Reasons For Optimism

1.  Losing on opening day will remind every player on the Yankees that they are in for a battle.  They aren't going to win this thing, just by showing up.

2.  Gardy was crushing the ball.  Hammering a home run and a near home run.

3.  Gardy was our RBI machine.  My fears about his weak-hitting in Florida were ill founded.

4.   Our starting pitcher struck out 6 in four innings.  And his arm came out great.

5.  The relief pitcher who walked three in the ninth, got out unscathed.

6.  Our three hits were spread around, indicating a pretty balanced attack.

7.  Didi learned a lesson when he tried to steal third ( and was easily gunned down ) with two on and two out, ending any potential Yankee threat.  Let's be honest, the possibility, then, of a three run HR was about zero.  The possibility of a Yankee three run HR ever, is practically zero.

8.  Pretty much every one in the bullpen got a chance to pitch in the stadium, on opening day.  Only our tag-team closers were held back.

9.  We scored a run for every error we committed.  Now the coaches know, we have to work on defense.

10.  Not a single Yankee ( except for Gardy's HR ) did anything notable on offense or defense, once again, indicating balance.

So what's next? 

We have to correct errors in the field, which caused a flock of unearned runs.
we have to up our run production to at least double the opening day output.
We need our starters to give us more than 4 innings, and an outing ERA of 9.00.
We have to be smart on the bases, when we get there.
We fans have to drink a lot.