season in which he did not give up a run. And that was the most in the American League. Let's check out the defense behind Kuroda. The Yankees have Brett Gardner in left. Jacoby Ellsbury is in center and Carlos Beltran in right. In the infield, It's Yangervis Solarte at third. Derek Jeter at short. Brian Roberts at second. Kelly Johnson, the first baseman. Brian McCann is behind the plate. Hiroki Kuroda is on the mound. In the middle of a tough stretch to start the season for the Yankees, As we mentioned. 13 straight games out of the gate. Usually you have an off day after every opener that you play in, but both of the first two series were played in dome stadiums. You didn't have to back up for a rainout. And the schedule makers didn't do that here at Yankee Stadium. The Yankees play again tomorrow afternoon against the Orioles. So their first day off will be Monday, a week from today. There's Carlos Beltran, his first game in pinstripes. Same thing with Jacoby Ellsbury and Brian Roberts as well. Kelly Johnson, Solarte, and behind the plate, Brian McCann. So a lot of new Yankees. Lowe is ready. Kuroda is ready. Let's do it here in the Bronx. The first pitch is low and we are underway. Jim Jimmins is the home plate umpire who called balls and strikes. This is one of the Orioles' new players, David Lowe. Prior to the trade with Kansas City. The Orioles said that Danny Valencia. The right-handed hitter to the Royals. But Buck Showalter said that they really like. They would like him to kind of establish himself as a permanent leadoff guy at the top of this Oriole lineup. The 1-1 pitch. Well, There were years when the Orioles didn't have to worry about that leadoff spot. But that premier leadoff man is now playing second base for the Yankees. Brian Roberts. Lowe, as you might expect, has pretty good speed. He's a good defender out in the outfield. He had a pretty good year for Kansas City. In 96 games, he had a .286 average. Derek Jeter gets The preacher chant. Signals to the crowd. And they cheer again. 1-2. Swung on and missed. Low, down on strikes. Obviously overcast. The lights are on. 51 degrees. 41% humidity. Not much wind. But there's a chance of late showers. Maybe about 4 o'clock. So hopefully the game will be over by then. We'll see if it holds up. The rest of the week is supposed to be beautiful. Here's Nick Markakis. Orioles coming at two and four. And yesterday. They won a game to snap a four game losing streak. It was their number one starter Chris Tillman who beat Justin Verlander in Detroit. Good matchup. Tillman's really establishing himself as the leader of that Oriole staff. Coming off a good year last year as well. Right in on the hands, down the right-field line. It's a base hit. It goes to the wall. Beltran fields it. And moving to second with a double is Nick Markakis. You might notice when I gave you the Oriole lineup. The absence of J.J. Hardy. Hardy is not on the DL. But he has been experiencing back spasms. in his lower back. The cold weather is not helping matters. So he is not playing today. And the Orioles move Ryan Flaherty over to the shortstop position, which has been well manned by Hardy over the last few years. And a strike. Adam Jones: last year, 33 home runs, 108 runs batted in. The premier center fielder, one of the key players in the Oriole lineup. Both of those totals that Michael mentioned are career highs for Davis. I should say Jones. Got one batter ahead of us. Michael mentioned that Adam Jones is one of the better outfielders in the league. In fact he had more home runs and more runs batted in. McCann and Kuroda are having trouble coming to an agreement. Remember, there's a man on second base and they changed the signs. You know, we saw this a little bit with Sabathia in his most recent start, and this is good. Kuroda, as a veteran, has a very clear idea of how he wants to go about it, and McCann is obviously a veteran catcher as well. McCann is really noted for his signal-calling in Atlanta, one of the best around. He really knows how to set up hitters and frames exceptionally well. Defensively, he's one of the better catchers around, but people more and more note him for his offense. One-one. Foul back. Well, since 2008, according to Baseball Prospectus, Brian McCann is the best pitch framer in baseball. Followed by Jose Molina, Jonathan Lucroy, Russell Martin and Ryan Hanigan. You should explain what a pitch framer is. It's a catcher who really receives the ball quietly. Not too much body movement. And it gives the umpire a really good look. And you can steal some strikes on close pitches. One-two. Fly ball to center field. Ellsbury will make the play. For the second half. That'll bring up Chris Davis. He had a club record 53 home runs. He broke Brady Anderson's record from 1996 — Brady had 50; Davis hit 53. He's got power to all fields. This is one of the strongest hitters in the league. And he finished third in the MVP balloting last year. Behind Miguel Cabrera and Mike Trout. Now the power numbers went down in the second half of the year. Many theorized he was tired. The league started to pitch him tougher. We'll see if he picks it up. But Buck Showalter said you can't expect him to hit fifty-three again. So if he hits thirty-seven home runs this year, you're going to... Some say he had a bad year. He said that's not fair; thirty-seven is an outstanding year. Well, he led the league in runs batted in with one hundred thirty-eight. If he can lead the league in runs batted in, you can drive in runs with singles and doubles as well. That last pitch was a good splitter. Davis is a good low-fastball hitter; Corona went lower-than-low and got him to chase it. He'll want him more. Really, what it comes down to, Kenny, and you know he's a great hitter. From a pitcher's standpoint, you're trying to promote. Bad contact off the end of the bat, and from a hitter's standpoint... Especially with Davis, it's just getting good balls to hit and laying off those splitters down and out. You mentioned bad contact — that's what happened to Adam Jones on the previous out: a fly ball to center, but it was off the end of the bat; he couldn't drive it. You know, I mentioned run support. In my scouting report on Corona and Davis, I will tell you — I think you will agree — as a pitcher, sometimes it's not how you pitch. It's when you pitch. And Kuroda's pitched very well over the years for the Yankees. But there are days where the team just has to score that many runs. He's one of the pitchers in the league who gets the lowest amount of run support. 2-1. Rounded to first. Kelly Johnson is there. He beats Davis to the bag, and that'll do it here in the first. No runs, no hits, no errors. And one man left. Orioles, nothing. And the Yankees are coming to bat. Score on the top of the first. Now it's the Yankees' turn against Ubaldo Jimenez. Brett Gardner in left field will lead off, the captain, The shortstop, Derek Jeter, bats second. Batting third, Playing center is Jacoby Ellsbury. Carlos Beltran is in right field. He'll clean up, batting fifth. Catcher Brian McCann. Alfonso Soriano, the DH, will bat sixth. Batting seventh, playing second base, Brian Roberts. Kelly Johnson, the first baseman, hits eighth. Batting ninth, playing third base, Jan Hervis. On the mound for Baltimore. Former Cleveland Indian right-hander. He's 30 years old and took a loss against the Boston Red Sox in his opening start of the year. That was down at the Camden Yards in Baltimore. He's got pretty good stuff. You look at his numbers. A late addition. The Orioles signed him just before the beginning of spring training along with the DH and left fielder Nelson Cruz. He is a man of steel. S-T-E-A-L. The last four years, he's given up the third-most steals in baseball. A.J. Burnett is one of the two pitchers ahead of him, at 213, the strong second half, 13 straight starts to end the season of three runs or fewer, and that made him a very attractive free agent, and the Orioles signed him. Let's check out the defense behind Ubaldo Jimenez. We've got Moe in left, Jones in center. Marqueque is over right infield. It's Schoop. Flaherty, Lombardozzi and Davis, third to first. Leaders behind the plate and the men as is on the mound. All right. So here's Brett Gardner. Brett. The only home run for the Yankees on their six-game road trip. Shows but takes a strike. I mentioned the man of steel because the Yankees have been stealing bases. Maybe one home run but eight stolen bases without being caught in those six games. Ground ball to the first. Davis to the bag, one away, and that'll bring up Derek Jeter. Starting for the Yankees. Number two, Derek. Jeter. Home crowd. Rising to their feet for Jeter's initial bat of the season. Definitely could have had that go longer if he stepped out, but he could see he just wanted to start playing baseball. He got in the box with the crowd. He was standing and cheering. They wanted Jimenez to throw the pitch. The last time I heard a chant like that during a game was Paul O'Neill's big