Yankees 6, Blue Jays 1: It was The Stanton Show on Opening Day
By Cam Lewis
6 years agoThe Blue Jays put on an incredibly touching, beautiful ceremony for Roy Halladay prior to their Opening Day game against the Yankees. It was fitting, then, that a starting pitcher was incredible, mowing down their opposition with electric stuff and pin-point command. Unfortunately, it was a Yankees pitcher that imitated Doc on the mound.
- Luis Severino was named Opening Day starter for the Yankees after a breakout performance in 2017 that saw him finish third in American League Cy Young voting. In his first start as the Yankees’ official ace, Severino was dominant, shutting out the Jays over five-and-two-thirds, scattering one hit, three walks, and collecting seven strikeouts.
- New York’s bullpen was largely perfect after that too. Chad Green tossed an inning-and-a-third of scoreless ball, Dellin Betances pitched an inning an allowed a homer to Kevin Pillar, and then Aroldis Chapman closed the game with a clean ninth. All told, the Yankees allowed just five base runners (two hits!!!) and struck out 12 batters.
- J.A. Happ had a taxing outing. He laboured through four-and-two-thirds, surrendering three runs, two earned, on four hits and one walk while striking out five. The brunt of Happ’s damage came in the first inning when Giancarlo Stanton clubbed his first homer as a Yankee shortly after Curtis Granderson did his best Zeke Carrera impression in the outfield.
- John Axford made his first appearance as a Blue Jay in relief of Happ. He allowed back-to-back doubles before getting the final out of the inning. Aaron Loup had a perfect inning, Danny Barnes allowed a run, and Tyler Clippard allowed Stanton to hit his second homer of the afternoon in the ninth.
- Fuck the fact that Stanton plays for the Yankees. Fuck that. Fuck it! Fuck everything about it!
- Uhhhhhh is there anything good to say about what happened offensively? Nope! The Jays had two goddamn hits all game, one was a solo bomb by Pillar to kill the shutout and the other was a single from Curtis Granderson. The Jays looked pretty hopeless at the plate against Severino and the Yankee ‘pen, which, uh, isn’t good. But hey, it’s just one game!
- Beyond all of the bad stuff was a horrifying showing in the field by Josh Donaldson. A couple different times we saw Donaldson field the ball and throw a grenade to first base. His arm strength isn’t there and it’s very worrying. If this is actually an issue for him, I certainly hope the Jays give him more time at DH because Yangervis Solarte can play third.
- A funny stat: The Jays haven’t won a Home Opener now since 2011. That’s seven losses in a row at Home Openers, which is a pretty incredible feat. More of the good shit: The Jays haven’t been over .500 since 2016. Cool. Very cool.
- We’ll be back it at tomorrow night when Aaron Sanchez goes up against Masahiro Tanaka.
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