Tanaka Looking to Gain Offseason Confidence With Today's Start

Yankees' ace Masahiro Tanaka's goal today is to gain confidence for his first Major League offseason.

Tanaka, 13-4 with a 2.47 ERA this year, returned to the team after a two-and-a-half month absence last Sunday, holding the Blue Jays to just one earned run over 5 1/3 innings.

“(Getting through today healthy) should give me some confidence and just be able to go back home to Japan and work out the way I want to,” Tanaka recently told The Journal News. "I do really want to go out there again and check to see how my arm is. That’s kind of the main thing I’m looking for."

In last week's outing, Tanaka surrendered just five hits while striking out four. It was the third time this year he had beaten Toronto and the second time he had done so at Yankee Stadium.

“I still want to go out there and check to see how my arm, how my body is,” Tanaka said. “But obviously, compared to the first time, to last Sunday, no I’m not (concerned). There’s no fear or anything.”

This afternoon's start will be Tanaka's twentieth in Pinstripes. Of the first nineteen, interestingly, sixteen have been quality, or lasted at least six frames while allowing no more than three runs.