serenade back in the playoffs in his last game here. That was 2001. I was at Game 5 of the World Series against the Diamondbacks. Derek was asked about a comment Joe Torre once made — that Derek doesn't make the moment too big, that he doesn't get too excited. Derek said, Well, I'm like everybody else. He said, I get excited. He said, I just don't let you see. But inside I have butterflies in big moments. He gets Jeter down on strikes. One thing you'll notice about Jimenez is... From the windup, he's got a very funky delivery. His motion is all arms and legs. He's tall enough to begin with and has a good fastball to the outside corner there. Strikeout of Derek Jeter. Watch the motion. Arms, legs, everything moving. You've got to find a ball there somewhere. He kind of wraps that arm around the back of his backside there, you know, and really that's when he turned it around last year, Kenny. They were trying to change his mechanics, change his arm swing, and they said... They said, "What the heck, go back to your old way?" And that's when he started letting it go again and got some velocity back. This is what I got. This is my style and I'm going to go with it. He did help Cleveland get to the playoffs. He went 4-0 in September. With a 1.09 ERA, that made him American League Pitcher of the Month. That's strange. Ellsbury was one of the big free-agent signings by the Yankees. But he's been able to fly under the radar because it's all been about Derek Jeter's final season and the arrival of Tanaka. So he's getting... Almost an easy slide into the Yankee situation. Ellsbury kind of came alive in the series in Toronto; he had seven hits. Those were against the Blue Jays. Primarily a leadoff hitter, he led all leadoff hitters in hits last year. So, Brian McCann. Will be batting fifth today. It will be interesting to see how Ellsbury's power translates into Yankee Stadium as opposed to Fenway. Certainly, a few years ago he had 30-plus home runs in an MVP-caliber year, and then I think just 11 last year; somewhere in the middle you can expect a power boost from Ellsbury, especially at home. That one is a fly ball to left field, and that'll do it as the Yankees go down in order. One, two, three. We're going to the second here at the stadium. Yankees nothing, Orioles nothing. It will be difficult to keep four players on one team. Four great players on one team. Andy Pettitte did have three years when he went to the Astros. That was because he wanted to go home. But he did end up coming back. But the ability to keep stars on one team. four guys. I don't know if you can afford that anymore. David. It is rare. Even seeing one player like Jeter, a la George Brett, Cal Ripken, play his entire career. especially a career that spans 20 years in one spot. That's not going to be a rarity, much less four guys. Four guys. Now the leadoff hitter will lead off and the Yankees will go into their shift as Solarte. Solarte moves over to the right side. Derek Jeter. He moves about 25 feet. from third base. The Yankees did a lot of shifting in the first six games. Wieters has hit well here at Yankee Stadium over the years; he comes in pretty hard. He's got a six-game hitting streak and his batting average is .368. At least for the first week he's gotten off to a decent start. Well, one thing all of these dramatic shifts are going to do is give you a good look at fielders here. All the defensive metrics out there, Kenny, Sabermetrics are really going to be thrown off because many of these metrics do not take into account defensive placement. High fly ball to left field. Gardner. Makes the play. Nor do they take into account how hard the balls are hit. So, in terms of range factor and range finder, trying to determine the range of a defensive player and how many balls he gets to. There are going to have to be some adjustments to some of these sabermetrics. With regard to defensive metrics. There's going to be a new normal. There's Nelson Cruz. And a strike. Cruz, a free agent, signed a one-year deal with the O's, again late just like Jimenez. The Orioles just weren't getting any traction in Baltimore during the offseason. And they finished tied with the Yankees last year with 85 wins in the East. They didn't make any additions. They also traded away their closer Jim Johnson. It didn't seem like they wanted to improve. And then they went out and spent a great deal of money on Jimenez. And then Cruz signed. The city got excited again. So did the members of the team. They waited so late. Because the prices of these players came down. Cruz signed a one-year deal and I could see his thinking: he wants to have a good year. He'll hit in a friendly ballpark in Baltimore. He's already hit two home runs there. Maybe get back out on the market again. He was a real find and a perfect fit for the Orioles in the middle of this lineup in that ballpark. I think Jimenez was a little bit of a surprise, a $50 million four-year deal. That was when Ervin Santana was still sitting out there. Rounded up the middle for a base hit. Nelson Cruz with a single. Here's Lombardozzi. Lombardozzi came over to the Orioles just at the tail end of spring training. The deal with the Detroit Tigers addressed needs for both teams; the Orioles were struggling at second base. Alex Gonzalez, the veteran shortstop, was in the Orioles camp. Tigers' Jose Iglesias is injured, maybe out for the whole season. They made a deal. Gonzalez, now playing short for Detroit, has already paid off with a game-winning RBI. Cruz leads off first, held there by Kelly Johnson. And the 2-0 count. Fly ball to right-center. Ellsbury is on the run. He'll make the play. Nelson Cruz forgot how many outs there were. They're going to double him up. And they do. Cruz just took off. Buck Showalter cannot be too pleased. No runs scored. No errors on the play because of the double play. Nobody left on base. There he goes. We're at the bottom of the second. 12. Introduced to the crowd along with the extras today; did not run out to the line, walked out slowly. Brendan Ryan still in Tampa with a cervical spine nerve injury. Still not doing baseball activities. He's a ways away from coming back to the Yankees. Well, there's Buck Showalter; he's probably wondering what happened there. You know this. He's talking to Delmon Young; there was one out. Buck's really famous for that throughout the game. He'll storm up and down the dugout and he'll challenge guys to make sure they're into the game. He'll talk strategy, as he's doing right there with Delmon Young. He likes to keep everybody involved throughout the course of the game, including those on the bench. You've got to be ready. Count two and one on Beltran. I'm sure this is the day that Beltran's dreamed about for a while. He's wanted to be a Yankee for a long, long time. When he became a free agent that first time, he ended up signing with the Mets. The night before, his agent came to the Yankees and said, Carlos would go to the Yankees for less money than he was taking from the Mets. And the Yankees just didn't have a fit that year, So he ended up signing with the Mets and had a nice run there. And this time, the stars aligned, and the Yankees signed him to a free agent deal. And he ends up walking. He's been a good player for a very long time. I remember his rookie season in 1999 with the Kansas City Royals; he was the American League Rookie of the Year. Yeah, if you think about it, the Royals had a great outfield back then. Think about Beltran in center, Johnny Damon, and Jermaine Dye. All three outfielders were traded at some point. That was kind of the downfall of the Royals back then: when they traded each of those outfielders, look at who they got back in those trades. Kind of the difference between them and the Rays and what they've done. Brian McCann pops it up and Wieters makes the play. You see one thing about these shifts with the left-handed hitters at the plate. Now remember, either the third baseman or the shortstop is going to be playing at the shortstop position. It's going to place more pressure on the catchers on foul balls over toward the third-base dugout. Because it's a long run for either the shortstop or the third baseman to come this far to make the play. It's difficult for the catchers to make that play to begin with. And you might see that during the course of the year. A ball or two might fall in. It should have been caught with normal defense. Here's Alfonso Soriano, who has struggled. On the opening road trip. Just one hit. Just a bloop single. So he's still trying to find it up at the plate. He says he's not worried. Well, one thing Alfonso has been doing. He's been chasing pitches out of the zone. Especially with two strikes. He gets beat by two inches. Chasing that slider down and away. You have to lay off those pitches. Fight your way back into counts. Then you get better pitches to hit. Right now he's got a good hitter's count, two balls. No, it hasn't been that way for the first week. It's always been one-and-two, oh-and-two. Soriano