‘SPOOKED BY THE YANKEES’

Bomber prez sez Red Sox CEO constantly sees pinstriped ghosts:

TAMPA — Austin Romine watched the pitch leave Masahiro Tanaka’s glove, then heard it hit Brian McCann’s glove behind him. He just had no idea what he had just seen.

“I had to turn around and ask what the pitch was,” said Romine, who was taking live batting practice against the Yankees’ new star pitcher. “I’ve never seen a ball move like that before. It’s special.”

The pitch, of course, was Tanaka’s famous split-fingered fastball, considered by many to be one of the best in the world.

“I don’t recall anyone saying that they’ve never seen anything like that before,” Tanaka said through his translator. “But some people have told me that it’s a really, really good pitch.”

Tanaka threw 25 pitches to Romine and minor-leaguers Ramon Flores, Adonis Garcia and Antoan Richardson, drawing the eyes of Joe Girardi, pitching coach Larry Rothschild, general manager Brian Cashman and a group of Yankees scouts in town for meetings. “I was pleased with what we saw,” Girardi said. “His stuff looked crisp to me.”

As impressed as the manager was, the players who saw Tanaka’s stuff the closest were gushing with compliments for the $155 million man.

“I thought he was great,” McCann said after catching Tanaka for the first time. “He worked all his pitches in there. His fastball command was there. His off-speed I thought was great. His split has some great action on it. His cutter, his slider; he was sharp. “As good as advertised.” Like Romine, McCann was enamored with Tanaka’s splitter, which he threw four or five times during the session.

“He’s got a great split,” McCann said. “It really falls off the table. His motion’s completely the same as his fastball, and that’s the key to getting swings and misses.”

The only person who didn’t seem smitten with Tanaka’s splitter was the pitcher himself.

“I feel that it could get a little bit better just throwing in the bullpen,” Tanaka said.

That said, Tanaka was very excited for his first chance to throw outside the bullpen since joining the Yankees last week, facing hitters for the first since last fall’s Japan Series.

“November 3,” Tanaka said in English,

a date clearly etched in his mind.

Tanaka earned the save in that night’s Game 7 for the Rakuten Golden Eagles, taking the mound for the final inning one day after he threw 160 pitches in a complete-game loss.

Tanaka estimated that he was throwing at about 70% intensity on Friday, but that was more than enough to give the Yankees reason to be excited.

CC Sabathia also threw his first live batting practice session Friday, giving the big lefty another reason to feel good as he enters what he hopes is a bounce-back season.

Sabathia’s elbow troubles are long gone, and his stamina and strength are better than they were at any point last season. “I feel strong,” Sabathia said. “I don’t feel any fatigue or anything like that. I’m excited.”