STANTON, YANKS SLAM THE BIRDS
Cole lotta pride as Gerrit’s Yankee-fan father sees him pitch in opener
Gerrit Cole and his father got robbed last year. Mark Cole grew up a Yankee fan and passed that passion on to his son. After signing with the Bombers in the winter of 2018, the Coles imagined what it would be like when the younger finally got to pitch in pinstripes in the Bronx.
The coronavirus pandemic made it a disappointing debut. While Cole got his one wish — broadcaster Suzyn Waldman to sing the national anthem — he didn’t get to have his dad there to watch. Like ballparks across the nation, Yankee Stadium was closed for fans.
On Thursday, however, Mark Cole was in the house when his son opened the 2021 season in the Bronx.
“He was pretty emotional, so a special moment for him. He really likes the suite level, I guess there’s a lot of photographs of longtime Yankees franchise players and, some rare ones, some moments he remembered,” Cole said before Monday’s series opener against the Orioles. “So I think all in all it’s a pretty great day for him, obviously, would have liked to cap it off with a win. But it was a long time in the making. So, a special day.”
For Cole, a California native who moved across the country and became a father during the pandemic, Thursday was a step back toward normalcy. Having his family, including his father and son, in the ballpark and being able to see them after the game was almost familiar.
“I just felt kind of at ease to be honest, after the game,” Cole said. “It was like life was normal for a few hours and I hope it continues to go that path but it was like revisiting a routine that I hadn’t been a part of in quite some time, So it’ll be an Opening Day I remember for, for probably the rest of my career.”
And while he may want to forget the slider he threw to Teoscar Hernadez, which the Blue Jays right fielder crushed for a home run, there are things to build on to his next start, which is Tuesday night. He allowed two earned runs on five hits. He walked two and struck out eight in the opener.
“There were a few sequences where I would execute a pitch and then have kind of poor execution, or I couldn’t string a couple of different looks together, whether it be high fastball to the curveball or good slider to executed fastball,” Cole said of what he worked on since that start. “Nothing out of the ordinary, just try to make sure that when we’re out there, we’re executing six, seven or eight pitches in a row, the way we want to. That’ll usually get us in some advantageous counts.”
CHAPMAN BACK
After serving a two-game suspension for throwing a fastball high and behind the head of the Rays’ Mike Brosseau, closer Aroldis Chapman made his season debut Monday night with a scoreless ninth.
Chapman walked one before slamming the door on the 7-0 shutout.
“I thought he was really good. He really wanted to get in there,” Aaron Boone said of using his closer in a blowout. “I was debating whether to put him in there but he wanted the ball and we’re getting to a point where obviously not having any game action other than a sim game in a while now.
“I thought he threw the ball really well. He came out and the stuff was really good, I thought he had really good command. You saw a really good split,” Boone continued. “Thought he landed some really good sliders as well. Fastball was coming out strong, so really good first outing for Chappie.”