THERE are few finer sports events.
Opening Day at Yankee Stadium. Opening Day at Yankee Stadium to welcome a champion to a new season. Opening Day at Yankee Stadium with Yogi Berra, Whitey Ford and Phil Rizzuto standing beside Paul O’Neill, Mariano Rivera and David Cone. Opening Day at Yankee Stadium with a banner and new dreams both rising.
Maybe the city’s foremost bullies, George the owner and Rudy the mayor, will have the good taste to stand in the background – that’s way in the background. This way they do not overshadow the marriage of tradition and triumph, nostalgia and newness that bridges the generations from J.D. (Joe DiMaggio) to D.J. (Derek Jeter) and from Babe to Bernie that fills this wonderful ball park.
At least until George the owner and Rudy the mayor tear it down to build Steinbrenner-Giuliani-Pepsi-IBM-adidas Park.
A full house will welcome a champ that reeled in spring, notably due to the cancer that struck Joe Torre, and reeked on Opening Night way off-Broadway. But Torre is expected to be on hand and, so apparently, are the real Yankees. After a few uneven weeks, the Yanks showed again that not all teams are created even.
In winning two of three in Oakland, the Yankees gave four reasons to be optimistic again. Here they are:
1. Chuck Knoblauch’s psyche: Entering his second Yankee season, Knoblauch appears at ease. Maybe surviving a stormy season, then a near calamitous play in the ALCS – his Blauch-head bunt mishap – toughened him. Maybe a pivotal, three-run homer in World Series Game One made him believe he really could make it here. Or maybe, it was just everything.
”Regardless of the team, you want to know the organization, know the guys and know the front office,” Knoblauch said. ”I feel more a part of this organization. Last year was like being a rookie all over again. I’m definitely more relaxed and comfortable after being around a year.”
That is most evident in the field. Last season, Knoblauch came with a Gold Glove rep, but botched that and too many throws. He was much better after the All-Star break (three errors). But in the three-game series against Oakland, he was Alomar-esque with his range, quick hands and dexterity. He robbed Ben Grieve alone of three hits with stunning plays.
Defense is a Yankee strength. They did not commit an error in the Oakland series. Knoblauch, Derek Jeter and Scott Brosius give the Yanks a seep-less infield. When Chad Curtis joins Bernie Williams and Paul O’Neill, the outfield is first class. The Yankee pitching staff knows again that throwing strikes is worth it. The ball will be caught.
2. O’Neill’s head: Paul fought a cold through a good chunk of spring and that was no good for the team’s temperature. O’Neill is a bellwether for this club. When the fiery No. 3 hitter goes well, so do the Yanks. And vice versa. His six straight .300 seasons parallel the Yanks’ streak of six years of contention.
So when O’Neill batted a tepid .208 in spring, his and the team’s mood were foul. He took an 0-for-3 in the season opener and the Yanks lost. But in his first at-bat of the middle game, he lifted a sacrifice fly. In his final six at-bats of the Oakland series, he had five hits, including four doubles, and his lone out was a scorcher to center. He did not pull in any of those six at-bats, a sign he is locked in. He was 2-for-2 with men in scoring position while the rest of the club went 3-for-18.
Extremely self-critical, O’Neill conceded some improvement, but not much.
”Yeah, he got like eight doubles in two days,” Joe Girardi said. ”But he stinks and he’ll be the first to tell you that.”
3. The Starters’ Arms: Roger Clemens was good. Orlando Hernandez better. Ramiro Mendoza the best. The three combined to limit Oakland to six runs in 212/3 innings (2.49 ERA), a .160 batting average and one extra-base hit. They did that by living up to the best of their reputations.
Clemens was not deterred by a 47-minute rain delay and impressed his teammates with his warrior composition both before and during his outing. Hernandez was a crafty artist, throwing fastballs when A’s expected curves and curves when they expected fastballs, and throwing them from a variety of angles. Mendoza was an imperturbable, ground-ball seducer.
The backbone of the 1998 champs was the rotation. Now eyes turn to the more fragile Cone, the confidence-challenged Hideki Irabu and the already-ailing Andy Pettitte to see if they can follow the lead of the first trio.
4. Don Zimmer’s gut: After a distressed first few weeks as Torre’s replacement, Zimmer took on Steinbrenner and decided that in his interim term he would do as he wanted. His instinctual feel heightened with his bravado toward The Boss.
He not only got eight impressive innings Wednesday out of his starting choice, Mendoza, but showed the good judgment to get a spine-building inning out of owner’s pet Irabu. He turned to Curtis in left field for the last two games and Curtis rewarded him with a homer in each.
Zimmer’s hunches, the rotation’s pitches, O’Neill’s scorchers and Knoblauch’s catches have the Yankees feeling good again. Smiles all around for Opening Day.