By Michael Murabito, Staff Writer
Nothing beats Major League Baseball’s Opening Day. All thirty teams are even. Everyone is 0-0. It is a fresh slate; everyone is in first place and ready to fight to stay there. The New York Yankees and New York Mets began their season Sunday night and Monday afternoon, respectively. There were two different results, but both teams launched their 2010 campaign knowing it is a long journey to October.
The defending World Series Champion Yankees opened against their archrival, the Boston Red Sox, on Sunday night. The Yankees seemed to pick up where they left off as they cruised to an early 5-1 lead through the fifth inning. Veteran catcher Jorge Posada and new centerfielder Curtis Granderson hit back-to-back jacks in the second inning.
The Bombers were able to knock out Josh Beckett, a pitcher who has haunted Yankee fans since his 2003 World Series MVP performance, in the fifth. The Red Sox ace was rocked for eight hits and five runs in 4 2/3 innings. With Beckett out, the Yankees appeared to be victory bound, but the Sox knocked CC Sabathia out as well in the sixth inning. The hefty lefty could not retire the side in the sixth and Boston took advantage of that by tying the game back up. New York was able to regain the lead in the top of the seventh 7-5, but newly acquired reliever Chan Ho Park soon squandered the lead to Boston when Dustin Pedroia pounded a two run homer. The Red Sox scored one more run on setup man Joba Chamberlin in the eighth and Boston closer Jonathan Papelbon retired the Yankees in the ninth to earn his squad a 9-7 opening night win.
The New York Mets looked to erase the haunting memories of 2009 by starting off 2010 strong. Led by ace Johan Santana, the Mets pounced on the visiting Florida Marlins in the first inning when David Wright hit a two run shot to right field off Josh Johnson. The game soon settled down and not much noise was made until the bottom of the sixth. The Mets added four more runs to their total and it all began with Jason Bay’s leadoff triple that knocked Johnson out of the game. Bay soon scored on a Jeff Francoeur sacrifice fly and one of the other new players, catcher Rod Barajas, belted an RBI double in the inning. The six runs stood to be more than enough for Santana as he finished the sixth with only one run and four hits allowed. The Mets tacked on one more run in the seventh thanks to a Jeff Francoeur double. Francisco Rodriguez came on in the ninth, in a non-save situation, to mow down the side for a 7-1 victory. For the first time since early 2009, the Mets were over .500.
With game one down and 161 to go, there is obviously tons of baseball left and you can not pop champagne or dwell over an Opening Day result. Yet, there is something about the first smell of the freshly mowed field and the sound of the ball hitting the catcher’s mitt during warm-ups that gives Opening Day such a sensational feeling to it. In the end, it is still one game on the schedule and there is still a whole season’s worth of games left to be played. Every team is going to win 50 games and lose 50, it is what you do with the other 62 that counts.
(Photo Courtesy of MLB.)
