Sympathy for the devil: A-Rod gets cheers,Tanaka melts down, Yankees implode

I was at work yesterday, so I didn't get to see the Yankees' Opening Day in person or on TV. But I did listen to the first half of the game on the radio, and the team didn't exactly impress -- Masahiro Tanaka seemed to be pulling his punches, so to speak, when pitching, and the lineup was flat, as predicted.

Also, I wanted to hear what kind of reception A-Rod received (turns out I correctly predicted that he would get the loudest one, and that it was mostly positive.) But why the radio broadcast didn't play the pre-game intros live, and didn't include Rodriguez's intro for his first time at bat since September 2013, is beyond me. I would have rather actually have heard it live, instead of hearing Suzyn Waldman talk about it! (I did get to hear both intros later.)

And it turns out that A-Rod walked up to Jay-Z's "Public Service Announcement" yesterday, specifically to the lyrics, "Allow me to reintroduce myself." (Click here to watch a clip of his intro for his first at-bat.) Cool choice!

After hearing about that, my brother Patrick had his own choice for the walkup theme song: the Rolling Stones' "Sympathy for the Devil!"!  Heh! C'mon, Daily News, I am very disappointed that you guys didn't put that in a post-game headline, especially considering that Cousin Yuri's wife called A-Rod "the devil" in your paper!

Sure, it is only one game. But let's face it. This Yankee squad is not a good team, and it is not going to be a good team this year. To add insult to injury, Squawker Jon's Mets had an impressive Opening Day victory. Oy.

Opening Day and already waiting for next year

I've been looking forward to the Mets' Opening Day for some time. Opening Day 2015, that is.

While the Mets have written off 2014 with their small-market payroll and inability to solve their problems at shortstop and first base, at least we can look forward to the first full season of Zack Wheeler and the eventual debut of Noah Syndergaard. But I can't get too excited about trying to reach .500.

Maybe there will be an unexpected pleasant surprise, which the Mets have had each of the last three seasons. In 2011, Jose Reyes won the batting title. In 2012, R.A. Dickey won the Cy Young Award. In 2013, Matt Harvey had a breakout season and started the All-Star Game.

Naturally, all three stars were not on the team the following year. At least Harvey will be back next season. And while I hated to see Dickey go, the trade for Travis D'Arnaud and Syndergaard looks very promising as of now. But considering that the Mets are in dire need of a shortstop and leadoff hitter, it's hard not to wonder what this team would be like if it still had Reyes.

One of my main hopes for 2014 is for Curtis Granderson to succeed, or at least not be Jason Bay 2.0. It would be good for the Mets and a tweak to the Yankees, who let him go while giving Brett Gardner a four-year deal that was almost as much. But perhaps most importantly, it would show the Mets that spending money can help a team. The Mets have conveniently forgotten that the 2006-08 contenders were built largely on high-priced acquisitions.

It would also be great to get a full season out of David Wright after he missed 50 games two of the last three seasons.

Though the notion that Bartolo Colon can replace Harvey at the top of the rotation kind of sums up what it is to be a Met fan, at least the front office made a reasonable effort to patch up the rotation. While I want the Mets to spend money, I don't envy a team like the Twins throwing multiyear deals at the likes of Phil Hughes and Mike Pelfrey.

I'm looking for a 79-83 season. Not quite .500, but a step in the right direction while we wait for next year.

Win Tickets to Mets Home Opener

Anthony Marsala of Long Live Shea Stadium has alerted us to a chance to win tickets to the Mets home opener on Friday, April 8th, 4:10 PM, vs. the Nationals.

Jersey Shore Bracelet Company is running the contest.

Here is what you need to do:

1) “Like” the Jersey Shore Bracelet Facebook page: Facebook

2) Repost the contest information/fan page as your Facebook status

3) Fill out the form on the Jersey Shore Bracelet web site specified on the Facebook page

Another option for those of you who are on twitter:

1) Follow LongLiveSheaS and JSBracelet.

2) Re-tweet the contest information

3) Fill out the form on the Jersey Shore Bracelet web site.

Want to increase your chances of winning the tickets? For any order placed during the entry period (March 23rd- April 1), you will get an additional entry into the contest.

The winner will be announced on April 2nd.

A-Rod counts the ring, Hideki gets hailed, and other Opening Day thoughts

You see this, Red Sox fans? This is how you welcome back your playoff hero who went off to a rival team - the way the Yankees, and their fans, welcomed back Hideki Matsui to the Bronx yesterday.

I thought the hugs, cheers, and accolades for Matsui were terrific yesterday, and a highlight of Tuesday's home opener. (Yahoo Sports has a nice slide show of pix from the event, and MLB has video if you want to see it.) It was great to see Matsui treated that way. His old teammates were happy to see him (and Derek Jeter even played a joke on him with a fake ring!)

And Matsui arguably got the biggest cheers of the day from the fans, even though he's wearing a different-colored uniform now. Yes, I realize that the Angels aren't the Yankee rivals the way the Red Sox are, althought they have been a thorn in the Yankees' side for the last decade. But the way some Boston fans couldn't give Johnny Damon one measly at-bat to cheer him still rankles. So there!

Here are some other things I loved about the Opening Ceremony:

* Jerry Hairston Jr. taking a red-eye flight from the West Coast just to be a part of the day. He seems like a great guy - and boy, did he look happy to be there!

* The cheers for trainer Gene Monahan, who is battling cancer.

* The introductions being done in reverse uniform number.

* And the look on A-Rod's face when he finally got his ring (and the look on the face when he showed the ring off to the media after the game.)


