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Article IndexBY FRANK VERDE
NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM
FRANKIE SAYS
Friday's Yankees-Rays opener could have provided us with a peek of how the 2012 American League East race will go this year: a lot of fireworks early, a lull as the season shakes out, and a big bang to end it all.
Figure these two clubs to be in the mid-90s in victories while they press to win their division and avoid a one-game wildcard playoff. Most likely their opponent will be the runner-up in the AL West, the equally dangerous Rangers or Angels.
I’m at a traditionalist at heart, and the idea of adding playoff teams in baseball has never appealed to me. Until now. It places the appropriate emphasis on winning your division, as it should be. Losing the home-field advantage was never enough of an incentive before. Now a team rests down the stretch at its own peril, knowing that a win-or-go-home scenario awaits the two wildcards.
No, Yankees all-time great Mariano Rivera did not wake up the other day and suddenly discover that he’s really 42 years old and he should act his age. Friday's blown save is a blip on the radar, one of about five or six that he will experience this season while saving in the neighborhood of 40 games.
The ninth-inning comeback says more about the Rays’ penchant for playing till the last out than it does Rivera’s failure to hold a one-run lead. This team, as last year’s stretch run proved, has a roster full of guys who have no quit in them. The Rays get more out of their bench than just about anybody in baseball, and that’s a credit to their manager, Joe Maddon.
The Mets have performed well on Opening Days in the past, but this one was special. Johan Santana’s return to the mound after a 19-month layoff was the pick-me-up that this entire franchise was craving.
The effect of seeing their ace battling through five shutout innings cannot be overstated. The presence of a healthy and efficient Santana certainly makes the entire starting rotation better, because each pitcher slides down one slot. But who knew that he could be such an inspiration to the bullpen?
Tim Byrdak was the best of the bunch, entering in the seventh inning with a runner on third and one out. In a situation that called for a strikeout, the left-handed specialist ended the threat with two Ks. In all, four relievers combined to blank Atlanta on two hits through four innings.
Winning the way they did, 1-0 against the Braves, was better than any 9-6 or 10-5 victory. If only the Mets hadn’t lost their leadoff hitter and centerfielder, Andres Torres, with a calf injury the day would have been a total success. One hundred and sixty-one more games to go.
Who says that the designated hitter removes all the strategy from the American League game, making AL managers little more than caretakers after filling out the lineup card.
