Game 62 - Toronto Bluejays at New York Yankees

April 6 at Yankee Stadium in Bronx, NY
Yes Network

The season doesn't really open for me until the Yankees play their first game, but I now would pay as much as 75 poppy seeds to just go back to Monday morning before this game began.

Masahiro Tanaka started the third by giving up a hard single down the left field line to No. 8 hitter Kevin Pillar and walking No. 9 hitter Devon Travis. Those turned out to be the enjoyable parts of the inning. Jose Reyes tried to provide a free out, but the Yankees said "no thank you," and Chase Headley threw Reyes' bunt attempt past first base. That scored the first run of the game, and former Yankee Russell Martin poked a two-run single to the opposite field for a three-run cushion. Tanaka gave Edwin Encarnacion a fast ball right down the middle and Encarnacion, who hit 112 home runs over the previous three seasons, belted a two-run shot to left for a 5-0 lead.

Drew Hutchison made the start for Toronto and except for a solo home run by Brett Gardner in the sixth looked good in six innings of three-hit ball as the visitors won 6-1.

Alex is back

Alex Rodriguez made his return to baseball Monday after a one-season suspension and looked fine at the plate, which was really nice to see. It was just one game, but he along with Brett Gardner looked the best at the plate for New York. Rodriguez drew a lead off walk in the third, then had an opposite field single into the right-center field gap to start the fifth, though he never set foot off first base either time. And by that I mean the hitters behind him went 0-for-6 and I don't think he took a lead. Rodriguez has a decent chance of ending the season with less than 20 feet of combined lead off first.

Rodriguez also had a well-hit ball into the right-center field gap in the seventh that was tracked down by Jose Bautista, who had eight put outs in right.

The only problem with having Rodriguez back is that I have to hear YES announcer Michael Kay pronounce his name. It may be the only pronunciation of the man's name of its kind in all of baseball/the universe:

"Alex ROGG-REE-GIS"

This will almost certainly be a theme every time I watch the Yankees on YES. Here's the first of many Kay Baseball Phrases.

"Straight from central casting"
"Baseball gods"
"The biggest stage in baseball...opening on Broadway"
"You realize you have more career in the rear view mirror than in the windshield"
"Screaming line drive"
"Started off gang busters"

And one from Ken Singleton:

"Ron Karkovice, his nickname was 'Officer Karkovice' because he could catch you stealing"

Scouting reports?

Before the top of the first, YES had what they referred to as a "scouting report", but it actually contained things like this:

* Tanaka set the Japanese high school strike out record

That's not a scouting report. That's a Thing We Know About Masahiro Tanaka.