It was a Yankee win, but it was more important than that. It was a Yankee resilient comeback. I'm not saying we're about to win the World Series, but what I am saying is the Yankees did not quit and found ways to get on base.
Alex Verdugo has energy. I was happy to see how he operated yesterday. He's happy to be with us. He fits in. Juan Soto is a 25-year-old Monster. Nothing huge at the plate yesterday but walks matter and that cannon out of right field is exactly what we want. Defense is going to be huge this year because our pitching staff is still not up to par.
We will not be able to sustain comeback games every day, and I anticipate plenty of days in our season where the pitching gets into a hole we can't get out of. Yesterday I believe, is a sign of more things to come when I talk about those holes though. Between guys like Cabrera homering and Volpe being extremely patient at the plate, these little things matter and hopefully we continue to fight.
Don't misunderstand me. I am not in some way calling the Yankee front office geniuses. I think they are terrible. Yesterday they got lucky. But let's also give credit to these players. They went out there yesterday in Houston and beat those Astros. They never gave up. They never showed defeat and I have to tell you, as a fan of this team for all these years... that was important for me to see.
As you know I have not been kind to this team this offseason. I have been disappointed, frustrated and people say to me "Well, what do you know what we need? You're not some baseball executive?" Fair, but as a fan and as a guy that understands small ball, contracts, men on base, we haven't done enough. BUT... and this is a big but.... this game yesterday is a symbol of hope.
If you didn't see the game, have twitter, live in the mountains and have no way of getting news, this is all you need to know about what this game was all about for the Yankees yesterday. The New York Post writes:
"Soto threw out a runner at the plate in the bottom of the ninth inning to help preserve a 5-4 comeback win over the Astros in Thursday’s Opening Day thriller at Minute Maid Park.“That was a Yankee classic right there,” Aaron Judge said of Soto’s debut.
The Yankees also took a page out of Soto’s book by putting together tough, patient at-bats all game to shrug off an early 4-0 deficit and start their season off on the right foot."
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