is traditionally a slow starter, and especially this year he came into camp with the flu right out of the gate in spring training, which took him a long time. But he's the type of guy, as we saw last year. What do you do, driving 50 runs in 58 games with the Yankees? He was lightning in a bottle for the Yankees after the trade. Three infielders on the left side for Soriano. Count three and 0, taking. Count three and one. Combined with the Yankees and the Cubs last year, 34 home runs, 101 runs batted in. And he walks. So, first and second, One man up. And that's going to bring up Brian Roberts. This is probably a little odd and strange for Brian Roberts. who came up through the Oriole organization. Really well-liked Oriole player for the longest time, but left as a free agent. Yeah, it's interesting. I saw him before the game and he's standing in the Yankee dugout. Oh, a whole different perspective. On this side of the field. Note the high on-base percentage and the low average; Brian Roberts can really eyeball some walks as well. Very disciplined. Roberts' last four years with the Orioles were marred by injuries; he could not stay on the field. Sometimes he couldn't even get on the field. And when his four-year deal was up — a big-money deal, $10 million a year — the Orioles weren't going to offer him that kind of money. Neither did the Yankees. And he wasn't sure if the Orioles really wanted him back. They didn't make that big push when the Yankees came forward. When the Yankees came forward, he said, "Let me sign there" — he spent 13 years at Baltimore and was a two-time All-Star. He is one of just five players in Major League history with three seasons of 50 or more doubles. From my standpoint, from what I understand, they didn't even make him an offer during the winter, so they kind of told him that. You know, he considered taking his services somewhere else. Swings and misses — down on strikes. Well, Jimenez really reared back on that one — ninety-five miles an hour, right by Roberts. Here's a guy who, one year, won 19 games for the Colorado Rockies. That's not easy to do — pitching at altitude. You can see that pitch was almost right down the chute. But he had so much on it that Roberts couldn't catch up with it; this inning is kind of a microcosm of a little bit of everything. He's walked two guys and struck one out. He can be all over the place. Here's Kelly Johnson. Yankees think his swing translates to this ballpark. And they can see some power from him, as he takes a strike. He has transitioned over to first base. Coming into the season he had played four games there in his career, but the Yankees really don't have a backup first baseman to share, so Johnson is doing the honors. So far he's done a good job over there. He can move very well. He's a rangy player, so I think his skills will translate well over to first base. One and two. Sort of eerily similar to last year with Lyle Overbay at first base while injured players were out. No real right-handed bat complement yet. As the Yankees found out last year, that was probably a real weak spot for them, even though Lyle Overbay did a great job; he kind of got exposed against left-handed pitching. Overbay, a born and accomplished first baseman. That's been his position. Swing and a miss. The Yankees strand two. We're going to the third. On the Audi A3 scoreboard as we go to the top of the third inning at the stadium. It's nothing-nothing. The Yankees and the Orioles, first game of the three-game set. The first of 81 home games in the regular season for the New York Yankees here in the Bronx. Ubaldo Jimenez worked into and out of trouble with two walks and two strikeouts, and now Hiroki Kuroda is back on the mound to face eight, nine and one in the Oriole order, starting with Ryan Flaherty. The shift is on: three infielders on the right side. 1-1 count on Ryan Flaherty. And the pitch is fouled back. One-two. Swung on and missed. Flaherty down on strikes. Here's Jonathan Schoop. That one is fouled down the third-base line. 53. Here's David Lowe, as Corona struck out two. He got wood on the ball. A lot of general managers pay a lot of money for hitters who can stay up there a long time and run a pitcher's game. It was no joke. He's pitching for Pittsburgh. I think he's with the Dodgers now. Yeah. Ground ball to first. Billy it is 20. So Lourdes walks and here is Brett Gardner. He takes the ball high. Everything's high to this guy. Look at this thing about Gardner: his neck starts at the top of his head. His ears just interrupt his neck. My kind of player. Line drive base hit. There's Salati on his way to third. No throw. 62. Here's a guy who plays your position. Gary G. I'm not familiar with him. You see a new kid. First and third. Nobody out. Yankees threatening here in the bottom of the third inning. The whole gang along with Billy Crystal in the booth here on YES. A home opener in Yankee Stadium. Peter said what made this special, in addition to it being his final home opener, is that he didn't get to play in last year's home opener. Here he is with a chance of driving the first run at home this season. Did you see Yogi over in the owner's box; he's here today. Yogi's here today. That's fantastic. Back to Jimenez. There's one. There's two and a run scored. So Solarte crosses with the first run. No RBI for Jeter. And the Yankees lead 1-0. Ball stroked well, But right back at Jimenez, who gets the glove up in time. He took one brief look at Solarte. He didn't decide, I'll go for two. In a way he's trusting his teammates to score him some runs. He knew he was going to give up a run here. Watch the pressure that Gardner puts on Flaherty. At second base he goes in there very hard. Flaherty flipped. But he got the throw off in time. Because he watched that on YES. Clean play. Good. Hard slide. There's Ellsbury. Here's Carlos Beltran. 38. 14. Derek Jeter went one for three with a run scored in his first home opener in 1996. Who drove him in? You didn't start that game. David. That was Andy Pettitte in the snow. Never forget that opening day. The pictures of Pettitte with snowflakes almost in his eyes. Lincoln scoreboard one nothing Yankees over the O's. Nick Markakis takes outside. They called that a strike, 0-1. Kuroda pitched one of the best games of the year. Right here at Yankee Stadium, it was against the Orioles on April 14 of last year: nine innings, five hits. A complete-game shutout. He didn't walk anybody. The Yankees won 3-0; it was an excellent performance. Ground ball to Jeter. We're gonna spin the time machine, David, bring you back to 1996 — a snowy April day. Across the street, that scene right there, unbelievable. You huddled on the bench or did you go back to the clubhouse? He had the parka on, that's for sure. We didn't know what a "polar vortex" was back then. But it was certainly something like that going on back in '96. Now Adam Jones, against Hiroki Kuroda, with a 1-0 lead. The Yankees got their run because, right in the middle of it, starting the inning with a walk was Solarte, who is certainly not disappointed as he has moved into the starting lineup. He's done everything you could possibly want. 20. And later in the game we'll see the first fan photo. So Adam Jones held there by Kelly Johnson. Tomorrow is an afternoon game as well. Here at Yankee Stadium, a 1:05 start. And the Orioles right now are in the midst of five straight day games. And they have not done that since April of 1994. They get in more of a routine with the night schedule when that starts to break in, but in April. You'd rather be playing in the daytime. It's more what you're used to doing in spring training. Lindsey Barrow is Yogi Berra's granddaughter and she tweeted. This is a picture of Yogi on his way to the ballpark today. It's so great to see him here at the park. And she had told me that he really wanted to come. And if the weather cooperated, They were going to make sure he got here. And he is here enjoying the game. And we thank Lindsey Barrow for tweeting that out, the guy she calls 'Gramps'. Rumor has it he's still coming up with the Yogi-isms even as we speak. I'm sure he's probably got a line of the day. Kuroda gave up two runs in six innings. That was in his start on the road. I was in Houston for the game the Yankees lost. 23. 3-0. See Corotta being very careful with Davis here. Even on the 3-0 pitch, making sure he's going for the corners. Yankees still employing that extreme shift even with Davis, even with Adam Jones on first. So ground ball to Solarte, the third baseman playing second base right there. It's going to be tough for Derek to get over and cover. Orioles are a very powerful team. They're the only team in the major leagues last year that hit over 200 home runs. They hit 212, to be exact. And Davis was their leader. 