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| Yankees News For April 4 | |
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| Tweet Topic Started: Apr 4 2005, 07:47 AM (15 Views) | |
| Giambino | Apr 4 2005, 07:47 AM Post #1 |
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Yankees News For April 4 --------------------- Click here for links to full articles then click READ MORE under Yankees news for April 4: http://www.yankeemania.com --------------------- Yankees' Unit comes up big April 4 New York Daily News: It felt like October in April last night at the Stadium. The temperatures were in the 30s, fighter jets flew overhead following the national anthem and a perpetual buzz lingered over the park before a pitch was even thrown. Despite the date, it seemed just like Game 7 of the ALCS. Just like it, that is, except for the result. Where the Yankees failed last fall, they flourished yesterday. Randy Johnson gave them the start they spent all winter searching for and the bats that were silent six months ago finally erupted, as the Bombers crushed the rival Red Sox in their season-opener, 9-2. It surely wasn't vengeance for the Yankees, but it was a start. "It's the first game we've won since Game 3," Joe Torre said. "It was a long winter waiting to get on the field again." The Big Unit, who came to the Bronx in a long-anticipated offseason trade with Arizona, allowed one run and five hits over six innings, walking two and striking out six. After coveting him for years, George Steinbrenner saw Johnson as he had imagined him: intimidating, overpowering and viciously clever, mixing his hard slider with his harder fastball and keeping the Sox hitters limp. "He was great," The Boss said as he left the Stadium and Johnson, who said repeatedly that he was going to downplay his first start in the days leading up to the game, admitted afterward that it felt different than his previous 12 Opening Day outings. The highlight, he said, was receiving a loud ovation as he walked from the dugout to the bullpen to warm up before the game. "It was nice to get a feeling of what it's going to be like here," Johnson said. "I'm pretty happy that today's over and that it worked out the way it did." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Wells rocked in his return to the Bronx April 4 Boston Herald: Last night, the jubilation officially ended, when the New York Yankees brought the Sox back to reality with a 9-2 pounding at Yankee Stadium in Major League Baseball's season opener. For 157 days, the savored their first World Series championship in 86 years with what may have been the longest victory lap in the history of professional sports. They soaked in the adulation of more than 3 million fans in the largest celebration ever in Boston, made movie cameos, wrote books and appeared on countless talk shows and magazine covers. The lifeless defeat was a drastic contrast to the Sox' last appearance in the Bronx on Oct. 20, when they exulted with their families on the field following Game 7 of the AL Championship Series. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Randy towers over Sox April 4 New York Daily News: Randy Johnson, who is supposed to make all the difference this season, was officially a Yankee last night the only way you ever can be, which means at Yankee Stadium. He threw strike one to Johnny Damon to start the top of the first, struck out Edgar Renteria and Manny Ramirez looking to end the top of the first, had that left hand in Boston's face right there. He went six innings on a cold night, gave the Red Sox just five hits, struck out six in all. A lot happened on a long, messy Opening Night at the Stadium, almost all of it good for the Yankees. All that really mattered was that the most famous lefthanded pitcher alive looked like the guy who could finally make things right for the Yankees. Johnson was the star of this night, on a team of stars, even if he left early. A year after Roger Clemens and Andy Pettitte left for Houston, the Yankees had an ace again. It was only one night. It was only six innings. Johnson and the Yankees didn't get any younger. Maybe everything is different if Hideki Matsui doesn't take a two-run Kevin Millar home run out of the left-field seats in the second. But Matsui (who hit a two-run bomb of his own later, and might be an MVP candidate before this season is through) did just that. After the Big Unit gave the Stadium the big night it wanted. Yankees 9, World Champs 2. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Johnson handled hype, Sox with relative ease April 4 Boston Globe: It wasn't just a big unit. It was a whole course on how to beat the world champions on Opening Night at the Bronx. The debut in pinstripes of Randy Johnson, a.k.a. the Big Unit, was a smashing success to the 54,818 fans who watched the newest Yankee rattle the Red Sox, 9-2, on a chilly and sometimes rainy night at Yankee Stadium. There are 161 games to go, but if last night's opening effort was any indication, then Johnson may live up to the "Empire Strikes Back" spoof hung on one of the facades at Yankee Stadium where Johnson's mug is portrayed in "Darth Vader" gear. This wasn't vintage Johnson, but the towering southpaw was dominating when he had to be, going six innings and holding the top three hitters in the Sox order (Johnny Damon, Edgar Renteria, and Manny Ramirez) hitless, including four strikeouts and a double-play ball. Johnson struck out six and walked two in his 95-pitch effort. He had a good fastball, sometimes reaching the mid-90s, though he was still overpowering in the low-90s. Johnson took advantage of the Yankees offense, which provided him with a 6-1 lead through six innings when he gave way to the bullpen. "It's nice to have the day over," said Johnson. "I was able to get a lot of things accomplished today with pitching my first game at Yankee Stadium, pitching against the Red Sox. I know that the weather is going to improve and some of the things I didn't do well will come along. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Giambi: I Couldn't Ask For Better April 4 New York Post: At 6:10, Giambi hit in batting practice Group Four in the cages with Bernie Williams and Tony Womack, and at 8:11 last night, Giambi played in a regular-season baseball game for the first time since Oct. 3 under a warm wave of support from the home fans on a chilly April night. They gave him a half-standing ovation for his first trip to the plate in the second inning and waved signs like "Free Giambi." "They're behind me," Giambi said. "They were great on the street. Anyone I passed on the street said have a great game tonight, we're all behind you. They've been incredible." He scorched a single up the first base line his first at-bat and was plunked by a David Wells pitch twice in his next two plate appearances. Giambi went 1-for-2, was charged with a ground-ball error in the third, flied out to left in the sixth and was replaced in the seventh by Tino Martinez. "I couldn't have asked for a better one to start out with," Giambi said. "Get a hit, take good at-bats, hit the ball hard, hit a line drive to left. I couldn't ask for any more. I really couldn't." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Matsui's a hit with bat, glove April 4 New York Daily News: There have been 55 players to hit homers for the Yankees on Opening Day, and the latest just happens to wear No. 55 on his pinstriped jersey. Hideki Matsui began what he hopes will be a Godzilla-like monster season in the final year of his contract, counting a two-run homer among three hits while also robbing Kevin Millar of a home run in the Yanks' 9-2 victory over the Red Sox last night. "I take the same approach and get into the games the same way I always do," Matsui, who also belted a grand slam in his first home game at the Stadium in 2003, said through his interpreter. "It's probably just a coincidence ... but Opening Day is special, so that may be a part of it." Matsui once again is expected to be a big part of the Yankees' success this season, and several experts are projecting continued improvements in the final year of his three-year $21 million contract. After George Steinbrenner praised him but profanely criticized Matsui's agent Arn Tellem during spring training, the Japanese outfielder indicated that he prefers to honor his deal and not negotiate an extension during the season. If last night was any indication, his price tag will continue to rise. Matsui, who compiled 31 homers and 109 RBI while playing in all 162 games last season, picked up where he left off with a 3-for-5 night and three runs scored against David Wells and a slew of Boston relievers. His hits were a single to center in the second, an RBI single in the third and a two-run homer to dead center off Matt Mantei in the eighth. In the top of the second inning, Matsui also made a leaping catch at the left-field wall to rob Kevin Millar of a potential two-run homer. "They don't play much basketball in Japan. I didn't know he could jump that high," Derek Jeter said. "We're not friends anymore. I used to like Matsui," Millar joked. "The big momentum swing was Matsui's catch on my ball. I didn't crush it, but I hit it good enough to go out of the park. I heard the fans (cheering), so I knew he had it." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Tino & fans glad to see each other April 4 New York Daily News: Tino Martinez talked throughout spring training about how much he was anticipating Opening Night, and the fans at the Stadium last night gave him exactly what he had imagined. He didn't disappoint them, either. After getting the loudest pregame reception of any player and another thundering ovation when he entered the game in the seventh inning, Martinez ignited the fans even more when he ended the inning by diving to his left, snaring Johnny Damon's blistering grounder and tossing to pitcher Tanyon Sturtze covering first base. "It was a good reaction and hopefully it'll happen more often," said Martinez, who walked in his only plate appearance. Martinez has always been a fan favorite, even getting cheers as a visiting player after the Yanks cut him loose before the 2002 season to make room for Jason Giambi. Those were nice, Martinez said, but last night moved him. "It's a great feeling," he said. "I've been looking forward to that for a long time." -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Boss Beams After Win April 4 New York Post: Randy Johnson impressed the 54,818 fans who braved the elements last night, pitching six strong innings in the Yankees' 9-2 win over the Red Sox in their season opener at the Stadium. But the most important person to take notice of Johnson's debut performance was the one who now signs his checks. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Old friends boo Boomer April 4 New York Daily News: He arrived to boos, not that David Wells expected much different. It was fine when he pitched for San Diego, a harmless entity way out there on the West Coast. Yankee fans, never easily offended, still loved the big lug, or at least rolled their eyes at him in mock toleration. But to see Wells in Boston gray, with the sacred No. 3 stretched across his burly back? No wonder everyone needed throat lozenges as they left the Stadium late last night, after the Yankees had crushed the Red Sox, 9-2, in the latest chapter of this epic rivalry. Wells can forget his fantasies about blowing up Fenway. He's going to need those friendly confines, now more than ever. It had to hurt. It had to play with his mind, mess with his concentration. Those weren't ordinary boos that greeted Wells and serenaded his ignominious departure on Opening Night. For all his faults and quirks, the one that matters most is this: Wells is a Red Sox now, a crime Yankee fans never will forgive. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Arroyo has no use for A-Rod's antics April 4 Newark Star-Ledger: Asked last night why he thought the Red Sox as a team had spewed so much venom at Rodriguez this spring, while they seemed to show so much love to Jason Giambi, who has been a central figure in the steroid scandal after his leaked grand jury testimony that he actually used performance enhancing substances, Arroyo indicated Rodriguez was not a likable guy. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Need some votes for my site. Just click here let the page load and your done. thanks: http://www.sportsinfinity.com/in.php?site=1039541572 --------------------- Click here for links to full articles then click READ MORE under Yankees news for April 4: http://www.yankeemania.com --------------------- |
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