It strikes me that Theo Epstein has already got the jump on Brian Cashman by signing Bartolo Colon as an "insurance policy." The Yanks' No. 6 and 7 starters are Karstens and Rasner, two Triple-A pitchers who were demoted to Scranton over the past few days. Maybe Joba joins the rotation in August ... but can the Yanks wait that long? And would he succeed in a pennant race as a starter with so little experience?

The Yanks' pitching rotation, while in much better shape than this time last year, remains vulnerable. Pettitte isn't getting any younger and Moose will probably only pitch well against mediocre lineups. That leaves Wang, Hughes and Kennedy as the three young guys and two of them will have innings limits this season.

After living the Pavano Nightmare for three years, would Cashman dare try to make a deal for Oakland's injury-prone Rich Harden? Not likely, even though there have been rumors floated about such a possibility. Kennedy is the initial asking price.

The Yanks' bullpen, believe it or not, is deeper this season. And there are no problems with the offense, even if Posada falls back to his normal .280 with 20 HRs and 80-90 RBI. Cano's primed for a big season at the plate. Melky needs to show he can takes some pitches and become the .300 hitter some of the scouts said he would be. And Giambi looks very good in spring training, health-wise. Girardi has been pushing him all spring, playing him at first base as often as possible. If Big G approaches his OBP norm of .400, and if he plays 140 games, the Yanks might score 1,000 runs this season.

In the end, though, it all comes down to pitching. That's the biggest cliche in the game. It's also true.

I think Detriots has the best chance of breaking 1,000 runs.. but I think its possible to see 2 teams breaking 1,000 runs since NYY had 968 last year and 930 runs in 2006..

1,000 is a nice round number but it's almost impossible to get. i'd settle for 968 again and some decent starting pitching in april, unlike last year when 8 runs was usually not enough to win during the cruelest month.

Id say its 99% certain that neither Detroit nor the Yanks make a serious run at 1000 runs. Its ridiculous how this number is thrown around every year. Scoring 1,000 runs is exceptionally rare.

Since 1900 only seven teams have scored 1,000 runs in a season, and all of them did it in years where offense was inflated(in five of the seven seasons the league average was over 800).

Now, the other issue is that the Yankees offense will be hard pressed to match what it did last year. I think we can safely assume Jorge Posada wont match his 2007 season, which was off the chart incredible. The odds are also strongly against Arod making an encore. Now, add in age and injury risk and the Yanks will need Cano to step it up just to come close to matching their 07 run total. Everything broke right for them last year and it just is very improbably it happens again. They need to really do a lot of work to make up the ground they'll lose on Posada and Arod, even if those guys only regress slightly. I do think the Yanks will score the most runs in baseball in 08, but I think it will be somewhere closer to 900, and likely as not on the south side of that line.

The Tigers? Same thing. Edgar had a career year fueled by an extremely lucky and extremely unlikely to be repeated BABIP(Career: .326, 2007: .375!). Pudge? I know the guy has like twelve spring HRs, but my money is waay against him putting up even a respectable season. Granderson is already hurt and had a major career year last year and was unlikely to repeat. Same for Polanco and Magglio. Do these people who think the Tigers might score 1000 runs realize they start Jacque Jones? JACQUE JONES. I will guarantee Jacque Jones does not start for a 1,000 run offense.

People should be taking out second mortgages to put money down against a team scoring 1,000 runs this year. The level of hyperbole is ridiculous and Joe Morgan-esque. 900 run offenses are pretty amazing things, after all. Lets just leave it at "the Yankees and Tigers sure can hit this year."

Id take the under on the Yanks scoring 968, too, jackson. Their offense is very good though, and I would wager it will be better than the Tigers.

Granderson could end up being a little fragile but I don't think he has had his career year yet. The kid has amazing potential. I see Sheffield declining even more this year and am waiting for Renteria to fall off a cliff. He seemed old in Boston and that was three years ago. Polanco had a career year, I grant you that. Detroit's pitching is the issue and cost the Tigers a playoff berth by going in the tank for the last half of the 2007 season when they finished 30-37.

As for the Yanks, I agree that Posada and A-Rod can't repeat last year. A-Rod can come reasonably close, hitting in this lineup. Especially if Giambi has one last strong season left in that aching body of his. Last year, I was surprised that opposing teams didn't walk A-Rod more as Posada didn't move into the 5 hole until August. If A-Rod gets hot this year, opposing managers should treat him like Bonds in his prime years.