53 of them. Let's see if they send Adam Jones on a 3-2 pitch with one out. They do not. Fly ball to left field. Toward the line is Gardner. He leaps and he makes the play. Tagging Adam Jones. And he'll make it to second. That's some play by Brett Gardner. He actually caught it in foul territory. And there is not much room over there for an outfielder to make any sort of play. That's the leap. As Michael called it, up against the wall. Amazing things are happening here. And here's a throw to second. Adam Jones at first was kind of heads-up; he followed it all the way, tagged up and was able to go to second. But a great play by Gardner in the corner. Good concentration. The leap. Takes it away from that fan and gets it back in. Yeah, a little Steve Bartman-like action down the left field line there. As the fan tried to reach over, he probably would have been ejected had he touched that ball, because it was over the fence and in the field of play. There's Matt Wieters. That was subject to an interference call or maybe even a replay. For Steve Bartman, the Chicago Cubs fan that reached over in the playoffs. Everybody still kind of talks about it; it haunts the Cubs from moving further into the postseason. It's 1-0. Up the middle, base hit. Adam Jones will round third and he will score. It's an RBI single for Wieters. And the heads-up tag by Jones pays off as the Orioles have tied the game at one. We told you Wieters has been a hot hitter in the early going this year. His average was at .368 coming into the game. It jumps up a bit now that he's one for two. Now let's see where the pitch is. It's supposed to be away and it's sort of in the middle of the plate. He just drops the head on it. Line drive, center field, base hit. You don't have to miss by much when the hitter is really swinging the bat well. If you catch too much of the plate he usually gets good wood on it. As Michael said, Jones tagging up and moving to second on that catch by Brett Gardner pays off as the score is now tied on the Wieters base hit. Now, on an off-speed pitch, staying back, Wieters hits it back up the middle. Clearly locked in right now. Count 1-0. We told you Tim Timmons is behind the plate. The first base umpire is Todd Kitchener. Tim Welke is at second and Will Little is at third. Tim Timmons is calling strikes back there today, Kenny. So you better be ready to swing the bat on both sides. So you've seen anything close. Anything close. Certainly not afraid to raise that right hand. As you watch Corona work here. When he gets two strikes on the hitter he does have a good splitter. It's not as explosive as Masahiro Tanaka's but it's still a pretty good one. There it was right there. Didn't quite get it close enough to the strike zone to get Cruz to chase it. Good pick by McCann. Top of the fourth inning, 1-1. Corotta is pretty much a three-pitch pitcher. Fastball, slider. And a split. About 50% fastballs and equal splits between his slider and splitter. The count is full. Kelly Johnson will back up. Good take there. Cruz, As you see, This is a really good slider, just off. A lot of less disciplined hitters would have chased that. The runner goes. 3-2 is grounded to short. Jeter to first, And that'll do it. But the Orioles tie the score. One run on two hits with one left on base. We go to the bottom of the fourth inning. 1-1. Derek Jeter went one for three with a run scored in his first home opener in '96. Who drove him in? I'm going to say Mariano Duncan. On Lincoln's scoreboard, It's a 1-1 game. Look at him. He's calling it. Here's Flaherty in the background. The only other fielder who had a chance. And you're right, Kenny, with those shifts. You're going to see those plays a lot. 60. He avoided the shift, so that's his first solid hit of the season. The other hit, which was in Toronto, was a blooper to right field. That was well struck. Yeah, it's a confidence builder. When you haven't been hitting well and suddenly you can see it up there. Lombardozzi. His ball was hit so hard he didn't have a chance to come up with it. A little bit of an overshift on Baltimore's part. But either way, that's a knock. Hit well up the middle. That'll bring a smile to your face. Brian Roberts takes a strike. At one time, Soriano was a big stolen-base threat. He had a 40-40 season in Washington. Then three other 30-30 seasons. And now, while he doesn't steal as many bases, he's still capable. He's still capable of stealing with a pretty decent success rate in tight ballgames. As you mentioned in the pregame. Jimenez is fairly easy to steal off of as well. You can see the long, extended delivery even from the stretch. That's why he's the man of steel. A.J. Burnett and Tommy Hanson are the only two pitchers who allowed more steals since 2008. 51. He's got a great catcher behind the plate. Weeders who can't make up the time. But you see that in how he drops his hand way back. Once you see that first bit of movement. You have to take off. Kenny's talking about the arm swing; his arm action swings all the way behind him with a long stride. That's his style. He's always throwing the ball that way. A lot of old-time scouts thought that would lead to arm trouble or that it has led to arm trouble for him. But that's the way he learned how to throw the ball and that's the way he probably should stay. He has had success going back to his old way. I've read a lot of theories on that. David, Where, You know, A team wants to change the way you pitch in order to put you in a better position to stay healthy. But now there are some teams that go, Listen, If we get six or seven years of what this guy does, You just take that and if he gets hurt, He gets hurt. That's exactly right. You see the wrap behind his back. Most pitchers, You know, Have a circle and a reach, Sort of an arc to their arm swing, And that's kind of a wrap behind him and a stop. Brian Roberts hits one deep to right field. Marquette gets back. On the track he'll make the play for the second out. But you're right, Michael — just to finish that point, it is so hard when you get to the major-league level to change your style, your whole arm action. That's what was done to him after he hurt his arm. Finally, in the middle of last year he went back to his old way in Cleveland, and they sort of encouraged him to do it, and his fastball and velocity started to come back. We've seen him top out at 95 here today. So certainly it's the right way to go for him and us. Here's Kelly Johnson: three infielders on the right side. Only scope on the left side. Snap throw to first and Soriano gets back. Kenny, I'm amazed at the way he throws the ball — that Jimenez even got through the Orioles' vetting process, because they don't sign pitchers. Grant Balfour signed the contract. They looked at his arm; they said no, that's out, and they've done it before too. Yeah, that's. They're medical people who are really sticklers on pitchers' arms and shoulders and elbows when they go through that exam. It must have checked out okay for them to make that investment. What was it, 50 million, 48 million dollars. It's the most they've ever given to a free-agent pitcher. Kind of get the feeling that Baltimore sat around and watched all the moves in the division especially with the Yankees. And kind of felt like, you know, what we need is a pitcher. Especially after the Yankees signed Masahiro Tanaka. The choice for the Orioles was on the pitching side. It was either Ubaldo Jimenez or Ervin Santana. And Santana was the one who really suffered. Santana had a great year last year with Kansas City. But he ended up with a one-year deal down in Atlanta at the last minute. And Jimenez got the four-year $50 million deal. That will also cost Baltimore their first-round pick next year. That is the 17th pick. And that's why some teams have been hesitant to sign players. Or they have to lose that number one pick. I think you really have to know what's available in the draft. And if somebody you want is going to get down to your slot. Or might get down to your slot. Once they signed Jimenez, then they felt comfortable signing guys to just a one-year deal because they didn't have to give up the first-round pick. They gave up a second-round pick. They didn't want to give up the first-round pick to sign a guy to a one-year contract. Count is three-two and a bit high. So Kelly Johnson is up. And that's going to bring up Solarte. New pitching coach Dave Wallace. Looking on, Bendis has now walked more batters than he's given up hits today. And over the years it's been one of the bugaboos for him: the base on balls. He's certainly had strikeout stuff in his career. Jimenez averages about 8.27 strikeouts per nine. And about 4.04 walks per nine. So about two-to-one. Well, many times this year so far, Solarte's been the right man in the right place. And now he's got a situation right here with a couple on. Here comes the new pitching coach. We just talked about him. Dave Wallace has had a lot of success over the years. That was back in his days with the Dodgers. He worked with the likes of Pedro Martinez. But Pedro was in his formative years. Dave Wallace. That pitching coach we just saw. He also was with the Mets. He's got a little New York flavor. I had some