The time has finally come Yankees Universe. After a long and cold winter, the boys of summer are back! The Yankees were busy during the off season and are ready to show the league their new weapons. The first stop in the quest for 28 and The Captain’s farewell is Houston. A slimmed down CC Sabathia takes the mound against Scott Feldman in hopes of bouncing back from a career worst 4.78 ERA in 2013.
Sabathia has made 10 Opening Day starts, five straight with the Yanks since 2009. He is one of six pitchers in team history to make at least five Opening Day starts, and just one shy of a club record shared by Whitey Ford, Mel Stottlemyre and Ron Guidry. “I think they’re all exciting,” said Sabathia. “I think it’s exciting just because of the fact that we got Carlos Beltran and Mac and Ellsbury. It’s always a different feeling that you get. I think this is a year that we can try to make the playoffs and hopefully make a run at winning the title. Those things are exciting. I put last year behind me and just keep going forward.”
Feldman, who signed a three year, $30 million deal with Houston makes his second career Opening Day start in his Astros debut. He started for the Rangers on Opening Day in 2010.
Andy Pettitte and Roger Clemens will be on hand to kick off Derek Jeter‘s farewell tour. They will honor him before the second game on Wednesday and The Cap knows all eyes are on him. “I’ve just tried to not look forward to everything being over,” Jeter said recently. “If you call that soaking it in in Spring Training, I guess so. But I’m just trying to enjoy my time and not looking forward to it being over. That’s the best way to put it.” The Astros are bringing some legends of their own with Nolan Ryan throwing the ceremonial first pitch to Craig Biggio.
The Yanks were the winners of the off season but it’s time to go to work. “I like the guys that we have,” Jeter said. “I’ve said that; we have a lot of talent here. We’ve got to stay healthy. It seems like every team says the same thing. That applies to us as well. We need to stay healthy because there are always going to be injuries, but you’ve got to try to limit those injuries. But yeah, I think we have a lot of talent here, a lot of optimism. The bottom line is, you have to perform on the field, but I like the guys that we have.”
New faces, same goal. The quest for 28 begins now!
Notes on the game
The Astros have lost 15 in a row entering the season, including a three game sweep by the Yanks in Houston to end 2013.
The Bombers are 13-2 in the regular season against the Stros
On opening day the Yankees are 63-47 while the Astros are 24-28.
Sabathia is the active career strikeout leader
First pitch at 7:10 PM on Yes.