I would say the same thing about Manny, too. Just walk the guy and let the 5 hitter do the heavy lifting.

I'd like to hear what the other Yankee fans on this board have to say about the pinstripes. Right now I have some serious doubts. Boston just seems more solid, pitching-wise and defensively, too. And Toronto's pitching has my respect.

alskor, very interesting read.. I learned something new, I didn't know about only 7 teams were able to do this since 1900!! So which team was the last time did this and what year? also do you know if 1927 Yanks "Murderers Row" was able to scored over 1,000 runs?

Good question, I was interested myself so I looked it up. Listed by team, year, and total runs.

St. Louis Cardinals 1930 1004

New York Yankees 1930 1062

New York Yankees 1931 1067 (the modern record)

New York Yankees 1932 1002

New York Yankees 1936 1065

Boston Red Sox 1950 1027

Cleveland Indians 1999 1009


BTW the '27 Yankees scored 975 runs.

I don't have serious doubts, but I definitely have doubts about this season. Their pitching has so many question marks that even if their young pitchers meet or exceed expectations it may not be enough to carry the Yanks to their 27th title. Moose scares the crap out of me, he's inconsisent at best and I thought he would be able to adjust better to a loss of velocity than he has so far. I think Pettitte will be okay but I'm a little concerned about Wang. I think their bullpen will be better this year but considering they have at least two pitchers on strict innings counts this year it's going to be hard not to overwork them.

As for the offense, I think it will be slighly better than last year. Giambi looks to be healthier than he has in the last several years and that should be key. They got very little production from 1B last year and basically 75 % of a season from Matsui, Abreu and Damon in the OF/DH positions so those improvements should be enough to offset any dropoff ARod or Posada have. I love the idea of Cano batting sixth and I think he'll really have a great year. I know people were concerned about his attitude now that Bowa has left but I don't think Girardi and the other coaches will let him slip.

I agree with all that. Yanks are obviously a pretty good team, even with their pitching concerns. If I have concerns about them making the playoffs, it's because the American League seems to get stronger every year. There are at least seven playoff-calibre teams this season -- New York, Boston, Detroit, Cleveland, Toronto, LA and Seattle. I don't remember the league being this deep five or 10 years ago.

This column by John Harper of the NY Daily News represents a pretty good State of the Yankees speech at this point in time:

http://www.nydailynews.com/sports/baseball...%20young%20arms

While the AL does look tough, I’m not as concerned as most seem to be. I think Joba will be a starter eventually, butI like him in the 8th quite a bit. He and Mo give us a very competitive 8-9 tandem in the pen. Maybe Farnsworth and Hawkins can do better in the less critical role. With Farnsworth at least, it’s not really a matter of stuff. Does our pitching have question marks and back of the rotation concerns? Yes but who’s doesn’t? If healthy, I think they’ll be just fine.
Frankly I think a fast start would do the Yankees a world of good in so many ways. Lose 7 of 10 in July and avoid the ridiculous panic. Then again, if they did it in April, I can enjoy the premature Yankee funeral here. Come to think of it, I’d rather not.

Yeah, I think the bad Aprils in recent years have made me gun-shy. Remember the year, 2003 I think it was, when Jeter got hurt on opening day, they called some kid up from Columbus to take his place, and the Yanks went 20-3 to open the season? Those were the days.

Wasn't Mo out too for a decent length of time that April? I'm trying to remember who closed while he was on the DL but I'm drawing a blank and I'm too lazy to look it up.

juan acevedo collected 6 saves that season. and erick almonte was the shortstop in jeter's absence, making 9 errors in 20 games. soriano and posada had big years at the plate for that club.

today's game will be delayed by rain. i'd rather play tomorrow when the temps may hit 70.

Any idea how long? I know the weather back there can be pretty unpredictable. Dodgers - Giants on at 1 PDT. I'd like to catch some Yankees - Jays too (busy 'til 1 something). I'd like to say good luck today, but.......

Thanks (weather).

I'm guessing 3 o'clock start if they choose to play. Stadium is filled so the Yanks will try to play the game, seeing as it's Opening Day and all. ESPN switched to Tigers-Royals and an interesting play happened in the top of the first. Grudzilanek (sp?) nubbed a grounder to Cabrera at third and he fielded on the run, threw hard and low to first where Guillen moved his body into the base line while dropping the throw. Guillen could have been out for the season if Grudzy had run straight through the bag.