experience with him with the Mets and in spring training. Very impressive. A very positive pitching coach. He's good with mechanics. Very similar to Mel Stottlemyre with the Yankees. Great pitching coach for years and also Matt pitching coach. Well, I think back once again to what Billy Eppler told me in Toronto — the Yankees' assistant general manager likes him largely because he puts the bat on the ball. That was a pretty good pitch. In and out of the glove. It would have been a great catch by Mark Hankins when the ball came out. That was a tough pitch. It was a changeup. Solarte stayed back just enough. The ball landed in right field and just enough that Mark Hankins couldn't hold on. You could see he was fooled but flicked the bat at the ball. The Yankees like the way he makes contact. It's a good pitch from Jimenez and excellent play coverage from Solarte. And unlike football, the ground can cause a fumble in baseball. It takes up in a way one at 0. Through 18 at bats. We're talking about making contact. Larkin struck out one time. In his major league career. It's certainly been the story of the early part of the season for the Yankees. The thing I like about him, Michael and Kenny, is that he's a nine-year minor league player. This is his first taste in the big leagues. You talk about paying your dues and earning your way up. Just look at his face. How hungry he is. How satisfied he is to finally make the big leagues. He's not going to walk very often either. I should point out he's only walked once too; today he's walked twice, which is a great story. You throw Dean Anna in that category as well: career minor league player, first taste of the big leagues. Very humble, too. I think these young kids can infuse some energy into a veteran clubhouse. Bright-eyed and bushy-tailed; that look is on his face every day he comes to the ballpark — he's very thankful. Grounded. You know, people have a tendency to think of Gardner as sort of a slash-and-dash hitter. He is; he can hit the ball well to the opposite field and back to the middle. Every once in a while he'll catch with his speed, or if you hang something on the inner half, like they did in Toronto yesterday with the two-run homer. And he'll slash it down the right-field side. And he just missed what would have been for him an extra-base hit; yeah, he's really gotten better. That's a great point, Kenny, and Kevin Long, the hitting coach, works with the Yankee left-handed hitters, especially in this ballpark, with a little flip drill to help them pull their hands in and turn on those inside pitches. Gardner has progressively gotten better at that. It's 3-2 and two outs. Back, so Solarte will go again, staying put at third. Kelly Johnson. Talk about experience and hunger. Solarte: 672 minor league games. Dean Anna: 554 minor league games. So that is some stick-to-itiveness. A lot of guys would have given up on a 3-2 pitch. He swung and missed. And Jimenez gets out of further trouble. One run, two hits, no errors Two men left on base. We're going to the fifth. 2-1, Yanks. From around the majors right now, the Angels lead the Astros 3-0 in the bottom of the first; more games to come this afternoon. A's and Twins, 22. The pitch to Lombardozzi is a strike as we start the fifth inning here at the stadium. He's up 2-1, the count 1-1. Lights have been on all day. The sun is really a rumor today. Overcast. Cloudy. Got one and two. There is certainly a chill in the air, and rain in the forecast, and pitchers are throwing strikes at least. On the Yankee side so far, punched out the other way — it's a foul ball. Now, David obviously pitched in much colder temperatures in the World Series. But does cold weather like this take something away from you as a pitcher? It really can, Michael. You know, I used to look at about the 50-degree cutoff. Several degrees below 50, you know the ball got a little slicker. The circulation in your hands and fingers was a little more difficult. It's just hard to manufacture spin on a baseball. Corotas got good splitters and good action on his stuff today as well, so I don't think it's quite cold enough. To affect the pitchers. It can, really, you know, as I said before. You just can't get the perspiration going. You can't get the feel or the tackiness you need on the fingertips. To spin the ball, either on sliders or even splitters. It looked like it was a spillover fastball. This is one of those days they allow the pitchers to blow it to their hands. Just so they get a little bit better feel. Yeah, there it is. Look at that movement. You've been proud of that one. Strike three call — you save it for two strikes, the left-handed hitter thinks. But this is inside. No, it's not. You can see the two-seam rotation coming in. Excellent. I've been really impressed with McCann behind the plate. the plate. Not only receiving balls, but the way he calls a game, too. An attempt at a drag bunt by Flaherty, foul. Well, you know, Kenny, I talked about it, Michael, you've heard me talk a lot about catchers, how they set up and their framing ability. But you watch McCann move in and out behind the plate. And the target he gives. Just outstanding, textbook. If you're a young catcher trying to get the most out of your pitchers, watch this guy: how he sets up, how he receives the ball. Watch the target he gives to Kuroda once he sets up. The glove never moves. Give it to me right there. You can see some good catching. Maybe we saw one today where he was silent. Joe Girardi, of course. Very solid tandem here with the Yankees back in the glory days. McCann certainly is the total package. You know, all the emphasis has been on his left-handed swing and how many home runs he has hit at Yankee Stadium. I think the way he catches defensively. It's going to be a big difference for this Yankee pitching staff. Especially once they get to know each other a little better. But even catching Sabathia the other day. You know, when Sabathia got on a roll. I think it was 17 out of 18 he retired in a row in the middle of his last start. He and McCann really got on the same page. And McCann just called an excellent game for him. Grounded into the teeth of the shift. For the second out. He was getting on a roll. That means it's almost the same amount of time between pitches. You know the side. When the pitcher is ready to go at each pitch, the game starts to move along. Working both sides of the plate. The grass is getting a little greener across the street there. That's what David used to pitch. Right here's where I used to play. Right. Used to be a baseball field over here. Schoop rips one inside third and down the left-field line. That is going to go into the corner, dug out there by Gardner and Jonathan. Schoop with a two-out double. The Orioles expect big things out of this young man, one of the jewels of their farm system. Signed out of Curacao. And that ball was in the inner third. He just scoffed it down the third baseline. Not much of a chance for Sir Larte. That's Will Little. The third baseman. Getting big. Will getting big over third. He made the call before he hit the ground, It's impressive, too. We should mention Schoop is playing third because Manny Machado, the brilliant third baseman, underwent knee surgery. And they don't want to rush him. He's too valuable to the franchise. He's still down in Florida. They are not putting a timetable on him; they won't say he'll be back by a specific date because they think if they put that date there, that he'll push himself. They don't want to push him. They're hoping around May. He suffered a very serious knee injury, I think it was the next-to-last game of the season last year in Tampa Bay, and it looked innocently enough; he was just trying to round first base. His knee popped out and he had surgery; as Michael said, they're taking their time. Here's one out by David Lowe. In the minor leagues it was Schoop at second and Machado at short. That was the combination. Throughout the minor league system, those two worked their way up to the big leagues. So Schoop is spelled S-C-H-O-O-P, but it's pronounced Schoop. S. C. H. O. O. P. One-one. Two and one. Decent pitch count for Corona so far. This would be the 70th pitch coming here. With two outs in the fifth. Two and two. And Schoop was sleeping. That second-base play to end the inning. The tying run at second in the fifth inning. And the youngster. His mind was wandering. We almost watched McCann kind of deke him and set up, and then quickly, right at the last minute. He is out. We're halfway through. Most hits in American League history by a right-handed batter. Derek Jeter sits atop that list. 3,320, passing Paul Molitor, and he's fourth on the American League list. Behind three other left-handed batters. So he has the most hits of any right-handed batter in American League history. Yeah. We also have a note here, Michael, that once he passed Molitor, now he has more hits than anybody he's ever played with or against. I thought it was interesting the other day that Cal