This Week In Yankees Baseball: Play Ball!

Well, hello there everybody! Welcome back to This Week In Yankees Baseball. The smell of spring is in the air. The hot dogs are roasting, the pop corn is poppin´and baseball is back!

The Boys from The Bronx had many questions coming into the 2015 season. Would Masahiro Tanaka regain his dominant form? What could they expect from Alex Rodriguez after his long layoff? Can CC Sabathia  finally bounce back? Will this be Michael Pineda´s break out year? [related category]

Although one week is certainly not a tell-all sign, the Yankees got their first inkling of what they might expect. The Blue Jays blasted Tanaka with a five run third inning on opening day. The biggest Jays´ damage against Tanaka came on a two-run homer by Edwin Encarnacion. But Masahiro did show that he can still strike batters out with decreased velocity. He fanned six in his four innings.

Pineda fared better for the Yanks on Wednesday. He allowed two earned runs in six innings, and then turned it over to a remodeled bullpen. His six strike outs showed he his ready to pick up right where he left off during his strong finish to last season.

That set up the much anticipated return of CC Sabathia on Thursday. CC surrendered eight hits and four earned runs in 5.2 innings. But like Tanaka, he showed that he is able to get strike outs without a dominating fastball. He struck out eight altogether. Perhaps even more important, he did not allow a walk, showing that his battle with his mechanics may be over. Mark Teixeira and Alex Rodriguez homered. What a welcome sight that was for Yankees fans!

That was followed by a 19 inning marathon with the Red Sox on Friday. The Yankees fought back all night. Chase Headley homered in the ninth to send it to extra innings. Teixeira homered for the second game in a row in the 16th to tie the game again. But Boston prevailed 6-5. The game was delayed briefly due to a problem with the outfield lights.

Through Friday, Rodriguez led the Yankees regulars with a .286 average. Dellin Betances, David Carpenter, Andrew Miller, Justin Wilson and Chasen Shreve had allowed only one earned run in 17.2 innings for the Yankees pen. So even though the Boys from The Bronx are off to a slow start record-wise, there is light at the end of the tunnel.

How about that!