At least the New York Yankees won Saturday afternoon/evening. Three hours and 30 minutes of mostly one-sided baseball on a chilly, windy day in the Bronx was too much for many of the 41,462 fans in attendance to take as Yankee Stadium was a ghost town by the time Mariano Rivera threw the final pitch of a 10-6 victory over the Detroit Tigers.
The fact that Rivera had to close a game the Yankees once led 10-3 was unfortunate. Yankee Manager Joe Girardi went to Rivera, though, after watching Boone Logan walk two batters and surrender a hit while getting just one out to start the ninth inning.
Despite the fact that it seemed like a long, interminable, slow-moving game there were plenty of good signs for the 2-0 Yankees.
- A three-run home run by Mark Teixeira. That is two three-run bombs in two games for Teixeira, who started last season 3-for-38 and hit just .136 in April.
- A three-run home run from new catcher Russell Martin, who seems to be settling in with his new team.
- A home run from Alex Rodriguez, who also hit a booming double Opening Day. A-Rod seems to be swinging the bat well to start the season.
- Five decent innings and a victory for A.J. Burnett (1-0). The right-hander will have to be better than three runs in five innings throughout the season, but at least he pitched his way through the fifth inning when Detroit scored twice. Burnett ended the inning with a strikeout of heavy-hitting Magglio Ordonez.
- Two hits from Derek Jeter, moving him within 72 hits of 3,000 for his career.
The series concludes Sunday at 1:05 p.m. (YES).