Ripken Jr. was quoted as saying he'd almost trade careers with Jeter. Cal Ripken said he'd almost rather have Derek Jeter's career. I saw that. He mentioned it's all about winning championships. That one is driven deep to left field; his family thought it was gone. I think he thought it was gone, and it just hit near the top of the wall. Buck Showalter's going to come out and talk things over. It was an exact pitch, but Derek had to hustle and got into second just ahead of the throw. How rare is it to see him break it down? Well, You know what? I think if you hit that ball in July, when the ball carries better, it is gone. Especially down the line. Yeah. Let's see, it didn't miss by all that much. Cool. One, Two more feet. It's out of here. Good play by David Lowe, too, on the carom. Boy, We get a good look at this, Man, we've got the best cameraman. Here he comes! Yeah, He's in there. Well, One thing, you know, that we... He really tested that ankle, at least between first and second. So he's feeling good because he ran well once he got to first. Well, they've been here from the start. They've seen so many of his games. Mom, Dad, Sister. Now his nephew as well. Luke's one to right field. That's going to dunk in for a base hit. Jeter rounds third. He's going to come home with a single for Ellsbury. And the Yankees lead 3-1. Just watching Derek Jeter run the bases in these two instances. He is so far ahead of what he was last year when he could hardly move around the bases. Now watch this. Here's the base hit. He recognizes it's going to fall in. Watch this burst right at the very end. He turned it into another gear. Run scored. Ellsbury continues his hot hitting. Two more hits today. In his first game. In pinstripes. In a regular season game. You certainly anticipate the aggressive Ellsbury. He's picking a pitch to run on in this sequence. He missed a changeup on the first pitch; that would have been a good one. Another changeup. 52 stolen bases last year. Clearly one of the best base runners, if not the best, in the big leagues. Here he goes. Pitch is high. Throw to second. Beautiful throw. They got a perfect throw. He's one of the best in the game. He didn't win the Gold Glove last year. But the previous two years he did it primarily because he could do this. Really shut down the running; the throw is right on the bag. All Flaherty had to do was catch the ball and wait for Ellsbury to come in. Tell you what. He didn't get the glove out in front of the bag. Yeah, You laid the glove on top of the bag. He said he is safe. Too late to challenge now. A drive, a base hit to right field for Carlos Beltran. Readers got a good ball to throw there. Two changeups at 90, a mile-an-hour fastball up, almost like a pitch-out. He threw out 33 percent of the runners who attempted to steal last year. He'll be a free agent at the end of next year if the Orioles don't get him signed. And he is represented by Scott Boras, so he's probably not going to sign early. Boras doesn't do that with his clients that often. That's an out. Zach Britton, the lefty, up. Cano swings and misses. And see how shallow Adam Jones is in center field even against the power bat of Brian McCann here. Carlos Beltran at first base. Beltran used to be one of the preeminent base stealers in the game. And he had a high percentage of stolen bases, and when he left he was going to make it, but he's not that type of player anymore. High drive to right center. Jones back. The first. McCann's getting closer, isn't he. Yeah, he had a pretty good read on that one. You know he's hit 20 home runs for six or seven years in a row. And the thing about it, playing for the Atlanta Braves. Turner Field's one of the biggest ballparks. In baseball. It's more pitcher-friendly. He didn't quite drive that; he got underneath it just a little bit. He's already up to 95 pitches here. Two outs in the bottom of the fifth. Seven hits and four walks, so he's had to work. Only two. That's why the Orioles' bullpen is hot right now. This could be his last inning. Last hitter up. The switch-hitter Brian Roberts is on deck. So Showalter will have a choice. Depending on the outcome of this at bat. With a 0-2 count, Soriano did a good job of spoiling that. If the count had been anything but 0-2, I think he would have had a better swing. That was kind of a hanging slider. If he gets that pitch early in the count or when he's ahead, he's more aggressive. He's got a piece to stay alive. He has not found his stroke yet out of spring training. He hit some balls well. He's getting closer though. One thing we saw from Soriano last year in that big second half for the Yankees is he could hit the ball out to right here. He's sort of noted as more of a pull hitter. But here at Yankee Stadium he's got the pop to shoot it to right. Popped up shallow left-center. That's going to drop in for a base hit; Jones makes the throw. So a base hit for Soriano. Now two for two with a walk. This might be the breakout day when you start getting hits like this off the end of the bat. These are real confidence boosters. You see those outfielders who have to play back and respect his power. They come on and can't quite get to it. Those dropping in the outfield are the ones the infielders reach for and can't quite get. Those are the ones that really get you going and thinking things are going my way. The opposite feeling, if you're on the mound: Jimenez makes a good pitch. He induces weak contact and he's still out there. Tony, I think this is going to be his last batter. If he doesn't get Roberts out, I think you'll see Zach Britton come in to face Kelly Johnson. And even if he does get him out in the inning, I think you'll see Britton next to get out of the inning because the pitch counts are getting up there. Still good velocity from him, and as he's shown the ability to really reach back when he needs to — 94 on that last fastball. He's touched 95 today. So much more emphasis nowadays on efficiency from starting pitching across the board. Every manager, especially early in the year, seems to look around the 100-pitch mark. They're trying to squeeze in as many innings as they can. The goal nowadays is to try to get seven innings and around 100 pitches. The ball breaks off the glove there, but if you're Beltran at second you've got to make sure you get to third base standing up. And Wieters, as everybody knows, has a good, strong throwing arm, so he's capable of making the recovery on his own once he picks the ball up. Count's a solid three-and-two, so the runners Will go. A full count, two outs. And that's no small thing, Michael. The fact is now the Orioles' outfield is less likely to throw a runner out at the plate if there's a base hit, because they have a running start. Adam Jones is very shallow in center field for Brian Roberts. Three very strong arms out there in the outfield. Roberts has had some good swings today, but just hasn't connected. He lined out to right field his last time up. And in moments like this, it's put up or shut up; you've got to throw a strike here. He finds a gap here. Two runs will score. Let's go. Trying to stay loose. Showalter. He signals to the bullpen. He's going to call on the left-hander Zach Britton. Bases loaded. One run already in. Two outs. Kelly Johnson due up. Showalter goes to the pen. That's the ticket for opening day here at Yankee Stadium. And he brings in the left-hander. Zach Britton, one of two lefties in the Orioles bullpen. He will face Kelly Johnson. We've seen Britton in a starting role in the past. He's been in a couple of games this year. Picked up a win in relief. He's done a pretty good job. He's got a hard sinker. And a pretty decent breaking ball, but for some reason it didn't work out as a starter. Bases loaded for the Yankees as they try to break this open; they're up three to one here in the bottom of the fifth. Yankees 14 and two and home opener since 1998 since 1984. Twenty five and five at home. Pitch. Now, a stat that shocked me: Kelly Johnson is one of three left-handed batters in Major League history. With a hundred or more plate appearances. As a left-handed batter with a hundred or more plate appearances, he has a better OPS against left-handed pitchers. Number one is Enos Slaughter. Number three is Kelly Johnson. OPS is on-base percentage plus slugging. Who'd have thought that. Certainly career-wise, on a thousand plate appearances, yes; but those numbers the last couple of years haven't been anywhere near those career numbers. Kind of all relative, but nonetheless an interesting number. He should get a good pitch to hit here. The count was only two-all. Down the middle. Two and one. It's one of those situations where your starting pitchers are sitting on the bench. Three of your runs are out there. And on the other end, the relief pitcher, one of the most important stats is inherited runners and how well you do in this situation. Yeah, because if he gives up a triple here and then gets the next guy out, he has a zero ERA for his appearance. But he didn't do his job. That's why you have to look beyond ERA when you evaluate relievers and not pay too much mind to it. Yeah, There's so much more that goes into it, and I know a lot of relievers really take pride in this particular stat. Tough situation for Britton with the bases loaded. Forces in a run. That RBI goes up and the Yankees lead goes to 4-1. Six walks now for the Yankees. And that run is charged to Jimenez. There's no defense for the base on balls. The Yankees have scored in the last three innings and each inning they've had at least one walk included in the rally. Here's Solarte. And a strike. Solarte walked and scored in the third and had an RBI single in the fourth. Yankees lead 4-1. 