In short, the smooth-fielding Inge is on the bench while Cabrera, who is no Brooks Robinson, plays his old position. And Guillen has moved from short to first base. Reminds me of the Yankees' infield when Sheff and Damon were conducting tryouts at first base. It's not an easy position to play, even if Youk makes it seem that way after coming over from third base.

Interesting. Inge is really good at the hot corner. I hadn't thought of the conflict at third with big Miggy coming over. I see Edgar Renteria is up to his old tricks doing well for every team he plays for except Boston. RBI single, 1 - 0 Tigers. Verlander has a no hitter going, huh? What's he tryng to be, a young Nolan Ryan? Edit, thanks, Yankees start at 12 my time would be nice.

verlander is dealing right now after a little bit of a slow start in the first when he almost walked alex gordon. ump gave him a good break on a 3-2 changeup that seemed to miss the outside corner. that would have put two on for jose guillen, who had a real good at-bat before flying out for the second out.

renteria will always hit but he appears to be 45 years old in the field. tigers' defense could have issues this season if anyone can put the ball into play against them.

I think the Sox and Yanks, and some oher teams will be able to put the ball into play against them, and there goes the no hitter.

Yankee game postponed. Rescheduled for tomorrow night.

This honestly shocks me looking at the radar and model runs. I'm pretty sure if they were willing to hold out for a couple more hours, they could have got this in--

According to LoHud.com, Jeter was pissed off at the weather today. I believe he postponed the game on his own. He is, after all, the captain.

I am really surprised that they called the game. Depending on when the front comes through tomorrow, they could have even more of a chance of rain, along with some convective activity ahead of the front. Right now, Morristown and Trenton are not reporting rain, and the stations that are reporting rain are showing more drizzle and mist than rain. Oh well...

Sox fans should just admit it. You guys needed to see the Yankees play today because your team is lost somewhere on the west coast. I hear they may resurface tomorrow night in Oakland.

I'm just north of Trenton and it hasn't rained or even really misted very much this afternoon. Unless NYC is getting a much different look from Princeton, NJ (which I very seriously doubt) there was no reason to cancel this game.

There were puddles on the tarpaulin at 1 p.m. this afternoon. The radar had this storm cutting across from Scranton and into New York City with nothing on Long Island.

And this is from the Yanks' website:

A full house was expected in the Bronx for the scheduled tilt, and first pitch had been set for 1:05 p.m., but the tarpaulin never left the playing field.

Yankees manager Joe Girardi and general manager Brian Cashman inspected the outfield at 2 p.m., and an official decision was delivered at 2:25 p.m. The Yankees said that the forecast no longer looked promising after speaking with weather authorities.

I saw reports on LoHud blog that tomorrow's NYC weather is supposed to be worse than today's. THAT would be a major crimp in the Yanks' opening series, reminiscent of my Mariners' start in Cleveland last year.

Speaking of, checking the weather report for Cleveland, it looks like it's blissfully warm there compared to this time last year, but that's due to change by tonight; high wind warnings. Both teams (ChiSox and Indians) should be used to that kind of weather, though.

I can remember when Opening Day for MLB used to be (warmer, and in) the middle of April...sigh...

Good luck with that Bedard fellow tonight, WC.

I guess that global warming stuff is all bunk. But yeah, I remember going to a Patriots Day (April 19) doubleheader when the season had barely started.I'll be at the mausoleum on Wednesday with my son who has become an A's fan . Harden vs. Lester again. Trying to reverse a 4 or 5 game losing streak (me at Sox games).

There was just a "Yankees suck!" chant during the ATL/Pitts game. Rather funny.

And I know you mean that, jackson! The M's won, BTW...

Bedard gave up only one run through 5 innings, and Kevin Millwood none until the 6th (in fact, the M's were no-hit through 5), but the strike zone was VERY tight for both pitchers. Jim Joyce might as well have been a Questec monitor behind the plate. Nothing just off the plate was called a strike.

Bedard actually pitched very well, and maintained his composure through Joyce's umpiring and the hail, sleet and snow...er, the cold temperature. The powers that be had the Safeco roof closed just before gametime because it'd started to rain, but the temperature was in the 30s by the middle of the game. Baltimore, their next stop, is supposed to be warmer, but probably wetter.

