Welcome to Opening Day 2015 Yankees family as the New York Yankees welcome their American League East rivals to Yankee Stadium when the team plays host to the Toronto Blue Jays. The Yankees finished in front of Toronto once again in 2014 and both teams added to their offense looking to improve in 2015. It should be a fun season and at sometimes a long season for both clubs in the AL East as the division looks wide open for the first time in a long time.
On the mound for the Yankees will be Masahiro Tanaka who draws his first career Opening Day start of his MLB career. In 2014 Tanaka went 13-5 with a 2.77 ERA in 20 starts during his rookie season. His season was cut short due to a partially torn ulnar collateral ligament that he rested and rehabbed rather than undergoing surgery. Tanaka came back at the end of 2014 and made two starts for the Yankees and looked sharp overall this spring with a slightly altered delivery and repertoire.
On the mound for the Blue Jays will be Drew Hutchison who will also be making his first career Opening Day start of his career. Hutchison, 24 years old, returned from Tommy John surgery in 2014 and posted an 11-13 record with a 4.48 ERA. While those stats are less than impressive for an Opening Day starter his 184 K's in 184.2 IP and the rest of his peripherals tell the rest of the story. Hutchison has a career 4.80 ERA at Yankee Stadium and may be faced with the Mark Buehrle type demons in his head if he doesn't pitch well against the Bronx Bombers soon.
The game will be played at 1:05 pm ET and can be seen on ESPN, the YES Network and on MLB TV all season long.
Tanaka starts are going to be hell. I'll be holding my breathe during each pitch, as it could very well be his last for the year... and maybe longer.
ReplyDeleteFour doctors told him to do what he did. Dr. James Andrews told him to do what he did. Not even worried. Every pitch could be his last but I am not going to or willing to pretend like the Yankees put a dry rotted rubber band on his arm and said good luck kid.
DeleteThe doubters have gotten to me enough not to totally dismiss the possibility.
DeleteI'm not totally dismissing it. He will need the surgery eventually. I don't think he completely dodges it. We're all gonna die eventually though and that's not going to affect how I live my life. Bad analogy but still.
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