0-2. It was a good second. It's part of the skill set that Solarte has that helped him make this team. The fact that he is a switch-hitter as well. He switches around. He's going to bat right-handed the first time today. Among other things as well. He could play the outfield as Kenny mentioned. Good glove. He can play anywhere in the infield. They'd probably put him at first base in an emergency. We saw him play left field in spring training and handle himself pretty well. The Yankees gave him a true test in spring training. He passed every one of them. Tapped right back to Britton. He goes to first. And that'll do it. The Yankees get two runs with Derek Jeter flirting with a dramatic opening day blast. But he got a double. And he was driven in by Ellsbury. One more run came in. Yankees up 4-1. Yankee Stadium this Saturday afternoon, April 12th, Sunday night, April 13th, the Yankees take on the Red Sox, All right, We go to the sixth inning. Yankees up 4-1, Their home opener. Four runs on eight hits. The Orioles, one run on five hits. It's going to be the top of the Oriole order against Hiroki Kuroda. David Lowe. Ground ball up the middle. Moving to his right is Roberts. One pitch. One out. I was going to ask you, And maybe that answered it, How tough is it — that's a long inning, A cold day for him to stay loose? Very tough. You know, Obviously Kuroda's a veteran now. It's hard to stay loose, especially in those long innings, and then you get a break and get a quick pitch out here in the sixth. I'd always try to sneak out there and get a few extra warm-up pitches, Michael. I would be the first one out of the dugout when the third out is made by the opposing team. I'd get out there quickly. And tell my catcher to be out there with me and get a few extra warm-ups. Now, in the old stadium, you didn't have that option. There are mounds right next to the dugout. Would you ever throw? I think I might. You know, certainly you couldn't do it at the old stadium. But as you said, with the configuration of the new ballpark and the batting cage right behind the dugout. It's much easier to go play catch. Kuroda has been very sharp today. Very efficient. All of his pitches have worked. I think any starting pitcher would take a delay of his team to score. Would have waited a little longer for a few more, certainly. Last year we saw Nick Markakis leading off quite often for Baltimore, but they've dropped him back a bit. You might see him a few times during the course; it all depends on how well David Lowe plays. 48. He played left field for them last year before leaving as a free agent. He was a good player for them. He went right down the road to the Washington Nationals. No winning did he top 19 pitches so he's got 75 so far in the game. Top of the third. Right there is Solardi. So, Kenny, you're familiar with that area. He doesn't have to move, right? Well, it depends on where he was living in the Maryland area. If he was north of Baltimore, he's going to have to move south. He would have to move south. You don't want to deal with two-city traffic just to get to work. So, two down, top of the sixth inning, and the Yankees lead the Orioles four to one. And here's Adam Jones. Adam with a fly ball to center and a single to center. He also scored the Orioles' only run; that was in the fourth inning. Good pitch. Just a nasty slider. You can see Kuroda, That pronounced hesitation in the middle of his windup. When he starts to get that going, He's starting to really feel it right about there. Grounded to third. Solardi backs up, gets a nice hop and the long throw. And a nice scoop by Kelly Johnson to end the inning. Johnson, a novice at first base, did the job on a tough throw. Hermes Solardi. Let's take a look at that one. It was one of those long hops, which is not easy. Johnson pulls it in. We go to the bottom of the sixth inning here at the stadium. Top of the order. Brett Gardner. The only Yankee who did not come to the plate in their two-run fifth inning. He'll lead it off. Gardner is one for three today. Out 1-0, Gardner. Jeter, and Ellsbury. Gardner's base hit in the third inning is stretching his early-season hitting streak to five consecutive games. Nice bunt. That's right. Mo's out there. That was retired while he was still playing last year. Mo threw one of the first two pitches today. Thrown by Mo and Andy Pettitte to Jorge Posada and Derek Jeter. Chopped toward first. That'll bring up Derek Jeter. Last time, Jeter doubled. Very close. I'd say less than a foot from a home run right down the line. Hit over the eight in a three. And boy, He would have been embarrassed if he got thrown out at second base. He thought that ball was gone. Still no excuse; you have to run until it clears the wall. But that would have been tough for him to take. Yes, it certainly would have. You know, with every hit, we talk about him passing Paul Molitor. With that double, he broke a tie with Ted Williams on the all-time list. He's now got, Derek now has 529 doubles. We used to say back in the '90s, the '98 World Series team, that was a part of that. It was a team. It was a true team. We had no Hall of Famers on that team. We were wrong. Mariano. Derek Jeter did not pass go. Go directly to Cooperstown. And I think Jorge Posada will get consideration, with his numbers as a catcher. So right now the '98 team actually had two surefire Hall of Famers; here's a look at the double again — the pitcher threw a splitter that hung up and they just missed a home run, a 318-foot shot down the left-field line; hustle on the play produced a two-base hit, and a well-played play by Low — that's one reason the Orioles like him; he's a good defender and a big prospect for the Royals. It's kind of a surprise trade by the Royals; they really like Valencia — the deal was right-handed-hitting Valencia for left-handed-hitting Low. You mentioned the doubles: he needs eight more doubles to tie Lou Gehrig for the most in franchise history; Garret with 534 is just a bit ahead. We're at the stadium. We had heard anywhere from 3 to 4 o'clock; hopefully it holds off. As we mentioned earlier, the weather the rest of the week is supposed to be just great. Especially for early April. We're lucking out in that sense. The home opener has been overcast and somewhat damp and chilly. A lot of people around here say it's about time After a long, cold winter. He could not hold up; he went down on strikes. He's one for four. 33. 0-1, 1-1. Stopped towards second. Lombardozzi. And a 1-2-3 inning by Zach Britton. We're going to the seventh here at the stadium. 4-1 Yanks. Photo of the game. Young man with the sign today, tomorrow, forever. A Jeter fan. And so Derek Jeter is going to be the subject of many of these sets. That's the little girl who got the baseball from Houston. When Derek took it away from the lady who kept trying to grab it and made sure the little girl got the baseball. He saw the sign and appreciated it. Their whole family was Really happy. The whole family was just astounding after Derek gave her the ball. Here's the moment. Derek saying, No, Not you. No. Not you. She was acting more like the 12-year-old. Chris Davis is somewhere on the grand concourse. Deeper than deep. 53 home runs will dictate that. It's like those little games when the big hitter comes back and he goes, Everybody back, Everybody back. The man-child drove it the other way. Gardner, on the run, can't get there and it bounces into the O's bullpen for a double to start the seventh. Davis had seven. Home runs against the Yankees last year. This is a powerful guy. We talked about power to all fields. Those look like they're going to center. There's one to right. There's one to left. There's one to Fort McHenry, back-leg style off the firm frontside — lean back. You see those big power hitters lean back and launch. Wieters chases an off-speed pitch. McCann makes these trips. He certainly talks to his pitchers a lot, usually with a man on second base as we saw with Sabathia. Multiple signals being given now. Corotta with a great day going here and a man on second now with nobody out. McCann wants to make sure it was Wieters who hit the off-speed pitch for the RBI single earlier in the game. Let's see if they try to pound him in here. That's the spillover pitch that Kenny likes to call. Maybe take