Of course, it's so, so early; the first few runners have barely started out on the marathon. Remember when the Yankees found Aaron Small and Shawn Chacon and they helped pitch them to the AL East div. title? Still, I was jealous of Minnesota last night for picking up Livo (Hernandez). The guy's a freaking horse and I wished at the time he became available the Sox would at least consider him more. Maybe it's 20 - 20 hindsight too from what he looked like yesterday. I hope the Sox roll the dice guy, Bartolo C. stays healthy and comes up big. Wang/Halladay tonight but no nat'l TV that I can see. The networks are so anxious to throw half a dozen games at us yesterday, but they can't react and do that game?

Yeah, I get the Extra Innings package and Yanks-Jays were scheduled yesterday but they can't do the makeup tonight, even with a light MLB sked. Got to start off the season on radio with a heavy dose of Sterling and Georgie Girl.

WC, Bedard is Canadian. That was perfect weather for him. Still, he got the job done and it looks like Seattle's bullpen has withstood the loss of George Sherrill.

p.s. -- Yanks-Jays game tonight is a late addition to the EI schedule.

Man, Wang+Chamberlain looks good.. combined between those 2 ( thru 8 IP ) 6H 2R 3BB 4K's. Now if Jays wants to win this game.. they will have to face Rivera in the 9th inning which is soon.. 3-2 at the moment.

EDIT: Damon Triple lead off with no outs resulting in no RUNS at all ( not even a Sac Fly ) still 3-2.

That doesn't look that good to me. The Jays lineup is not strong at all and Wang is notorious for doing good at home.

Wang had his good sinker tonight, gave up two cheap hits (nubber down the line, broken-bat flare) that don't show up in the boxscore. also got saved by melky on back-to-back highlight reel catches in CF. so it all evens out.

halladay was better. a-rod doubled in a run in the first, then halladay toyed with the yanks until melky led off the sixth with a 10-pitch at-bat. on the final pitch, he hit a yankee stadium homer to right, just cleared the wall, that really pissed halladay off. then melky did a curtain call while halladay was pitching to damon and halladay apparently screamed at him to get back in the dugout. classic old school guy right there.

the next inning, yanks get second and third with one out so the the jays walk posada to get at matsui, who promptly hammers a DP ball to old pal aaron hill at second. ball hits heel of his glove, jays only get one out as go-ahead run scores.

joba fans wells and frank thomas to finish the 8th, then mo quietly retires the side in the 9th, hands the game ball to his old catcher, joe girardi, who was very emotional about the moment in the post-game interview on YES.

it was really a well-played game except for hill's play at second. jeter was all over the field making plays and giambi made two excellent plays at first base. the big G is lighter and more flexible than i've seen him since he came up as a third baseman with oakland a long time ago.

Good news from Seattle, jackson...

Just announced by the Fox Sports Northwest crew: Ichiro's been traded to the Yankees for Jason Giambi, Chien-Ming Wang, and Melky Cabrera.
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And yes, that's an evil April Fool's joke played on some unsuspecting Mariners fans still outside the ballpark earlier this afternoon. I don't know how many actually guessed it was a joke, but they showed the reactions of the 3 groups who fell for the joke.

Ichiro himself thought it was pretty funny. He said yeah, they have a tradition similar to April Fool's Day in Japan, but "no one takes it quite this far".

Don't need Ichiro in the Yanks' clubhouse. He's a little too moody and withdrawn. Yanks are better off with Melky in CF. He's young, cheap and covers a lot of ground in CF, plus he's got a great arm. Star of the show tonight. Check out the highlights on ESPN if you have the time. The Melkman delivered tonight with his glove, legs and bat.

I agreed with ROy getting upset there. There is no reason to take a curtain call on a 315 ft pop up.



Besides that, good game by the Yanks. Giambi's stab on the liner was huge.

"Moody and withdrawn"? Oh, now THAT is funny! He's anything but.

Maybe it's a good thing you guys back there on the East Coast don't know the Tao of Ichiro. Can't yearn after what you don't know anything about...

He's almost Yogi-Berra-esque when he gets the urge to talk -- which isn't usually to the media in general -- it's taken him a while to relax with even the laid-back Seattle media -- and I'd bet in particular to any characters like some of the ones you guys read back there.

