tonytalkssports My Take on Sports, particularly the Yankees, Maple Leafs and Browns

Opening Day Victory: Yankee Recipe For October

The Yankees opening day win over the Detroit Tigers couldn't have been drawn up better by Joe Girardi.  Six solid innings by the starting pitcher (C.C. Sabathia), big home runs (Mark Texiera and Curtis Granderson) and a lock down finish by the bullpen (Joba, So and Mo) produces a win.  Couldn't have worked out better.

As the Yanks get ready for this afternoon's game against the Tigers, its clear that the Yankees will need offense and a reliable bullpen to be successful this season.  And for the Yankees, success means an October run ending with a World Series ring.

One game does not make a season and today will be a little different as the enigmatic A.J. Burnett toes the rubber for his 2011 debut.  The Yanks have spent a lot of time with Burnett this off season and spring.  They have 82 million reasons for the extra attention.  If the Yankees are to be successful, it may depend more on Burnett's performance than that of Ivan Nova and Freddy Garcia.

Thursday's win was a promising one not only because of the perfromance of Joba and Rafael Soriano but also the hitting of Texiera and Granderson.  Texiera has historically started slowly with last year being his worst April ever.  He changed his off season regimen and focused on hitting.  Granderson had terrible first half of the season last year.  However, after working with Kevin Long, Granderson has hit the most home runs off lefties for a left-handed hitter in the majors.  If both these two can continue this for the season, the Yankee offense will be deadly.

First pitch today at the Stadium is 4:07pm.