Curtis Granderson shines as New York Yankees defeat Detroit Tigers 6-3 – MLB Season Review
Curtis Granderson put in a brilliant performance as he hit a tie-breaking homer as the New York Yankees beat Detroit Tigers 6-3 on March 31 at Yankee Stadium, New York.
The Yankees were excited, as they managed to win on Opening Day of the 2011 Major League Baseball regular season. Granderson had a tremendous day for the Yankees as he not only managed to hit a tie-breaking homer, but also took two superb catches in the
field.
This impressive victory will definitely boost the confidence of the Yankees as will the defeat of San Francisco Giants to the Los Angeles Dodgers.
CC Sabathia was no less effective in perfecting the victory. He had a six innings feat and three innings of consummate relief in an otherwise bone-chilling weather as the Tigers had probably one of their worst starts to a season.
Mark Teixeira added to the Tigers misery as he hit three-runs off Justin Verlander. The Tigers’ pitcher threw an astounding 114 pitches, but was punished by Teixeira.
"I've been petitioning the league to start in March for years. Finally they let us start in March because everybody knows my Aprils," Teixeira said. "It's great to start this way. ... Last year was awful, it was embarrassing."
Joba Chamberlain also played his part. His share was a scoreless seventh inning to carry the victory, while Rafael Soriano struck-out one, making his Yankee debut in the eighth. Important to remember is that Soriano caught the limelight only last year after
becoming the American League saves leader.
Mariano Rivera put on display another good performance the way he did in the past, earning his 560th save of his career to pull within 41 of Trevor Hoffman, the all time saves leader in the Major League.
It was Granderson who capitalised on what was gifted by Rivera with a long run for the second out of the ninth from Brandon Inge’s drive. Granderson, in reality, earned the praise of everyone and anyone out there to watch the match that produced both anxiety
and fascination in abundance.
Granderson himself was surprised by his performance as he had recently been suffering from a strained right oblique and managed to make a quick recovery into the Yankees’ line-up.
Tigers’ Verlander had a decent pitching performance but it was not enough to contain the powerful Yankees’ offence.
"Obviously, coming out of the spring that I had, this is not the results that I wanted," said Verlander.
Verlander praised Granderson and said, “I can't say I enjoyed watching him today, but I wish him the best when he's not playing us. He’s going to give you everything he's got."
The Tigers succeeded to score their first run in the second inning as Jhonny Peralta lifted a bases-loaded sacrifice fly to centre-field, scoring Miguel Cabrera. Brandon Inge helped add a run-scoring single in Sabathia’s forth.
It was Nick Swisher who helped complete the Yankees’ scoring with an RBI single in the bottom of the eighth inning, just beyond first base, adding to the fans happiness with this cushion for Rivera.
The Yankees put in an impressive effort as they came together as a team and managed to beat the Tigers. It will be interesting to see the Yankees carry their winning momentum forward into their next match-up of the regular season.
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