Ah, but which guy am I referencing? (AJ Burnett can breathe easy...for the moment.)
So much blame to go around for an ugly opener. So let's go in size order, peppered with other meanderings.
-CC was worse than his linescore indicates. His channeling of Dontrelle Willis featured a fastball that was not only all over the map, but topped out around 89mph, which may explain his ZERO Ks. His high wire act yielded labored innings even when the O's didn't score. The score would have been worse if Brett Gardner didn't make a great throw to the plate to double up the runner.
Seeing CC nurse his side between innings makes me assume his performance is the result of an acute appendicitis or someone in Cleveland having a big, heavyset voodoo doll with pins in the figure's abdomen. Hopefully CC will be A-OK, but if not, the Yanks could always use him as a $161M pinch hitter, because if you factor in Spring training, they are well past the 30 day return policy, receipt or no.
-Last week a friend of mine said that Cody Ransom would make people forget A-rod. It's the kind of statement so cockamamie it's not worth arguing about, but it sure rattled around my mind as I saw Ransom strike out looking with a man on 2nd base and no one out as the Yanks were trying to mount a comeback. Not that the other guy - the injured one - hasn't done that on occasion, but combine that failure with Ransom's huge error an inning or so prior during an Oriole rally, and you got the makings of "Can Alex speed up that timetable a little more?"
-On a related note, that huge error I just referenced was actually called a hit. So just want constitutes an error these days? Maybe it's not the athletes, the steroids and the small ballparks that are ballooning pitchers ERAs these days. It's the official scorer who will receive an in-game call of complaint should they have the gall to suggest an infielder should field a routine hop one step to his left. (I'm being generic here, of course, as I doubt Cody Ransom has the phone number of the scorer's table on speed dial.)
-I also didn't have to wait long before the Yanks failed to get a runner home from third with less than two out. With a three hit night, Jeter almost made it through the game unscathed.
-Posada is in usual midseason form - he hit a long home run, made a decent throw to second on a SB, and utterly avoided contact on a play at the plate, relying on an erroneous umpire call to get the desired result. Does he even watch replays of his plays at the plate? I guess even with the likes of Girardi and Tony Pena around, there's no teaching a veteran major leaguer new tricks.
-Cano still doesn't like to dive. There was just one hit that looked dive-worthy on TV. It probably wasn't, but I'm just warming up for a long season.
-Why do managers ask pitchers who have zero control to walk a guy to load the bases to set up the DP? The upside is nice, but the downside is so much more likely. In this case, a predictable bases loaded walk.
-How is it that I've been watching games for years, yet tonight was the first time I can recall an ump using his judgment to award an extra base to a runner on a ground rule double? Allowing Cano to score from first was a good call, especially since it is an opposing player which might otherwise encourage fan interference.
-Re. the Jeffrey Maier imitation in left - I have long wondered why ballparks don't have walls that are a few feet in depth. Three or four measly feet wouldn't make the fans feel too isolated from the field, yet it would prevent anyone who is not blatantly climbing over the wall from interfering with the ball in play. Any ball hit anywhere near the wall - in fair or foul territory - is quite naturally going to involve hordes of people going for the ball. An umpire trying to make the call on if the ball was bound for the stands or not might as well just flip a coin.
-I want answers - what went on when Nady killed the Yankee rally by being caught off third base on Jeter's infield hit? Was he so sure a worm-burner Jeter hit was definitely going to make it through the infield? The third base coach gives you the red light or the green light. No reason to make that big a turn if you're not going anywhere. Robby Thompson probably makes some good money coaching third, so you best listen to him.
-Nady grounding into a rally-killing 7th inning DP makes one ask oneself "what would Swisher have done?"
-I have no problem with a player being booed, but I had to keep reminding myself that Teixeira was in fact NOT an Oriole who came to the Yanks as a free agent. So he gets booed just because he's from Baltimore? Or did he have dinner with their mayor and fail to use a salad fork?
-For the record, my reaction to the big three free agent signings:
Teixeira - Rejoice!
Burnett - Really? You guys sure about this?
Sabathia - Weighs three bills, can't buy an out in the playoffs, and pitched more innings than the Brewers played last year. I'm hopeful, but suspect. Easier to root for him than Randy Johnson (who, by the way, I thought was a great pick-up. Then he started pitching for them).
-I have high hopes for Teixeira, but in his interviews on TV so far, he seems too antsy and eager to please. Granted, if I had the chance to meet Fran Healy, I'd be eager to please as well. I do look for good infield D this year, knowing that Jeter and Arod won't fear that throwing the ball to first will result in Giambi diving headlong behind the tarp as though the ball is radioactive. Tex made a couple plays already that I'd bet a $12 new Stadium beer (just guessing) Giambi would never have made.
-I've never seen a logo larger than the Yankee Stadium one on the back of the Yanks caps. I realize the new Stadium is supposed to be very big, but can't the logo be a tad more subtle? When I go to a game, I might accidentally make a left inside someone's hat.
-90% of YES viewers think the Yanks will win the East. And those results came in AFTER Sabathia got trounced.
All in all, a rainout really wouldn't have been so bad.