Bronx, N.Y., July 26, 2011 – The first game of the Yankees’ second century of 2011 games will be a hard one to top for in-the-ballpark excitement, and that holds true even though the game was twice interrupted by rain, one day after the 100th game was delayed by wet conditions for two hours. The Yankees’ home run tandem of Curtis Granderson and Mark Teixeira opened and closed the scoring in a 4-1 Yankee win with blasts that carried just far enough to count, and CC Sabathia flirted with history.

Although Seattle right-hander Doug Fister acquitted himself quite well in a game where he received virtually no support from his offense, this one belonged to the big Yankee lefty from the moment he pounded a 92 mph fast ball past Ichiro Suzuki at 7:08. Sabathia has an array of quality pitches, but on Tuesday night it was almost exclusively killer heat and a devastating slider. Aside from flirting with a perfect game for six-plus innings, CC led a strike out barrage that eventually equaled the record-setting outing Ron Guidry posted all by himself in the Bronx in 1978.

It was easy to see that CC was in command as he whiffed four over the first three frames, but the crowd’s attention became riveted when he followed by striking out seven straight across the fourth, fifth, and sixth innings. With Granderson powering one run across in the fourth, and Eric Chavez and Derek Jeter rbi’s opening the lead to 3-0 in the fifth, the fans were ahead in the game and were more free to fantasize what could happen after the next pitch, and then the next, for the rest of the night.

Or at least they were until Mother Nature grabbed part of the starring spotlight, driving the players from the field and the fans from their seats with a flash rainstorm right after that seventh consecutive whiff, good for the first out of the top of the sixth. Roughly a half hour later, Sabathia polished off the rest of the sixth with a pop-up and ground out, and the crowd reached a new level of frenzy when the wily Ichiro Suzuki became the 19th straight visitor retired when he went down swinging to start the top of the seventh. Three pitches later, however, the dreams went up in smoke when shortstop Brendan Ryan hit a clean single up the middle. We were all disappointed to lose a chance at witnessing history, and many no longer felt the compulsion to stay when a second rainstorm stopped play after the seventh.

But CC was not among the group for whom this scintillating evening was no longer a cause worth fighting for, and he followed the base hit by striking out the side for the third time in the game. During the three-K seventh the wily vet both equalled and then broke his own personal record for strike outs in a game, finishing the frame with 14 Ks. And given all those multiple-pitch at bats, he came out for the eighth with a surprisingly manageable pitch count of 84.

Kudos to Joe Girardi for sending CC out there again, and for sticking with him for the next three batters, even if the back-to-back-back walks loaded the bases and put the Yankee victory in jeopardy. Joe knows who his horse is, however, and we in the stands believed as strongly as he did that Sabathia had plenty left, despite all the K’s, the perfect game hype, and the two rain delays. But CC struggled to find the zone, as did David Robertson when he came on in relief. But despite falling behind both pinch hitter Adam Kennedy and third baseman Chone Figgins 3-1, the Yankee setup man got the former swinging and coaxed an rbi groundout from third sacker Figgins. With the Yankee lead shaved to 3-1, D-Rob got Ichiro on a called third strike, the 16th Yankee K of the night.

Mariano Rivera, on for the ninth, started the base hit man Ryan with a called third strike as well and, following a liner to third, struck out Miguel Olivo swinging, awarding CC with his 15th season win while sending the despondent Mariners to their 17th straight loss. In the process Mo capped his 26th save of the season after having broken his own record by having saved at least 25 games for 15 straight years just two days earlier. Mo went out there with a three-run lead courtesy of Teixeira’s eighth-inning tater, which restored the home team’s three-run cushion just two outs after the Mariners had narrowed the lead to 3-1.

Sabathia’s numbers are off the charts. He hit the zone on first pitches 25 of 30 times, posted a 71/31 strikes/balls ratio, and struck out 14 while walking just three, none before the eighth inning. This guy is a strike out machine, and a perfect game or no-hitter just waiting to happen.

So in the Yankees’ 101st start of the season CC uno’d the M’s: one hit, one run.

BTW,TYW
YANKEE BASEBALL!!!