Sometimes I think the New York Post’s Joel Sherman makes terrific points. Today isn’t one of those times.
In his column about the Yankees’ sloppy Opening Day, he had this to say about CC Sabathia and Mark Teixeira:
Sabathia was the highest-paid free-agent pitcher of the offseason and Teixeira the highest-paid position player. In a down economic climate, the Yanks invested $341 million on just those two. They are not going to feel bad about those decisions at 0-1. However, no one wants to make a bad first impression as a Yankee because the hole is always a little deeper, so deep that many never truly escape.
Hmmm. Are there really any Yankees who made such a bad impression in their first outing that they “never truly escaped” that first game? I don’t think so.
If anything, most of the legendary Yankee flops and disappointments in recent years have had terrific Bomber beginnings.
As I wrote yesterday, both Randy Johnson and Javier Vazquez had Opening Day triumphs in their Yankee debuts, yet they won’t exactly be commemorated in a Yankeeography any time soon.
Hideki Irabu also made a great first impression as a Yank, beating the Tigers, and having the hometown crowd cheering for him. How did that work out for him?
Kevin Brown won four games in April 2004, his first month as a Yankee, including a sparkling debut. Too bad all those wins couldn’t carry over to Game 7 of the 2004 ALCS.
And Carl Pavano, perhaps the worst Yankee free agent signing ever, pitched a very strong game against the Red Sox in his first game in pinstripes. Who’da thunk it?
There was one high-priced free agent Yankeee, though, who got off to a lousy start.
He blew his first game as a Yankee. And his second. In fact, he had such an awful first few months with the team that after one loss, he was spotted curled up in a fetal position in the clubhouse after the game, sobbing.
He was such a mess, his teammates took him out to dinner to give him moral support that night. Fortunately, the player turned it around, and he got out of that hole he had dug for himself. Oh, and the Yankees won the World Series that season as well.
Good thing the Yankees didn’t give up on Hall of Famer Goose Gossage after one game.
What do you think? Leave us a comment!
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