Giambi also showed some nimble feet by eluding a tag on a DP ball, forcing Eckstein to throw to first, and then Big G beat Overbay's throw back to second trying to get the DP the hard way.

Melky had a great AB against Halladay. The kid was a .300 hitter in the minors (.380 at Columbus when he got called up for good) and I'm hoping he makes the leap to that level in the bigs this year. He also plays off emotion, the same way Joba and Papelbon do. It's very common among the younger players and I've almost given up getting upset about it. Times change.

The curtain calls at the stadium are ridiculous, always have been. I hope they leave them at the old place when they move next year.

The at bat itself was far more impressive than the actual result. I agree that the curtain call thing is ridiculous. It is something that you would expect to see in Tampa or San Diego. Yankee fans should be better than that.

The nature of Yankee crowds changed during the late 1990s when season attendance figures jumped from around 2 million to the current 4 million-plus. That's a lot of new fans. The game became an event instead of something to be watched. Stadium operations played into it with music and other artificial jolts to get these modern fans into the game.

The lineup roll call from the bleachers is something the real fans do, the ones who can't afford to sit in the box seats. The curtain call seemed like a good idea at the start but soon became overdone. Now we see two of three of them a night when the Yanks are playing a good game. And this season is going to be even worse with all the nostalgia involved over the stadium closing.

Still, it's a nice problem to have. The 4.5 million fans expected this season help defray the expenses of a $200M payroll. It's New York, where everything costs more and the show has become bigger than the game to fans in the expensive seats. I don't even know who these people are.

I've always found it amazing that a city of over eight million can't consistently fill a stadium of 57,000.

I wonder if the cold weather finally got to the diehards behind home plate. There were a lot of empty seats there in the 8th and 9th when the Yankees' speed and thunder were due up for their rally ABs (ESPN's Wednesday night game out here on the West Coast).

Of those though, I think the first four and LA have the best shot. I'm predicting East: Boston, Central: Detroit, West: LA, Wild Card: Cleveland. For some strange feeling, I don't think NYY make it this year.

I remember going to a Sox-Orioles game at Fenway on the wife's birthday (April 13) a few years back. We had box seats a few rows behind the visitors' dugout. It was very cold, like in the 30s when the game started. Fans started leaving in the fifth inning. Game went into extras, place was half full, a bunch of college kids ended up in the good seats and they were calling Tejada bad names every time he came out of the dugout. Miggie homered to lead off the 11th inning, Orioles piled on five more runs to win easily.

When it's cold in April, you see empty seats anywhere, including New York and Boston. This is not exactly a new development. Meanwhile, the Yanks have sold 4.2 million tickets already this season so they shouldn't have any trouble filling the park. I'm always amazed that they can draw over 4 million fans every year.

I'm on the Yankees' email list, and earlier in the week I received an email advertising $5 seats for the games on April 2, 3, and 7. Yes, the Yankee attendance has been huge, but they also get people to the park for games with low demand by offering specials like this for midweek games throughout the season.

Maybe the empty seats explain why the crowd didn't ask for a curtain call following Giambi's 9th inning fly out. Seriously, I was expecting one.

I watched the opening day/night game. It was absurd they gave Cano a curtain call for the homerun. They've really taken the curtain call and pretty much obliterated it's normal meaning, but it's not just Yankee Stadium. It's like the standing ovation has lost all meaning these days for stuff outside baseball.

I think the nature of the fan has really changed over the past 50 years. We used to go to games as a kid, keep score, drink a few beers when we reached the proper age, and rarely booed. There was no music piped from the p.a. system, no flashing graphics on the scoreboard telling us when to cheer ... no wave.

My dad always told us you don't boo major league players because they have reached the top of their profession, even the .200 hitters. Nowadays, people routinely boo the opposition and -- even worse -- now they boo their own players, including the stars who have the audacity to make an out in a key situation.

When I go to my 3 or 4 games each season, whether in New York or Boston, I am usually turned off by the people around me who want to show how much baseball they know by announcing -- in a voice loud enough for everyone within three rows to hear -- what they think is going to happen. Or what they heard on talk radio that afternoon. Which leads me to this question -- is the baseball fan of today more knowledgeable about the game? Probably. But I don't like him as much as the people who grew up and watched games in a simpler era.