I also liked what he said afterwards about his new jewelry:
"I heard a lot of guys talking about how they're not going to wear it because they're too cool," Rodriguez said on Tuesday. "I'm going to wear it -- and wear it every day. If they let me wear it to third today, I would have tried to do that."

It I were A-Rod, not only would I wear the ring all the time, but I'd have it made to fit the middle finger, just for emphasis.Yes, I'm mean that way!

Anyhow, as for the game itself, it looked like Andy Pettitte's great pitching, and the Yankees' hitting, would give Mariano the day off. But then David Robertson gave up a grand slam to ex-Yankee Bobby Abreu, and Mo had to go into the game!

Fortunately, the Yankees won, and all is right in the Bronx - at least for now.

What do you think? Leave us a comment!

Getting in an "Empire State of Mind" for Yankee Opening Day

I was trying to get Squawker Jon to do something special for the opening of baseball season. Maybe we could do our own version of "Empire State of Mind," I suggested? With us performing the song?

Jon was skeptical enough, but he gave me the glare to end all glares when I announced that I would play Jay-Z's role in the video, since he is the Yankee fan. Jon would get to rock the piano, a la the Captain in the Captain and Tennille.

Eventually, Squawker Jon agreed to play the piano, and even sing Alicia Keys' part. On one condition - that we would also remake the 1986's "Let's Go Mets" video, with me playing the role of Joe Piscopo. Harsh!


Anyhow, needless to say, we ended up doing neither video, so here's the original "Emipre State of Mind" video to kick off Opening Day.

Coffee, that "Met fan" dog, is pawing both sides of the street

Squawker Jon, your Mets may technically be the top dog in town right now, with their Opening Day victory, but that so-called Met fan dog hanging outside Citi Field is really a Yankee fan. And I can prove it!

Several times last year, Jon and I saw a dog wearing a David Wright Mets shirt, a Met hat, and sporting a pipe and glasses outside Citi Field. Even this Yankee fan (and cat lover) thought the dog looked cute in the getup.

That is, until I was reading the Star-Ledger last fall during the playoffs, and found out that the very same dog was rocking the pipe, glasses, and...Yankee gear outside Yankee Stadium during the World Series!

From Brian Costa's article about Coffee, the dog pawing on both sides of the street:

No one drew as much attention from passersby as Coffee, the pit bull decked out in Yankees gear.

Coffee was dressed in a blue T-shirt commemorating Derek Jeter’s franchise hits record and a black ‘NY’ hat. She also wore a blue bandanna around her neck and, for no apparent reason, wore yellow-tinted sunglasses and chewed on a wooden pipe.

She’s a Yankees fan,” said her owner, 42-year-old Charlie Fernandez of Queens.

So much for dogs being loyal. This dog can't even make up her mind about what team to root for!

Anyhow, Coffee was back at Citi Field yesterday to celebrate the Mets' Opening Day. I saw her on NY1, and on Metstradamus' site. Here's the description of her, from the AP photo of the so-called Met fan dog.

Dressed in a New York Mets baseball player David Wright, tee shirt, a dog named "Coffee" poses for photographs in front of Citi Field on the Mets opening day in New York, Monday, April 5, 2010.

Coffee may be barking it up about the Mets now, but come October, she'll be pawing around the Bronx again. Ruff, but true!

Photos courtesy of AP and the Star-Ledger

What do you think? Tell us about it!

Why losing the first game may not be so bad after all

Well, that was kind of a letdown.

True, Opening Day pitcher CC Sabathia was laboring on the mound today, and looked terrible. And Cody Ransom's bad play didn't help matters. Oh, and just when the Yanks seemed to be mounting a comeback, with homers by Jorge Posada and Hideki Matsui,, Phil Coke and Brian Bruney gave the game right back (although at least in Coke's case, fan interference had a little something to do with that homer.)

But I'm thinking back to some great Opening Days with new Yankee starters. Like 2004, when new Yankee Javier Vazquez had a terrific home opener. He held the White Sox to one run and three hits over eight innings. And 2005, when Randy Johnson helped beat David Wells and the Red Sox on Opening Night. Yet neither of those pitchers will ever star in a Yankeeography.

In fact, it seems that the Yanks have had a lot of recent success on Opening Day, and then proceeded to sleepwalk through the rest of April.

So, while C.C., my cat, was spitting mad over today's game (she holds a grudge against Sabathia as it is for not using periods in his name!) I've decided, after being disappointed, to be philosphical about the whole thing. The Yanks have nowhere to go but up after today.

As Nick Swisher put it on his Twitter page just now, "Tough night tonight. It's alright. Let's try and win the next 161."

* * *

Now that Mike Mussina is retired, Orioles fans needed a new Yankee target for booing. And boy, did they find one in Mark Teixeira. I did like how he had a huge smile after getting royally booed during the introductions. I only wish he could have gotten a big hit during one of his at-bats today, if only to shut up the O's fans.

Big League Stew posted a video to a new "Boo Teixeira" song that a few angry Orioles fans came up with. Click here to see it. It's horribly catchy.

Speaking of the introductions, were the Orioles playing the guitar riff from Beck's "Loser" when introducing the Yankee non-starters? Sheesh. I did like the Star Wars Evil Empire music for the Yankee lineup, though.

It was a little strange not seeing Kevin Millar as an Oriole. It seems like every time the Bombers would play Baltimore, Millar would step up and get a big hit against the Yanks. Now he'll be killing the Yanks with the Blue Jays. Oh joy.

And I'm still not used to seeing Edwar Ramirez without glasses.

Nick Swisher got his first hit as a Yankee, and he seemed very exultant about it. I like his style so far. It's good to see a Yankees show some personality!

What do you think of the state of the Yankees? Leave us a comment!