Tanaka, ex-teammate set to deliver history
When Masahiro Tanaka faces righty Hisashi Iwakuma in Sunday’s series finale at the Stadium, it’ll be the first time former teammates from Japan have opposed each other in the majors and Tanaka expects it to be a big news day back home.
“I was a little bit surprised knowing that,” Tanaka said through a translator. “I’m really looking forward to the challenge of facing a former teammate.”
The two were in the same rotation for the Rakuten Golden Eagles from 2007-11. When asked if they are friends, Tanaka replied, “There’s a little cultural difference. He’s older than (me), so, looking up to him.”
“He was the ace of the staff when I joined the Eagles,” Tanaka added. “I learned a lot from him.”
Tanaka offered this brief scouting report on his old teammate, who is 0-1 with a 4.09 ERA this year: "More than anything, control. Good feel and control of the ball."
Though the game will be on in the middle of the night in Japan — around 2 a.m. — Tanaka expects baseball fans there to tune in. “I think hopefully that they’re looking forward to this matchup,” he said. “And you know, we have a lot of the Japanese media here, so I think it’s going to be projected as a big thing.”
STARTER TROUBLE
CC Sabathia lasted only 4.2 innings Saturday, allowing seven hits and three runs, which means a Yankee starter has only pitched six or more innings three times in the first 10 games of the season. If that doesn’t improve, prepare for Joe Girardi to fret: “You know, the one thing that you worry about is if it goes on for a long period of time is getting distance from your starters, cause then your bullpen, it’s hard to keep them rested and where they need to be,” the manager said. “Hitting is going to come and go. Getting distance out of your starters becomes somewhat important over the course of a season.”
Girardi said it’s too early to start worrying, even if the starters have a 5.60 ERA.
The Scranton Shuttle is in full swing again — one day after the Yankees called up Tyler Olson, the lefty was sent back to Triple-A, replaced Saturday on the active roster by righty Branden Pinder.
Pinder drove to New York Saturday morning and was available to pitch in the middle game of a three-game series with Seattle at the Stadium. He’s quite familiar with the route, considering he went, by his estimation, back and forth between the big leagues and the bushes six times last year.
Last season, the Yankees used a total of 33 different pitchers, including two position players, matching the club record set the year before. They might be headed toward that kind of total this season, too, echoes of the old “Columbus Shuttle” days when some young players bounced up and down all season. Joe Girardi smiled slightly when asked about the modern version. He agreed there are both benefits and drawbacks to the method.
“You have fresh arms and you don’t necessarily use people where you wouldn’t in certain situation or use people more than you want to use them,” he said.
“The drawbacks are, you don’t want guys always looking over their shoulder. As we told our guys and we told them last year, a lot of times it’s not what you did, it’s just our need, so understand that and the phone’s going to ring again and make sure you’re ready.”
Olson arrived Friday night and the Yanks hoped he could help neutralize the Mariners’ lefty-heavy lineup. He was needed immediately for distance, though. Olson threw 2.2 innings in a 7-1 loss in his Yankee debut. Since he threw 47 pitches, he would’ve been unavailable for several days, so why keep him around?
Girardi said Olson will throw a bullpen session in a few days and then slot back into the Scranton/Wilkes-Barre rotation.
“It’s unfortunate he has to go down, but it’s part of the system that’s in the game of baseball and it’s happened to other people,” Girardi said.
“But be ready — the phone’s gonna ring again.”
Just ask Pinder, who was 0-2 with a 2.93 ERA in 26 games last year. He got callups in April, May, June, July and two in August. The last time, he stayed the rest of the season.