Shaken start, stirred finish bring ponderous ponderings, and the Yankees are 1-0

Afterthoughts on an undefeated, untied season...

1. And they say we're Debbie Downers? In the 2nd inning yesterday, down 4-0, Michael Kay began lamenting that the Yankees will play their opening series in domed stadiums, with no chance of a bullpen-bolstering rainout. Yikes. Three innings into 2024, and the host of CenterStage was already praying for rain?

2. Big HR by Oswaldo, whose lighthouse smile is a wonder of nature. Unfortunately, hitting .211 doesn't warrant many grins. I've forgotten Oswaldo's Homer Holler from The Master. (Considering that he only hit 5 last year, The Master might have, too.) Anybody catch it?

3. At game's end, seeing Verdugo, Judge and Soto embracing in the outfield roused the biggest hope-boner I've received from the Yankees in a long while. They hugged like Little Leaguers, even the captain, who by now should be resigned and craggy. Verdugo made a desperate, over-the-shoulder catch in LF, a shot that would have turned the game. Soto made The Throw. Damn. It's been a long time since a Yankee outfield looked so solid, so locked in. 

4. ... Which cannot be said of the pitching staff. Nobody shut them down. Jonathan Loaisiga is not a middle-innings long man. If they overuse him, he'll be burned out by June. And of particular concern: Clay Holmes, who escaped in the manner we came to expect from Aroldis, the human waterfall. That final out, a sharp grounder, went directly at Volpe. Ten feet either way, it goes through, the game is tied, and we probably lose.

5. I don't want to offend the juju gods with ingratitude - thank you, madams and sirs - but it sure would be nice to take the opening series from the Altuve Crime Family. (I remain a 2019 Playoffs Denier.) Houston still looks stacked, though Valdez looked shaky. Three out of four would be a step toward justice. I'm not even suggesting a visit from Ryan McBroom.  

6. Giancarlo - one for five - looks like a leading candidate for the Higgy Bird Award, named after Kyle Higashioka and Greg Bird, given to the Yankee who blazed through spring training and who then goes ice cold as the season begins. Let's hope Stanton gets it together. Frankly, we have no choice. No matter how badly he hits, he's going to play. 

8. Joe Girardi's return to the booth brought a bit of Professor Showalter, lecturing on strategy and insider scuttlebutt. (Somehow, Paul O'Neill has turned into a country singer with a belly full of beer.) Of note, Girardi's claim that he only walked out to the mound to give his pitchers a breather, never to talk strategy. He claims that David Cone once screamed at him so harshly, that it changed Girardi's view on mound visits. I trust Coney will be asked about this. A running bit?