When the Yankees signed CC Sabathia ($161mm) and Mark Teixiera ($180mm) to mega-deals this off-season, they marked one date on their calenders: April 6th. Well that day finally came today, but it wasn't the Opening Day game they were expecting. Sabathia and Teixeira's lines say it all: Sabathia: IP: 4.1, H: 8, ER: 6, BB: 5, K: 0
Teixeira: AB: 4, H: 0, R: 0, RBI: 0, LOB: 5
Two very bad lines for two men with very fat wallets. Even though people expected a lot more out of the players than what the above, they had to have seen this coming. I mean think about it: each guy is really (maybe even overly) hyped. They both signed monster deals this off-season. They both have historically gotten off to bad starts. And they both said they would handle the New York media just fine; something that both of them will now have to do. It was a perfect storm.
That being said however, I would like to remind all of you that this is just Opening Day, it's just one game out of 161 other ones. The only two reasons we care so much about these terrible performances are that Opening Day is way, way to focused upon; it's just one game. The other reason is just because of how much coverage the two players are receiving and how bad their performances were. But the bottom line is this; one game isn't going to kill you.
Bits and Pieces:
One of the things that made Teixeira's performance stand out so much was the fact that Derek Jeter and Johnny Damon went a combined 5-8 in front of him and all he did was get one little walk; that's a lot of runners being left on base...Nick Swisher pinch-hit in the 8th and lined a lead-off double right down the left field line in his first Yankee at-bat. Gardner (more about him later) bunted him over but then Jeter and, who else, Mark Teixeira failed to drive him in.....The Yankees escaped a huge fifth inning when Gardner turned a double-play when he caught the ball than threw the runner out at home to end the inning.....A-Rod should be back before Spring's end.
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