a shot off-speed down. But at some point I'd say you've got to try to test him in, on the inside corner. Corotta's had excellent movement today as well on that particular pitch. Another thing to notice — one thing I saw from Jorge Posada over the years, and I just saw it from McCann. With a runner in scoring position at second, he doesn't set up until just at the very point where Corotta's about ready to deliver the ball. Now they know where they want it to go. They just don't want the runner On second base to know where it's going. McCann just didn't like how that was set up there. It looked like they were going to take a shot in; he set up, and then time was called. McCann did set up inside, maybe to tip off that they were trying to throw a fastball inside. So it's the cat-and-mouse game, especially with a catcher like Wieters and a veteran like Davis on second base. All it takes is a little head shake from Davis on second base to tip off Wieters where the location is. See the late set-up there just at the very end. He put the target up, took a shot in and up—just missed. Now do you go right back to the splitter? Off-speed, or do you try to double up and come right back in again? A one-two. Double it. You went with a splitter. Excellent location. Corotta has been spot on with his stuff. All of his repertoire has been effective. He's made very few mistakes all day long. Wherever McCann wants it, Corotta has almost put it exactly there. Especially down in the zone. All of his misses have been down. Good quality low strikes all day long. On a 1-2 count, he serves that one into left-center field. It's a base hit. Chris Davis advances to third. He'll stop right there. The throw is cut off by Johnson. So, first and third. Nobody out for the Orioles here in the seventh. That one kind of stayed up a bit; that's why Wieters is able, as Michael said before, to serve it into center field for a hit. He just went out and got it, went with it, and that's his second hit of the afternoon. Yeah, both of his hits came on off-speed pitches today. See the splitter. This is great plate coverage — as Kenny said, it's up just enough that he can serve it over the shortstop's head, but that was almost off the plate. That conference was broken up by Tim Timmons. And here's Nelson Cruz. And there's a strike. The Yankees certainly would take a ground-ball double play. That's the exchange for a run given up here. But one swing at the bat from Cruz is also a tie game. 0-1. Outside, 1-1. David Phelps is now in for Thornton. And the 1-1 pitch. Line drive. Left field. Coming on is Gardner. He's going to have to play it on a hop. Chris Davis will score. Moving to second is Wieters. It's an RBI single for Cruz. And the Yankee lead is now 4-2 here in the 7th. You see here, This is one of the few sliders that Kuroda left in the middle of the plate. It's been in the middle of the plate all day long. The best part about this one is that Cruz doesn't get enough lift to get it out of the ballpark. Just down enough. That it ends up in the ballpark, but certainly an RBI and a different look to this game now. It's four to two, first and second, nobody out. And that'll bring up Lombardozzi. Yankees are expecting the punt here. In on the corners. And the pitch Nice low block there by McCann. See Lombardozzi looking over toward third base down the third baseline. It's third base coach Bobby Dixon giving the signs. Leadoff at second, Cruz is at first. Nobody out, one run in, top of the seventh inning. Yankees lead the Orioles four to two. That one is to left field. And Gardner with the play for the first out; he had to play it beautifully. That's going to do it. That's going to be the last pitch. That's it today for Corotta. Joe Girardi makes his way out to the mound. And he is going to bring in a relief pitcher. To face Flaherty. Corotta will get a nice hand. He leaves with a 4-2 lead. Runners on first and second. One out. Big spot in this game. Come on back. they have runners on first and second, one out. So the Yankees bring in the left-hander, Matt Thornton. To try to get out of this jam. This will be the third game for Thornton — one inning, one hit, one walk, one strikeout. He showed good velocity in Toronto. He's always been an excellent fastball-type pitcher. Ninety-four to ninety-five miles an hour. And the pitch is low with J.J. Hardy being out with back spasms — not on the disabled list as of yet — so the Orioles can't call up an extra player. It kind of puts the Orioles at a disadvantage because they're playing shorthanded by one man. So ordinarily you might see Buck use a pinch-hitter with the lefty up there, Flaherty. Who, at this point in the season, had not been hitting well at all. He came in at .056 and he's 0 for 2 today. But he kind of has to leave him in there to face the lefty. One ball, one strike, one out, runners on first and second, one run already in. Yankees 4, Orioles 2. Slowly to second base. Roberts will flip to Thornton covering to get the out. Runners move up. Now runners on second and third. Probably one of the toughest plays for an inexperienced first baseman as Kelly Johnson is at first. He moves well. Probably a little too well. He's got to go to the back here. He gets caught in no-man's land. And a good play by Thornton to get over there. But to me, that's what I've always seen. You know, he's breaking when Roberts is right there. You know, and that's good hustle, but the wrong move. And watch Thornton on the back here. Right in the middle. Dangerous. As we saw last year, Hudson and Eric Young came up with a play like that, and Hudson ended up with a fractured ankle. So Thornton was very lucky right there. Well, that's going to do it for Thornton. They'll bring in the right-hander now, with Schoop due up. That's going to be David Phelps. against Jonathan Schoop. and his manager is going to bring in David Phelps. That's powerful. We'll go for the O's. Ivan Nova walked too many people his first time out, but pitched well, got the win. It's another day game. Mark that down, Runners on second and third, two men out. That's what Hiroki Kuroda did today. Six and a third, eight hits, two runs, didn't walk a batter. Four straight starts for Yankee starters without a walk and four strikeouts. But now, as I mentioned, David Phelps, who has struggled so far, comes in here to face Schoop. Those are the numbers. And three home runs in Those four hits. Let's go. Takes a strike. We've got Wieters at third and Cruz at second. Two men out, Yankees up by two so far. Adam Warren has really distinguished himself coming out of the pen. Phelps is a starter by trade. He has struggled just a bit, but Joe's showing a lot of faith in him. Bringing him in for a high-leverage situation. Phelps offers more breaking pitches — cutters and sliders — which may be a better matchup here, but we've seen Adam Warren gain velocity up to 95 miles an hour out of the pen, similar to what happened to Phil Hughes in 2009 when he went to the bullpen and gained a lot of velocity. Phelps is more of a breaking-ball artist. He relies on movement. He throws sinkers. He uses cutters. He throws curveballs. Tapped right back to Phelps. He comes on, gets a big out and gets out of a jam; the Orioles score one on three hits. No errors and two men left. At the end of six and a half innings of play, it's the Yankees four and the Orioles two. 24. The only other game in progress. The Angels lead the Astros 5-0. Kole Calhoun with his second homer of the season. And that's one for the Angels. C.J. Wilson in line to get the win. And later tonight, keep your eyes on what happens at Fenway Park. Texas comes in, sending Tanner Scheppers to the mound against John Lackey. Texas hoping to have the same kind of fortune that Milwaukee had over the weekend at Fenway when they swept the Boston Red Sox, guys. Thank you very much, Bob. And here we go to the bottom of the seventh inning. Yankees ahead of the Baltimore Orioles by a score of 4-2. That's a big out there for David Phelps, both for his confidence and obviously for the Yankee team. On the scoreboard, Yankees 4 and the Orioles 2. And Carlos Beltran will dig in. It'll be the middle of the Yankees' order. And there's a strike. With eight hits, the Yankees hold a 4-2 lead. Be interesting to see how Joe Girardi pieces together the latter part of these games when the Yankees have leads as we saw him go to Phelps. He had a nice at-bat there and made a good-quality cutter to get the ground ball. Now Adam Warren's warming up. So those high leverage situations are up for grabs. We saw Dellin Betances get one of those high-leverage situations the other day and kind of struggle. Warren actually pitched yesterday. He pitched the seventh inning. A one-two-three inning against the Toronto Blue Jays. We've seen Kelly in that situation as well. So, you know, it's going to be mix and match for Girardi. And certainly the high leverage situations late in games are up for grabs in that Yankee bullpen. And as

MLB_YANKEES HOME OPENER - April 07 2014